A day or so after Thanksgiving David opens the tesseract for the students, school employees, and cooking school employees, those returning home and those who want to to back to Earth for a couple weeks. Everybody walks through the tesseract again back on Earth as Josette is busy moving orders to the warehouse and she joins the others.

 

"Is that all the orders?" Calvin asks at the files that are sent to his PADD.

 

"For this year, yeah." They count the socks before Calvin takes Josette to the house.

 

"Is everybody finished with their bachelors? Besides David and Josette?"

 

"Yeah, I'll be three years into my masters and the boys will be a year into theirs." Susan says, leaning back against the couch. "David, did you sign up for pre-admittance to graduate school?" Mary asks.

 

"Yeah, I'm on the waiting list. by the time I can start the classes, I'll be finished with my bachelors." Calvin and James nod in satisfaction. The talk turns to the planned books, the plans to grow on the first planet the next year, the work to be done on the ranch house, the possibility of adding another summer kitchen to the ranch . . .they've already planned one for Thomas's land, bringing out animals over the next year. . .

 

Four weeks later the returning students and employees get off on Haven, the cooking teachers arriving by their homes and heading inside since the wind is beginning to pick up and the students heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked before they go back to their dorms. Josette delivers everything then heads off to the other dimensions, coming back several months later for them. More deliveries are sent off before they head back to the dorm, dropping into seats and grabbing quilts or afghans to wrap around themselves since they'd been on the first planet for a few weeks, it will take a few hours for their bodies to get used to the difference in temperature again.

 

"Plans for the rest of the year?"

 

"Working with Agatha and Sue sorting the quilts into various areas for books. Working on the notes from the t-shirts for a book, I want to finish the quilt I'm working on before the meeting. Checking to make sure Doc and the others are settling in on the tenth planet their first winter."

 

"Did they get the library finished?"

 

"Yeah, it's tapping into the alternate power system of Headquarters."

 

"Can they pick up tv and radio stations?"

 

"Yeah, I put up a satellite for them while I was there. And they can come to Haven, Archimedes, or the 9th planet anytime they want."

 

"Are you bringing out stuff for the movie theaters?"

 

"Yeah, it's on the ships. We don't need it right away, we've still got plenty of stuff from the other dimensions." The others nod.

 

"Do we have a theater besides the home system you added to the dorm?" David asks. Josette sniggers. "Yep, both of them plus copies of everything I've brought out." The others sigh. "Not it. The others did it. They figure if we get antsy during bad storms, this way we can watch movies. They were talking about adding a dive-in theater but figured we wouldn't need it."

 

"A drive-in theater?"

 

"A dive-in theater. A movie screen by a pool so we can swim and watch movies at the same time."

 

David rolls his eyes as Josette laughs. "The last thing I want to do while I'm swimming is watch a movie."

 

Josette nods. "Which is why they didn't add one. But they're talking about putting up a big screen outside town like the old drive in movie theaters, putting speakers around the area so people can sit on blankets and watch the movie. I'm bringing it up at the next meeting."

 

"Josette did say that they had those type of free movies in the open space in the dimension she grew up in as part of the film festival." Josette nods.

 

The next week Josette flips her cloak into subspace before starting to fill three large plates and settling in her usual spot with a bottle of pop, talking about the books, showing off her finished quilts and the t-shirts, and what they'd be making next year after the kits and cookies are passed out. A few things are added to the list to make and Josette nods.

 

"Are you growing on the first planet next year?"

 

"Yeah, this way we'll have a nice selection of fresh and dried peppers for the sausages. Mushrooms, onions, we'll have to grow more cabbage for the kraut and kimchee." Josette's voice trails off as she adds more items to the list. Back at the dorm she puts everything away and joins the others in the growing area, heading to the hydroponics and aquaponics area to transplant seedlings.

 

"Did you talk to the others about sausages next summer?"

 

"Yeah, they added a few other things to the list to make."

 

"Nothing will go to waste."

 

"Nope."

 

"Do we have the facilities to make vat raised meat ourselves?" Abby asks down the hall.

 

"Have for years. So does Headquarters. It's part of the whole 'if something happens again, we're prepared'. The others enlarged it while they were here."

 

"Oxygen generators and scrubbers?"

 

"Part of the mechanicals." Josette says. "Also extra water cleaning devices beyond the septic unit. Water creation units."

 

A couple days later Josette heads to the 10th planet, finding Doc going through books on world history.

 

"How is it on Haven?"

 

"We're expecting our first storm of the season, not a bad one it will only be a couple days of light snow we can take care of with the shovels."

 

"Do you have the plans for growing areas?"

 

"Sure do, I've got Clark and Thomas's," Josette sends it to the server. "Ours, Headquarters, the one in Town, the one on the 9th planet, and the one Doc has on the 9th planet. The last two will probably be the ones you're most interested in." Doc nods and starts looking over everything.

 

"What are your plans for this winter?"

 

"Well, we started crops in the growing area. Next year I'm growing peppers, tomatoes, and herbs on the first planet again. The offworld harvests will be coming in while it's still winter so I'll be putting the growing tables on the first planet until something put out dries instead of freezes. Next summer I'll be picking up the other new employees at the school and my last book will be debuting at the shows. We're going to be making sausages, kimchee, and sauerkraut. We'll be using the big buildings and making multiple batches depending on spices and ingredients, I'll let you know the closer we get to it. Bring anybody you want."

 

"Do you smoke any of them?"

 

"Yep, the smokehouse will be going for a couple of months probably between chipilotes, cheese, fish, sausages. . ."

 

"How hard is it to create a system for vat-raised meat?"

 

"Not that difficult. . ." Josette grabs her PADD and checks the files. "Ha, thought so. Granda and the others already put a system in for you." He looks at her and Josette checks the location, taking him to it tucked in a room at the fortress. There's both bound copies of how everything works on a shelf, a book of recipes to use in the replicator and recipes and instructions on the server.

 

"Do you have a similar setup?"

 

"Yeah, both at the dorm and at Headquarters." Between the two of them they have it running. They talk about plans for the next year for a couple hours before Josette heads back to the dorm.

 

"The others settling in okay?" David asks as Josette slides into her seat a couple minutes after the others had gotten there.

 

"Yeah, Doc wanted to know if I had plans for growing areas so I passed along Clark and Thomas's, ours, Headquarters, town's, the 9th planet's, and Doc's so he had a few to choose from. Then he asked how hard it was to add a vat system, I went looking on the server and found they'd already installed one." David snickers.

 

"What were you talking to the Justice League about?"

 

"Some government morons took a government agent, gave him another set of memories and personality and created a 'safe identity' for him, they could control him so when they needed him they could switch the identities. He found out and of course he didn't want to leave his 'real' life, he was a husband and father though his wife was another operative and his kids orphans they'd given him to . . ."

 

"Gild the lily as it is?"

 

"Yeah, they're stunned he told them to screw themselves. Of course the kids don't want to lose both parents and go to an orphanage. . .they've already lost their mom when she chose the job over the family. They gave the family sanctuary on Mars because they thought the government would be bullies and take him despite his wishes. They tried suing and somebody leaked the story to the media. Now the government has a dozen eggs on its face, the court of public opinion is firmly on the side of the family and many in the government are wondering if they'd have been next . . .or if it had already been done to them."

 

"Is anybody working on the infertility problem?"

 

"Yes, but so far none of the eggs they had from after the accident have been able to be fertilized, and the ones from before the virus hit aren't viable anymore."

 

"Earth is screwed."

 

"Pretty much. It will be generations before they recover and they'll have to introduce new genetic stock from the archives so there's no inbreeding."

 

"We were lucky there."

 

"So are they, they've got billions of samples in the archives from scans of Earth. So does the 9th and 10th planets."

 

Josette covers her mouth with an arm to cover a yawn. David sniggers.

 

The weeks up to the Lights Festival finds Josette working with Agatha and Sue sorting out the quilts. They've got five sections of quilts with a good three or four books in each section. Bronwen grins when she comes out.

 

"Fourth book?"

 

"I'm debuting it next year at the shows." Bronwen grins.

 

Josette and Doc head off to the other dimension for a few days after the Lights Festival, Josette looking out the window of Headquarters at the dark sky. "This all looks so damn familiar."

 

"People get used to . . ."

 

"The new normal?"

 

"Exactly."

 

"That's how it was on Earth, everybody got used to the gloom in the air until the winters started getting so bad. Earth was recovering, abandoned buildings were torn down, there was community gardens in the now empty lots. . ."

 

"Life goes on."

 

 

"Anything new?" Doc asks at the government meeting the first day of the new semester.

 

"Yeah, Granda wants to put up a large movie screen outside of town. Think a drive-in theater but everybody sitting on blankets as they watch movies."

 

"We wouldn't want them all the time." President Bartlett says slowly.

 

"Nope, but it would make a nice treat eight and nine days when the crops aren't coming in. Maybe during the Harvest Festival. Josette. . ." the others nod. "says a larger city about an hour from where she lived had a film festival and showed movies that way."

 

"We don't need something like that but. . ." President Bartlett starts making notes on his PADD.

 

"Tell them the other idea." David sniggers.

 

"Granda wanted to add a dive-in movie theater in the dorm."

 

Principal Madison moans as the others look at Josette, then him. "I saw something on tv on those while we were out there. A screen by a pool so you can watch a movie while you're swimming. Oh is Thomas and the others saving movies out there?"

 

"Yep, along with tv shows and other entertainment. They need it on the moon and Mars anyway, you can't work all the time."

 

"Shows?"

 

"Me Granda's dimension first, then the boys Mom's. Last book is debuting so sales will be brisk." Her loving family sniggers at her.

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"Coming in early this year, I'll take the drying tables to the first planet since I'm planting there this year."

 

"Are you taking Doc out?"

 

"Yeah. That way if they ever want to grow in their tropics they have an idea of what will be needed."

 

"Orders?"

 

"Both started up again today."

 

"Taking containers home for the returning employees and seniors?"

 

"Maybe midterms depending on how they're stocking up. If not definitely when I take in the orders." Josette covers her mouth with her arm and yawns, David looks out the window and nods. "Cold, snowy winter."

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"Third testing week."

 

"Do you have more building supplies?"

 

"Yeah, I'll have a second batch the end of this semester and a third by the time the others come out again to work on the buildings. The animals will be coming out this year and the garden and crops going in next year." Nods from the others. "With Thomas coming out either late next year or early the year after that."

 

"Will that be enough building materials?"

 

"With a little . . .oomph yeah."

 

After the meeting Josette heads to the bakery, getting a bag of doughnuts and other snacks before returning to the dorm, shaking the snow off her boots and cloak. Feeding the fish on the first floor she heads upstairs to the growing area, checking the list of what seedlings need to be transplanted before checking the other list of what they need to start in the greenhouse. Alan's in the aquaponics area when she comes in, skimming off some of the dirty water for the plants in the other area. Josette skims from another tank, the tomatoes do wonderfully after a little fish water is added.

 

"Going to be interesting when we harvest the first clams and mussels here." He says absently. Josette nods. They should be ready to harvest later that year. The work is quickly done and they head downstairs. Josette grabs a knitting kit and looks at the pattern, grabbing a pair of needles from the pegboard and casting on.

 

"What are you working on?" David asks at lunch.

 

"I'm starting one of the semesters on western animation, I'm starting the last year for my online degree, and I'm starting the third year for The Green Hornet from Montague, the first of three degrees.

 

"Cooking or musical instruments?"

 

"I'm starting another cooking degree this fall from Assyrian and possibly a musical instruments degree next year."

 

"Are you still taking the cooking blocks?"

 

"Yep. Demand is still brisk and Granda says there's a waiting list of people who want to come out and teach. We're going to have a very nice selection of cooking styles on the servers by the time they're done." The others nod.

 

"How is it in Thomas's world?"

 

"Death rate is holding steady, there's people dying every day but you don't see the massive deaths we had from the war, the epidemics, and the cancers. Now as the children born during or after World War II get older, we're going to see the deaths increasing." The others nod.

 

The rest of the month flies by and soon it's time for their first testing week. The boys, Susan, and Josette head off.

 

"How is David coming on his bachelors?"

 

"Good, he's on the waiting list for grad school, by the time he finishes the last semester this fall he'll be able to start his Masters next year. Susan's figuring on finishing her thesis this year or next while the boys are starting theirs this year." The three men nod in satisfaction.

 

"Finishing anything this year?"

 

"The degree I'm taking on the school computer. Everything else I've just started or halfway through. This way I'm not at a critical place for anything when Thomas and the others come up."

 

"Have you planted on the first planet?"

 

"Yeah I took Doc out with me so he could get away from the snow and see what growing in a tropics area entails. That way if it ever calms down over there, he can find an island or hidden area and set something up."

 

"What's the latest information?"

 

"The vulcanologists have been saying for years that the volcanic activity was picking up. . .this just proves them right. Same with the increased earthquakes. It's happened before, it should ease off again. How the world will be changed when it's over is a cause for debate. The melting ice caps have caused the ocean levels to rise, that in turn caused flooding in areas prone to it. Some places saw their subway and sewer systems destroyed."

 

"Which in turn causes illnesses."

 

Josette nods. The others start coming over as they finish tests and quizzes and the three men turn their attention to them, asking how they're coming along on their classes and when Susan would be finishing her thesis. The buzzer sounds and Vincent starts passing out plates.

 

"Josette, what are the plans for Thomas's area?"

 

"The last of the plastic will be extruded this summer. The others will be coming out with the rest of the new school employees and the remaining building will be going up and the animals coming out. Next year the gardens and crops go in, right now it's hay and grain."

 

"Corn?"

 

"Field and sweet corn."

 

"Silos?"

 

"Several."

 

Back at the dorm Josette pins the binding to her latest quilt and takes it up to sew, Abby holding it up for her to take pictures when she's done. Finishing the pattern takes the rest of the afternoon and she puts it in a file on the dorm server before joining the others. After dinner and the babies washed and in bed they head upstairs to the growing area to pick stuff ripening and transplant new stuff.

 

"Another hundredth birthday party. And a party for the babies." David says after they've come back downstairs. The others nod and they start making plans.

 

The rest of the week has Josette working on green tomato recipes, putting up shelves of various products.

 

"How are we on ketchups, mayo, and mustard?" Alan asks, peering around the door as Josette's cleaning up.

 

"We need to make some, I was checking the server earlier. The mayo will have to wait until the hens are laying again, but we can make the ketchup and mustard anytime." Alan nods. "Doc's been learning from the others how to make this kind of stuff." Alan nods in satisfaction and heads back down the hall.

 

"Yeah, Josette already checked. We can make the ketchup and mustard anytime, we gotta wait until the hens are laying again for the mayo."

 

Josette checks the mushroom growing building that afternoon, making a list of what's going to be needed for the various sausages before picking up a container, knife, and starting to pick. The mushrooms are brushed off and laid on drying tables on Brigadoon to dry before she heads back to the school, joining the others at the dining hall.

 

"Mushrooms coming in?"

 

Josette nods. "I'll be picking for a few days. This batch went on the drying tables."

 

"Have you thought about growing them in wood?"

 

"Yeah, Doc and I set up a growing area on the first planet while we were there. The robots will be watching and harvesting."

 

"And GD is already wanting to see how growing in wood differs than growing in the buildings, let alone outside in the tropics?" David smirks. Josette nods.

 

Midterms Josette heads off to Thomas's dimension to pick up more supplies and move more various places. The renovations are well underway on the Kent and Drake farms and Josette takes pictures of the progress on Mars and the moon before heading back.

 

"How is it there?" Doc asks at the meeting after she's come back.

 

"Surreal, if you know what I mean. Everything looks normal . . ."

 

"But when you look under the surface things are different." President Bartlett says. "Exactly. Oh everybody's got a brave face on but. . ."

 

"People are realizing just how bad off they really are." Doc says. "It was probably the same on Earth when they realized the solar flare was going to kill everybody, especially the closer it got to the end."

 

"How are the schools?"

 

"If Thomas comes out when he figures, it will be the first year of no students in pre-school, kindergarten, and the first grade. In the areas where the virus was released and everybody under five died, elementary schools will be empty in a couple of years."

 

"The economy will start taking a hit. Money's going to be tight unless teachers and other school employees already have other jobs." President Bartlett sighs. "In smaller towns that will mean people moving away or having to drive hours for their jobs."

 

Christmas is a couple weeks later and Josette delivers the first batch of belongings for the seniors and returning employees to the school along with socks and special orders for Marcus. Back at the school the students have their bags inspected as Josette brings out another offworld harvest. The drying tables are taken to the first planet and Josette brings out green picked peppers and green tomatoes while she's there along with the mushrooms. Going to the various planets she sells a good portion of everything, the rest going in stasis, being made into stuff in the green tomatoes case, or being dried.

 

"Sell a lot of the first world mushrooms?"

 

"Yep, not bad for an experiment. GD of course took a good bit off my hands, so did Vincent on both planets."

 

The third testing week Josette heads off to Doc's dimension with the first of the orders, the government official checking everything over and nodding in satisfaction. Josette picks up more supplies, for both the 10th planet and the orders before spending a few weeks there. A couple weeks later Josette spreads manure on the fields and garden, tilling it under then planting both for them and Thomas.

 

The finals find Josette, Susan, and the boys heading to Archimedes and the testing center.

 

"You're done until this fall." Josette says when Susan comes over.

 

"Yes, thank you gods. Why did I think a Masters in History was a good thing?" Susan moans as she sits down. The three men chuckle, having heard variations of that complaint over the years from many people.

 

After picking up the recycling and plastic Josette drops off the first batch of orders, sending the e-mail to Calvin. Staying on Earth for a couple weeks she hits recycling centers in cities they don't normally go to then goes to Vegas. Depositing money in her account she heads back to Haven with more supplies. Everything is delivered and Josette slides into her seat at the dining hall.

 

The next few weeks fly by, Susan uploading her thesis to the server, the boys starting theirs while Josette gets in four classes for the comic book class and orders the vat raised meat that will go in the sausages. The last of the offworld harvests are in and Josette picks the peppers, tomatoes, and herbs on the first planet.

 

"Is that everything on the first planet?"

 

"Yeah, I might grow more mushrooms in a few months."

 

"Does the 10th planet have a mushroom building?"

 

"Not yet, they might put one up in the future but for now they've got the kits and buy from us."

 

"Sausage?"

 

"Going to be making them as soon as the first crops are in. I'm getting all the supplies in right now, once we're working on them the smokehouse is going to be up and running, first thing we'll smoke is herbs and jalapenos." David nods. "Then the cheese? The sausage, and finally the fish?"

 

"Yep, that will give Doc the chance to see how everything is preserved by smoking. And we'll have the building to ourselves since it's after the harvests but before the yearly crops are coming in. It won't be needed for fleeces until the harvest festival."

 

"Bison milk?"

 

"We're taking part of it, cheese and soap will be available by the end of the year."

 

"What was Granda talking to Buckaroo about?"

 

"Buckaroo's been to Mongolia a few times. Yaks. One of his favorite drinks is fermented yak milk."

 

"And bringing some out." The others nod.

 

"The soap and cheesemakers are interested too."

 

 

Josette slips her shoes off where she's seated at a table filled with copies of her fourth book, wriggling her toes. The table curtain will hide the fact that she's got her shoes off and if anybody notices they'll think they're seeing things because she'll have them back on before they can blink. David cackles mentally and she blows him a mental raspberry.

 

/It's been a long night already and I'm going to be signing books for hours./

 

The first batch of animals is brought out when they come back a few weeks later, the horses and cows settling in well as the first coops are being made for the chickens coming up shortly.

 

 

The last of the offworld harvests are in and passed out when the crops are beginning to come in. After the second crops are in Josette sends out the call and people start gathering at the big building, popping chunks of vat-raised and real meat in a grinder then adding whatever else goes in that recipe as the casings are filled. Some go on the drying tables, some go in stasis, and the rest are popped in trays on the smokehouse after the paprika and chipilotes are removed.

 

Doc shakes his head at the 'can't possibly get another thing in there' smokehouse as the door is shut and Josette adds a green log to the fake wood.

 

"How long will you smoke them?"

 

"Four days." Josette starts putting the chipilotes in containers.

 

"Do you make chipilote sauce?" Shoshanna asks.

 

"Yeah, half of this will be turned into sauce, the rest will be split between powder and sold whole in small packages at the store."

 

 

 

The yearly crops start coming in and soon Josette is off bringing in the new employees at the school. The chickens and pigs are moved to their new areas, shaking off the stasis and settling in.

 

"Is this everything Josette?" Calvin asks as he looks at the plastic laid out on the ground.

 

"No, we have one more shipment being made up on Archimedes." Josette finds the details on her PADD and holds it over her shoulder. James nods as he reads the list. "We can work on other stuff until you bring this out. It shouldn't be long?"

 

"Picking them up in a few days. Get them in then we need to start picking."

 

"Yeah, we can work around this." The next few days are busy putting up the buildings, Josette delivering the last batch of extruded plastic. By the Harvest Festival everything is set up and Thomas nods in satisfaction as he looks over everything just waiting for them to come up in a year. Josette comes up behind them and puts a pallet of chicken manure down.

 

"I thought you let the chickens out in the fields?" Mary asks confused.

 

"We do, this is from the barn auto cleaners over the winter when they're inside. It goes in a container to age for several years before it's bagged." Mary nods in satisfaction. "We add this by the handful to plants that need the extra feed during the growing seasons." Thomas nods. "I have something similar we add during the winter in the growing area."

 

After the Harvest Festival Josette is busy bringing in the new students over three weeks.

 

"Are all the dorms full now?" Professor Parker asks as he sits down across from Josette at the pizza parlor. Over the years he'd gotten his masters and doctorate in a few fields so now it's Dr. Parker, but like Josette he doesn't use the title.

 

"Next year or year after that."

 

Peter shakes his head. "Even when the second batch of students came out . . ."

 

Josette nods. "It's been years since we had this many students."

 

"It's the sign of a good school. From what I've seen of Calvin he's weeding out the applications of those who just want the raree factor. Like Principal Madison, he wants students who are students."

 

"How is it over at Thomas's dimension? I know you were picking up more supplies after the festival." Doc asked at the government meeting that night after dinner.

 

"They're really beginning to crack down on the gangs. They thought they could take advantage of the problems Earth had and take over more area. The army came in and started taking them out with extreme prejudice. That knocked the death rate up a bit but everything's a lot more peaceful now. They've been hiring more police."

 

"They needed it even back on Earth where was always a hiring freeze." President Bartlett murmurs. "And not just police officers, most city workers."

 

Josette nods. "Every city cut corners so they had more money for their pet projects, it's just basic human greed." Nods from the others.

 

"So life is settling down to the new normal?"

 

"Yeah." Josette sighs.

 

"Changing the subject, how are the animals settling in on Thomas's land?"

 

"Good. Somebody's over there at least once a day while we're at the ranch and the barns cleaning units are taking care of everything. They'll have a nice manure pile already started when they arrive."

 

"Do they have the supplies for when they start laying?"

 

"Yep, we get plenty of the 2 1/2 dozen flats when the supplies come in and everybody has room for eggs. The people in town return the cartons when they buy eggs." Nods from the others. It's only the people who do a lot of cooking who need the larger amounts of eggs."

 

"Finishing the degree?"

 

"I'm one class in."

 

"Start a new cooking degree? And a new block."

 

"Yep." Josette stretches backward in her chair and yawns before straightening back up.

 

"How are the others coming in their classes?"

 

"Susan's going to be finished with her thesis next year, the year after that she's going to have some of the historians at GD looking it over before she uploads it to the server." Doc nods in satisfaction. "David's finishing his bachelors this year and starts his masters next." David had stepped out of the room a minute. "The boys are planning on starting their theses next year, they've been talking with their advisor about that and their doctorates." the three men nod as David comes back into the room. "Okay, the downloads are going."

 

"Is there any chance of us getting the crystals you mentioned for storage?" Doc asks.

 

"We've got a room of them growing in the dorm." David says. Josette looks at him. "Dad started them while they were here a few weeks ago, you were off delivering orders to Doc's world. It will take them a while to grow."

 

They head to the testing center a couple weeks later, Josette sliding into her seat after the tests and quizzes are done.

 

"Is the school full?"

 

"We figure year after next."

 

"How is things on Thomas's world?"

 

"The morons who caused all this mess are still moaning because somebody has to be pregnant, they're just hiding to make them the bad guys." Snorts of disbelief and rolling eyes. "Yah," Josette snorts. "Life is settling into the new normal."

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"Some places you wouldn't know anything was wrong except for the ever present dust in the air from volcanoes. But then you see other places where subways have flooded, sewage and water treatment facilities have been flooded . . . I've been cleaning out a lot of debris so they can rebuild and cleaning out the dumps. The former communist countries have disappeared into economic ruin, the governments still bleating they have a handle on everything and they don't need the rest of the world. Communism will still come out on top and one day rule the world. Meanwhile their citizens are suffering and dying from their stupidity"

 

"Some people take stupidity to an art form." Dr. Blake sighs, coming over and putting their daughter in Daddy Nathan's lap. "Have the kids decided on their internships?"

 

"Yeah, they're going to the fourth planet so you'll get Liam and his brood if things go as they usually do. They were out talking to Waynes and Stark and looking over the intern housing, deciding what they needed to bring out and where they wanted to live after they're done." Nods from the others as Susan puts up her PADD and heads to the bathroom, then takes a seat. The boys are finished a few minutes later.

 

"Has Thomas decided where they're bringing out Wayne and Drake, and if any more are coming out?" Alexander asks as Vincent starts handing out the food. "Thanks Vincent."

 

"Not yet, they're saving all the discoveries they're making but . . ."

 

"Like everybody else they're hoping for a miracle and they don't have to bring them out."

 

"They're in talks with Dayton to bring them out or at least a copy along with going on the moon or Mars."

 

Josette puts together the layers of a quilt when she comes back to the dorm, basting them together then heading upstairs to start quilting it. By the end of the week she's got the file finished and the quilt is in the cabinet with the others as she joins the others at dinner.

 

"Get your quilt done?"

 

"Yeah. Who checked on the animals and crops?"

 

"We did. The cows mooed, the horses neighed, the pigs grunted, and the chickens tried to eat our workboots." Josette sniggers.

 

"How is the work coming on the new vines?"

 

"We planted earlier this year, we should be harvesting year after next. It will be a few more years after that before it's bottled or used in the cheesemaking."

 

"Barrels?"

 

"Got several hundred aging. The glass factory is making more bottles next year once I get the labels finalized." Josette sends the file of possibilities over and they make the selection. Josette sends it to the glass factory. "There, they'll start the new order after the first of the year."

 

"Cider?"

 

"The orchard planted more trees a few years ago so we're good there." Nods from the others.

 

"Are you going to grow mushrooms again on the first planet?"

 

"Year after next."

 

"Are you going out midterms?"

 

"To pick up supplies for the school if nothing else." In the front room Principal Madison nods. "I'll take out the orders and recycling when I take the graduates and returning employees home."

 

"Doc's dimension?"

 

"Taking the last out when we go out."

 

"Is he keeping up with his studies?"

 

In the front room Principal Madison snorts. "Where do you think Josette gets it from?" Professor Druid is cackling. Once the joke is repeated everybody who knows Josette laughs too.

 

Midterms Josette heads off to the other dimension, moving empty shipping containers to a yard and getting the 'we got them' message back. Picking up the full ones takes a couple days and six duplicates. Josette talks to Calvin for a few minutes before heading back to the school. Sending the inventory file to Principal Madison Josette starts delivering the containers. Maintenance gets the message and starts opening them, delivering the contents to various buildings. At the dorm she finds the twins doing an inventory of the supply areas getting an idea of what they're running low on.

 

"Do you have anything for us?"

 

"Yeah, I'm bringing the containers out now to the area upstairs." Josette sends the file to the others and they nod. A couple hours later her other selves come back to the dorm and they join together before they go to dinner.

 

"Are you starting your thesis?"

 

"Yeah, only two years for the masters. .. it's going to be tight." The others snigger. After dinner Josette replicates stuffed peppers and tomatoes for a snack as they talk about what Josette picked up from the other dimension, whether they'll be able to harvest anything from the fish farm not counting the clams, mussels, and oysters or if they should wait another year, and when Josette would be heading off for the second offworld harvests.

 

Josette picks up and delivers the rye and barley to various places on the planets, sliding into her seat at the dining hall. After lunch she heads to the brewery, working on a dark ale she bottles and puts up.

 

The crops start coming in and Josette and the others are busy. After the finals Josette's busy putting the orders on the ships and picking up the recycling, grinning as she sees the signs of spring on the 10th planet in the form of snow melting in the fields. They'll be spreading manure on the fields by the end of the year she thinks as the recycling gets moved to Brigadoon. Like the recycling from Calvin's dimension it will be returned to the other dimension.

 

A week or so later everybody starts coming through the tesseract David opens and they travel to Calvin's dimension. The students are heading off as Josette and her other selves are delivering the orders and recycling then heading to the house. Josette hands Professor Druid's brother a bottle when he comes over. He looks at it and grins. Opening the bottle he sips it and nods. "Not bad for a first effort. How long?"

 

"A little over a month, I brewed and bottled it our third testing week after I went to pick up the rye and barley since this was a two harvest year."

 

"How is the tenth planet?" Hannah asks.

 

"Good, the snow was beginning to melt when I picked up the recycling and they should be spreading manure by the Lights Festival." From the smile Josette suspects Doc will have some help with his first planting.

 

Several weeks later the students and employees along with Principal Madison and Professor Druid walk through the tesseract as Josette and her other selves begin bringing other stuff out and taking off again. After a few more months their time they return to the school. Josette starts delivering stuff while she joins with her other selves that had been off on Thomas and Doc's worlds.

 

"Garden plans?" David asks after lunch.

 

"I'm working on the communal garden for Thomas's land. The summer kitchen was put up already and they brought out supplies last summer." The others nod in satisfaction and start calling out crops, Josette nodding at some and adding them to the list. The talk turns to what they're growing, both in the growing area upstairs and on the ranch the next year.

 

Josette settles into her usual seat at the Albatross Nest, joining in the half-dozen conversations going on as everybody eats.

 

"I notice you've not been putting any quilts in the file. . ." Agatha says.

 

"I've been working on them," Josette holds up a hand. "Bronwen has me keeping them separate for my next book. That way they're new even for you."

 

"The other quilts?"

 

"I've been working on the books on and off, we should start printing the first year after next."

 

Nods of satisfaction from the others. The leftovers are put in containers and Josette sinks her hands up to the elbow in hot soapy water as she starts washing dishes. Everything is soon sorted out and put away, Josette chuckling as she's handed off the leftovers and heads back to the dorm, putting everything away and ordering a variety of pizzas from the dorm parlor before she joins the others at the dining hall.

 

Over the next few days they start seeds in the greenhouse and plant in the ground in the growing area after tilling in the manure they'd added before Thanksgiving. Looking at the bivalves room Josette and David start harvesting, putting the clams, mussels, and oysters in stasis before they send in the robots to harvest some of the shrimp, prawns, and sardines in the aquaponics area. A couple days later Josette makes a big pot of shrimp and clam chowder, the others grinning as they dig into heaping bowls as snow flies outside. After dinner they watch movies in the theaters the others had added to the dorm.

 

Josette looks over her shoulder where she's working in the woodworking building with the boys when the others start arriving for the Lights Festival. She puts up the brush she'd been using on the dollhouse furniture and stretches. Bronwen chuckles and wraps an arm around Josette, talking to her about degrees she can be taking as they walk out of the room.

 

"Have you thought about Thomas's crops?" Hannah asks. Josette puts the files up and they talk, a couple of Professor Druid's brothers nodding and asking questions. The plans for the tree crops gets nods of satisfaction from the others before they head to the dining hall for dinner. Thomas arrives a couple days later and he is involved in a meeting with the others as Bronwen and Josette are going over the quilts she's been making that year and the progress she's been making on the books.

 

 

The Lights Festival comes and everybody either heads home or to the 9th or 10th planet. Josette yawns as she slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Doc getting his first planting in?"

 

"Yep. Calvin, Hannah, and the others are talking about whether or not they're going to need a growing area this year."

 

"Do you have plans for Thomas's land?"

 

"Yep, and we're bringing out canning supplies after we've planted." The others nod.

 

"Did you start new degrees?"

 

"Yeah, I've started another musical instruments degree and a degree from the sosh school on civil rights. With that being the only degree I'm taking online, I'm getting in four classes." The others nod.

 

"Are Buckaroo and the others taking musical instrument degrees?"

 

"Oh yes, there's always a handful of us there. Music is one of the universal things." Nods from the others.

 

"Offworld degrees?"

 

"I'm starting the first of an all book degree from a textiles university. Bronwen wants to bring some of them out in a couple years to look over what we have and compare degrees." The three older men look at David. "I'm starting the masters this year."

 

"The others?"

 

"The boys are starting their second year for their masters while Susan is starting her last year for hers. She's got her thesis being looked at by the historians at GD before she puts it on the server next year."

 

After the meeting Josette and David head back to the dorm, Josette heading upstairs to transplant seedlings in the aquaponics, hydroponics, and growing areas while David gets in a lesson or two before lunch.

 

After lunch Josette goes eeny meeny miney mo and chooses a knitting kit. Looking at it she grabs needles from the pegboard and casts on.

 

"Next year the babies will be bored out of their gourds in pre-school." Josette says after the babies have gotten baths and been put to bed.

 

"While Sophia and her group are starting their internships at Stark and Wayne." A foot pushes David from his chair. "No, that doesn't mean we need more babies." He snickers as he gets back in his chair.

 

"But not only is Summer's group leaving this year, Damien's group is starting their university classes."

 

"And with the younger kids seven years apart there's a bigger age gap."

 

"Okay, changing the subject before we get morbid. Do you think Thomas and the others will be out this year?"

 

"Not unless something drastic happens." Josette says slowly. "Life is settling for what passes for normal there. When things start disappearing from shelves, the garbage isn't picked up, the electricity starts failing. . .people will start seeing how bad off they are."

 

"Communist countries?"

 

"They're going to be the ones to save the world." Josette says, her hand on her heart. The others make 'ooh,la' sounds.

 

"And heads are rolling when they aren't getting the results the government wants?" Michael snorts.

 

"Yeah. The Chinese government grudgingly allowed their citizens to have more than one child."

 

More fake expressions of stunned horror.

 

A couple weeks later David opens the tesseract for students and employees heading home for Christmas. Once everybody has left Josette starts delivering special orders to Marcus before heading to their home. Bronwen gives her a look and she hands over the files on the books. Bronwen nods in satisfaction and sits down to read.

 

 

 

"Still storming?" Dr. Cross asks when Josette slides into her seat at the testing center.

 

"Yeah, they expect it to be a few more days, then a few more after that digging out." Josette shrugs. "The snow helps the water table and most everybody remembers the California droughts." Nods from the three older men. "We weren't as badly affected as California but we remember that time very well. We weren't limiting water usage like California was but many people were saving water to put on flowers and gardens when they were drawing hot water. And making sure dishwashers were full before they ran a load."

 

"Which most people with a brain did anyway." Josette snorts. "I'd say it's only common sense but we all know common sense isn't." Snickers.

 

"Thomas?"

 

"Still on track to come out early spring next year. I'm going out a few times this year to make sure everything is ready for them to leave."

 

"How is it in Doc's world?"

 

"The new normal is . . .coping. The former communist countries collapsed along with a lot of the former third world countries. The death rate is climbing as people can't grow enough food to survive the winters without being able to buy it. . . " Nods from the others. "Illness is picking up, the water and sewage systems are failing and there's no money for doctors or medicines. Places that had their sewage and water treatment plants destroyed by the floods are still having roving epidemics."

 

"Are they leaning towards an ice age?"

 

"No thankfully but the winters are getting colder and longer. While the summers are getting warmer and drier."

 

"Are they offering help to the other countries?"

 

"Oh they've offered plenty of help, but it's all been refused. So the other countries are 'let them take care of it themselves, but if you start something we'll finish it'."

 

"Which is only fitting, you can't force people to accept help."

 

"They know what happened on our world, if either country tries anything they'll be taken out with extreme prejudice. They already know the world court means business since they've already taken out terrorist groups and the countries that support them."

 

"What's the population?"

 

"Somewhere around six and a half billion? They can't count the population in the communist countries, but the third world countries have taken a massive hit."

 

"The communist countries have to be losing their population." Dr. Cross says quietly. Josette nods. "They don't want to lose face and say their precious doctrine can't take care of their people. Because that would mean communism was a failure."

 

Back at the dorm Josette holds up the top she just finished, taking a picture for the file before laying out layers and basting them in place before dinner. Over the next couple of days she quilts it and then attaches the binding.

 

"How are you coming on your books?"

 

"Good, I should have advance copies of at least six of them to look over by the Harvest Festival with the others the year after that. Including the first book of all new quilts." The others laugh.

 

Midterms Josette heads off to Thomas's world after her tests, checking on the alterations to everything and moving supplies. Detouring to the moon and Mars after six weeks she checks on the alterations and takes pictures for the others before heading home.

 

The third testing week takes her to Doc's dimension delivering orders and picking up supplies. She shakes her head at the news as she and Doc are lifting off. Josette drops off Doc and his supplies on the tenth planet before dropping off the supplies for the orders and sliding into her seat at the government meeting.

 

"How is it there?"

 

"Getting pretty bad, there's roving brownouts since the electrical grid took a bit of damage in the floods and. . ."

 

"They can't just shut everything down to fix it." President Bartlett sighs. "The grid had been failing for years in our world before we left. That's why we had five states without power for over two years before the Supreme Idiots took out so many power plants."

 

"And even with the opportunity to fix those plants that weren't working for two years the government sat on its ass."

 

"Exactly, the grid was never meant to last this long. Oh. . .they can patch it here and there but. . ."

 

"It will eventually fail. And most people aren't used to not waking up and being able to flip on a light or turn a handle for water. For possibly weeks on end."

 

"Which is one reason why we have hand pumps as backup." President Bartlett says. "And we don't rely on just one form of energy. I'd say it's common sense but we all know common sense isn't."

 

"And why we can cook over fires."

 

"Yep."

 

"Thomas's?"

 

"Well the communist countries are getting their asses kicked by the world court for killing their people when they figured out 'no, you can't wiggle your nose and wish kids up, we done told you that'." Sniggers from the others. "That's human nature."

 

"So by now everybody's figured out that this is it for humanity and they're making plans for their future. There's two children on the Moon and three more on the Mars city."

 

The next day she heads off to the other dimension to pick up mail, talking with Jane and the secretary.

 

"Did Doc get his crops in?"

 

"Yeah, they've got the communal garden and smaller gardens for homes or specific recipes they want to make. They were taking cooking classes over their winter." Calvin nods in satisfaction. "So many people only . . ."

 

"Grow or eat what was 'normal' for them. Because the 'ethnic' sections of major stores was americanized ethnic food." Nods from everybody.

 

"Do they plan on a growing building?"

 

"Yeah, they've got the plans worked up. . ." Josette flips through the files on her PADD until it comes up and she sends it to Calvin. He looks it over and nods. "They don't need anything larger right now. Like the school's, it was meant to be added onto as needed."

 

Josette waves a hand in the admin building, bringing out the mail as the woman behind the desk sends out the messages to the students who'd be delivering the mail after classes.

 

The next week Josette spreads manure on the fields and garden, then takes the tractor out to work up the garden and fields. Several days later she tills under the manure and by the time she heads off with Susan and the boys to the testing center.

 

"Did you get everything planted?" Dr. Cross asks as Josette slides into her seat.

 

"Yeah, both ours and Thomas's. Supplies for canning everything and I've got a list of what to make already on the server."

 

"Basic stuff that can be added onto?"

 

"And other stuff. I gave Thomas and the others a list of what I was growing and how much it would be and they gave me a list of what they'd like."

 

"Are they beginning to see shortages on shelves?"

 

"Not yet."

 

"Did they get any strange looks at some of the stuff they're bringing out?"'

 

"No, everybody who can has a small garden of their own. Some people are beginning to see that they're going to have to rely on themselves in the future."

 

"Are they seeing problems with the power grid or other services like on Doc's world?"

 

"Not yet, they're expecting ten to fifteen years people are going to be working two shifts as people age out of jobs. Otherwise they won't have enough people to handle everything. And the other countries are going to be in just as bad shape."

 

"Your new grapes?"

 

"Picking next year. It will be a while before the new wine is ready to be bottled or used by the cheesemakers. But that gives them time to make plans."

 

The three men nod as first Alexander, then Susan, and finally Michael come over after finishing their tests.

 

"Plans for the summer?"

 

"Working on stuff for shows, ours is first this year and helping prepare Thomas's harvests. We took a good batch of special orders out to Marcus for Christmas but we'll have a few more items plus the stuff for our show."

 

"Papers?"

 

"Been talking to our advisors about both the theses and eventually our dissertations." The three older men nod in satisfaction.

 

"Get everything done?" Doc asks as Josette slides into a seat at the dining hall a couple days later.

 

"Yep, recycling has been dropped off, with Doc's and the school's to go to the other dimensions. Flour and pasta delivered to the school and I'm heading off tomorrow to pick up more supplies and letting the students and employees stock up on stuff."

 

"Orders?"

 

"Dropping them off too. I already took out Doc's."

 

The next day Josette heads off, David opening the tesseract for everybody while Josette is delivering empty cargo containers and pallets before picking up the cargo containers of supplies, both for the school and government orders. Stopping in the office she delivers the containers of graduating students belongings and heads to the house. A few weeks later David opens the tesseract for students and employees who all have bags before they take off for Haven, Josette delivering containers various places as the students walk to the auditorium to have their bags checked.

 

Delivering the containers she joins the others at the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Get everything?"

 

"Yep, deliveries for the orders and the school. Sophia and the others getting their intern housing ready?"

 

"Yep, and looking at permanent housing when they're finished. Damian and the others are going to be talking to GD next summer."

 

The next few weeks pass and they head back to the other dimension for the boys show, Josette delivering more special orders to Marcus. A couple days later Josette chuckles as the boys make nice with the reporters as she wanders the exhibits. A few weeks later their time they return to the school, Josette delivering supplies to the dorm before they start bringing in the crops.

 

Josette looks at the canning jars on the shelves in the food building, partially filled pallets mixed among full ones. David looks behind her as she comes to the door and nods in satisfaction.

 

"Not bad for a first crop. We'll have more for them next harvest." Josette nods and shuts the door behind her. The computer system shuts off the lights and locks down the building even though nobody is around for miles once they leave.

 

"Are we going to be adding food from the offworld harvests?"

 

"Yeah, the crops have been getting bigger over the last couple of years." David nods as they join the others at the dining hall.

 

The next day they head off to the other dimension, this time the boys sniggering as Josette has to make nice with the media. The question about a new book has the reporter scrambling to learn about her previous books and Josette sighs as she takes off her shoes back at the rooms.

 

"Is it just me or was that woman too stupid to breathe and chew gum at the same time?"

 

"Not just you, this is the first time I've actually seen stupidity as an actual physical presence." David snorts. James sniggers behind them. "She normally covers an entertainment beat but wanted a chance at the 'big leagues'."

 

"Ahhh, she comes by it honestly then." Alan snorts.

 

"Josette, your new books?"

 

"I'll print advance copies when you come out for the Harvest Festival. How the hell can I wear work boots all day out in the fields but I can't stand good shoes for a few hours?"

 

"It's not the shoes, it's the company." Clarinda chuckles.

 

A few weeks later they return to Haven, Josette moving the small boxes that hold a lot of supplies to various rooms before they walk to dinner.

 

"Are you done for the year?" President Bartlett waves her up to the front table.

 

"Yeah, I'm going to be taking orders out before the Harvest Festival along with the school's recycling and picking up more supplies, both for the school and the government orders."

 

"Is Thomas still coming out next spring?" Principal Madison asks.

 

"That's their timeline unless something big happens to make them move offschedule."

 

"I'd rather not have that happen, hasn't enough happened there?" Professor Druid sighs.

 

"Yeah, for every Earth that's calmly going along, there's a number that's had something happen. Jack keeps saying the 21st century is a time of change. . ." Quiet nods from the others.

 

The yearly crops start coming in and Josette's busy on the first planet and Haven. Then the second crops start coming in and everybody pitches in canning the communal garden on Thomas's land. The third crops are in and the boys working on their papers when the others start coming out for the harvest festival.

 

"How is it?" Doc asks at Headquarters after the kids have gone to bed.

 

"Deaths are beginning to pick up again. People are getting older and facilities for the old and those with dementia are overcrowded, the patients aren't getting the attention they need. Prisons are overcrowded and deaths there are increasing as rival gangs fight turf wars in the only place they got left."

 

A couple days later David opens a tesseract to their land. The fields and communal garden haven't come up yet so they head to the summer kitchen after petting cows, horses, and scratching backs of the pigs with a stick.

 

"Oh. . .my." Martha walks into the building and turns around.

 

"Yeah, you really can't can in a normal kitchen, not with the size gardens we grow." Josette says from the doorway. She points at one door. "Pantry to put stuff when it's cooling off before you move it to the food building." Second door is pointed at. "Canning supplies." Martha opens the doors and nods in satisfaction at the bare shelves in one room and the full shelves in the other.

 

"How do you handle all the food coming in on your land?"

 

"We've got all the kitchens going, and that's with Hannah and the others enlarging the kitchen at the ranch. They want to add another summer kitchen to the ranch and the others land this summer." Thomas is at the computer screen and nods in satisfaction at the list of recipes.

 

"You don't realize how long ago you outgrow something until. . ."

 

"You look at it with new eyes." Josette nods. "Our garden is the same size it was but I swear the gardens produce more every year. And no matter how much food you have at the start of the winter, the shelves are bare come spring."

 

The food building is next, Ma picking up jars of food on the shelf to look at them as Thomas and Pa look at the pallets of 40 pound bags of wheat, rice, beans, peas, barley, rye, flour, cornstarch, potato flakes, and corn in satisfaction.

 

"Root cellar is under us with the potatoes, carrots, and other root veggies. Onions we usually braid the tops and hang from the rafters. Same with garlic and peppers."

 

"Nice variety of spices." Alfred looks at the jars of spices in satisfaction. "Do you grow fresh as well?"

 

"Oh yes, every decent cook has at least one pot of herbs they use frequently in a window. And half of the herbs go in stasis units so we have fresh when they're not growing. They're also on the replicator."

 

"Josette, who do we see about the barrels?" Pa asks, coming up the stairs.

 

"The woodworkers in town or they're on the replicator since we use them everywhere. You've got about two hundred, two hundred fifty upstairs so you shouldn't need them for a while. Once you figure out where you want the bulk food in your homes some can be moved there." Pa goes up the stairs and nods at the barrels lined up five tall. There's also clay crocks with thick lids, recycling containers, milk pails, pails with lids, and other bins upstairs, he nods and comes back downstairs.

 

"The pails with lids?"

 

"For the vegetable oil and molasses. They're sold that way at the stores too. That and the olives. Other bulk is sold by the one, five, or ten pound bag to cut down on packaging."

 

Jonathan sighs and nods. "Some things you'd think you were paying for the packaging and not what you actually wanted."

 

"Some things might settle during shipping." Alex says in a sing-song voice. Everybody nods.

"Yeah, here you know you're getting a pound of product, not air."

 

The walk in stasis area is next, currently empty until the chickens start laying and the cows start producing milk.

 

"Butter?"

 

"The dairies and most everybody with cows makes their own, if there's not churns upstairs talk to Hank and the other woodworkers for them and the paddles to make designs. They made them ahead."

 

"Real butter." Alfred says with a smile. Josette snickers. "We get in tons of margarine for the school but most of us prefer real butter when we can get it."

 

"Does anybody grow tea?"

 

"Yes, we have a small plot of tea plants but we have more that we can grow. Or you can grow and sell to the government." Alfred thinks a moment and nods. "Coffee?"

 

"We grow several varieties, including four offworld. Though only three are sold." Thomas looks at her. "First planet, the offworld coffee harvest, the offworld expresso harvest. . .that isn't grown every year and part of that goes to the chocolatiers to be dipped in chocolate, and the island. The island we just grow for ourselves and most of the first planet coffee we hold back too." Nods from the others.

 

"How do you sell the coffee?"

 

"Usually one or five pound packages depending on how much you drink. The beans are roasted and ground there in the store unless you have your own grinder." Nods of satisfaction from the others. The list of coffee varieties available are sent to their PADDs and Josette suspects that a few more varieties will be coming out.

 

Bronwen nods in satisfaction at the advance copies and the plans for a third book of all new quilts. Mary and Clarinda leaf through the books, they're not all that big quilt fans but this is Josette's work and that makes it different. As if their thoughts had summoned her, she walks through from Thomas's land with the others.

 

"Everything ready for you to come out?" Calvin asks.

 

"Oh yes, Josette and the others have been taking good care of the animals, it's too early to tell how the new crops are coming in but just from looking at the full shelves and pallets of bags we can see it will be a good one."

 

"And you'll have food from the offworld harvests too." Josette says, coming through the living room with a container of books. Bronwen looks at her. "Mine and David's books for the other degrees." She nods in satisfaction as they sort them out and put them in their rooms.

 

"Do the students get all the books for their degrees at the beginning of the semester?"

 

"No, when they finish a class they sign up for the next and get the books in the office. Josette, David, and soon the others get their books ahead of time since they've already proved they handle the classes they've chosen for the semester. If David wants to pick up another class during the semester, he can. . .so can Josette." Calvin gives her a 'don't even think it though' look and she snickers. "You're already doing two years in one."

 

"And I'm bringing out a bunch of teachers from the schools I've been talking to next year." Bronwen says. "They've seen pictures of the university grounds and have an idea what classes they offer, they're looking forward to coming out."

 

Josette takes Doc out to his dimension when she delivers and picks up, they spend a few weeks there watching the problems before returning back to Haven.

 

"How is it?"

 

"Bad. There was a massive power outage in New York before we left and they were expecting a major storm. With all the flooding basements and even some first floors are a thing of the past. Where they can people are building up instead of down."

 

"Like the places where they put the house up on posts."

 

"Or like the comics where a Venice type situation in America had the first floor flooded so everybody moved up one floor?"

 

"Basically. Those landlords who were too cheap to clean moldy apartments had to live in them."

 

"Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of assholes. I'm sure there have been health problems from all the mold."

 

"There's a lot of people with compromised immune system from that, the flooding, and the recurring illnesses."

 

"Are governments cracking down on pollution now?"

 

"Oh yes, everybody who poo-poo'd global warming now are among the more ardent supporters of trying to fix their mess."

 

"Trying to jump on the moving horse long after the barn has burned down." Josette snickers. "We had a bunch of them start whining after the winters got so bad. The whiners who didn't like the idea of mandatory recycling, alternative energy, cleaning up contaminated sites, or growing areas changed their tunes after everything got so bad. Of course these were the same whiners who while they might not have been friends of humanity didn't disagree with their actions, until it affected them." Nods from the others.

 

After the Harvest Festival Josette starts bringing the new students out and nearly four weeks into the new semester she sighs as she drops into a seat at the pizza parlor with three plates in front of her. A voice chuckles behind her as a bottle of Haven Dew is put in front of her and Professor Ziegler sits down across from her with his own.

 

"Is this all the students?"

 

"Yes. Next year the dorms will be full. I can't believe it. The school's been open again nearly twenty years. Seems like yesterday Granda and the others were coming out and looking over our school."

 

"We forget how long time has passed."

 

The first testing week Josette heads to the testing center with the boys and Susan.

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"Coming in in a couple weeks, I'll be getting in two harvests a week for a bit. The harvests will be done just before ours start coming in."

 

"Congratulations on finishing another degree. Is that it for a while?"

 

"I'm starting the fourth year for a degree on the Green Hornet from Montague, but that's it. And that's the first of a three degree set so it really doesn't count." Dr. McNider chuckles. "Did you pass along the information from Thomas's world to the other dimension?"

 

"Yes, they really like the idea of a city ship."

 

"Okay, this is probably a little personal but why haven't they brought out orphans from the other dimensions . . ."

 

"They talking about it it but the existence of other dimensions is a carefully kept secret. Once they're rebuilding they will be. The first thing that is going to have to be taken care of is the electrical, water, and sewage systems. They're planning on two more cities, one on the moon under a dome and one on Earth eventually."

 

"Is the Mars city shielded from dust storms?"

 

"Yes, they have a shield that comes up automatically when the weather satellite and probes detect storms.

 

"They'd need a place to stay while they're rebuilding."

 

"And places for the children, plus more services. Forms of entertainment. . ." Dr. Stark says. Josette nods. "They have the plans we made when we came out to work from." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

Susan comes over a few minutes later.

 

"Did you look at the notes on your paper?"

 

"Yeah, some of them I ignored completely since that wasn't the focus of the paper." Dr. Stark sighs but nods. "I've made the corrections necessary and plan on uploading it to the server next summer.

 

"Are you going on for a doctorate?"

 

"Maybe, but not right away." Susan says. "If I go on that will give me time to work on my dissertation. I'm not as bad as Josette starting the thesis while I'm still taking the bachelors. . ." The others snigger.

 

"Nobody really has to go from degree to degree to degree anymore." Dr. McNider says. The others nod. "We've all got plenty of other things to do."

 

"And they're not needed for the job anymore."

 

"Doc's dimension?"

 

"Going out when we make the trips after Thanksgiving, no use making two trips out. The only one I will be going out is the school midterms to pick up the school order and take in recycling."

 

Back at the dorm Josette shivers as the furnace comes on. She looks at David. "We're expecting a storm tonight. As you can see, it's already turning colder."

 

Josette shakes her head and pulls on a sweatshirt as the twins come back from checking on the animals.

 

"Everybody under shelter for the night?"

 

"Yep, they'll have to get used to being in during the winter. We put in enough food for two weeks in case it lasts longer than they say it's going to." The ones that had been offworld looks at them. "Cold, wet, nasty rain that's supposed to last through the end of the week. Rain every day."

 

"Won der ful. But we can't expect beautiful weather all the time." Alexander sighs. The others nod. They detour to the front of the dorm to grab extra blankets to put on their beds and put on thicker socks or warmer shoes. It's raining by the time they're done eating and they take the tunnels back to the dorm, seeing most of the students and teachers doing the same.

 

Back at the dorm Josette and the others get the babies ready for bed as the older kids work on homework or get in a couple university lessons. It's quiet in the dorm the next few days, everybody catching up on stuff that's needed to be done in the dorm or working on special orders or stuff for shows. It finally begins warming up again and the barns are opened for the animals as the coops are brought back out. The hens had started laying and Josette washes the eggs, putting them in the trays before coming back to the dorm.

 

"All the animals out?"

 

"Yep."

 

Midterms Josette takes the last of the student belongings back to the school, dropping off the recycling and picking up supplies before spending a few weeks on Earth. As she'd expected, most of the recycling she'd brought back she takes care of and brings a good chunk of clothes, paper, and glass back with her.

 

"Get everything done on Earth?" President Bartlett asks at the meeting when she comes back.

 

"Yeah, I gotta break up some glass for the blowers after lunch. And make a batch of recycled paper this week, the pulp's probably about ready to walk away by itself." Snickers from the others around her. "I gotta check with the others to see how they're on raw materials, Thomas wants me to mine more asteroids when I'm out there, probably for material for the new cities."

 

"Books?"

 

"Print job starts after the Lights Festival. Should last two years, I've got six books to start with and a dozen more in various stages." Principal Madison nods in satisfaction.

 

After the meeting Josette heads to Sue's store, nodding at the few women in there that weren't working in the big building and heads upstairs. Sue nods as she comes downstairs. "I was going to tell you we were running low on old clothes for the quilts. Everybody's been stocking up since this has been a cool fall and going to be even worse come winter." Josette nods. "Yep, that storm we had was just a taste of yet to come I'm afraid."

 

Josette makes a note on her PADD to bring out more worn out clothes and they make a date to work on them then heads to the bakery before going to the dorm. After lunch she heads to the paper mill, starting the work needed to make a batch of paper from the pulp and joining the others at dinner.

 

"Get the paper done?"

 

"Yeah, I got a couple batches out of the pulp. I gotta clean the containers tomorrow."

 

At the end of the week the pulp containers are clean and waiting to be filled again and two batches of paper cut and put away to be used.

 

"Is that it for the pulp?"

 

"No, I've got a batch upstairs for my paper that I gotta work on this weekend." Josette says.

 

Josette looks at the sheets of paper drying on racks in satisfaction that eighth day, the pulp containers are washed and ready to be used again and there's enough for both shows plus a little extra. Wiping her arms she puts her shirt back on and goes downstairs for dinner.

 

"Get everything done?"

 

"Yeah, the containers are dry and I'll start another batch of pulp soaking after Thanksgiving."

 

The rest of the semester flies by and soon Josette is going off to Archimedes with the boys and Susan, having split off a few dozen duplicates to help with the harvests. By the end of the week Josette's brought out the recycling, delivered more plastic for the growing buildings on the 10th planet, and delivered wheat and rice to the sorting planet for flour for both Haven and the 10th planet.

 

"Get everything done?" President Bartlett asks as Josette slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Wheat and rice on the sorting planet for both Haven and the 10th planet. Recycling dropped off or on the ships for the other dimensions. Orders on the ships for the other dimensions. I'll be picking up supplies for both the orders and us or the 10th planet while I'm there. A batch of supplies for the growing buildings went out to the 10th planet and I'm sure the others will be 'tweaking' the buildings." Chuckles from the others.

 

Thanksgiving comes and afterwards Sophia, Summer, Hannah, and Ian are all hugged by their brothers, sisters, Moms, and Dads like they're never going to be seen again instead of talking to them at least once a week.

 

"The kids head to the fourth planet?" Calvin asks as Josette brings in socks after delivering the other orders. They're in his office as the students at his school head home for Christmas while the graduating students compare schools and classes.

 

"Yeah, they headed off to the fourth planet before we came out. Damian and the others are going to be talking to GD about their internships over the next couple of years. Thomas is bringing out some of the stuff they've been working on on earth for special projects before they bring out Drake, Wayne, and both Daytons."

 

"How's the death rate over there?"

 

"Picking up, people who were alive during WWII have been dying off for years but now . .." Calvin nods. "Those baby boomers who were born after the war are growing old. Young people don't want to take care of old people but . . ."

 

"Who's going to take care of them when they're old?"

 

"Exactly. I'm going to be scanning Earth from space when we arrive to get an accurate total of how many people are still alive over there. The communist countries are still throwing up walls to get any accurate information out of them."

 

Josette and the others work on the recycling when they're not decorating their house for the holiday. The girls head to Vegas to play the slots and place bets in the betting room.

 

A few weeks later Brigadoon lifts off again, the students and employees spending the hour trip back to Haven talking about everything they'd been doing over the break. The students head to the auditorium to have their bags inspected and Josette lifts off again after everybody is off. They return several months later their time.

 

"Did you get the mining done you wanted?" Doc asks as he looks around the door.

 

"Yeah, for both dimensions." Josette laces her fingers together and stretches backwards over the back of the couch. "Going to be snow by dinner, this time it will stick." Doc nods, it had already snowed twice already but had melted within a couple days.

 

After lunch everybody heads upstairs to start working in the growing area, planting seeds in trays in the greenhouse or aquaponics area or sowing directly in the growing area.

 

Once everything's in they head to the first planet for a few weeks, enjoying the sun and sand.

 

"Is this the wood for the mushrooms?"

 

"Yeah, when I come out to plant I'll move the logs to the ship where it will soak for a while then I'll bring them out and inoculate the wood."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the government building a couple days after they've returned to Haven.

 

"Did you get the chance to count the population in Thomas's world?"

 

"Yeah, and it's worse than we thought, some countries have already lost a quarter to a third of their population according to the last records they had. I'm expecting some of the governments are only hanging on so long because of how many people they had working for them. Nobody knows how many people have been lost in the countries that didn't have accurate censuses or didn't share that information. Now that they have that information though the Justice League can make periodic sweeps of the Earth to get an idea how fast they're losing people."

 

"How the hell did they lose so many in so short a time? It hasn't been five years yet for us."

 

"Wars, crime, famine, accidents, suicides, and simple old age. You don't realize how many people die every day except in huge incidents that make the news because there's so many people being born every day." The others nod. "They're starting to do a lot of urban renewal. . .the Justice League is taking apart old buildings before they finally collapse and salvaging anything good. If the ground can handle it, people are coming in and building community gardens like they used to have on the news."

 

"Good, the more they clean up their acts now the less has to be taken care of at the end. I know the communists won't do it."

 

Josette snorts. "Hell no, China was building another 'model' city hoping for foreign investment."

 

"For Christ's sake. . .don't they already have an empty city?"

 

"Yep. They're still convinced somehow they'll pull mankind's ass from the fire and they'll need the space for workers when everybody bows and scrapes to them." Josette snorts. "I see being called out with the Justice League to clear out entire countries when the end comes. They're not the only ones, North Korea tried taking over South Korea and got their asses handed to them, so they're pouting."

 

"Sounds familiar. Russia?"

 

"Trying to keep the former soviet states under their thumb and not having any luck. Nobody's believing his propaganda about how of 'course' they're going to be having children, everybody else is just lying. People are seeing the days with no children being born going on and on and on and Russia's scrambling to try to keep the people believing his bullshit."

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"Cuba's gone, what the flooding didn't take out the diseases caused by the bad water and sewage did. The other communist countries are just as bad, they've all lost a good half of their population. They're not the only ones to have taken a hit, just the worst off."

 

"The others didn't stick their fingers in their ears going la la la la la I can't hear you." Doc snorts.

 

"Well yah," President Bartlett snorts in a good impression of Josette's 'duh' tone that has the others sniggering. "If they have to accept help, it means communism isn't the be all, end all and they can't have that." He turns serious. "They'd let their populations all die rather than be seen as weak."

 

"Okay, changing the subject from things we can't help. Growing buildings on the 10th planet?"

 

"I picked up the third batch of plastic from the factory at finals, they're started putting everything up."

 

"And Dad and the others will be out to inspect them." Principal Madison chuckles. His eyes grow dark for a second and the coffee cup in his hand floats across the room to be filled at the station in the wall.

 

"Thomas?"

 

"On track to be coming out finals first semester." The others nod in satisfaction. "I sent some of what Wayne and Drake has been working on various places after we came back." Doc nods, he was one of them.

 

Back at the dorm Josette heads to her candy factory, making a couple dozen batches of candy and chocolates over the next several days, putting the candy in stasis when she's finished.

 

Josette sighs and takes a sip from her bottle of pop in the Albatross Nest, her plates on her lap or the floor next to her.

 

"Josette, books?" Frances asks after the kits and cookies have been passed out.

 

"The printing operation starts up again after the Lights Festival, it will be in operation for two years for the six books already completed, by then some of the others I have started will be on the printing list."

 

"Is Bronwen bringing out some people from the schools she's associated with?" Suzie asks.

 

"Next summer."

 

"How long until the cooking teachers start going back?"

 

"About six years, the next batch of teachers is coming out in four years, that gives them a couple years to get settled and an idea of what type of students they'll be getting and what the others have been teaching." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

Josette puts everything away when she gets back to the dorm, finding the others upstairs in the growing area. David is in the aquaponics section, feeding the fish and checking the size of the bivalves.

 

"We gotta pick next year." He nods and puts the clam back in the tank. Soon everything is finished and they head to lunch. Shaking off the snow back at the dorm they talk to Damian and the others about their university degrees and plans for the next summer.

 

"Josette says there's been a lot of deaths?" Doc asks after the others have arrived for the Lights Festival. They'd gone to Headquarters after the others had gone to bed.

 

"Yes, we didn't realize just how many until Josette did the count for us. Oh we knew there were deaths but not that many."

 

"Just like we knew there was deaths in the communist countries but not how bad it was until Josette did the count for us either." 10th planet Doc says.

 

"Was Cuba the only island country . . ."

 

"To be lost? Yes, the other countries also lost population but they accepted help to rebuild and recover."

 

"And communism wouldn't dare show weakness."

 

"Nope, but they'd sure attack if any of the other countries did."

 

"And sometimes they don't need an excuse."

 

"Was the mining Josette did enough for the new cities?"

 

"No, but with the materials we've been collecting when we take down empty buildings and turn the debris into energy the replicators can use we've got enough." Thomas says, silently thanking the younger Doc for turning the conversation away from morbid topics.

 

"Josette said she'd probably be called out to help when countries have been . . .emptied?"

 

Thomas nods. "We can take out already empty buildings but. . ."

 

Those who'd been on harvesting expeditions nod. "It was nearly five hundred years when we were clearing Earths. And that was all thirteen ships, plus the other two."

 

After the Lights Festival, Hannah and several members of her family head to the 10th planet as Josette talks with the printers. A week later the first day of the new semester Josette slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"New vines?"

 

"Picking this year, Granda was looking at them before the Harvest Festival. He's wanting us to add a couple more varieties to combine."

 

"Will the winery handle it?" President Bartlett asks.

 

Josette snorts. "It's already triple what it was and they want to expand it again for the future. And Alessandro's is just as big. And we planned for the future when we put up the wineries."

 

"And it wouldn't be for several years."

 

"Nope, first we gotta select the land, start the vines on the ships, then put up the supports."

 

"How are the eating grapes?"

 

"Good."

 

"The olives?"

 

"I might be planting more trees in the future. The demand for the oil has been picking up since the cooking classes were introduced." The others look at the sales records and nods.

 

"Do you have the room?"

 

"The bottling area was also enlarged." Principal Madison sniggers, then looks out the window as Josette's eyes grow dark.

 

"When?"

 

"Morning, coming from the other direction and it's going to dump on us." David sends the messages to the others.

 

"How much food?"

 

"Better make it five weeks. Three weeks for the storm and two to clear paths."

 

"Shit." He sends out that information as Principal Madison is doing the same.

 

At the dorm the others grab their PADDS at the double beep that means priority message and head off. Susan sticks her head through the door to Headquarters, seeing Bethany already on the computer. She nods at her and Susan heads to the front of the dorm to add a couple empty batteries to the rack as the twins head to Thomas's land and the boys head to the ranch. The chickens were already in their barn and they can program the feeders and cleaners from their PADDS but it still takes a couple hours to get the horses, cows, and pigs inside. Looking at the time they head to the dining hall, finding the others there.

 

"All the animals in?"

 

"Yeah, they went in without a fuss."

 

"Did anybody need to come out?"

 

"No, everybody's got plenty of supplies and once they get their stock inside they're going to be hunkered down until it blows over."

 

It's dark by the time they come out of dinner and they take the tunnels along with the students and employees. At the dorm Josette heads upstairs to the growing area, checking the plants and the list of what needs to be transplanted.

 

The wind's picking up by the time they go to bed and it's still dark when they head to breakfast the next morning. The doors are pushed open to keep them from being blocked multiple times a day over the next three weeks and they get in classes or watching tv shows and movies, reading books, or sleeping.

 

"How is it on Haven?" Dr. McNider asks when she slides into her seat at the tables.

 

"Stopped storming this morning, I've got a half-dozen other selves clearing off the solar panels at the school, on the other continent, and the major places in town."

 

"Are you going to be able to catch up on your cooking and musical instruments degrees?"

 

"Cooking block was rescheduled until after they're dug out. Edinborough and Assyrian are used to having to work around storms and we got plenty of time to makeup everything. If not . . .we'll go over a semester." The three men nod in satisfaction. "It's not like you *need* to keep to the schedule."

 

"No we don't."

 

Josette absorbs her other selves when they return to the dorm, working on a quilt for a couple hours before dinner.

 

"How's everything in the growing area?" Susan asks as Josette dices vat meat, shrimp, and veggies for a seafood chowder the next morning.

 

"Good, the seedlings are beginning to poke up, a couple weeks and we'll be able to transplant them." They wave as they see the boys taking turns with the snow blower clearing a path around the dorm as maintenance handles the rest of the school.

 

"Did you open the barns?"

 

"Yeah, they all looked at the snow outside and settled back down." Susan chuckles, the dogs had wanted to be out as soon as it had stopped snowing, that had lasted five minutes before they wanted back inside.

 

The paths are cleared and the animals let out for a few hours fresh air during the day. Midterms Josette heads to the other dimensions, picking up supplies and dropping off empty cargo containers and socks at the school.

 

"I hear you had a bit of a blow?" Jane asks after the socks are counted.

 

"Yep, about ten feet of snow in some areas, wet heavy stuff that even the snowblowers have problems with, let alone shovels. It took us two weeks to get everything cleared out after it stopped snowing so the orders might be a little late."

 

Calvin chuckles. "You deliver early so it doesn't matter. The cooking blocks?"

 

"Delayed until after everybody was dug out. Assyrian and Edinborough are used to bad storms and we can make up the classes nights, weekends, or even go another semester."

 

"None of the classes really need to keep to a schedule." The secretary holds up a hand and turns up the radio she had playing low on her desk, a news announcement about a court case getting feral grins from the other three. Josette looks at them.

 

"This involved one of our students, she's the only survivor of an attack in her home. . .some stupid drunk fool of a woman broke into the apartment and massacred them all since she was out of her mind on drugs and alcohol. She was thrown in rehab until she could stand trial, then thought that because she was 'troubled' when it happened she shouldn't have to stand trial. Stupid bitch had somebody forge paperwork getting her out and she went back to work, then she got drunk and stupid after she got a promotion. The police were called and she went to a holding cell this time. The whole 'shouldn't she be in jail awaiting a trial?' blew up on the news because the rehab place and police are taking turns throwing up their hands saying it's not our fault and pointing the fingers at each other."

 

"Sounds familiar." Josette snorts.

 

"She finally went on trial and was given life just now. The forged paperwork led back to the hospital she was a doctor at. . ."

 

"Oh come on, I know there's a shortage of doctors but really. . ."

 

"Yeah, nobody can explain that. They tried lowballing Cassie in the civil suit but got their asses handed to them by the media because they'd tried keeping her out of rehab."

 

"For fuck's sake. . .why?"

 

Calvin shrugs. "So now they're whining about the multi-billion dollar judgment they have against them. This is just the third lawsuit that got settled against them, they tried suing a former employee who left and took his research grants with him when he didn't get the job she was given. . .they tried to force him to come back and hand over the money because it was a good chunk of money for them. They were counting on that money for their pet projects."

 

"Morons."

 

"And a third lawsuit was settled against them when they kept a young employee who'd been promised a full scholarship from receiving it, they refused to turn the paperwork in in time so it went to one of their family members."

 

"I wouldn't want to go to that hospital, I'm afraid they'd kill me by accident."

 

"They're bleating about how it's not their fault. . ." the secretary snorts. "The entire board of directors was fired and if they can prove that they were behind trying to keep her out of prison, they'll be charged. They're howling because she lost her license to practice medicine. She shouldn't be punished like that."

 

Josette rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it's a good thing the whole board was removed. Maybe people with some brains will be put in charge. They figured on her continuing to work for them even after being sentenced to life?"

 

"But if we hire a new doctor, he'll want more money than we're willing to pay." the secretary bleats. "If we keep her around, we don't have to pay her as much. She can't complain, she's supposed to be in jail."

 

"Exactly. And who cares about the real victim."

 

Josette heads back to Haven a few weeks later, breathing in the clean, if cold, air on Vallejo's pier as she delivers containers to various places.

 

"Doc's orders?" President Bartlett asks when Josette comes into the meeting room at the government building. Detouring to the wall unit, she dials up a cup of hot cocoa.

 

"Going out our third testing week." She settles in her usual seat. "The orders for Calvin should be ready at the normal time. I told him we might be delivering late and he said that was fine, we deliver early." The others nod.

 

"First planet?"

 

"I'm there right now for mushrooms, green picked peppers and tomatoes, and enjoying the sun." The others chuckle.

 

"Thomas?"

 

"On track to be coming out just after we've planted the spring crops." The others nod.

 

The rest of the semester flies by and Josette's sitting on the top of one of the barns when buildings start appearing on Thomas's land. Alex looks out the front door of Wayne Manor and grins, opening his jacket as he walks outside.

 

"How far are we in the year?" Thomas asks as Josette slides down the ladder.

 

"Next week is the end of fourth month. All the spring crops were planted last week." Josette knows the PADDS are being updated right now. Josette's introduced to the others that hadn't been on Haven yet and they tear themselves away from opening windows and staring up at the sky.

 

"Flyers?"

 

"I brought three of them out, plus wagons. They're in the equipment building. The most common places are already in the flyer database, they're also in the tesseract database."

 

Josette goes into Wayne Manor and they talk for several hours, through a magnificent lunch.

 

"Miss Josette, does anybody grow mushrooms?"

 

"Yes, we've got a building in town, we usually grow four or five different varieties. I've been experimenting with growing in wood on the first planet, and we've got kits available where you can grow your own." Alfred nods in satisfaction. Josette frowns a second. "I think the others want to add a mushroom area to the dorm." Thomas chuckles.

 

"Does anybody grow herbs commercially?"

 

"Yeah, one of the greenhouses in Town is herbs, it split off the main one when they needed the additional space. They grow most of the common herbs, you can buy packets of them at the store in Town or at the Harvest Festival, the list is on the server. You've got a growing area already set up with the common cooking and medicinal herbs." She points to one of the buildings. Thomas and Alfred nod in satisfaction.

 

Josette heads back to let them start sorting out the supplies they either brought out with them or had waiting, from many spring cleanings she expects blankets and other stuff to be hung out on the lines to air out. Back at the dorm she joins the others walking to dinner. Principal Madison catches her eye in the screen from the front room and she nods.

 

"Getting settled in?"

 

"Yeah, they were sorting out their supplies when I came back."

 

"How are they handling meals while they're busy settling in?"

 

"I get the idea they either made large batches of stuff and froze it or brought meals from the stores that prepared everything." Nods from the others. "Eating at least one meal together means they can make plans. I think beyond bringing out supplies, spring cleaning will be their first tasks. They were already opening windows while I was there."

 

Josette comes back from picking up the recycling and delivering flour, noodles, and pasta to the store and the 10th planet to find Thomas and Doc looking over something in the living room.

 

"Get everything taken care of?"

 

"Yep, the recycling is in, I'll take Doc's back when I take back his orders before the festival. Flour and noodles are in the store and on the 10th planet, I delivered wheat and rice for the 8th and 9th planets. . ." Doc nods. "Last batch of plastic was dropped off for the 10th planet growing areas."

 

"Recycling and orders for Calvin's world?"

 

"On the ship, we'll be going out this weekend. Getting settled in?"

 

"Yes, it's rather like moving except. . ."

 

"Picking up and moving your house like you see them do on the news, you're still settling in even if you've lived in that house for years."

 

"Exactly. Alfred and the others are wandering through town getting settled in. We're sorting through the containers...what happens when they're empty?"

 

"I can take them back if there's a need or they can be recycled."

 

"I'll have to talk to the others, they're good on raw materials right now but . .."

 

"They can be used to store stuff as things get worse out there. I'm sure some on Earth are only good for recycling."

 

Thomas nods.

 

"Are factories beginning to ramp down production?"

 

"Hell no, that would make sense." Josette snorts. Thomas chuckles but nods. "No, most people aren't seeing the big picture and still going on business as usual. I fully expect to see big manufacturers suing to make their usual customers buy their products when they still have warehouses full of the last order that hasn't sold."

 

"Josette, you said the possibility of more olives?"

 

"Yeah, I've got the trees started on the ship."

 

"More wine grapes?"

 

"A few years. We're talking which grapes we want to grow, find the land, start the vines, and put up the supports."

 

"New wine vines?"

 

"Picking them this year, the wine will age for a couple years before it can be bottled. I think the cheesemakers will be buying that and the cider by the barrel." Doc nods.

 

"Is the cider house big enough?"

 

"Yeah, that was enlarged too. Part of the work Granda and the others did before the dairy came up." Doc nods in satisfaction.

 

"Josette. . .Sausage?" Alan asks down the hall.

 

"I gotta check the supply, but I figure probably next year."

 

"Did you get caught up on your cooking and musical instruments degrees?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"Cooking and musical instruments?"

 

"Assyrian offers four year cooking degrees. They're not a cooking school but. . " Josette's voice trails off as Thomas nods. "About fifteen years ago now we started offering ten week blocks of cooking classes through the cooks that Granda brought out. They stay ten years, we're actually on the second batch of teachers and a third batch is coming out in about three more years, not counting this one. You don't get a degree like Assyrian but you get a good solid base on various types of cooking. They're really good at working with the students, scheduling classes during the other planets winters so they can take classes and splitting the class sessions for the students who cook for a living. The early blocks are on the server." Thomas nods in satisfaction.

 

"The musical instruments is a specialty degree through Edinborough, after the first four year class that deals with the history of music and whatnot, the later four year degree specialize on individual instruments and you making your own. There's always a handful of us taking them, Sherlock, Buckaroo, some of his associates. . ."

 

Eighth day David opens the tesseract for the students and employees as Josette starts delivering orders, recycling, and empty containers. She joins the others at the house an hour later.

 

"Get everything delivered?"

 

"Yep, and we've got some more personal stuff to bring back as well as the school supplies." Josette says.

 

"Thomas on Haven?" James asks when the others start arriving the next day.

 

"Yep, arrived just over two weeks ago. They're settling in well, going through the supply containers I brought up and what came up with them."

 

"Doc's growing buildings?" Hannah asks.

 

"I picked up the last order from the plastics factory a few days ago. They'll be complete when you come up." She nods in satisfaction and continues helping Principal Madison with his exercises.

 

Over the next few weeks Josette takes care of the recycling and does some shopping. David opens the tesseract and the students and employees walk through back on Haven, the students heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked before they head back to their dorms. Josette heads to the admin building to get her books for her degree from the other dimension before going back to the dorm.

 

"Is CJ working on a masters?"

 

"No, he's taking at least a year off." Everybody sniggers at David's grumbling.

 

"Did Alex, Jason, and Tim sign up for classes at Edinborough, Assyrian, or Montague?"

 

"Yep." Josette grins. "Alfred's on the list for one of the cooking blocks."

 

"Are they planning on starting more gardens beyond the communal garden?"

 

"They'd already started them before they came up." The others snicker. "They're going to be extra busy harvesting."

 

After Josette's show in the other dimension the crops start coming in and like the others had said, Thomas and his family and friends are busy. They look up and blink as a half-dozen Josette's come into the room.

 

"Take a break, I got this covered for a couple hours." Nobody has to be told twice and sit outside in the fresh air. Thomas will be talking to Josette later though. Ma and Alfred are the first ones to go back inside and they talk quietly to a couple of Josettes as more come past the building from working on the field crops. Pa looks in at the Josettes working in the kitchen, the ones he'd been working with all day in the fields, and shakes his head.

 

"I thought I knew a lot working on the farm but they have me beat."

 

"We've been working crops on Haven nearly a hundred years. I swear they go from green to go overnight." Josette chuckles as she tastes the corn and tomato soup that had been simmering on the burners. "Needs salt." Ma takes the spoon and nods. Stirring it in they taste again and start ladling it into jars Clark has scalded and brought over, turning them upside down on a towel on a nearby table to set the lids. Soon all the jars are moved to the first room and everybody washes up to get ready for morning, sighing in relief when another crew of Josettes has food waiting for them on the picnic tables.

 

"The communal kitchens do a lot of work when the crops are coming in. Not just on Haven, on the 9th and 10th planets too." Josette chuckles. "I've got you down for food deliveries twice a day for the next two weeks."

 

"I can see why, unless you have enough people to make meals, work on the crops coming in, and can you don't really want to work in a kitchen all day then come home and make a meal. But that's why they invented slow cookers." Nods from the others. Tara looks stricken for a second and Josette pats her hand.

 

"Everything is vegetarian, all the meat is vat raised. It looks and tastes like real meat but it's soybean based. Think the veggie burgers back on Earth but actually tasting good and good for you."

 

"Is all the meat soybean based?" Ma asks.

 

"Most of it. If it's real meat it will be marked." Tara smiles and begins filling her plate. "Is Tofu available?"

 

"On the replicator since we don't have the machinery to make it without bringing out factories. Same with yogurt, cream cheese, and sour cream. We've got tons in stasis on the ships yet."

 

"How often do you eat real meat?"

 

"Mostly in the cookouts after the third harvest, we invite family and friends and have two cooking pits, one of the vat raised meat and one of real meat. Fish and seafood is real since we've got the fish farms, we make batches of real meat sausages when we make sausages but again they're marked as real meat."

 

Thomas had taken a quiet picture of the multiple Josettes flitting around and sent it off to Doc, getting a chuckling e-mail back.

 

"Can I ask how long?" Thomas waves a hand at the multiple Josettes.

 

"Decades. That's how I can handle the gardens and crops coming in when the others are off on Archimedes taking their finals or working when the last crops are coming in. Not that I'm not there with them taking my own finals but. . ." Josette grins. "I've generally got a half-dozen of my other selves off somewhere every day, that's one of the reasons I can take so many classes on so many systems."

 

"You're actually taking the classes at the same time." Alex says after swallowing. Josette nods. "You get everything back after . . . "

 

"I join with my other selves? Yep. And our gift helps all the extra memories slot into place."

 

"How do you . . ."

 

"I split off energy duplicates. This way my pregnancies aren't affected. And I've got a half-dozen getting the fields and garden ready for planting in the spring when I'm too big to see my feet anymore."

 

"Does everybody else know?"

 

"Tenth planet Doc and Pat found out after the babies were born, Pat was wondering how I didn't look pregnant on an offworld trip to a supplier but gave birth to triplets less than a month later yet I was picking up for Pat and Bethany. I'm not sure about Calvin and the others, but everybody else does. The 9th planet people realized I could split off duplicates when I had to bring all the ships off planet, plus Clark's ship and mine when I got the news of a lost Earth to harvest." The dishes are washed up and Josette heads back to the dorm, 'flipping' the covered trays back to the communal kitchen. The others smile and thank Josette as they fill the last dishwasher load for the night as they start making plans for the next day's meals.

 

The next two weeks has the rest of the gardens and crops in, a husking party a few weeks later as the corn is removed and put in bags with the cobs and stalks either going in the silo for animal feed or in the case of the kids being saved on drying tables to be used in smoking meats. Thomas had blinked at seeing the cobs on drying tables but when he heard why they were saving them he'd nodded.

 

Josette comes though, heading upstairs to her workroom, a new area being filled with boxes of books.

 

"Is that the first one?" David asks.

 

"Yeah, the second one will be finished after the Harvest Festival with the third one just before the Lights Festival thanks to the storm delaying everything. It's not like they're needed right away." Thomas looks at them. "Josette's new quilting book. She's got four out already."

 

"This is the first of six books the printers are working on this year and next. I'll have a few more books ready to print when these six are done."

 

"Are these the only books you've printed?"

 

"Nope, we've printed cookbooks too. They're on sale at the store while the quilting books are at the fabric stores."

 

"Party?"

 

"Next year, probably the third or fourth week of the semester. The delay thanks to the storm changed the plans for a signing party after the book came out."

 

"Storm?" Thomas asks.

 

"Every couple of years or so, we get a storm coming out of the west that brings wet, heavy snow by the bucketful. Usually we get them between Thanksgiving and the Lights Festival, this year we got it the first day of the school year. The storm lasts weeks, we usually have a day's advance warning thanks to Josette's gift of being a weather witch. We've been updating the probes to give us a second source of information but everybody hunkers down, only those places that have to be open stay open. On Haven it's the school since the tunnels connect everything, On Archimedes it's GD or rather the infirmary." Thomas nods. "Is that why the barns all have automatic cleaners and feeders?"

 

"Yep, we get all the animals in and dial up enough food for the storm plus at least two weeks extra since it will take at least a week to dig out even with the snow blowers."

 

"How do you handle electricity?"

 

"We bring out extra batteries to plug into the panel to charge before the storm so we have extras. The alternate energy is set to take over if we have something that will drain the batteries when the solar panels are sending power or when the batteries fall below a certain percentage." Josette looks around. "In addition we have a turbine on the other continent with boxes on building that need uninterrupted power. The boxes get the electricity without the need for wires."

 

"Does everybody know about this?"

 

"Nope, we want people to be self-sufficient and most of the early settlers were very familiar with the problems we had with the power grid. Everybody stocks up on candles, even the houses and apartments with solar panels shut off the lights to keep from draining the batteries. Even when they know the batteries will be charging the next morning."

 

"And once the solar panels are covered?"

 

"Every house or apartment has their own batteries and an exercise bike to charge them. Charge them enough to keep the heaters running for a few hours and crawl in bed. Bringing out the wood helped out a lot, now we have a steady source of heat during the bad winters."

 

"Wood?"

 

"Fake wood created by GD." Josette brings out a log and hands it over to Thomas. He grunts. "Heavy."

 

"Yes, it's about half again the weight of a real piece of wood that size. It burns for a week, putting out no smoke but enough heat to keep a four or five room house in the sixties if you keep the doors open if there's no vents." Thomas gets an interested look on his face. "Can you add more wood to get more heat?"

 

"Yes, most everybody adds a smaller stick to bring up the heat during storms, otherwise it's run the small ceramic heaters for a couple of hours to warm rooms before bed."

 

"No thermostats?"

 

"No, they'd both drain the solar panels and/or batteries and there's no use keeping a building warm if there's not going to be anybody there during the day." Thomas nods. "The turbine?"

 

"Is generally used during times when we have a heavy power need like harvests and during bad storms. It generally runs at least a week, if it's needed longer it's set off again. Otherwise the turbine rolls to a stop."

 

"How do the apartments burn it?"

 

"In the stoves you'd see on patios. Even the ash burns, it's totally non-polluting." Thomas is impressed. "GD invented it years ago but it sat on the shelf like a lot of stuff they didn't know what to do with. We regulate the amount of trees that can be cut down, this works wonders instead."

 

"Can you cook with it?"

 

"Yep, the Amish use in their cookstoves especially over the winter since a fire's already going. We cook over it on the beach during our cookouts and we have it in the pits when we have a clambake. Dousing the wood with water instantly puts it out, in fifteen minutes it's cool enough to be handled, in an hour it can burn again. You can't really bake with it, it would take multiple logs and you'd be taking them out whenever you were done. The Amish have a communal kitchen like we have, they make enough dough for a week worth of baked goods and take it to the kitchen to be baked."

 

"Are the schematics for the boxes available?"

 

"Talk to Renny and Long Tom, with a few hints from Brainy they invented them."

 

"The wood?"

 

"Is available on the replicator, we use the large scale one for that. Everybody gets in their orders during their late summer and it's delivered in the fall."

 

They head off for the other show, coming back six weeks later in time for the yearly crops and then the second harvest to start coming in. This time nobody's surprised to see a dozen Josettes helping out in the fields, gardens, and summer kitchen.

 

"Calvin and the others came out earlier?" Thomas asks. He figures he's talking to the 'original' Josette as it were since the others don't eat and she was sitting down at the tables with them with a plate of food.

 

"Yeah, they wanted to do some work on the ranch and dorm. . ." the others snigger at Josette's bland tone, they'd all seen the antebellum mansion and gothic castle with enclosed courtyard. "Bronwen is bringing out some of the teachers from the textiles schools she's associated with to look over Assyrian and Edinborough, the suppliers we've got here and on the other planets, and the stores. And they're also working on Doc's growing buildings on the 10th planet."

 

Thomas, Clark, and Josette head back to the other dimension a few days before the Harvest Festival, getting deliveries of mail and supplies before the population is checked again. Josette sighs as Thomas shakes his head.

 

"I figure by the time we come out after Thanksgiving at least one of the smaller countries will be lost."

 

Thomas nods. "Smaller populations and only one. . .two at the most settlements."

 

"The US, Canada, England, France, and other larger countries will be the last ones to lose their populations. Only because they're larger and there's communities scattered from one coast to another."

 

Thomas nods as they talk to the Watchtower and Mars then head back to Haven.

 

"How is it?" Doc asks in Headquarters after the kids have gone to bed.

 

"Bad, Josette said she expects at least one of the smaller countries to be gone by the time we come back after Thanksgiving. I agree, island countries have already seen a massive population loss."

 

"And the smaller European countries didn't have that large of a population to begin with." The others there nod.

 

Josette heads off to the other dimensions the next day, the meeting is repeated for Doc the next night.

 

"Bad?"

 

"Yes and no, some areas are recovering. Water and sewage treatment plants are failing though, and you already know about the problems with the power grid."

 

Doc nods. "We lived through it. Luckily we didn't have the problems with the water and sewage your world is having."

 

"People know they're needed and governments are passing millages for new treatment plants but it's going to take years before everything will be back and people are still dying, either from the epidemics caused by the bad water or the volcanoes and earthquakes."

 

"And until that dies down, the areas affected can't rebuild."

 

"Exactly."

 

"Communist countries?"

 

"Are down to under a third of their original population." The others shake their heads.

 

 

 

"So what do you think of Haven?"

 

"The textiles universities are wonderful, I love how the classes are small so there's individual attention and there's no lack of teachers for classes at the stores. I wasn't sure how they could handle as many students as they do but everybody works together, don't they?"

 

Bronwen nods. "Suzie from Assyrian is Agatha's daughter. Even if there wasn't the family relationship, they've all been friends for decades. Josette was introduced to Agatha and her friends at the Albatross Nest after Josette got interested in knitting and sewing. Suzie was telling her mother about this marvelous student she had while meanwhile Agatha was telling her daughter about a new seamstress that the Covington girls had brought home." Bronwen's friends snicker. "It wasn't until Josette got to talking about how the twins were home for a few weeks during the summer and had been working on the kits, bringing her home boxes of stuff that the penny dropped and Suzie realized her student and Agatha's youngster were the same person. Back then the school didn't have a textiles curriculum but it was added a couple years later. Suzie and Sandra came to the school, Agatha came to the school. Teachers from Assyrian came out to talk to the fine arts and textiles teachers at the school, then they talked to the students. When Josette started taking classes from Edinborough teachers came out and toured Assyrian, then later they toured the school. By the time everybody came up to Haven they were all friends."

 

"How do they handle classes?"

 

"The textiles buildings at the school, the stores, or they take them at the universities. When the orphans were students and they all wanted to take the quilting and knitting classes because they'd need them for the future Josette and the others taught too."

 

"Do any of the students take textiles classes at the school?"

 

"A good chunk of them, they all have to take a year of home ec, that gets them interested in the other classes."

 

"Good, everybody really needs to know how to take care of themselves when they leave home."

 

"Do they do this every year?" One of Bronwen's guests asks, looking at the tables lining the streets with people walking through town.

 

"Yep, after the yearly crops and second harvest is in. It lasts three days. There's something new on the tables every day. Everybody who can get away from the other planets attends. Sometimes a new food or a new recipe is introduced."

 

After the Harvest Festival Josette and the others look at land for the new grape vines and land near town where they can put up the movie screen. Josette heads to the first planet to plant, laying in the sun for a few days before Brigadoon returns to Haven. She's also bringing in the new students and is busy for nearly a month.

 

"Are the dorms all full now?" David asks as she slumps into a couch one day.

 

"Until the seniors leave." She leans back in the couch and closes her eyes. David chuckles and heads to his room to get in a couple lessons.

 

"Did they find the land for the grapes?" Susan asks at dinner.

 

"Not yet, they're coming out early next year to do the work they want to do. They did find a good area for the outdoor movie area. . .and why do I think we're going to end up with a dive-in movie theater either on the beach, the first planet, or the island?"

 

"Because we know our families?" David snorts. The others laugh.

 

The next week Josette, the boys, and Susan head to Archimedes for the first testing week.

 

"Are Thomas and the others helping out with the offworld harvests?"

 

"Yeah, Thomas, Dick, and Alex are signed up for the first one, Clark, Jason, and Pa the second that same week, Ma, Kara, Dawn, and Tara the first the next week, with Tommy, Oz, and Tim the second that week."

 

"They're going to have a surprise, there's a difference between the offworld harvests and even bringing in a communal garden and the home gardens." Vincent chuckles. Josette snickers, her eyes glimmering with humor. "Ain't I a stinker?"

 

"At least they won't be picking and preparing the same day."

 

"How are you coming on the degrees you wanted to finish this year?"

 

"Pretty good, I ended up picking up another semester that I hadn't expected to this summer. I'm got five of the eight classes I needed to finish the degree from over there and four of the six I needed to finish the degree from Montague."

 

"How did Bronwen's friends like Haven?"

 

"I think they enjoyed everything. They weren't expecting the large textiles and fine art curriculum at the school."

 

"Not many do." Dr. Stark chuckles. "Just as most school libraries are a single room, not the whole building." Josette chuckles.

 

"True."

 

"School supplies?"

 

"Going out midterms as usual, also taking out the recycling and the last of the students belongings. Around our third testing week is Christmas break for them. Any last minute deliveries home the students can handle then." Dr. McNider nods in satisfaction. "That should leave them with two bags to bring back, one of clothes and one of books for the classes they're taking right now." Josette nods.

 

The next few weeks pass, Josette finishing both her degrees and getting a good start on the others until it's time for the first offworld harvest. Thomas shakes his head as the ship lifts off with him, Dick, Alex, and a couple hundred other people. They've been paired with Bruce, Thomas, and CJ as experienced pickers and were sharing a room with them. Brigadoon and Josette had told them their room was soundproof and shielded against the others so they're talking shop. A few days has them settling in, picking, moving boxes to various rooms, or working in the cafeteria. Everybody has at least one day off a week and they take advantage of the water park and movie theaters.

 

Six long months later Thomas, Dick, and Alex come off the ship, watching a couple dozen Josettes moving the boxes off the ship. They blink at the number of people grabbing them.

 

"Is this why we weren't preparing food while we were off?" Thomas asks. He'd worried about the food going bad until everybody had assured him the stasis on the rooms would keep everything fresh no matter when it was picked.

 

"Yep." CJ grins. "There's just as many people canning, drying, or storing the food until it can be handed out as there was picking it. For us, that'sThanksgiving no matter what time of the year the harvests actually come in."

 

"They don't come in at the same time?" Alex asks.

 

"Oh no, they get earlier every year thanks to the difference between Haven and the other planet's years, there's years where it's still been winter when we were harvesting. Josette takes the drying tables to the first planet until something set out dries instead of freezes. That was just two years ago."

 

"That early you could harvest twice." Alex says. CJ nods. "Those years Josette has the robots plant cover crops of rye and barley she picks up in the fall."

 

Thomas chuckles as he sees most of the people they'd been working with heading one of three places, the temporary housing units for naps, the laundry to wash their clothes, or the communal kitchen to eat. Thomas follows his gaze and laughs as they head off. Alfred tut tuts as Jason grabs their laundry to wash and chivvies them off to hot showers before they have a good meal and nap.

 

"How was it? I could see the buildings were packed as the food was worked on. The drying tables were packed." Dawn asks.

 

"It's long work, multiply the communal garden by a thousand. You're working eight to ten hour days in the fields, moving food to rooms on the ship, or cooking for everybody but you've got good breaks, meals are ninety minutes so you're not hurriedly eating then going back to work, and you've got at least one day off a week. There's a water park on the ship that gets a lot of visitors and there's movie theaters to visit after work or on your days off."

 

"Is everything coming in at once?"

 

"Nope, you're working in two or three different areas picking what's ripe just like our gardens. It usually takes several days to clear a field, just like the gardens."

 

"It's everything we've already done, just on a larger scale." Thomas nods. "We were paired with Bruce, CJ, and Thomas, you'll also be paired with experienced pickers. That's how they've done it since the orphans came out. Newbies being paired with more experienced pickers so they don't wear themselves out. And you're not being singled out, everybody works in groups."

 

Nods of satisfaction from the others. "How is the food moved?"

 

"People in flyers with wagons attached come around every hour, picking up the full boxes and delivering another supply of empty ones. That way you don't have to stop working, just pile the boxes up and keep going. If you run out before the next turn around you can send out a signal and a special trip is made out to your location. They bring the boxes back to the ship and the others on moving duty take the boxes and put them in rooms. They'll switch out after lunch so everybody's either out in the fields or putting the food away."

 

"What type of eating arrangements do they have?"

 

"A large cafeteria. Food is set up buffet style and everybody helps themselves. Tables can hold eight to ten people and there's a good two dozen tables so there's plenty of room to spread out.

 

Alexander taps on the door of the Manor's living room. "We're getting together a trip to Disneyworld on the third planet, you want in?"

 

"Disneyworld?" Dawn squeaks.

 

"No waiting in line hours for the rides. We do it every year when the new students arrive. There's three trips available." The details are sent to their PADDS and they sign up for dates.

 

"How are you two coming in your Assyrian classes?"

 

"Good, Joan was glad to hear that we'd both quilted before. The first year is all bookwork, after that we'll have projects. We're also looking at the classes available at the stores, the one on hand sewing they're offering next year is interesting though we're not sure about the idea of an entire quilt sewed by hand." His father starts chuckling. "Yeah, I know Josette was doing just that on the ship after work some nights, sitting sewing on quilt blocks."

 

Josette is busy tearing strips on the clothes too worn out to be used in quilts over the next few nights, sorting them out by color for braided rugs. Midterms she heads off to Calvin's dimension, dropping off containers in the office after picking up supplies.

 

"Is this everything?" Jane asks, checking the lists.

 

"It should be, if not they can bring them home Christmas break." Calvin nods vigorously from his office. "Are you harvesting offworld?"

 

"Yeah, a couple of weeks now."

 

"Are you going to Doc or Thomas's worlds?" Calvin waves her into his office.

 

"Not until after Thanksgiving, no use making two trips so close together."

 

"Not when you're coming out here three times in as many months." Calvin nods. "How are Thomas and the others settling in?"

 

"Good, they've been offworld for the harvests and the trips to the third planet." Calvin grins. He makes a mental note to talk to the growing gods about Thomas's land and indoor growing areas. Josette heads off to the house, spending a couple weeks on Earth before heading back to Haven.

 

Josette looks as the students and employees walk through David's tesseract to the school as she starts delivering empty shipping containers to a yard. More socks are brought out and Josette hands over the files for the books she's finished at Bronwen's look. She nods in satisfaction.

 

"Third book?"

 

"Be done before the Lights Festival. Agatha is making the arrangements for a signing party sometime next first semester."

 

"Are the kids enjoying pre-school?" Lady Simone asks. Josette and the others snigger. "Ahhh, like their brothers and sisters 'this is school? This is boring'." Josette nods. "The older set?"

 

"Were talking to GD about jobs this summer. Next year they'll be looking at intern housing so they know what to bring with them and looking into permanent housing when they're done."

 

"Are you thinking of more kids in a few years?" Hannah asks. The kids look at each other.

 

"We've been talking, we've had kids in the dorm for over a hundred years and . . ." Alexander says.

 

"You're thinking of being empty nesters for a while? Been there, done that." Everybody around them nods.

 

Four weeks later Earth time David opens the tesseract on Haven and everybody walks through, the students walking to the auditorium to have their bags checked as the kids head back to the dorm.

 

"Did you bring back recycling?"

 

"Yeah, I gotta sort through the clothes again." Josette is busy braiding the strips of clothes for rag rugs, looking down at the pile next to her. Ma had come out today to talk to the mill and nods at the pile as Josette reaches the end of the strips and sews them together.

 

"Do you always braid rugs?"

 

"It's a use for the clothes that are too worn out to be used in quilts. Oh we've got a factory to make them and we could toss the clothes in the recycle bin to use as raw material for new fabric but. . ."

 

"It's something you made." Ma says. Josette nods and 'flips' the pile upstairs to the sewing room.. "Josette said that the crops will be coming in when you're off for your finals?"

 

David nods. "I'm eight classes into a Masters from Calvin's dimension, while Josette finished another bachelors from there. It was from a textiles school and Bronwen brought out visitors from the schools she's familiar with this summer to show everything off. She finished another degree this fall and is working on several more. Susan's four classes from finishing a Masters in history, she's going to be finishing it next year. You uploaded your thesis to the server, right?"

 

"Yeah, before we went out for the boys show." Susan is loading up the recycling to take to the center in town.

 

"While the boys will be finishing their second years for a Masters in Art History from Oxford next year. They've already got doctorates in Art History, so does Josette but the others insisted that it would look good for the shows and they'd be able to get them accepted in the other dimensions. Like their original degrees, they're attending different schools so the books are different."

 

"You should be starting your thesis next year?"

 

"Yeah, I've been making notes, working on my outline, and got a rough draft started to show my advisor."

 

"Are you planning on going on dear?"

 

"Not for a while, it's not a degree that I need, it's one I wanted."

 

"The rest of you?"

 

"Finished our latest bachelors a couple years ago. We expect the others to talk to us about starting degrees on the systems David and Josette use." Ma chuckles at Alan's face hangdog look and his sisters pat him on the shoulder in there, there gestures.

 

"Do you all take turns with the recycling?"

 

"Recycling, laundry, and other basic chores. The kids start helping out with the laundry when they're old enough to hand up clothespins to the parent or older sibling hanging up clothes. They learn from their parents or older siblings on how to treat stains, separate colors, no throwing everything in one machine then leaving it. . ." Ma snickers. "Until they're thirteen the parents or older siblings do it, then they figure out who's doing it that week. With the larger groups at least two of them are doing laundry." Ma nods in satisfaction. "This way they're more than ready to be on their own after they finish their university degrees." Ma nods in satisfaction before taking the flyer back to their land.

 

"Get everything taken care of?"

 

"Yes, the mill will start our batch as soon as they're done with Josette's special order of chickpea flour."

 

"Chickpea flour?" Pa asks, coming over and wrapping his arms around her. Clark had been worried when she hadn't returned earlier and had listened for her voice, finding her talking to Josette. A quick glance that way with his x-ray vision had found Ma sitting in the dorm talking with the others.

 

"It's used in gluten-free cooking." Thomas says quietly. Alex nods. "Josette and the others told me they grow the crop every few years, making flour with some of it but most of it goes to Josette's salads. The others give her 'really Josette?' looks when she eats them and edamame beans raw in them because she likes the crunch." The others look at him and he chuckles. "They're like raw brussels sprouts in they cause gas and from what the others have said, she belches and farts for days."

 

"Anything new?" Doc asks a few days later at the government meeting before the crops start coming in.

 

"Yeah, hear me out a second." Josette grabs Susan and brings her in. "Hear me out. I was drifting off to sleep last night when I got a bolt out of the blue. Normally I'd just roll over and go to sleep but. . . Susan needs a dissertation topic, we're coming up on the hundredth anniversary of landing on Haven in nine years and nearing a hundred years since we switched to our own calendar in sixteen. A museum or show somewhere with the history of Haven in pictures. There's plenty of pictures on the ships from when I was coming out to build on the land before we came up, the school was a helluva lot smaller. Town was a helluva lot smaller. We came out there was only the three stores, the glassblowers, and a handful of houses. Edinborough, Sherlock, and Hank's woodworkers didn't come out until the fall, that's when we put up the growing buildings."

 

"Assyrian, Montague, and Balaclava were smaller." Principal Madison says. He's making notes on his PADD.

 

"The commercial crops didn't go in until after our first winter." President Bartlett says. "Susan can't handle all of this by herself."

 

"No I figured I'd talk to the historians at GD and some of the teachers. But. . ."

 

"I can use the notes from everything we're doing for my dissertation." Susan says. Josette sends off the message to Dr. Stark, he'll be moaning at her when he gets the message he's sure.

 

"Josette, can you contact the universities and find out what they got in the way of pictures?" Doc asks.

 

"Yeah." Josette sends off the message to the teachers she's most familiar with, they'll talk to the others about how the schools have grown over the years.

 

"You forget how things have changed." President Bartlett says. Josette nods. "Even if we don't get it in by either of the hundredth anniversaries. . .and yeah, I know it's been longer than that since we stopped using Earth's calendar but. . ."

 

"A history of how everything has changed should be made. If not a show a history in pictures in books." Josette nods and sends that message off to Dr. Stark, getting a message back immediately. Smirking, she sends out another message.

 

"Quit tormenting Nathan, that's Carter and Allison's job." Doc chuckles, reading over her shoulder. Cackling, she passes that along and puts her PADD back on her belt.

The next couple of weeks fly by and soon Josette and the others are busy bringing in the last harvest. They head to Archimedes for their finals one day, Josette smirking at Dr. Stark as he gives her chiding looks at the tables as Drs. Cross and McNider chuckle.

 

"I'm sure there's already books being written about what happened in the other dimension so nothing like that ever happens again, I passed along the option of using our printing operation if they wanted hard copies." Dr. Stark nods. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Are you going out after Thanksgiving?"

 

"Yeah. It's been 22 years since the bombs went off, so around 30 years there? Whichever ship goes out will be seeing if Earth is beginning to recover."

 

"Do they have the notes for the cities?"

 

"Yeah, if they have to they can settle on Earth in one of them after the nuclear winter has passed. The shields will absorb the lingering radiation and change it into energy while they're seeing how the radiation changed everything." The three doctors nod.

 

After the finals Josette starts picking up the recycling and dropping off wheat and rice to the flour factory and manufacturing satellite for various planets. Back on Haven she slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Josette, is there any plans for the other satellites?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"Yeah, we're looking into starting orders again next year. They'll be in operation at least three years." Doc nods in satisfaction. "Once we get an idea of what we're making, the ordering information will be sent out."

 

"Okay, trips to the other dimensions?"

 

"Taking the graduating students home, recycling, and last of the orders out to Granda's. Taking Doc's orders out. Picking up supplies and harvesting lost countries on Thomas's world. I'll probably take three ships out. Going to the 9th planet Earth to see how the nuclear winter is going, it's been 22 years for us so maybe 35 years there. They don't expect it to clear out for decades yet but. . ." The others nod. "Keep on top of it so they can hopefully return to Earth one day."

 

"Once the nuclear winter is over they'll have to see how long it will take Earth to recover."

 

"See how any lingering radiation affects growth, see if the water and earth can recover. . .they took a lot of dirt away from Chernobyl and the ground was still radioactive."

 

The next week Thomas and the others smile as they walk though the tesseract David opens. Dawn looks around at the large number of people, not only from the eighth, ninth, and tenth planets but from the other dimensions.

 

"Tara, red ringed pit is the real meat, the other one is the vat raised meat."

 

"Th. . thank you."

 

"Dr. Cross is a vegetarian too." She waves at the three men and Tara sighs in relief that Josette's not going to any extra trouble just for her. Alexander's stirring something in a large pot over one of the fires.

 

"Is that your famous soup?"

 

"Yep, a double double batch." Alexander waves a hand at the pickle jars nearby. Thomas looks at them. "A vegetable soup that a family friend of the Covington's passed along back when we were in high school and Josette fell one day. She wasn't concussed but something twisted in her screwy mind. . ." Josette blows a raspberry in his direction. "And she couldn't stand the smell of meat for a few months. The school offered more vegetarian main courses and she brought what was available in the stores but that shit was godawful." Everybody who's eaten anything like that nods. "She lost weight and a family friend passed along a jar of the soup and the recipe. There's a couple rules for the soup, when you make a double batch you only use half again the spices and you put the leftovers up in pickle jars. It doesn't taste the same otherwise."

 

Alex nods. "We had it on the bus during the road trip and after the first time it was put up in plain mason jars we hit various restaurant and warehouse stores to stock up on pickles and pickle jars." His dad looks at him. "Yes, that's why I was buying so many pickles suddenly, I'd just come back from the road trip. That's why I always saved the pickle jars, I've got a good selection of various sizes in the compound."

 

"So do we, everybody knows to save pickle jars for us. It helps bringing out so many supplies from the other dimensions and we need something to put the pickles in when we take them out of the barrels."

 

"How did you . . ."

 

"Suddenly start eating meat again? Whatever in my head must have unkinked because about three months later I woke up craving a hamburger with all the trimmings."

 

After Thanksgiving everybody walks through the tesseract David opens to the school while Josette is busy delivering everything.

 

Josette grabs the historians in the pantheons, talking to them about the plans for either a show or a series of books about the first hundred years of Haven, getting nods and ideas that none of them had thought about. Hannah is looking that direction and Susan tells her what Josette was talking to them about.

 

"Different writing a book of on quilts, socks, t-shirts, or cookbooks and a coffee table book of the history of something like settling Haven." Calvin says. "Though working on that would be a good dissertation."

 

"Yeah, we'll have everything done before I even start it though." Susan chuckles. Several weeks later after trips to various places and working on the recycling David opens the tesseract back on Haven. They lift off again, going to Mom Clarinda's dimension. Several weeks later they return and Josette joins with her other selves that had been to the other dimensions with Thomas and Dr. Cross and McNider. Delivering containers various places she starts unearthing old photographs, sorting them out for various book ideas. The school should be a book by itself she thinks as she remembers all the information on the school in one of the rooms of the administration building.

 

"Josette, what are you doing?" Joyce asks a few days later, finding Josette digging through file cabinets, a table covered with papers and photographs. A table that hadn't been in there before has a laptop, scanner, and hard drive. Josette turns to look at the older woman and grins. "I'm doing something that will make Principal Madison cuss for at least a week."

 

The other woman laughs. "What's on your devious mind?" Josette outlines her plans and Joyce expands on them. She'd always been a bit of a history buff and had used the time when the school was shut down and now that she had three other women covering her office and a fancy title as office manager to get degrees in history as well as the office management courses Susan had taken.

 

"There's a difference between ..."

 

"Writing textiles books and writing coffee table history books." Josette nods. "I'm talking to Professors Parker and Fletcher when the others come out for the Lights Festival."

 

"I'd hoped that we were going to be doing something for the 100th anniversary of settling on Haven."

 

Josette nods. "I talked to some of the historians in the other dimension, they don't normally come out but they're going to be working with us. They've written several of these type of books." Joyce nods in satisfaction. "Work with the experts, Peter for the photographs and Jessica to . . write personal histories?"

 

"Yep."

 

Josette leaves the stuff she's been digging through in the room, it's not used very often and won't be touched. After getting a hot shower to get rid of the dust she joins the others walking to dinner.

 

"Thomas and the others ready for winter?"

 

"Yep, they've got good supplies of the fake wood in for fireplaces, woodburning stoves, and furnaces, they've got the alternate energy, the Manor has been off the grid for years, they've got good stocks of food for themselves and the animals, and they have tesseract devices so they can pop around when being out there gets too much for them. Martha's able to work on her quilts and whatnot, Thomas is able to do research, Clark's working a couple of books. . ."

 

"Alex, Jason, and Tim are taking classes?"

 

"Yep, they're all at stages where they're all doing bookwork. Alex won't have projects until next year. And while our gifts take care of the book classes, they don't give you an edge in the classes where you have to work." Nods from the others.

 

"How long were you gone?"

 

"About three years, we cleared out three countries and there's five nearly as bad. Mars and the Watchtower have plenty of supplies for now and the future, we moved entire buildings of supplies and domed them. They're cleaning the water and earth right now and once they're sure it's good, they're going to be planting. Africa is like ours, it's going to take a while to recover."

 

"Luckily the Earth has time to recover." Susan says quietly. The others nod.

 

Josette settles in her usual spot at the Albatross Nest a couple weeks later, a bottle of pop next to her along with a plate while a second is on her knees.

 

"Josette, books?"

 

"The third one should be finished next week. The next three will be printed next year and I've got eight more to be printed after those are done." Everybody grins.

 

"Okay everybody, I've got jobs for you." The others turn to look at her. "I'm looking for pictures of Albatross from before it moved and how it's changed over the years."

 

"Are you planning a history?"

 

"Yep, we're working on a history in pictures for the 100th anniversary of Haven and coffee table books. Agatha, can we use your scanner for old photos?"

 

"Yep, I'm sure there's plenty of old information in various attics around town. Have you talked to the universities?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Please tell me you're not doing everything yourself?" Sue says.

 

"Hell no, Doc would shoot me with a trank dart and lock me in his 'special' room for the rest of my life. I've been talking with the historians on the 8th and 9th planets, Archimedes is planning something similar. I've been talking with the historians Calvin and Hannah's family work with, they've done these types of books before." the others nod in satisfaction. "It's going to take a few years to get the pictures together and work on the timeline and everything."

 

"Let the experts do it."

 

"Exactly. Susan's using the notes from all this stuff for her dissertation, but like she already said she's waiting until this is all over before she starts." Chuckles and nods from the others.

 

Talk turns to other things and the kits and cookies are passes out. Food is put into containers and by common consent it's all shoved at Josette. Sniggering she puts them in subspace and starts off after dishes are washed and sorted out or put up. Back at the dorm she puts everything away and heads up to where the others are in the growing area transplanting seedlings in the growing rooms, hydroponics, and aquaponics.

 

"Talk to the others about the plans?"

 

"Yeah, Agatha agreed to use her scanner for old photos, it will be a few years to get everything together and depending on how much information they have from before they left Earth. . ." Alan snorts at the growing racks where he's spreading seeds in the trays.

 

"Tons, just in attics let alone the historical society."

 

"We might be looking at a couple books on Albatross alone, one from before they came up and one afterwards." Anna grabs her PADD and sends out a message. "The historical society has wanted to write a book for years but it's always been too much money. Even a vanity printing."

 

"Now they can."

 

Josette brings out the third order of books from the printing operation the next week, putting them in a room. Sending off the message to the Albatross Nest about the books she heads to lunch.

 

After the Lights Festival Josette sends out the message about the satellite going into operation and what they'd be working on, the order information going out and the jobs being announced before sliding into her seat at the government building.

 

"Announcement for the satellite out, order information on the servers with the orders due by the Harvest Festival and the jobs starting next year." She puts her PADD on her belt as the others nod in satisfaction.

 

"Plans for this year?"

 

"Clarinda and the others turning a hundred." Josette shakes her head. David shakes his head. "I swear it was just yesterday Josette was cussing as she was trying to get behind the wheel of her van." Thoughts then turn to the friends of humanity who started Earth's troubles. Shaking her head Josette turns her attention to other matters.

 

"The printing operation is starting the fourth book today."

 

"Agatha settle on a date for the party?"

 

"A couple of weeks. The first book will be available at the shows."

 

"Who where?" Principal Madison asks, the verbal shorthand for whose show is in which dimension.

 

"The boys first in Granda's dimension, I'll be signing books and delivering them to Ellis when we go out. My show is in Mom's, I'll sign books after the show." He nods.

 

"Are all the book orders the same size?"

 

"Yeah, I wasn't too sure about that many for the t-shirts and socks books but David and Bronwen convinced me the looky-loos at the shows will buy them just because they're there." The three older men laugh but nod.

 

"The other books?"

 

"We're looking at the same size run, they'll be in the various libraries as well as for sale." Nods from the others. "We're looking at from ten to fifteen, one or two from the exhibit itself for those who couldn't make it or want a reminder of it, the rest with more pictures and other information. That number includes Albatross, Eureka, and Cabot Cove." the three men nod in satisfaction.

 

"What's the supply on the toilet paper and toothpaste?"

 

"Good, I figure the toilet paper next year with the candy and toothpaste the year after that." The others look at the numbers and nod, if they run out of toothpaste or toilet paper before they can replicate it.

 

Stopping at the bakery Josette returns to the dorm, shaking the snow off her cloak and taking off her boots. She heads upstairs to her workroom to start a quilt as David heads to his room. He's been working on his thesis during the summers and over breaks and will be meeting with his advisor this summer about it. The others were starting classes from the other dimension, Josette had brought out her supplies and their books out before the Lights Festival.

 

"How did you divide the stuff from the countries?" David asks at lunch.

 

"The ships cleared out the garbage dumps, a lot of the raw material went into crystals for the others use. Other stuff we split."

 

"Are you going out again this semester?"

 

"Yeah, probably third testing week since I'm going out to Calvin's midterms and finals to pick up school supplies and drop off the orders. And taking out orders to Doc's dimension."

 

Doc sends her a message the day after their first testing week and she goes out with him, returning with containers of supplies from ruined warehouses and factories. He calls for a meeting after they return and joins the others at Headquarters later that night.

 

"How bad?"

 

"Volcanic activity is picking up, some volcanoes that have been dormant for years are stirring to life."

 

"Shit."

 

"We picked up a lot of supplies from warehouses and factories that have been covered with volcanic ash. Everything would have been destroyed anyway once the magma started flowing." He says at their looks. "It was already starting to move, we just emptied buildings and sorted afterwards. Like Thomas's world, some of the countries are empty, the world court had us going in and burying people. They were sorting out supplies with us."

 

"Communist countries?"

 

"Gone. Those were the first countries we checked after we harvested everything under the ash. Governments are moving people out of the danger zones. . .finally."

 

"About damn time."

 

"How long were you gone?"

 

"About five years. Once the land was clean, they started planting and were already on their second or third crops."

 

"Good, even with all the deaths there's still problems feeding everybody."

 

"And the extra crops coming in will mean jobs in canning factories." Nods from the others. "We're planning the same thing as countries fall."

 

The next day Agatha is looking around the Albatross Nest. Josette had brought out the boxes of books the previous weekend and Agatha had sat down with the books to read. Five boxes of each book are set out under the tables that are covered with the books so Josette shouldn't have to bring out more until the end of the show for her and Sue to sell at the stores.

 

More tables are full of food and drink and she opens the door, people starting to come through the front door and the link. Looking at the books longingly, everybody turns to the food, talking about this and that.

 

"Are you done with your first notebook of quilts?"

 

"About 2/3rd done." Josette drops her head and the others snigger.

 

"How many books?" David asks at dinner.

 

"About 1500 between the three books, Agatha doesn't have the final count yet. I took three hundred more of each book to the stores afterwards so they have them on hand. I'll take out about fifteen thousand copies of the first book out for the boys show and Ellis. I run low I'll bring more out for Ellis, it's not like I won't be there multiple times." Nods from the others.

 

After dinner Josette dials up eggplant and chicken parmesans from the food replicator and eats while she works on one of the projects for the hands-on classes she's taking from the other schools. Since she's off to the other dimension so often it's not that hard to send off her projects. Alex and Jason are at Assyrian and Edinborough once every couple of weeks to talk with the teachers and show what they've been working on.

 

Midterms Josette heads off to the other dimension, picking up the school supplies and dropping off the empty containers and recycling. Dropping off socks she settles into a seat in Calvin's office.

 

"I understand you went to Doc's world?"

 

"Yeah, he got an emergency call and we went out to salvage stuff that had been buried by ash in an eruption. Since it was going to be destroyed by the magma coming we figured it was fair game." Calvin nods.

 

"Communist countries?"

 

"Gone. We were clearing them out and they'd started planting once the land was clear."

 

Calvin nods in satisfaction. "Thomas's world?"

 

"We cleared three countries while we were out there. And there's five that were just as bad. I expect them to be gone by the time we go out next year."

 

"Are they moving to the other countries?"

 

"Yeah, not all the buildings were emptied, same with Doc's world so they got places to live when they're working in the fields." Calvin nods in satisfaction. "They've got in enough supplies on the moon and Mars for decades."

 

"Earth is a consumer world." Josette nods and heads off to the house. Over the next few weeks she takes care of the recycling and visits various places, including Las Vegas. Back on Haven she delivers the new supplies to the school and slides into her seat at lunch.

 

"How long were you gone?"

 

"About a month. I took care of the recycling and went a few places while I was there."

 

"Are you visiting your school?"

 

"This summer along with teachers from Edinborough and Assyrian. We're going to be visiting about five schools. Granda's coming out with more teachers from schools similar to Montague when we come back and next year I'm coming out with teachers from Montague to tour their schools."

 

"School employees?"

 

"First batch going home next year, more cooking teachers are coming out either next year or year after next. They came out in 79 and the older teachers went home in 81." The others nod. "Either way you're going to be bringing out two batches of teachers plus supplies." Josette nods. "Followed by students."

 

Thomas is talking to Doc at Wayne Manor, walking into the compound a couple days after Josette had taken him back to the other dimension to pick up supplies. Knowing he was there on one of the ships he can see in orbit had been . . .interesting. They'd stayed a couple of weeks, Josette delivering empty containers to a drop off point and moving the new containers from the ship to the compound when they'd returned.

 

"This reminds me a lot . .."

 

"Of Josette's ships." Thomas nods. After seeing Headquarters, the dorm, and the ships he'd started telling the others about the compound.

 

"I was going to say one of the TARDISES or the other ships but yes." He looks at Thomas then chuckles. "You're not saying anything but half of us are the same way." Thomas nods. "Now are you sure you have room for the stuff you're bringing out as countries are lost?"

 

Thomas nods. "The compound is a lot larger than it looks. You can walk anywhere in a few steps. . .or so it seems." Alex, who'd come out of the medical unit after his breathing exercises, sniggers and heads for his workroom. He'd set up his own personal area before they'd left after seeing Josette's work area but still works with the others in the general room cutting up clothes for patchwork quilts. Josette had refilled their supply of old clothes for them when they'd returned.

 

"Alex?"

 

"Yeah Dad?" Alex leans against the door frame.

 

"Projects?"

 

"Coming along good, I was out yesterday with Jason. Tim's at Montague today. Dawn's looking through the degrees on the computers deciding what she wants to take. She's heading to Oxford with Tara, Oz, and Josette in a couple days to talk to teachers about classes because . . . Hello, it's Oxford." The two older men nod. "Yes, we're looking into classes there too. . .but not right away."

 

"Have you made the plans for the gardens?"

 

"Yes, we're working on them now. We want to add another area for herbs. Haven grows a good selection but. . ."

 

"There's a lot more out there." Doc nods. "Josette always has different herbs growing in the aquaponics units. She sells a lot of them to Vincent at the cafes."

 

 

 

Josette checks her list of supplies. "We're going to have to make sausages next year." David nods. "It's been a few years. How are we on fish?"

 

"We need to check the end of the year, same with the chipilotes. We'll smoke herbs, cheese, and the sausage." David nods and Josette makes a note on her PADD and puts it back on her belt. They turn their attention back to the plans for the gardens while the others are upstairs in the growing area.

 

At the dining hall Josette comes up to President Bartlett since Principal Madison's talking to a teacher.

 

"We're tentatively planning on making sausage and having the smokehouse running next year."

 

"Fish and chipilotes?" Mrs. Bartlett asks since Jed is chewing.

 

"We figured on checking the supplies at the end of the year." Both Bartletts nod and Principal Madison catches her eye and nods. She looks over at Benton and he nods as well.

 

"Josette, the wine?"

 

"I picked the new grapes last year, they're aging in barrels right now, I figure two more years and it will be ready to bottle. the dairy's buying it by the barrel for their cheese. Hannah and the others want me to grow a few more grapes and experiment with blending them in wine, they're looking at land right now." Everybody in earshot grins.

 

"The outdoor movie screen?" Professor Druid asks.

 

"They found the perfect location and are starting on it this year."

 

Josette heads to the back room.

 

"How are you on your cooking classes?"

 

"Partway through a block and starting the third year of the degree classes this summer. I'll have another year's worth of books and other supplies to bring home in a couple months."

 

"Did Alex pull his big boy pants on and sign up for the handsewing a quilt class?"

 

"When he realized it was two nights a week for the entire year, yeah." The others snigger.

 

"How many classes are they taking?"

 

"Three a semester spring and fall, they take their projects out once a week." Anna nods in satisfaction.

 

Third testing week Josette starts moving the orders for Calvin and Doc's worlds to the ships. The ground is bare in a couple weeks and Josette grins as she sees the others opening windows and spreading manure on the gardens and fields. A few days later an apartment building goes up on their land, followed a week later by a couple of orchards. Everything is in before Josette, Susan, and the boys head to Archimedes for their finals.

 

"How are Thomas and the others getting along?"

 

"Good, a couple orchards and Clark's apartment building came out over the last month." The three older men nod in satisfaction. "First crops are in, including the gardens at the farms and Wayne Manor."

 

"I hear rumors of a new cookbook?"

 

"Breads, rolls, pastries. . ." The others nod in satisfaction. "There's a number of people who make their own bread so there's no lack of recipes." More nods.

 

"Other books?"

 

"I'm picking the fourth one up from the printer and the first one is going on sale at the shows this summer. It's the boys one at Granda's dimension so I'll be signing books most of the night, I'm taking some out to Ellis too so he can sell them just after they premiere at the show."

 

"Are the others coming out early to do some work this summer?"

 

"Yeah, they're already out working on the outdoor movie screen and the growing areas of the dorm now that we're done for the winter except for the aquaponics." Dr. Cross laughs. "Are you ready to take out the orders and recycling?"

 

"Yeah, I gotta check the factories for last minute finished orders."

 

A few days later she slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Recycling?"

 

"Brought in from the other planets, I'm picking up more in the other dimensions, a lot of the ends of newspapers that the printers can't use. In the replicators it can be made into new rolls." Nods from the others. "I'll probably be bringing out more recycling from the other dimensions, stuff they don't have a use for but we do. Printers and recyclers are more than happy to pass it along to us."

 

"Is Clark going out?"

 

"No, we're still there. This is a in and out, dropoff and pickup. I'm going out this afternoon." The others nod.

 

That 8th day David opens the tesseract for the students and employees who'd come out to get in supplies and whatnot, Josette delivering the orders, recycling, and dropping off the first batch of belongings for returning students.

 

"This is strange, knowing we're on Haven right now for you but . . ."

 

"You've already lived it. I'm used to it being out of time so long on so many worlds. I was dropping off orders and recycling a couple days ago on Doc's world while I was there from our first testing week when we'd gone out to salvage supplies and machinery that would be destroyed by the volcano. I remember it from both sides, seeing the ship arrive in orbit and being there calming Doc down and telling him it was just me delivering the orders."

 

Six weeks later for them David opens the tesseract back at the school as Josette's delivering containers of supplies. A couple hours later she absorbs her other selves and heads back to the dorm.

 

"Did you get your grades back for the projects?" Bronwen asks, peeking into the living room when she hears Josette return.

 

"Yeah, a perfect 4.0." Josette points at the projects on the coffee table and Bronwen looks over the notes in satisfaction. "Books."

 

"Boys show in a couple months, I'll be signing copies and I'm bringing some out for Ellis to sell right after the show." She nods in satisfaction. "Now how was the sales?"

 

"524 for the first books, 478 for the second, and 518 for the third at the show, there's 500 each at the stores." Bronwen nods in satisfaction. "Not bad considering. . ."

 

"Everybody here is already familiar with the quilts." Josette nods. She takes her graded projects upstairs and puts them away before going into the library to add more room to her libraries, adding more hallways for new schools from the other dimension.

 

"Josette, are you gonna be growing on the satellite?" Principal Madison asks at dinner.

 

"Yeah, I wanna plant more stuff we don't normally grow and stock up on herbs. I'll get the requests list out at the Harvest Festival."

 

"Scrub trees for tp?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"I'll bring a batch out this summer. That and next year should be enough for the orders."

 

A couple weeks later Josette stops by the administration building to get the books and supplies for her classes from the other dimension, putting them and the new year of books for her cooking degree away when she gets back to the dorm. She'd added a new area to the library for the cookbooks when she started running out of room and now she has two areas, one for the degrees she's taken and one for the blocks she's taken. Lady Simone nods in satisfaction as the books take their new places. "I was going to say you needed more room for those. Yes, having them near where you work is more convenient but. . ."

 

"Not if they're all boxed up since I ran out of room years ago."

 

"Exactly." Both women look at the shelves in satisfaction, there's plenty of room for future classes and more shelves can be added in the future.

 

A few weeks later Josette heads off with the others for the show in Granda's dimension, Ellis's eyes sparkling in pleasure as Josette brings out the books the morning of the show.

 

"It's premiering tonight so you'll be able to put them out tomorrow."

 

"Thank you Josette, you said you've got more?"

 

"Three more already printed, one that's being worked on right now, and more on the schedule including a book on the socks I tie-dye or paint and one on t-shirts I decorated." Ellis grins as they settle in a room and talk over hot chocolate.

 

Josette looks up at the line going out the door and grins. "We had a lot of interest on the website when we announced that a new book would be debuting tonight."

 

After the show Josette takes care of the recycling and heads to Vegas with the girls, returning six weeks later for them. The crops are beginning to come in and Josette's busy the next couple of weeks. Up in the aquaponics area after the last of the crops are in Josette's transplanting seedlings as Alan removes the dead plants in the oldest area and puts them in the compost room of the growing area, giving the containers a spin before they go downstairs.

 

"Did you ever find the land for the new grapes?"

 

"Yeah, we've selected thousand acres and planted the vines on the ship. If it takes off there's more land to expand in beyond that."

 

"A thousand acres?"

 

"Two different types of grapes."

 

"Forgot."

 

"And we're not planting all of it, not at first."

 

"Do you have the area to keep everything separate?"

 

"Yeah, they're working on the wineries again this year." Josette waves a hand as the room shimmers around them. She looks at the tanks for the clams and checks the size of one before putting it back. "Harvesting this year?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Josette, are these pearls?" Hannah asks when she sees the shelf of baby food jars filled with what looks like marbles in varying colors in Josette's library.

 

"Yep, I keep meaning to string them one day. They're from the clams, mussels, and oysters, both in aquaponics and the farms." She points at the two different shelves. "I've got more on the ships, from the other worlds I've visited."

 

"I'll have one of the pantheon's jewelry makers come out over the Lights Festival and work on them, he's going to be busy through the Harvest Festival." Simone, who'd come up behind them, nods.

 

"As is the one that I'd have brought out." She opens a jar and rolls two through her fingers. "It's nice to feel natural pearls, so many nowadays are the cultured ones."

 

"This way they can chug out the jewelry instead of waiting on mother nature." Nods from the other two women. "Easier to implant the grit instead of taking a chance." Both women know Josette has a good selection of diamonds, gold, and other precious gems and metals on the ships so they shouldn't need to bring anything up but their tools.

 

The yearly crops are starting to come in and Josette's busy over the next couple of weeks with the first planet crops, pressing the grapes, bottling the oldest wine and putting the newest in barrels then working with some of the others in the brewery. Heading off to Mom Clarinda's dimension Josette drops off special orders and the books with Dexter.

 

Six weeks later for them they return to Haven, Josette detouring to pick up a load of scrub trees from one of the forest planetoids for the paper factory.

 

"Is that it for the yearly and offworld harvests until we start picking?" Susan asks at dinner.

 

Josette nods, her mouth full. Chewing she swallows the mouthful of lasagna. "Yeah. The trees for the paper factory was the last one."

 

"Is Thomas's orchards producing yet?"

 

"Yeah, they were picking over the last couple of weeks, slicing the apples into chips, making applesauce, making pies they stick in their freezer section, and just sticking them in stasis to eat over the winter."

 

The second harvest starts coming in and once everything's in Josette sends out the notice that she'd be growing on the satellite that fall. She knows it will take a few weeks for everybody to get their requests in as they look through what they have on hand and what they plan on growing themselves.

 

"Do you have the grapes finished?"

 

"Yeah, I just got done spreading the skins and stems around the vines."

 

"Have you been bringing out stuff for Thomas and Doc?"

 

"Yeah, I've made a few trips out to both places to pick up supplies. Most of it is stuff that you'd normally be getting in, books, movies, magazines, tv shows, stuff like that. They've made trips back to Earth to check up on stuff and do some shopping." The others nod. "They're stocking up on food stuffs for the food replicators, mostly stuff that they won't be able to make for several years. The others on Mars and the moon are doing the same, getting in a lot of cookbooks, cooking videos, stuff they'll need when it's time to rebuild."

 

The Harvest Festival happens a couple days later and visitors from Thomas' dimension come out, staying in the temporary housing units as they check out the planet that the Batmen, Superman, and Supergirl have settled on. The news about the outdoor theater had been going around for a while, so there's a number of people sitting on blankets with meals from the various restaurants, including pizzas as the second sun goes down and the screen comes to life.

 

The others head home after the Harvest Festival and Calvin and Josette are on the same page timewise when she starts coming out for the students.

 

"Did you and the others come out to visit the schools?" Calvin asks, waving Josette into his office when she delivers another batch of student belongings and socks.

 

"Yeah, when I came out midterms." Calvin nods. "We were out here about six weeks and visited five schools with Bronwen."

 

"Good, I'll be bringing out the teachers to Montague a couple days after Thanksgiving." Josette nods and heads off with the students.

 

"Are we full?" David asks at dinner.

 

"No, Granda thinks it's going to ebb and flow, some years more students and some less." Nods of satisfaction from the others.

 

"Satellites?"

 

"I went up to check on everything this summer. The jobs are on the server, we should start operation after the first of the year.

 

The offworld harvests start coming in and everybody's busy the next month, either off harvesting or taking care of the food once it's on Haven. Josette slumps into a seat at office when she brings out the last of the student belongings midterms.

 

"Is everything in now?" Calvin asks.

 

"We've got two more harvests then everything will be done until the last harvest."

 

"Are you going to the island or the first planet after Thanksgiving?"

 

"Both, we're planting on the island this year, the stuff we'd normally plant in the growing area except for the aquaponics that we don't grow on the islands will be on the satellite along with the food we don't normally grow and the herbs." Calvin nods in satisfaction. "How often do you introduce new foods?"

 

"About every ten years or so. Last time we grew a couple new varieties of potatoes on the first planet. Before that it was rhubarb, fennel, and celery root." Calvin nods in satisfaction. "Nothing too outlandish and it's something that can be used up."

 

A month later her time Josette returns to Haven and slides into her seat at lunch. After lunch Josette finishes the top for her latest quilt, splitting off duplicates to help lay out the layers and baste them together until she can take it upstairs. Looking at the number of quilts she has set aside she decides to take some of them in to Agatha's at the meeting before heading downstairs.

 

"How is the sewing a quilt class coming?" Josette asks Alex a couple days later when they go on offworld harvest.

 

"Good, like a lot of stuff once you pull your big boy pants on its not as scary as you think it will be." Josette sniggers but nods as Thomas chuckles. "Hand quilting it would be totally different."

 

"Been there, done that." Josette says. "My first quilt I hand quilted since that was before I had the studio. It took me about a year working a couple hours on it here and there. Swore up, down, and sideways never again once I was done, I'd use the long-arm machine at the school or take it to the Albatross Nest for one of their quilting bees."

 

"And you did it anyway."

 

"Three more times." Josette facepalms and makes a note on her PADD before they get back to work. Thomas looks at her. "A book of handsewing, start to finish."

 

"Are Frances, Elaine, and the other teachers taking classes?"

 

"Granda's world? Yeah, that's one of the reasons they talked to the teachers and toured the schools. Granda's coming out with teachers to tour Montague after Thanksgiving."

 

Josette leans over Agatha's shoulder after lunch. "Soooo, a book on handsewing a quilt, start to finish?" Agatha blinks at her then moans. Suzie, who'd been talking to her mother, stifles a cackle with her hand. Agatha looks at the daughter she gave birth to and her heartdaughter and sighs. "What brought this on?"

 

"Talking to Alex this morning when we were picking offplanet and asking him how he was enjoying his hand-sewing class. He said once he pulled his big-boy pants on it was fine and how he's not actually hand-quilting it. I said I'd done it three times and . . .well, you get the idea."

 

"I can see it . . ." Everybody in the store starts throwing out ideas and Josette and Suzie write them down.

 

The rest of the semester flies by and Josette, Susan, and the boys head to Archimedes for their finals, Susan sliding to her knees and loudly thanking the Gods that she's finished with her Masters. Alexander cackles in his chair as Josette sniggers.

 

"How is David coming along on his thesis?"

 

"Good, he talked to his advisor during the summer and he's starting on it again over the break. He's further along than he admits." The three men nod.

 

"Alexander and Michael?"

 

"Also talked to their advisors, they're talking dissertations as well as thesis."

 

"Are they picking up more classes now that it's general classes?"

 

"They're thinking about it, see how the classes stack up against the general classes from other schools. The classes they've already taken qualify them for the Masters from Granda and Mom's dimensions, I expect them to have the degrees in their hands when we go over after Thanksgiving." Susan nods as she sits down at the end of the table.

 

The boys squeak in under the buzzer and after lunch everybody heads home. The rest of the week passes in Josette picking up recycling and the last of the orders for the other dimensions, plus taking wheat and rice to the sorting planet for the other planets. The last of the crops are in and the plants tilled under for the winter when Josette slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"Is everything taken care of?"

 

"Yep, dropped off wheat and rice for three planets. Granda and Doc's recycling is on the ships. The orders are on the ships."

 

"How is Doc's world getting along?"

 

"They're . . .getting along. Unless you're directly involved people are ignoring the volcanic eruptions. The flooding was more problematic, there's still a lot of places that don't have clean water or sewage treatment."

 

"Units?"

 

"Waiting lists on them. Even with them they still need the plants." The others nod, it takes a 'big mack daddy unit' to handle the apartment complexes and other large buildings.

 

"Dark ages."

 

"Yep, mankind lived through it before and they will again."

 

A few days later they're gathered on the beach for the cookout.

 

"Josette, do you have the list of what you're growing or can grow?" Doc asks. She sends it to him and he adds a couple things. The others add a few things and Josette nods before she puts her PADD down. After Thanksgiving David opens the tesseract for the students and employees as Josette delivers empty containers, recycling, and the last of the orders before heading to the house. Six weeks later they return to Haven, Calvin and the teachers he'd selected coming back on the ship with them. The students head to the auditorium to have their bags inspected before going to their dorms. A week later he returns back to Earth with the teachers. Josette and the others come back from their trips to the other dimensions, Josette joining with her other selves that had gone to Doc and Thomas's dimensions, checking the list of recyclables she'd brought back that the other worlds hadn't been able to use.

 

Josette and the others head to the islands with the supplies for the gardens, changing their clothes and tilling up the three gardens. They return to Haven first morning in time for breakfast then sit talking in the living room about what they planted and the oldest kids plans for their last year of university classes and making lists of what they'll need for intern housing and their permanent houses after that.

 

A few days later the others start arriving and Josette takes everybody to the first planet, she ducks away for a 'couple hours' and returns from the satellite.

 

"Get everything planted?"

 

"Yeah, it's all in stasis on the ship." Hannah looks at her and she hands over her PADD, already open to her notes before she goes for a swim. Hannah and the others look over everything after dinner and the others have gone to bed. By the time they return six weeks after they'd left there's some rather interesting additions to the first planet. Josette starts delivering the requests to the other planets, the others nodding in satisfaction as they look everything over.

 

"Is this the last of the books?" Bronwen asks when she returns from the printers, putting the boxes in a room and marking which one it was on the door.

 

"Yes and no, these are the last of the ones that I had ready to go, I've got seven more ready to be printed starting next year, including the socks and t-shirts books." Bronwen nods in satisfaction. "Oh, and Agatha might be writing a book on hand-sewing a quilt all the way." Josette says innocently. Bronwen grins and heads off to talk to her. Hannah chuckles.

 

She settles in at the Albatross Nest a couple days later.

 

"Anything new?" Sue asks, the quilts on the table in front of her has everybody grinning and getting up to look. Agatha nods as the the files appear on the server. "You'll have to wait for the others until the books come out."

 

"Do you have any more books ready to print?" Marilyn asks.

 

"Yeah, seven more with the one on the socks and t-shirts. They start printing again after the first of the year."

 

Talk turns to other things, plans for the next year, the schools they'd visited over the summer, classes they were going to be giving or taking. . . The kits and cookies are passed out and the leftovers packed up and dishes and containers washed up before everybody heads off. Josette goes back to the dorm and puts everything away, sorting through her towels, sheets, and clothes until dinner. Mary taps on her door then nods in satisfaction at the pile on the bed.

 

"It's been a few years."

 

A couple of days later it's dark and dreary out. It's sleeting out, refusing to turn into true rain or true snow.

 

"Fuck it, I need a mental health break." Josette rounds everybody up and David opens the tesseract to Atlantis once the others have arrived. Some people are looking around but the others know where they're going and soon they land on the mud planet.

 

"Guys on that side of the rocks, ladies on this side. No clothes in the mud, it rots them. Once it's dry you're good but . . ." The others are already stripping and after a few blinks the rest of them follow suit, pinning hair up on heads and sighing as the hot mud loosens muscles they didn't even realize they had, let alone were tense.

 

"The mud is warmer that way and cooler the other."

 

"Just like hot springs."

 

"Yep."

 

"Volcanic?"

 

"Yeah, there's a vein that runs right under us according to the ships."

 

"We needed this . . ."

 

It's finally decided on snow by the time they return to Haven, the others smiling as they return to their homes. Josette hadn't been the only who needed to get away from it all for a few hours.

 

"Supernova?" James chuckles at the handwritten level on the heater in the room he'd just found.

 

"Josette, she likes to lay in here and soak, and the hotter she can get it the better."

 

"And a pool heater only goes up so far. Not that it could get that large a body of water that hot anyway." David nods. James looks around the roman bath, the room itself is made to look like a grotto and a hidden waterfall shower is tucked up in the corner. Thick towels line a shelf over a row of thick robes and shower shoes. "Not that we're not in here ourselves quite a bit, it reminds us of skipping off to the island after the dorms were shut down nights, weekends, or during storms to soak in the the hot springs during school before the generators were installed."

 

"How did you handle things?"

 

"Flashlights and extra blankets in the winter were handed out and everybody blocked their doors open. Everybody got a case of bottled water daily. The dorm monitor rooms had gas fireplaces in their shared wall. If you had warning that you were going to lose power, like a bad storm was coming in they filled tubs in empty bathrooms. Otherwise, use a little of the water to brush your teeth and rinse, pour a little in the sink if you wanted a cool wash up. We got a little heat but the blowers wouldn't kick in. Either stay in the lounges or crawl in your beds with all your clothes on and try to stay warm, plus work on your schoolwork while you had sunlight." Josette, who'd been walking by sniggers. "Yeah, after we got the dorm we had a bitter cold winter. We'd had the furnace looked at by maintenance and we thought it was just it being cold made it cold in here but a circuit or something had gone up in the furnace and it wasn't kicking on the blowers for the first floor. The first floor was a good twenty degrees colder than the second floor. When we realized water would freeze if it was left in the hallway Grammy Allie sent out sensors and she saw the temperature difference. That was before we had the pocket doors so the first floor hallway was open right to the front of the dorm." James shakes his head. "The circuit got fixed, we added film to the glass to block some of the cold air, we added the pocket doors and once they were in we uncovered the vents in the hallway."

 

"They were . . .no use having them open without a way to keep the heat in like the rooms." James says.

 

David nods. "Principal Madison added the film and pocket doors to the existing dorms and had them added to the new ones during construction. It means moving them every time somebody goes in but. . ."

 

"It keeps in heat during the winter and allows the students some measure of privacy on the first floor."

 

The Lights Festival comes and it's lightly snowing, once Mother Nature finally decided she wanted it to snow it had snowed at least once a day. The falling snow makes hissing sounds when it hits the hot wood under the paella and roasting pans. More than one camera is busy taking pictures and Josette's sure many pictures are going to be sent home to family and friends.

 

The others head home after the Lights Festival and Josette picks up the books and supplies for their offdimension classes, handing them out to the others when she gets home. Susan's the only one who's not taking a degree and she's working with Agatha and the historians getting all the information together for the planned project and books and making notes for her dissertation.

 

"Did the jewelry makers go through your stuff?" Michael asks. David smiles slightly, he's hiding something they know but it's nothing harmful.

 

"Yeah, I've got several cases of jewelry on the ships for the shows." Josette stretches and yawns, lacing her fingers together and arching both forwards and back, then side to side.

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"We're going out the end of the year, that will be about three and a half over there. The countries that were on the verge of collapse should be gone. If not they will when I go out for more supplies midterms next year."

 

"Going to be busy this year."

 

"Yep, the first batch of teachers and school employees heading home I'll have more belongings to take back.

 

"Cooking teachers?"

 

"Next year." David shakes his head. "It's only one year of many that I have so many groups coming out."

 

"Degrees?"

 

"Looking at finishing three this year, the musical instruments. . ." the visitors had been all but drooling over the classes, "Civil rights, and the first of three degrees on the Spider, I'm starting my fourth year on all of them next week."

 

"Cooking degree?"

 

"Three semesters left so next year."

 

"How many degrees do you have finished now?"

 

"Fourteen at the end of the year if I get all three in."

 

"Offworld?"

 

"I'm starting my third year."

 

"Alex?"

 

"He's going to be two years in, they're only taking three classes twice a year. He and Jason are at the hands-on stages of their degrees, Tim's are all bookwork. The others are deciding if they want to go for additional degrees, and if so where."

 

"Are you two getting in two classes?"

 

"At least this year, if they're easy we might pick up a third but this gives us time to work on special orders, stuff for the shows, our papers, and whatever else." David nods in satisfaction. "Your paper?" Josette points a finger at him.

 

"Coming along. I'm talking to my advisor again next year. That will put me six classes from finishing it."

 

"I'll have my second book debuting next year."

 

"What's the order?"

 

"Me Granda's then the boys Mom's. Did you two get your diplomas from the schools?"

 

"Yep, they're on the walls and Dexter and Marcus have already added that information to the sites."

 

"Signing party?"

 

"In a few weeks."

 

"Have they started the new order?"

 

"Next week."

 

"Okay, is everything finished here?"

 

"I think so." Josette looks over the new additions to the dorm listed on the server. "How much longer for the crystals?"

 

"They looked at them over during the Lights Festival, it should be a couple more years."

 

After lunch Josette heads to the islands to check on the crops, adding mulch around the plants now that they're coming up.

 

"How's the gardens looking?"

 

"Good, I mulched now that they're coming up. A few more weeks and the root veggies will be ready to pick." David nods at the pictures as they walk to the dining hall for dinner. After dinner they talk to Damian and the others about their plans for their last year of university, their internships, and their permanent housing.

 

"First planet?" David asks the next morning at breakfast.

 

"I'm going out in a couple months to plant, the beds and the mushrooms." David nods in satisfaction.

 

After breakfast Josette heads off to Brigadoon and starts putting ends of paper rolls in the large scale replicator.

 

"I swear the ends take up more room than the full rolls." Brigadoon sighs as the last of the rolls is fed to the unit.

 

"Probably because there's so many." Josette says. Dodging the cleaning robot that comes into the room she turns to a room of ruined machinery that had been brought out from the flooding on Doc's world and starts tearing some of them apart.

 

At lunch Principal Madison waves David to the front of the room when Josette doesn't join them. He chuckles.

 

"She's on Brigadoon doing a little room clearing. Getting all the paper ends into the large scale replicator and tearing apart more of the ruined machinery from Doc's world. In other words, 'Do something with this shit'." Principal Madison chuckles. "She'll be back in time for dinner."

 

"Does she have a lot of paper ends?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"Paper ends?" One of the younger teachers asks.

 

"What's left that the machines can't use when they print newspapers." Professor Parker says. "I used to work for a newspaper years ago, a photographer but there was always tons of it left behind."

 

David nods. "Granda says most of the recyclers are glad to take it off their hands. Josette puts it in the recycling bin of the large scale replicators and bing, bang, boom she uses it to make more rolls of paper."

 

"Didn't she do that with a lot of the scrap paper that had been ruined on Earth?"

 

"Yeah, that immediately went into the recycling bin along with clothes and fabric. After being wet so long it was moldy. This stuff was clean and dry and just piling up."

 

Josette nods when she slides into her seat at the dining hall for dinner. "Got three floors empty of paper ends and six rooms of large pieces of machinery broke up enough to be chucked in the recycling unit."

 

"Is that the last of the destroyed machinery?"

 

"Nearly, I got two more areas to take care of. Which isn't bad considering how much stuff was destroyed by the flooding." The others nod.

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"I'm going out midterms to pick up supplies, by the Harvest festival we'll have left so I won't be double-timing."

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"Third testing week unless something comes up sooner. Just in and out picking up the normal supplies since I'm still there."

 

"How long?"

 

"'Bout the Harvest Festival next year? The ships will have the exact time." Josette shrugs.

 

After dinner Josette finishes the top of the quilt she'd been working on, laying out the layers and basting them together to quilt the next day. It's finished a few days later and Josette finishes the pattern the night before the new school year is due to start then joins the others in at the pool for a swim after the kids have gone to bed.

 

Despite their thoughts they didn't need a 'dive-in' movie theater the screen by the pool is showing an old jungle movie as the heaters in the room are turned up and the lights turned down to give the room an 'atmosphere'."

 

The next morning Alex and Jason take the tesseract to Assyrian while Tim heads to Montague, the two older boys smiling at Joan as they enter the classroom. Joan looks at Alex and he brings out his hand sewn quilt, the older woman looking it over before they start class.

 

At the government building Josette shakes the snow off her cloak and hangs it up as the fireplace in one wall adds its heat to the furnace.

 

"Shit, it turned cold sudden." David wraps his hands around a cup of hot coffee.

 

"Gonna blow in something." Josette says. The others nod.

 

"New grapes?"

 

"Looking good on the ships, I'm putting up the supports and doming the land this year and planting next." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

Doc comes into the building and waves Josette into the hallway. They talk a minute and Josette stifles a cackle. Doc looks at her and Josette says something, getting Doc staring at her. She pulls him into the room.

 

"Oh yeah, the Institute is here on Haven, the 9th planet, and yours if they come up."

 

"Buckaroo?"

 

"We talked while we were in the other dimension, Josette was busy with the lost countries. They were settling in one of the cleared areas and I just asked Josette permission to bring them out for visits in case they wanted to move."

 

"We can do that this year for the Harvest Festival if you're not there at that time. The ships will know the date for certain." Doc nods in satisfaction. "Bring Buckaroo and whoever he wants to come out before the Harvest Festival. Once he's sure it's safe I'm sure more people will be coming up."

 

"And Buckaroo will be able to expand the Institute for research both in another country and on the 9th planet."

 

"Did both expand after they came up?"

 

"Oh yeah, the Institute has nearly quadrupled in size over the years here on Haven and it's growing by leaps and bounds on the 9th planet, especially after they added the original buildings. It's close enough to Eureka they can come and go with the links, but far enough away they have room to grow their own crops and have plenty of room to expand."

 

"Josette, what degrees are you finishing this year?"

 

"The musical instruments degree, the civil rights degree from the sociology school, and the first of three degrees on the Spider from Montague."

 

"Cooking degree?"

 

"Next year, I'm also bringing out the new cooking teachers next year."

 

"And taking out the belongings for the graduating students and returning school employees this year and next."

 

The meeting ends and Doc and Josette settle down to make plans about going out to talk to Buckaroo. Josette shuts down the extra heat in the board room after Doc heads off and heads to the bakery, picking up a bag of snacks before heading back to the dorm. Putting the snacks away she heads upstairs to her workroom, laying out the fabrics for another quilt and turning her rough notes into a rough pattern as she lays out the block patterns and starts to cut them out before setting up the sewing machine.

 

"Soooo, you think Buckaroo's coming out?"

 

"I do, they're already set up in another country, another planet in another dimension shouldn't be that big a step. Earth is going to be dealing with climate change for decades."

 

"And everything they bring out means something that's saved."

 

A couple weeks later Agatha sighs in satisfaction as she looks around the Albatross Nest, tables full of food or the new books with more in boxes under the tables as she opens the door. Everybody starts filing in either through the door or the link from Town.

 

"Party for the books from last year?" Dr. Stark asks at the first testing week.

 

"Had it a couple weeks ago. The new books are being printed, if they don't take a break they can get all seven printed by the end of next year. If not the last one will be printed year after that."

 

"Are you done with the books?"

 

"For a few years, like the quilts they all come at once."

 

"Second book?"

 

"Being debuted this year at the shows. So I'll be signing books at the boys show in Granda's dimension, then after my show in Mom's dimension."

 

"The boys classes?"

 

"Still only taking four, they're using the extra time to work on their theses and stuff for their shows and special orders."

 

"New grapes?"

 

"I'm putting up the supports and doming the land this year and planting next." Dr. Cross nods in satisfaction.

 

"First planet?"

 

"Planting in a couple weeks."

 

"Students and returning school employees belongings?"

 

"I should have a good batch by the time I go out finals. If I have to I'll make a trip out early. I don't want to overwhelm Jane and the others at the school."

 

A couple weeks later Vallejo settles on the ocean by the growing areas, Josette flying over and starting to bring out supplies, putting the logs in the soaking pit and checking the compost.

 

A few weeks later her time she returns to Haven.

 

"Get everything planted?"

 

"Yeah. How are you and the boys coming along on your theses?"

 

"Pretty good, I've got an appointment after the boys show to talk to my advisor about it. I should be presenting it next year. The boys are working on theirs and figure on presenting them in a few years."

 

Josette checks the admin building after lunch, waving the containers of belongings to the ship.

 

"Thank you Josette." Joyce says where she's cutting herbs at the fish tank. "The drop offs are light right now but I expect them to start picking up as the students and employees start working on their plans for their last year."

 

"It will start picking up by the end of the semester as windows start opening and people start looking around their rooms." Joyce nods.

 

Midterms Josette delivers the first batch of student and employee belongings back to the school along with the socks when she picks up the school supplies.

 

"We're looking to have the dorms full this year and a few more after that. If they have to, they'll add more floors and more buildings." She leans between Principal Madison and Professor Druid at lunch. Both sigh but nod. "Granda told me when I saw the supplies were picking up."

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"We're going out during the first drop-off of orders and picking up supplies so he can talk Buckaroo into coming out to the 10th planet. Doc will bring out letters from the others that only he would know about to prove there's others out here."

 

"That makes sense. Video could be faked." President Bartlett nods.

 

"Getting Buckaroo on whatever ship comes out and going for a trip around the solar system should be a first good step." President Bartlett says.

 

"9th planet Earth so he can see the visible changes, then the progress on Mars and the Moon." Principal Madison says. "Thomas's world should have the physical changes to prove it's a different world even if the empty countries are the same."

 

"They're not, the Institute is setting up in the bread basket of what used to be China, close enough to a large city where the workers who are planting commercial crops are living but far enough away to expand when they want."

 

"Do they have a canning factory or are they going to be exporting the food."

 

"God I hope not, they'd be picking before it was any good to export if they do it that way. Otherwise everything would be rotten by the time it arrived just like the 'fresh' fruit and veggies in the winter."

 

"I'm sure they have canning factories somewhere, they made everything else in China." Professor Parker snorts. Everybody in earshot laughs. Josette makes a note on her PADD to check into that before she walks into the back room.

 

Josette brings out the green picked peppers and some of the mushrooms to various places the week after her third testing week. Doc comes running into the 9th planet Cafe.

 

"Josette, sorry to do this but I just got an emergency message from my world. Buckaroo's in trouble."

 

"Pay me later Vincent." Josette says, running off with Doc. Vincent nods and starts putting everything away as they take the switching station to Haven. David immediately opens the tesseract to Hidalgo and they head off as soon as they exit the tesseract.

 

Buckaroo blinks as he wakes up in what's obviously a hospital ward and sighs when he sees somebody familiar standing next to the bed.

 

"Everybody make it?"

 

"Yes, though some of your associates will be recovering for a couple months." He smiles. "Josette took great exception to what was going on and had a little fun with them, they were begging the army to save them from her, even being put to death by them would be quicker than what Josette had in mind."

 

"Josette?" Buckaroo sips on the water Doc holds in front of him.

 

"An associate of mine, she's been helping with the clearing of the lost countries, she's currently demolishing everything right now at the government's request. It's sad with all the problems in our world that some groups still want to cause trouble."

 

Buckaroo looks around. "How, since I know you're currently in Russia and you showed up way too coincidentally?"

 

"Josette's ships can travel in time and space and exist in two places at the same time. Like you said I'm currently in Russia with Josette." A young woman leans in the doorway. "Get everything finished?"

 

"Yeah, Hidalgo's busy sorting out what we can recycle and dumping the rest in the replicator to be turned into energy. I calmed down Perfect Tommy but you need to talk to him now that you're awake."

 

"Josette, are you going to be okay being in two places at the same time?"

 

"Done it plenty of times before. I'm going to pick up paper ends while I'm here." Doc nods and Josette heads off. A few days later Buckaroo is sitting in a wheelchair talking to Tommy in the control room then trying to pretend he's not looking around at everything after ending the connection. Josette comes in with another batch of paper ends, putting them in a room and grabbing a meal from the food replicator.

 

"Is that it for the paper ends?"

 

"Yeah, Hidalgo scanned for them in areas I couldn't get to, if they were just being wasted I grabbed them. In the replicator they can be made into new rolls of paper."

 

"I can't see many recycling places being able to handle them."

 

"Paper ends?"

 

"What's left over by the newspapers that they can't use." Josette brings up a picture on her PADD and Buckaroo shakes his head. "I can't see many people being able to use them either. Replicator? Like how you're getting food from the slot in the wall?"

 

"Yes, this is a food replicator, it gives you most of the nutrition needs for single meal but it's got a limited recipe base. You can update it with more recipes but it's not meant to be your only food source. I've got a botany section we're growing food in while we're here and on Haven."

 

"Josette, are those grape vines?" Doc asks.

 

"Yeah, Granda wants me to grow a couple new varieties for blended wines. I'm putting up the supports this year and planting them next." He nods in satisfaction.

 

"Granda?"

 

"Principal Madison's father from another dimension. Since Josette thinks of him as her father, his father is her Granda. Oh sorry, Josette Takahawa, my granddaughter in another dimension."

 

"I noticed you were gone for long periods of time, then appear?"

 

"Yes, I moved to her dimension several years ago. I can return when needed, like when we got your distress signal."

 

"Are there other replicators?"

 

"Several, there's a medical replicator in the medbay. There's general use replicators that come in different sizes, ranging from ones that are in a wall like this one to ones that take up an entire room. Each replicator has a recycling bin that you can drop waste in to be converted into raw materials or energy. There's also disintegrating 'guns' you can use when you can't bring stuff to the recycling bin."

 

"Convenient."

 

"They're energy hogs, we've been disposing of the garbage we can't recycle and running them on solar power for years."

 

"Food waste?"

 

"We compost everything we can."

 

Buckaroo and his associates are put in ambulances a few days later. Doc sends along notes on their conditions to New Jersey before they get on Hidalgo and head off again.

 

"We can check on Buckaroo again when you come back out to deliver the orders." Doc says. Josette nods. "I don't think we'll have much problems getting him on the ship now." Doc chuckles and heads off. Chip is waiting for him when he returns to the 10th planet.

 

"Everything okay?"

 

His grandfather nods. "Hidalgo was shielded the entire time so we didn't realize we were there until we went. Josette's going back in a month to deliver the orders for the government and get in more supplies, I'll check on them then."

 

Josette puts the bushel baskets back on the ship to fill when she returns to the first planet for the rest of the garden.

 

"How are you on your classes?"

 

"Good. On track to have the three degrees finished this year and the cooking degree next year. I'm gonna be three years into the degree from the other dimension, being out so often it's not that hard dropping off my projects." David nods in satisfaction.

 

"Crops?"

 

"I'm going to check the garden next week, we should be able to spread the manure then." Alexander nods as they walk to the dining hall for dinner. "Should be able to open windows in a couple weeks too."

 

Josette's spreading manure by the end of the next week and tilling it under by the middle of the following week. The crops are all in by the time she and the boys head to Eureka for their finals. With only two classes the boys are finished around the same time as Josette and they talk about the plans for the year. She'd gone out to the first planet to pick the ripe tomatoes, peppers, and herbs and plans on delivering them later that week.

 

Calvin and the others are there when they return home and Josette puts her graded projects up in her workroom after Bronwen's seen them then moves her books to the top shelf of her desk now that she's done with the semester.

 

Dr. Cross is shaking his head at the pile of containers that take up half of one wall in her closet. Josette snorts. "When I finish my degrees this fall, some of these are going upstairs to the library."

 

"How many degrees do you currently have started?"

 

"Ten, that includes the hands-on musical instruments and cooking degrees. Except for the one I'm taking on the school computer, most of them I revolve through, once I hit the fourth year though, those are the degrees I stick with until they're done. Most of them are multiple degree though so I'm not really done with them."

 

Calvin and Dr. Cross nod. "How often do you clear your shelves?"

 

"When I finish a degree, when I run out of room, or at the end of the year. That gives me clear shelves for the next year. It's superstition probably but even if it's books I'm taking for the next class I'll take them down and put them with the others for the next semester until after the first of the year. It's one of the things we do around the Lights Festival to ring out the old year and bring in the new." The two men nod in satisfaction. "I hear you and Doc went out unexpectedly." The story gets head shaking but nods that while it wasn't the perfect way to introduce Buckaroo to the ships and interdimensional travel, it certainly had done the job.

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"We're going out before the Harvest Festival, that will be about three years and the countries that were failing should be gone. If not, we'll go out after Thanksgiving." The two men nod.

 

"Is Buckaroo coming out?"

 

"Probably, we'd planned on offering a trip out for the Harvest Festival. I'll be going out right before then to take out the second batch of orders."

 

"Are you delivering?"

 

"Yeah, both planets this week. I gotta check the office for other containers of belongings to take back. Cooking teachers still on track for next year?" Calvin nods as Josette checks the list of what she's got to do this week.

 

A couple days later Josette grins as she delivers the first order, the recycling, and another batch of belongings from returning students and employees. Jane helps her count the socks and they talk about the plans for the 100th anniversary before Josette heads to the house. She heads to Ellis's a couple days later with a list and drops off another batch of books.

 

"They'll be debuting at the show later this year, I'll let you know a couple days before it happens so you can set up the area."

 

"Thanks Josette, are there any more?"

 

"Four more that have already debuted on Haven, and one out of seven printed but nobody but me has seen it."

 

The list is checked and double checked and Josette fills several rooms with supplies over the next few days. Recycling is worked on over the next couple weeks and soon David is opening the tesseract for the students and employees. Josette heads to Thomas and Doc's worlds over the next couple of days, delivering supplies to various places. Josette replicates her books and supplies for the summer classes when she's done and settles down to work on the projects.

 

The first crops start coming in and Josette's busy bringing in the crops, everything in over the period of two weeks and the new crops planted after the rains. Josette brings out more supplies and takes out more belongings for the returning employees and graduating students. Josette heads off with Doc, chuckling as Buckaroo and two of his most trusted associates come on the ship and stare at the screens and out the window as the ship takes off.

 

"When are you going out to Thomas's world?"

 

"Before the Harvest Festival but after I bring out the new school employees." The chair straightens up and Josette stretches as she gets up.

 

"How long is. . ."

 

"A couple hours. Scenic trips take hours or even days depending on where I'm going and if I've got company. Yes, once we're on Haven I can take you and the others on a trip. Around the solar system if nothing else." Buckaroo and the others stare at all the ships as they come in for a landing, walking outside on one of the piers and looking up at the sky before getting in the flyer and talking quietly with Doc and Josette.

 

"How far from your settlement are we?"

 

"We're not even on the same continent."

 

"Does everybody come out on the ships?"

 

"No, there's devices that allow you to travel between dimensions. Most of the families use them. They're the same type of devices that allow you to bring up whole buildings or stuff like Josette's school. You can literally go to bed on Earth and wake up on Haven or whatever planet you settle on. . ., gives new meaning to the phrase picking up house and moving."

 

"Supplies?"

 

"I was bringing out shipping containers for everybody who was coming up and those who had the room had supplies on their grounds or in their homes."

 

Doc nods. "Josette brought up supplies for us, we had supplies on the floor under us at the Empire State Building and elsewhere."

 

"How do you keep in touch with Earth?"

 

"Databursts, we get one that has the news and other information every couple of days. Josette goes out three times a year to deliver the orders for the government and picks up deliveries that have arrived since the last visit. Not many newspapers since most of them are online, but magazines, trade journals, books, DVDS, music. . ."

 

They talk the entire trip about this and that until Josette comes in for a landing at the dorm. Buckaroo blinks. "My family has a strange sense of humor. This used to be a school dorm but we've added onto it over the years."

 

"This is a school?" Reno asks.

 

Josette nods. "Students in grades five through twelve from Granda's dimension. With the year difference they're gone longer but even those students not dual enrolled will start university classes a junior."

 

"And those in dual enrollment will have a university degree?"

 

"Yep, we have Oxford and Cambridge on the fourth planet, we have four universities on this planet, plus the others that are online. All the degrees transfer." Buckaroo, Reno, and the other man head to the 10th planet by the switching station and Josette sits down on one of the couches.

 

"Show?" Principal Madison asks, coming into the room.

 

"We head tomorrow."

 

"Books?"

 

"I took a batch out to Ellis when we went out break." He nods in satisfaction. Alexander comes out. "You got any last minute stuff for me to take out?"

 

"We're good. You?"

 

"Nope, got the books and special orders on the ship when I took the other stuff out."

 

"Buckaroo come out?" David asks.

 

"Yeah, he, Reno, and somebody who used to work with NASA went to the 10th planet with Doc."

 

"So we should be seeing them exploring the planets for the next couple months."

 

"At least through the Harvest Festival. Buckaroo perked up when I mentioned Cambridge and Oxford."

 

The next day the eight of them fly out to the other dimension, Josette and Alan taking care of the rooms of paper ends on the trip out much to Hidalgo's relief. "This stuff really does take up a lot of room."

 

"Yeah, most of the paper recyclers can't use it, too much work and too little profit."

 

Josette looks at the line as she signs a book, it's still out the door and she's been signing a couple hours. The boys chuckle.

 

Josette sighs and rubs her hands back at the house after she takes off her shoes, seriously considering sleeping right there on the couch before deciding to get her lazy ass to bed.

 

 

 

"Four thousand and twelve, that's just the second book." Josette says when she walks into the Albatross Nest and finds Agatha behind the counter as Buckaroo and Doc look over stuff in the corner. "A lot of them had the first book for me to sign too." She laughs.

 

"Book?" Doc points to the shelves of quilting books and Buckaroo sees Josette's name on some of them. "Josette's got ten quilting books out and another one printed but not out yet with the printers working on a second?"

 

Josette nods. "There's five more ready to print. Like the quilts, they come in batches."

 

"They debut them in Calvin's world at either hers or the boys shows. That would have been . . ." Agatha points to a book. "And this is the first book Josette was talking about."

 

"Shows?" Reno asks.

 

"Josette is a textiles artist, Alexander works with wood, and Michael works with metal. In addition to the shows, they make special order furniture." Doc finds the list and shows it to the three.

 

"Quality stuff."

 

"Josette always complains about manufacturers who make shoddy stuff so it has to be replaced within a few years. They build to last."

 

"Stuff that will be antiques some day as opposed to just old. If they last that long."

 

"Exactly."

 

"Who's in the brewery?"

 

"Professor Druid's brother, he's helping me experiment over the summer while the others work on whatever it is they wanted to do. A few years ago I experimented with a stout so we're working on other stuff now."

 

Reno takes a deep breath. "This is what Earth smelled like before all the industrialization." Buckaroo nods. They walk down the street to the glassblowers.

 

"How do they handle other glass needs?"

 

"Factories on the seventh planet for the wine bottles and canning jars. If something special is needed, it's usually replicated. And those who can bring out supplies."

 

"The school."

 

Doc nods. "Josette goes over to Calvin's dimension every other month to pick up supplies for the school since it reopened."

 

"Do the teachers and other school employees. . .?"

 

"Five year contracts, a group of them are heading home after Thanksgiving with the graduating students and another batch of school employees will be coming out this year. Next year the last of the old employees will be heading home and the rest of the employees coming out. Next year will also see Josette bringing out another batch of teachers for the cooking school by Assyrian. They stay out ten years." Buckaroo had seen the cooking blocks on the server.

 

"Nice selection of cuisines."

 

"Calvin and the others believe that if you want to learn something you should go to the experts."

 

"I thought this was the summer?" Buckaroo looks at the crops outside of town.

 

"This is the summer crops, Haven has three growing cycles." Reno shakes his head. "I know a couple people who'd give their left nut to be here."

 

"My planet has five. We're starting our last crops of the year and getting prepared for winter."

 

"Left and right nut." the astronomer mutters. Buckaroo stifles a chuckle but nods.

 

"What's going on?" They can see people moving around a couple large buildings in town.

 

"Josette just come back from one of the offworld growing areas and people are canning, drying, or otherwise storing the food for winter."

 

"How much?" Reno asks, staring at all the boxes of food.

 

"Tons. This is food that's going to be passed out before winter to supplement what you can can and store from your own gardens."

 

"How large?"

 

"Huge gardens that cover nearly an entire planet. Anywhere from two to four hundred people go out and spend months picking food and putting it in stasis until they return to Haven. Then just as many people are working on it. This is just one, each planet but mine and the ninth planet have three offworld growing areas, Josette just added another one so the 9th planet and mine share three. It looks like a lot of food but like the communal gardens by the time it's all passed out everybody's only getting one or two batches of food. That's why the planets also have growing buildings and hydroponics for the winter."

 

"That's. . ."

 

"Eighteen offworld growing areas, not counting the ones that the robots handle and all Josette has to so is pick everything up. That's usually one or two crops growing areas, potatoes, corn, cotton, wheat, rice. . .stuff like that. It might seem like a lot of food when you're putting it away, but the shelves are bare come spring."

 

"How do they handle flour?"

 

"Josette takes wheat and rice to either the manufacturing satellite or the factory on the seventh factory for the planets. Smaller batches Haven uses the grist mill, and the 9th planet has one too. They also handle corn for corn meal, grits, and polenta. Josette grows chickpeas every few years, they turn part of it into flour."

 

"Does anybody make wine?"

 

"Josette has one of the wineries, Alessandro has the other. They've both added onto their wineries over the year, the newest dairy is buying a bit of wine for their cheeses. Same with the cider pressing houses."

 

"I thought I heard you and Josette talking about putting up supports."

 

Doc nods. "Calvin's talking her into growing a few more varieties for blended wines. They're getting the ground ready this year and planting next year. They currently grow four types of grapes for five wines, one an ice wine."

 

"Is this all the crops?"

 

"No the crops they only pick yearly should be coming in soon, the berries, apples, stuff like that."

 

"Are you the latest person to come out?"

 

"No, that would be Thomas and his family, they have a place on the other continent, their Earth is also in bad shape, a 'religious' group released a virus that sterilized everybody on their Earth. It was only supposed to take out the 'heathens'. . ."

 

"In other words anybody who didn't believe their fanatic viewpoint." The astronomer snorts. "So their chosen could take over the world."

 

"Yes, but it got everybody and killed anybody over the age of fifty and under the age of five where the virus was released. They were found guilty and are currently rotting in prison, whining that somebody has to be having children, they're just hiding them to make them the bad guys." Buckaroo sighs as Reno moans. "Deaths are picking up, some of the smaller countries are already gone, Josette and Thomas went out a couple years ago to help clear out three countries, and five more were nearly as bad, Josette's going out with Thomas in a couple months to check on them, they were out three years. If they're not gone then, they should be by the end of Haven's year, that will be about six months after they left."

 

"How bad off are they? As bad as ours?"

 

"Getting there, they don't have anybody under the age of twelve there now?" Doc looks over at Thomas who is walking down the street. He nods. "Dr. Thomas Wayne."

 

"Yes, anything under seventh grade is gone now. It will only be worse as more schools close, unemployment is starting to creep up, though a lot of jobs are going unfilled. In another ten years I expect to see problems with the power grid and people working two jobs. The math experts gave Earth fifty years, I don't see it lasting past twenty, twenty-five at the latest."

 

"Can people have children?"

 

"Those who were offworld at the time, there's currently. . .five?"

 

"Eight. Another child on the moon and two more on Mars. We're cleaning up countries as they're lost so we don't have to do it afterwards. Once everything is . . .done they'll come back to Earth but they won't have anything like New York or Boston for decades. Places like Town, Albatross, Eureka, and Cabot Cove is going to be the norm, not the exception."

 

"It's got everything you need, I'd like more libraries or museums. . ." Thomas snickers and leads them to one of the warehouses in the distance after grabbing Josette. She smirks and opens one of them, then one of the doors.

 

"Oh . . .my. . ." Buckaroo walks into a building he knows.

 

"Libraries, museums, opera houses. . . though we haven't had a need to get into them yet, we've got tons of them on the server, university libraries and bookstores. . ."

 

"Everything you'd need."

 

Josette nods and locks everything up.

 

"Josette, toothpaste?" Principal Madison asks, waving her up to the front table.

 

"The orders should be finished by the Harvest Festival, I'm picking up the other scrub trees in a couple weeks and the toilet paper and other stuff will start next year, the order information will go up on the server after the festival." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"Are all the offworld harvests going to be done by the Harvest Festival?"

 

"Should, if not it will only be one, two at the most."

 

The yearly crops start coming in and Josette's offworld at least once a day, taking out a large batch of student and employee belongings when she goes out to pick up supplies and the new school employees.

 

A few days before the Harvest Festival Josette lays down on the couch.

 

"Everything in?" Josette nods from where her face is buried in the pillow. "Thank god, that way I'm not offworld harvesting and picking up students at the same time."

 

"Did you go out with Thomas?"

 

"Yes, they're not there yet so it will be after Thanksgiving." Josette looks at the time and joins the others walking to dinner.

 

"Do they do this every year?"

 

"Yes, the summer crops have been harvested and the fall crops planted. The yearly crops are picked and they're enjoying themselves."

 

Josette drops Buckaroo and the others back off after the Harvest Festival, smirking at the bags of information they'd brought back with them. Perfect Tommy blinks but takes them off, the boss will tell him where all this stuff came from when they were only gone an hour.

 

"How is the plans for the new Institute coming along?"

 

"Good."

 

Josette drops off another batch of belongings at the school along with more socks, hugging Calvin since they're in the same time now. "Buckaroo get off okay?"

 

"Just dropped them off."

 

David opens the tesseract and the students file off, being led to the auditorium for orientation as Josette moves their belongings to be put in their rooms by maintenance.

 

The first four weeks of the semester pass and soon Josette's sitting in the pizza parlor, a tradition after the last of the students has been brought out. A chuckle has her looking up at Professor Eppes. "Are we full?"

 

"Yep, and we're going to be full for a few years, Granda's already talking about new dorms, adding onto them, or both." Charlie shakes his head. "I know, that's why we had more employees come out this year, the newest apartments, and more school buildings. Bronwen wants to add at least one more textiles and fine arts building. Professor Parker is in love with the larger photography building."

 

"When you think you have too much room. . ."

 

"You find out there's no such thing." Professor Ziegler says, sitting down with them as Professor Fletcher takes the last seat.

 

"Exactly."

 

The next first day Josette slides into her seat at the testing center.

 

"All the students in now?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"Work with Katrina's brother on new stuff?"

 

"Yeah, they're aging right now, I'll bring a variety out for you when I bring out the ripe tomatoes, peppers, and herbs."

 

"Thank you Josette. New cooking teachers?"

 

"Coming out next year. They want to add on before they come out." Vincent nods as Josette covers her mouth, stretching and yawning. "You're going to have snow by night."

 

"We'd been expecting it. The meteorologists are predicting a cold, snowy winter. Are you going out to Thomas's world?"

 

"Yeah, they were close but not there when we went out before the Harvest Festival."

 

Josette heads to Calvin's school the next day with more belongings.

 

"Is that the last of it?"

 

"Should. There's a notice on the school server to get everything to the office by midterms, anything after that they'll have to bring home themselves." Calvin nods in satisfaction.

 

Josette drops off the recycling and empty containers next then heads back to Haven.

 

"That all the belongings?"

 

"Should be, the note on the server says midterms otherwise they hike them home themselves on the ship."

 

The next month flies by and after her midterms Josette heads off again with a double batch of belongings.

 

"Good Lord. . ." Jane moans.

 

"Always gonna be somebody who has to wait until the last possible second." Josette shrugs.

 

The supplies are loaded on the ship and Josette drops off recycling, staying several days and working on it at the drop off areas since they can't really handle that much scrap. Josette chuckles as multiple trucks carry it off before she heads back to Haven.

 

"Lemme guess, drop off the recycling and take care of it too?" David asks.

 

Josette nods. "Even with the cans flattened, it still piles up. Brought back tons of paper, clothes, glass, plastic. . ."

 

"Everything the others didn't want or wouldn't bring them large amounts of money. Because it's not that hard to put plastic and glass in crystals to reuse later."

 

"Nope, just takes time."

 

"And speaking of glass, I gotta see if they need more."

 

"How are you guys on glass?" Josette asks, leaning into the foundry. "I picked up tons on Earth."

 

"We could use some."

 

"I'll bring it out tomorrow and break it up for you."

 

"Thanks."

 

"Did you get the rest of the destroyed machinery torn apart?" Alan asks at dinner.

 

"Yeah, I was doing that while I was off with Doc rescuing Buckaroo and the others. I stocked up on paper ends while I was there." Josette grabs her PADD and looks at something.

 

"Seeing if we needed to start a batch of recycled paper?"

 

"Yeah, we're good." Josette puts the PADD away and picks up her fork again. "The kids got everything ready to head to Eureka after Thanksgiving?"

 

"Yep and they're looking at permanent homes after they finish their internships. Saving money for those and furniture if they don't get furnished apartments."

 

"How are we on housing?"

 

"Good, we've got decades before we need another apartment complex. . .the others worked on them." Nods of satisfaction. "Anybody going over what they did to the ranch."

 

"There's a list. The biggest thing was the summer kitchen."

 

The rest of the semester flies by and soon they're bringing in the garden and crops. Josette and the boys head off to take their finals, relaxing at the table when they're done.

 

"Theses?"

 

"Working on them and our dissertations, we're looking at finishing them year after next. We talked to somebody at Oxford while we were out for both shows and while we've officially got the masters there they still want to look at the papers before we start the doctorates." Dr. Stark nods in satisfaction. "Josette, your degree from the other dimension?"

 

"Finishing my third year, I want to get in another couple bachelors before I start a masters." Dr. Cross nods in satisfaction. "Just like Assyrian at the beginning."

 

"Just the one degree next year?"

 

"Three with the other dimension degree, I'm three years into the degree from Cambridge on the occupation of France. Everything else I'm halfway through or haven't started yet."

 

The rest of the crops are in and Josette's busy with the recycling, picking up the last of the orders, the school's recycling, dropping off wheat and rice for other planets and picking up orders for Doc on the 10th planet.

 

"Everything taken care of?" Doc asks at the government meeting after finals.

 

"Yep, recycling where it needs to be, Doc ready for winter on the 10th planet. Orders are on the ships . . ." Nods from the others.

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"We're going out the same time I'm taking out the graduating students and employees home. I'm also off to the 9th planet dimension so they can catch up on stuff face to face. Taking in the orders for Doc's world."

 

A few days later Josette is busy delivering the orders, empty shipping containers, and the recycling as David opens the tesseract. Once everything's delivered she heads off to the house, the others coming over over the next couple of days.

 

"Did you take some of the new stuff to Vincent?"

 

"Yeah, I took samples to both cafes when I took out the ripe tomatoes, peppers, and herbs."

 

"Mushrooms?"

 

"I only grow one batch on the first planet every other year. We don't need that much mushrooms." Nods from the others. "Even with what the others buy I still end up drying over half the crop, the rest going in stasis."

 

A few weeks later they return to Haven, the students heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked while Josette is busy delivering shipping containers various places. They head off to the other dimensions while Josette, Clark, and Thomas head to Thomas's world.

 

Josette sighs when they settle in orbit and Brigadoon scans the Earth.

 

"Are they gone?" Clark asks, looking over his shoulder from where he and Thomas are talking with the Watchtower.

 

"Yeah, and we're looking at another three or four on the cusp. Including Ireland and Wales."

 

"Shit, the U.S."

 

Brigadoon puts up a map. "The red sections are areas I find no life forms. Every state has some." She sends off the probes to find and bury bodies.

 

"They didn't tell us. . ." Whoever is on monitor duty on the watchtower contacts the United States government, passing along that information.

 

"How long were you gone?" David asks when Josette absorbs her other self when they're back home.

 

"Nearly ten years, not only were we clearing out countries, we were clearing out areas of the United States and Canada that were empty."

 

"More that's done now means less at the end." President Bartlett says, coming into the back room. Josette nods. "They were already having problems with the power grid, even with so many areas gone."

 

"Because even with the lesser demand it's just old."

 

"Exactly. They might be able to keep the plants opens in areas that are gone and send it on but if they're smart they'll shut them down, go over everything with a fine tooth comb, and see what needs fixed and what needs to be torn down."

 

"They shouldn't need more than one power plant for decades. . .if they need one at all."

 

Josette nods."Which is why they're looking at taking them all down when the end comes and doing like we did, using solar, wind, and other power sources in addition to the alternate energy."

 

"At least losing so much industry should be helping get rid of the greenhouse effect." Alexander says.

 

"Scientists are looking into that. Especially after what happened in Doc's world."

 

"So you've got more supplies?"

 

"Tons.

 

"How many. . .?"

 

"All five that was nearly gone by the time we left last time and eight more countries while we were there. They were down to four billion by the time we left. Doc's world is nearly as bad but they're realizing that life has to go on, The schools were all closed by the time we left and governments were scrambling to make sure everybody had jobs. They had to after so many unemployed people caused economies to tank."

 

"I didn't think they did it out of the goodness of their hearts." Alan snorts.

 

"More like if we don't we won't get re-elected." Susan rolls her eyes, the others nod.

 

"The baby boomers were dying off when we left, people were already starting to work two jobs. . .especially in countries that were on the brink so they could keep the necessities running."

 

"Electricity, water, natural gas or propane, garbage. . .?"

 

Josette nodded. "I cleared out a lot of dumps when I first went out there, when countries were lost, and again while I was there. We're good on power crystals for millennia."

 

"Earth always was a consumer planet." Josette nods. "I've got tons of supplies in storage even after Mars and the Moon took theirs. There's only so much stuff people can use." Nods from the others as President Bartlett returns to the front room.

 

That weekend they head to the first planet for a few weeks vacation after the kids have headed off to Archimedes to settle in before their internship starts. The kids are old enough to be on their own for the hour they're gone.

 

"Who's got the garden plans?" Susan asks

 

"I do." Alan says, putting it up on the screen in the living room. They talk over various things and head upstairs, the kids helping in the various rooms.

 

Josette opens a bottle of pop at the Albatross Nest, her plate on her lap.

 

"Books?"

 

"Four more yet to go, first semester year after next."

 

"I'll have the party that summer then so we have all four." Agatha makes a note on her PADD. Agatha and Sue look at her and she waves a hand, quilts appearing on the table and files being sent to the server.

 

"More books?" Marilyn chuckles.

 

"Give me a few years. Like the quilts they come all at once."

 

Buckaroo looks around the streets of Town during the Lights Festival. "This came from Christmas?"

 

"Christmas and to a lesser extent New Years. How it used to be, ushering out the old year and welcoming the new."

 

"Like the ball dropping in Times Square."

 

"Yeah, except we don't do that. Or have the massive parties." David says, walking to the paella dish.

 

 

 

Buckaroo moans as he finds Josette in the library putting away the textbooks from the degrees she finished this year after dinner.

 

"Is this all textbooks from degrees?"

 

"Yep, I sort it by dimension, ours, then Clark's, then Granda's . . ." She waves at the stairs. "Each floor has a hallway for each school, then rooms for each degree or degrees for those that have more than one degree, that includes the multiple degree curriculum and graduate degrees." Buckaroo nods as Reno moans, Buckaroo looks at her and his lips twitch.

 

"Doc says you take degrees from multiple schools in the same area?"

 

Josette starts ticking off items on her fingers. "Alternative medicine from Johns Hopkins and Oxford because JH didn't have higher degrees in that field and the bachelor didn't transfer. Art history through all three degrees from a school in the states then Oxford because *everybody said they could get the degrees transferred and it would look good for the shows." Reno chuckles. "A lot of sosh and lit degrees because while it's on the same topic, they go at it from different avenues, a lot of degrees on fictional heroes because they focus on different areas where they had comic book careers, tv shows, books, movies. . .stuff like that." The other two nod.

 

They head off a couple days later and Josette slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Degrees?"

 

"Finishing three degrees this year, cooking from Assyrian, the textiles degree from the other dimension, and the occupation of France during World War II from Cambridge."

 

"Are the others coming out?"

 

"Yes, they want to expand the dorms again." Doc shakes his head. "I know, you wouldn't think it would be needed, the old dorms are already forty rooms and sixty floors, along with the new storerooms on each floor and enlarged lounges on each floor."

 

"While the new dorms are sixty rooms and enlarged storerooms and sixty floors. We had to hire more people to do the sheets, towels, and blankets but it's semi-permanent jobs."

 

"More sheets, towels, and blankets?"

 

"In the supplies I brought out. We opened the job for extra money." President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "That way they're already ready for the new storerooms when the students come out."

 

"I wouldn't have thought we'd ever get this big, not even on Earth after the dumbasses of education lost what passes for their minds."

 

"If we'd stayed on Earth we probably would have." Josette says. The others nod.

 

"So what are we looking at, we're already at fifty dorms."

 

"Sixty? Five more of each kind at least seventy-five floors?"

 

"Gods I hope not. What the hell would we do with all the empty rooms?" Principal Madison mumbles.

 

"I think the precogs are seeing trouble in some countries, that's why we're getting an influx of students. And we can always remove the empty dorms if they're no longer needed, or merge them like they did the temporary housing dorms." Nods of satisfaction from the others.

 

"The kids settling in well in Eureka?"

 

"Yeah, whatever planet they choose they have older brothers or sisters who can check on them as they're settling in and they know we're only a call away."

 

Josette stops to the bakery and walks to Sue's store. "No babies?" Marilyn asks with a grin behind the counter. Everybody knew that the oldest kids would be leaving home after Thanksgiving last year and they'd halfway been expecting an announcement of new pregnancies.

 

"We want to see what an empty nest feels like."

 

"Mighty damn empty at times. But then there's eight of you. The babies?"

 

"Starting second grade, they're not too happy that the assignments that meant they were big boys and girls will happen every year." Sniggers from the parents in the room.

 

"Are the others taking classes?"

 

"Yeah, the boys will be three years into their Masters and figure on finishing theses this year, then working on their dissertations. They figure on presenting them year after next."

 

Awwws from the others.

 

"David's finishing his Masters from the other dimension this year, he's got an appointment this summer to present his thesis."

 

More awwws.

 

"Susan's still working with everybody for the 100th anniversary thing whenever we do it, making notes for her dissertation, and working with the historians on the books." Josette smirks, she'll have at least one for the school by the end of next year. "The others will be two years into their bachelors, including CJ."

 

"Thomas's kids?"

 

"Starting their third years? Like the others they're only taking three classes a semester. Tara and Dawn might be starting Oxford next year."

 

More awwwws.

 

"How is it in their world?"

 

"Pretty bad, there was five countries gone when we went back after Thanksgiving and eight more were lost while we were there. No fully lost states or provinces, but there was big hunks of land where nobody lived anymore."

 

"How long were you there?"

 

"Ten years. Economies took a dump when all the schools closed. Governments had* to step in and make sure there was enough jobs."

 

"Because if they didn't nobody would keep them in office and they'd have to work." More than one person mutters.

 

"Exactly."

 

"How are you coming on your quilts?"

 

"Nearly done with the first notebook and should be hammered with ideas to finish the second anytime." Sniggering from the others. Josette heads back to the dorm, dumping the cat baggies in the replicator before going upstairs. Checking on the growing area she heads to her library.

 

"What classes are you taking this semester?"

 

"First of two semesters for the occupation of France, starting degrees on anthology comics and Tarzan. Tarzan is the second degree, anthology is the third. Starting the fourth degree on shipwrecks from the naval academy, there's one more after this, and three classes for the cooking degree."

 

"Plus the last year for the degree from the other school."

 

"Yep, I might pick up the other France semester over the break."

 

"Projects?"

 

Susan snorts. "Did them ages ago."

 

Josette sighs and nods, the others laugh.

 

"Mail?"

 

"Going out after lunch. Taking in projects then too." Jane smiles as Josette walks into the school.

 

"Mail already stamped." A cart appears. "Mail that needs postage." A pile appears next to a desk and the file sent to the secretary. "And my projects."

 

Jane smiles and waves a hand to the next room, Josette bringing out the three carts and multiple boxes before heading back to Haven.

 

The woman behind the counter sends out the message when the carts appear. Josette heads to the library next, the boxes that don't have a specific name on them going in there. She knows some of them are microfilm for the tape library, the major newspapers and magazines that aren't in the databursts. There's still some left with their names on them and she flips them to the dorm.

 

Josette's eyes glaze over a second as she walks into the dorm.

 

"Storm?" David asks.

 

"Yep, big one due to hit us by third day." Susan and Alan head to the basement to put in extra batteries to charge as the boys put on their heavy clothes.

 

"How long?"

 

"Four weeks, two weeks of storm and two weeks to shovel out. Cold, wet, heavy snow." They nod as David starts sending out announcements.

 

"Shit."

 

"Yep."

 

Josette sees the announcement going out as she heads upstairs.

 

"Is Josette overreacting?" Thomas asks Doc when he gets the message.

 

"No, this is going to be wet, heavy snow. The probes should be picking it up by tonight, Josette's weather sense gives us a few extra hours of warning. Get the livestock in, dial up the food and cleaners for a month and settle in for the next two weeks. Once the storm passes it will take at least a week to dig out, when Josette predicts these storms she tacks on another week to give everybody time to dig."

 

"Wet, heavy snow?"

 

Doc nods. "Shovels won't touch it, even the snowblowers will have a tough time moving it. Josette and the others push open doors a couple times a day to keep the doors from being buried. Once everybody has stocked up on supplies everything but the school will be shutting down until the storm passes."

 

Thomas still thinks everybody is overreacting but he has Alex check the supplies while Jason, Oz, and Tim are getting in the livestock and setting the automatic feeders while Clark checks on his parents. It getting dark earlier in the afternoon the next day has him changing his mind, along with the wet snow that's piling up by nightfall.

 

"Okay, I'm officially glad that Josette passed along the warning." Alex says when he gets up the next day and he can't even see outside for the snow. Clark comes in, brushing off the snow a few hours later when Tara taps on the door of the work area and reminds them of lunch.

 

"Your parents?"

 

"Talking about blizzards they lived through back on the farm when you might have been snowed in all winter."

 

"The turbine?"

 

"Set spinning last night, the boxes show that we've got a steady supply of electricity coming in. Ma and Pa have oil lamps and candles for when the solar panels aren't producing along with the fake wood for the furnace and fireplaces. Kara's offered to uncover the solar panels, Ma said if it gets bad she can but for now they're settled in."

 

"They can come out here."

 

"If it gets too bad, Kara and I will bring them out. If we get many bad storms like this though I'm putting a box on the farm. Or adding an alternate power source to my apartment building and the box to tap into it on the farm. Or both."

 

Bruce chuckles as he settles in his seat as the boys wash up. "Will they fall behind on classes?"

 

"No, they've had enough storms like this that they're used to them. Alex and Jason are working on projects and taking their classes on the computers while Tim and Daniel are doing the same for their classes. Once the weather is better they can visit the schools for quizzes or tests."

 

"How do the kids handle it?"

 

"They take their quizzes and tests four times a semester on Archimedes." Bruce shakes his head. "They've been doing it for years. On the other system they take their tests and quizzes as part of the class. The twins, David, and Alan are taking classes from the other dimension, Josette's taking classes on the school computer, the other system, and taking classes from the other dimension. Alexander and Michael are taking classes on the school computer, while Susan's not currently taking classes but she's taking notes on what the historians are doing for the 100th anniversary for her dissertation."

 

"How far is David in his Masters?"

 

"Finishing it this year, he's got an appointment this summer to present it."

 

"Alexander and Michael?"

 

"Be three years in theirs, though the others have already gotten it approved in their dimensions. They're finishing their theses this year and plan on presenting it in a couple years and working on their dissertations."

 

"Is Josette going for a Masters or doctorate?" Thomas asks when the boys settle at the table.

 

"Not right now, she wants to get a couple more textile degrees in before she starts another masters. She's looking into a degree in mechanical engineering sometime in the future since she's already got the windmill supplying extra power on the first planet for the watering system."

 

The others nod as they pass around the food.

 

"How is the United States?"

 

"There wasn't any states completely gone by the time we left, but a lot of states had huge areas where nobody lived. All of the major cities had lost part of their populations."

 

"Continents?"

 

"We expect Africa and South America to be the first completely gone. All their countries have lost nearly seventy percent of their population by the time we left and what infrastructure they did have was failing because they just didn't have the people to keep them up."

 

"Africa was in trouble before with the wars and whatnot."

 

"Josette and the League have plans to let Africa and South America go back to the jungle, several years without Man's misuse should get them on a good start back to what they were."

 

"Are the others making plans for the future?"

 

"Yeah, they've got beehives and gardens set up in the empty areas where somebody can easily get to them."

 

"It would give the moon and Mars an extra food source." Clark says. Thomas nods. "They don't have the growing areas the 9th planet has on the moon."

 

"We don't need the long-term plans the 9th planet has."

 

Back at the dorm Josette straightens up from pinning the binding to her latest quilt and flips it into subspace as she walks to the studio, popping the pins in the open container as she sews the binding down.

 

"Is that your latest?" David asks when she comes down the hallway.

 

"Yeah, just got it finished, I'll take pictures and work on the pattern after dinner." She puts it in her workroom with the pin box and joins the others walking to the dining hall.

 

Alex sighs in relief when he looks out the window on the way to breakfast and sees the snow's stopped and the suns up in the sky.

 

"As the others said it will be at least a week to dig out completely." Thomas says. "Clark's going to be uncovering the solar panels after breakfast."

 

"How is everybody on Haven?" Dr. Cross asks when Josette slides into her seat at the pushed together tables.

 

"Everybody's dug out and the animals are outside again, when they want to be anyway. The others thought we were overreacting about the storm until they lived through their first one, just like the rain." Chuckles from Dr. McNider. "The boys were able to head out to Montague and Assyrian this week with the stuff they'd been working on to talk to their teachers."

 

"How are you coming on the supplies for the new dorms?"

 

"Started back up this week, if we have to they can add second shifts a couple weeks to make up the time lost for those but they should make up the time just fine, it's not needed for a while." Nods from the others.

 

"Orders?"

 

"Started again this week, they're working two shifts a couple of weeks to catch up. We don't have to, they want to." Dr. Stark nods in satisfaction. "The printers were already planning on working into next year so that's fine, nothing else is at a stage where they have a deadline." Nods from the others.

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"We were there ten years, the five countries that were on the cusp when we went out before the Harvest Festival were gone by the time we came back after Thanksgiving, along with eight other countries in the ten years we were out there."

 

"How bad was it?"

 

"There were around four billion people when we left, there was big empty areas in the states and Canada though no empty states or provinces, the schools closed and governments had to scramble to make sure everybody had jobs when the economies tanked thanks to the new unemployed." They shake their heads. "They were having problems with their power grid when we left, trying to decide if they wanted to keep power plants in empty areas running to send power to the grid or shut them down, inspect them thoroughly, and decide what to do after that."

 

Dr. Stark shakes his head. "So knowing how big a consumer world Earth was, I can guess you're overloaded with supplies even with sharing with the moon and Mars?"

 

"Oh yeah, there's only so much they can use. If they even take a portion of what is left on Earth, they'll be set for centuries. I'd pass on some to the 9th planet moon and Mars but they say they're good."

 

"They wouldn't need the massive resources that Earth does. . .or thinks they need."

 

"That's going to be what? Somewhere around twenty years by the time you leave? It had been over five years when Thomas arrived, plus however long it's been on Earth since he arrived on Haven."

 

"Yeah, people were working two jobs . ..especially in the areas that really needed people. . .the power grids, waste and water treatment plants, garbage pickup. . .though I cleared out a lot of dumps. . .We've got enough power crystals for millennia."

 

"And you'll probably be clearing out just as many when it's finally over." Vincent says. Josette sighs but nods. "Medical care is getting bad, a lot of older doctors have retired and people are traveling hours for medical help or doing without and dying of something that could have been handled a decade ago." Nods from the three men.

 

"Shortages of propane and other necessities for winter?"

 

"In the less developed countries, which makes the death toll rise faster. Even in the more developed countries, they're having to ration. They haven't got the power outages yet but it's just a matter of time. Thomas was surprised they made it to the twenty years he predicted with all the problems they've been having. He was right about the troubles they'd be having." Josette shakes her head. "You'd think that they'd have learned after the problems they had in Gotham City after the earthquake. They've had years to prepare for the end."

 

"No," Vincent snorts. "That would make sense, something a lot of governments don't have." The others sigh but nod.

 

"David's masters?"

 

"Appointment to present the thesis this summer, he's finishing it third semester. And no matter how much anybody nags he's not going on for a doctorate." Dr. Stark snickers. "Yeah, that was everybody else's reaction, we'll be sitting back with popcorn for the arguments."

 

"Your theses?" Dr. McNider asks when Alexander and Michael come over to the table.

 

"We're finishing them this year, going to talk to our advisors next year about them and the dissertations. We're planning on presenting them year after next."

 

"Josette, party for the books?"

 

"In a couple weeks. The party next year will be after the Harvest Festival for the last four books."

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"We'll be in the same time period after the Harvest Festival."

 

"How long for Thomas's world?"

 

"About seven years Thanksgiving. We'll see the closer we get. About ten years our time we'll be clearing again."

 

"Counting this year?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Vincent starts putting plates down in front of them. "How are the kids settling in their internships? We're all scattered on the planets but we're still close. They say they're fine but . . ."

 

"You want proof. Yes, all the reports I've gotten have been excellent." Josette nods in satisfaction. "Your kids are all highly sought after by everybody because they're highly adaptable and can work in any area."

 

Josette and the boys arrive home a couple hours later, finding David letting the dogs back in. "Ask about the kids?"

 

"Yep, they're good." Josette hangs up her outside clothes.

 

"What are your plans?"

 

"Tomorrow I'm heading up to the candy making area."

 

"Paper factory?"

 

"Orders figure to be done by the Harvest Festival. I'm picking up flour for various planets after finals." They nod in satisfaction as Josette picks up a new book and starts to read.

 

A couple of days later Josette heads over to the school with the mail. Jane's not there and the secretary points to the closed office door. Josette nods and brings out the cart of mail.

 

"Nothing that needs extra postage?"

 

"Not this week but we need more stamps." She nods and unlocks the special closet, Josette taking a box of stamps and she scans the barcode, adding them to the account for the other school. Josette grabs the carts and boxes, heading to the office.

 

"Thank you Josette." Joyce says when the box of stamps is handed over. "We're good on the rolls yet until the end of the semester but we needed books."

 

"I'll get the rolls then." She nods as the students who handle the mail come in to start sorting everything out. The sorting center pre-sorts the mail by dorm and by floor, but they'll have to combine the different days mail before delivering it.

 

"Get everything?"

 

"Yep, mail's being sorted right now and we're good on books of stamps for a few months, we'll probably get more when the new students arrive." David nods. "Taking a break from your classes?"

 

"Yeah, I was about ready to fall asleep so I shut teacher down for the rest of the day."

 

"We're going to have snow by night."

 

"Hopefully not like what we just dug out of?" Alexander asks, looking over as he comes into the living room, Michael a couple steps behind him. "This must be a day nobody can concentrate on anything, I've been staring at the same piece of wood for fifteen minutes until Michael nudged me. Mail?"

 

"Picked it up and the students were arriving to sort it when I took in the box of stamps. I gotta pick up a box of roll stamps when we go out for finals. And we figure we'll get more in our supplies when the new students come out." The others nod.

 

A couple weeks later Josette is at the Albatross Nest in Albatross for the party, putting the last of the boxes under the tables. The tables are full of books and Agatha has already grabbed three and put them behind the counter for herself after Josette signed them. She's looking over the party planning and opens the door and link to Town, the others starting to pour in.

 

"Josette, are you premiering another book?"

 

"Next year, that will leave me ten books."

 

"I noticed people are making up more sets of sheets, towels, and folding blankets."

 

"Yes, Granda and the others are adding onto the school again. We're working on them ahead so they're in the storerooms when the students arrive."

 

Midterms Josette takes out empty shipping containers, recycling, socks, and containers of returning student and employee belongings. Calvin waves her into his office before Josette heads off to the house.

 

Josette leans between President Bartlett and Professor Parker at lunch. "Possibly ten more dorms over the next couple years, three for sure. Five of the older ones, five of the newer. Seventy-five floors tall and they're adding to the other dorms." President Bartlett sighs. "Another couple dining halls."

 

"Why?"

 

Josette shrugs. "No idea, they're expanding the other school too." Principal Madison just shakes his head.

 

"How long were you out?"

 

"Six weeks, taking care of the recycling that I took out. The supplies are being delivered right now."

 

"Thank you Josette."

 

After the third testing week they're able to open windows for more than ten minutes without the furnace coming on and Josette spreads manure on the garden and fields. Tilling it under the next week she plants the first crops.

 

The next week Josette, Alexander, and Michael head to Archimedes for their finals, talking with Dr. Blake since Dr. Stark's busy lecturing somebody at GD about their stupidity of the day.

 

"Are the others out?"

 

"Supposed to arrive in a couple weeks since this is all new work, not altering existing buildings." She nods. "Thomas's world? Nathan told me what you'd been talking about."

 

"Losing more and more people every day to old age, illnesses that were nothing back before people had to travel hours for medical care. . ." She sighs but nods. "In about seven years we should be in the same time. In ten years our time we expect the world's population to be down even further. They made it past the twenty years Thomas predicted but they're already having the problems he foresaw and it's just getting worse. By the time we left they were at four billion people, having problems with the electrical grid, people were working two jobs, especially in the services that were desperately needed, and they were already beginning to see shortages of some stuff. Including stuff like propane for the winter. By the end of ten years, I expect at least one continent will be empty."

 

Dr. Blake shakes her head.

 

Josette delivers the orders and drops off the empty containers and recycling as David opens the tesseract for the students and employees. Josette delivers another batch of containers for the graduating students and returning employees at the office before heading to the house.

 

A couple of days later Josette is at the school when a moment of silence is held. She looks at the others after it's done.

 

"A former student of ours died a year ago today. She'd been on the transplant list for years, she was supposed to be receiving a heart but some stupid bitch stole it for her son. He had an enlarged heart but was at the bottom of the list because he used drugs."

 

"And she couldn't have that." Josette snorts.

 

"Exactly, she had the heart hijacked and given to him, after all why should her darling baby suffer?"

 

"Stupid bitches like that should be beaten to death for being too stupid to live." Jane grumbles. "She was stunned when she found out the person who was supposed to get the heart was her daughter. She'd moved out years ago because her mother always favored the boy. Then she was bleating about how her baby girl should get the next heart, it was a travesty there wasn't a heart for her. . ."

 

"There would have been if she hadn't given it to her son, who could have lived for years on medication. But that wasn't good enough for him. He's currently in the medium security dimension, little bastard was selling the drugs they gave him to keep from rejecting the heart two days out of the hospital for money for his drugs, then bleating about how he shouldn't have to go to prison, he wouldn't be allowed the drugs and he needed those drugs to live."

 

Josette rolls his eyes. "Then he shouldn't have been selling them to get high. And lemme guess, his mummy's bleating about how everybody's being mean to him?"

 

"Yes, she was horrified when she was charged with first degree murder after her daughter died, stupid bitch still was expecting a heart to magically appear for her."

 

"How many people die on the transplant list waiting for an organ? If you're that high on the list, you're pretty bad off."

 

"Yes, and she was incensed when her daughter dared to change her will after her mother stole the heart to make sure she didn't get a dime. She was a world famous author, writing multiple series. Why would her daughter let a little thing like stealing her heart get in the way of leaving her mother everything she has, she's dying. . .she won't need it."

 

"What a bitch."

 

"She's currently rotting in the maximum security dimension working her ass off, whining about how it's not fair. She's got a huge judgment to pay off, she went to the publishers of her daughter's books claiming she was the heir and would allow them to be published after her death, then tried breaking into her daughter's house to find her manuscripts and whatnot. The publishing company sued and she's got fraud, breaking and entering, vandalism, and theft convictions in addition to her murder conviction. There's a line of people who would cheerfully beat her to death because the lawyer for the real heirs announced they wouldn't be releasing any more of her books thanks to her mother's greed. The publishers tried suing but they didn't have a contract anymore and didn't know who the heirs were they were laughed out of court, then fined when they tried blocking any other publishers from printing the books if the heirs do come forward."

 

"Nanny nanny boo boo, if I can't have it nobody can?" Jane snorts and nods. "Okay, what do we need for the school?"

 

"We need another box of 100 stamp rolls." The secretary unlocks the door and scans the box, adding it to the school's account. "We're getting more in the supplies when the new students come up?" Josette asks as she puts the box in subspace. Jane nods. The rest of the list is dealt with, Calvin leaning against the door of his office listening to them talk.

 

"The bookstore?"

 

"I've got their request list here." She sends it to Calvin. He nods. "All of this is in the batch of supplies you just picked up. And we're bringing up extra over the summer."

 

"Textbooks?"

 

"Coming out this summer, the publishers plan on updating them again so we've got another expo when you come out again. Your shows?"

 

"Me here, the boys Mom's dimension. This year we're going there first."

 

"Books?"

 

"Will be finished printing next year, the storm delayed everything just like last time. Since we'd already planned on printing into next year, it's not that big of a deal."

 

"Third book?"

 

"Debuting next year."

 

A few weeks later Josette starts delivering containers as David opens the tesseract for the returning students and school employees. Josette walks the box of stamps into the office.

 

"Oh thank you Josette, we're down to three rolls." Joyce puts it in the closet with the other stamps. "Do you . . .?" She smiles at the list of supplies being delivered. "Is it all for us?"

 

"No, some of it's for the library in town and some of it's going to the factories here and on the sorting planet for the orders." Joyce moves through the list. . ."Ahh good, everything the bookstore had on their list. Textbooks?"

 

"Coming out this summer, they're updating them again so I gotta hit the expo with Granda."

 

"More supplies coming out over the summer?"

 

"Yeah," Josette sighs and grabs her PADD, getting into the drawing screen and starting to work. Joyce chuckles and continues looking through the files of supplies. Josette sighs a couple minutes, sends what she'd been working on off and looks up. "Okay, now that the insane muse isn't howling in my ear."

 

"Quilt?"

 

"Pipe organ, one of those huge ones that have hundreds of pipes. The ones you saw in the great cathedrals in Europe that have teams of people pushing the valves and pumping the bellows."

 

Joyce shakes her head. "That's going to be marvelous." Josette nods. "Supplies this summer?"

 

"1 1/2 to 2 times what we normally get so we don't run out when the new students arrive, depending on how many we get this year."

 

"You said they're expanding the other school too?"

 

Josette sends the pictures to the screen, Joyce and the other women nodding as they see the overlaid changes. A couple days later the supplies for the factories have been delivered and Josette sits down in her normal seat at the dining hall.

 

"Everything moved now?"

 

"Yeah, I've got a dozen other selves moving supplies for the factory managers."

 

The others arrive a few days later, starting to go over plans as Josette replicates the books and projects for her summer classes from the other dimension. Bronwen comes up to her workroom and looks over her graded projects, nodding in satisfaction.

 

"How are the dropoffs for student and employee belongings coming?" Calvin is asking Principal Madison when they come downstairs.

 

"They're starting to pick up now that winter is over and people are spring cleaning." Principal Madison lifts his foot for the robot vacuum that comes by.

 

"Josette, books?"

 

"The first run just finished a couple days ago, they're checking everything and packing it up before taking a couple weeks off and starting the second book." Everybody nods in satisfaction.

 

"Hey Kara." Josette says when the younger woman peeks around the pocket doors.

 

"Hey Josette, Ma was wondering if anybody made maple syrup?"

 

"Yeah, I gotta check the supply I'll probably be tapping the trees next spring. And tell her we'll be making sausages, baloney, and sauerkraut after the first crops are in." Kara grins before heading off. Josette checks something on the PADD. "And we gotta grow a crop of poblanos for ancho peppers, we're running low."

 

"We can plant them this summer and have them drying through the Harvest Festival." Josette nods.

 

"Did GD ever come up with anything from their plans for canning chipilotes in adobo sauce?" David asks.

 

"No, but I'm looking into it." The others nod.

 

Kara lands at the Kent farmhouse, grinning as she sees two Pas outside and two Mas inside sitting at the table. One looks at her in question.

 

"Josette's checking the supply, she figures next year. And this summer they're making sausages, baloney, and sauerkraut."

 

The other Ma nods. "I knew the supply was getting low." She types in something on her PADD, getting a response seconds later. "Yes, she's also smoking the chipilotes, fish, and cheese."

 

Kara blinks. "No, not all at the same time." Ma recognizes the 'that's an interesting combination' face. "Cheese, whatever sausages we plan on smoking, the fish, and the jalapenos one after the other."

 

"Do we have the only smokehouse?"

 

"The fourth planet has a communal one for the Amish and whatever other farms want to smoke to preserve but most of the other planets use ours."

 

"No use building one that would only get used every few years." Pa says, coming in to wash his hands. The other Pa behind him nods. Ma nods too. "Josette sends out the alert and a group of us from various planets work a few weeks on what we want, making enough for the planets for a few years. Did Josette say anything about smoked herbs?" Kara shakes her head and Ma sends out the question, getting an answer back.

 

"Didn't think so, that's not something we smoke every time we have the house open." Ma takes the others out to look at it after lunch.

 

"This is huge."

 

"And it will be crammed full when we're smoking." Somebody moans behind them and they turn to find Josette and Dr. Cross. "Yep, every possible inch that holds something, including hanging the sausages from the hooks in the ceiling will be full."

 

"We can enlarge this before you need it." Dr. Cross says as the others head off. He returns a couple hours later with Katrina, Simone, and a couple other people. Josette comes in with them and tells them how it's used, they nod and get to work.

 

Josette starts bringing out the supports for the vines, three dozen of her other selves zipping around the land getting everything set up. She checks on the vines growing now then heads back to the dorm, smiling as she sees the third textiles building going up. Even with tesseracts they needed the room.

 

 

 

 

Ma, Kara, Tara, Dawn, and Alfred look around as everybody gathers for the first day of making sausages. "Tara, I know you've got a good hand cutting, the list of herbs we'll need is on the server. Dawn, can you start dicing peppers?" She waves at the dishes on the table and the barrel. "Cut the top and bottom off. then cut them into matchsticks after you've seeded them. Save the pepper around the stem if you can." Ma takes a knife and they start chopping. "Small dice?"

 

"Yes."

 

Everybody works together for several days, making tons of various sausages, sauerkraut, kimchee, and baloney, pickled or otherwise. The barrels are moved to various buildings to age and Josette puts the last of the meat to be smoked in the now five times larger, multiple room smokehouse. The chipilotes had been brought out and are busy being put in containers.

 

"Chipilote sauce?"

 

"Half of this batch will be made into sauce, the rest either ground into powder or sold in small packages at the store and I'm growing jalapenos again to experiment with chipilotes in adobo sauce."

 

"I'd wondered why we had so many even with it being for all the planets." Alfred says calmly.

 

 

 

 

 

"Josette, the new grapes?"

 

"I'm bottling the first year, the dairy has plans for buying the wine in barrels for their cheese."

 

"Easier than emptying cases of bottles in the cheese tubs." A week later Josette delivers a half-dozen barrels to the dairy, pouring one over the cheese in the large tub. A second and third is poured in and the cheese is floating now. A second tub gets the rest of the wine and Josette flips the barrels back to the winery.

 

"Thank you Josette, if we need more we'll adjust the order next year."

 

"Lemme know when you need the cider delivered and I'll pour it like the wine."

 

"Thank you Josette, that would help out a lot."

 

"Deliver to the dairy?" Susan asks at dinner.

 

"Yes, it took three barrels to fill each of the two tubs for the wine cheeses. I told them when they needed the cider I'd pour it for them. They'll adjust the order next year if they need to."

 

"Get the supports up?"

 

"Yep, and the machinery is ready to dome it over the winter."

 

"Bottles for the new, new grapes?" Everybody sniggers.

 

"I gotta design a label before we order them."

 

"Do you have the room?"

 

"Yeah, the others doubled everything again when we talked about the new grapes. Same with the brewery." Josette frowns a second. "At least doubled everything. And put up tons of racks for the barrels and bottles to age."

 

"Did we warn the glass factory?"

 

"Yeah, they know we're growing more grapes and making more brews. Calvin and the others made sure they could handle it before we started." Nods of satisfaction from the others.

 

The new grapes start coming in and Josette's busy for the next couple of weeks, then bringing offworld harvests and more supplies for the schools.

 

 

 

Josette sniggers silently when she sees a familiar group on the grounds of the school when she comes out for the show. Calvin just looks at her. "I know you have Stark on the fourth planet, you've got kids working there."

 

"Yes, and there's been the Avengers movie on a few dimensions I've been on." She shakes her head. "Anyway, expo?"

 

"Paperwork is right here." They go over it for a few minutes. "Good selection of new books and new editions."

 

"David?"

 

"Rolling his eyes behind Mom's back at the suit and tie she's trying to get him in for presenting his thesis." Calvin chuckles. "No contest."

 

"Nope, Mom wins every time. I gotta dress up, he's gotta dress up."

 

The next couple of days pass, Josette heading out to Ellis's with a list from the others. The show comes and Josette gratefully takes off her shoes after the show. "I swear, somebody must be putting brain dead bimbo drugs in the water, that's the only way to explain all the idiots at the show." Snickering and nods from the others.

 

The next day Calvin picks Josette up for the textbook expo as David heads to his university to present his thesis and talk to his advisor about a doctorate since he knows the others will be giving him hints.

 

The expo lasts most of the week and Josette moves boxes of books to various rooms at the school, copies of the same books going on the ship to be looked at back on Haven. Josette picks up supplies for the schools and the teachers and school employees personal belongings.

 

 

David opens the first tesseract when they land and the cooking school instructors walk off as Josette starts delivering their supplies. The rest head off through the tesseract with Principal Madison for their version of orientation as everybody but Josette walks to the dorm. Josette arrives a couple hours later.

 

"Sorry, got the databurst with the orders while I was on the ship."

 

"How many orders?" Michael asks, shaking his head.

 

"Too many. I think this one woman brought three dollhouses for every room in her house. Including the bathrooms."

 

"Wouldn't surprise me at all, like Agatha says some people grow old but they don't grow up." David rolls his eyes. "Do you have enough supplies?"

 

"Picking up more when I bring the new students out. Ha, that's why we have so many. They're saving the smart ones so when the braindead people die out they can rebuild." Principal Madison cackles as he comes into the living room. "True. Mean. . .but true. Belongings?"

 

"Maintenance was delivering the ones here since everything was tagged. The cooking teachers Assyrian was helping get them settled." Principal Madison nods and heads off again. The new employees sigh as they find their belongings in their apartments after dinner. "I think I'm going to like this place." More than one of them says over the next few days.

 

The second crops start coming in after the yearly and offworld harvests are finished. Josette starts the second crop of jalapenos smoking and they head off. Jane sighs as Josette starts bringing out belongings, pointing to each pile as she names things off.

 

Josette heads off to take care of the recycling with the others a couple days later, putting the money in her bank account and starting to move containers of supplies to the ship.

 

"Is this supplies for us too?" Josette splits off a dozen duplicates to move supplies after the students and school employees have walked off the ship.

 

"Yeah, it's a mixture. Supplies for the school, more supplies for the factories, books for the libraries and me personally, stuff for us, and supplies for our special orders." Josette sends the list to David's PADD as they walk through the tesseract. David looks at the number of shipping containers and whistles.

 

"They're all stuffed too." Josette takes the boxes of stamps to the office, using her card to put them in the closet since the outer office is empty. Listening, she can hear Joyce talking down the hall. Sending a message to Principal Madison she heads to the dorm.

 

In his meeting room Principal Madison looks at his PADD and grins. "Josette brought out more boxes of stamps, two of the books and another of the rolls. They're in the closet." Another message comes in and he whistles. "Maintenance will be busy moving stuff after the Harvest Festival." He has a thought and sends off a message to Josette. Joyce looks at him. "Seeing if we need to make a batch of laundry detergent at the factories." She nods and looks down at the PADD on her lap. "Okay, what's next on the list?"

 

"Supplies for the new students?"

 

"Storerooms are full, with more in the basements. Both the new dorms, new floors, and the existing storerooms." Professor Druid says. "Ahhh, more supplies for the laundries are in this batch of supplies."

 

"Laundries?" One of the women who works in the office asks.

 

"For the students, the small boxes you get in the dispensers and larger containers for the sheets and towels." Joyce says absently. "And more plastic to wrap the sets in."

 

"Sets?" One of the new teachers asks.

 

"When students arrive at the school they get two sets of sheets consisting of flat sheet, fitted sheet, and a pillowcase, two blankets, and two sets of towels that consist of two bath towels, two hand towels, two washcloths, and a bath mat. They use one set and strip their beds, throwing sheets and towels down the laundry chute when it's their floor's turn for laundry, bringing out the other set to use. The next day they get a new set of sheets and towels from the storeroom on their floor."

 

"So they're using one set and have one in reserve."

 

"And twice a semester they throw down their blankets and get clean ones."

 

"Why are we getting so many students?"

 

"Josette said it was to keep the smart ones safe so when the braindead people died out they could rebuild but that was after her show." Sniggers from the others.

 

The next day Josette heads off with Doc to his dimension, dropping off the orders and picking up supplies while he heads off to talk to Buckaroo. Josette's asked to take more paper ends and she has nearly a building full of them by the time they lift off. Josette spends a few weeks outside time after Doc heads off to take care of them.

 

"How is Earth?"

 

"They're recovering, it will be a while. At least they're getting more sewage and water treatment plants back up and running."

 

"Orders?"

 

"Factories are low man on the priority totem pole so for the foreseeable future we've still got them. It's going to be at least a decade our time before they're finished recovering."

 

"No cheap imports anymore, they'll be heartbroken." Susan mutters. Josette sniggers.

 

"Doc came out before you did." David looks at her.

 

"I had nearly a building full of paper ends to deal with. I spent a couple weeks outside of time taking care of them."

 

"Don't they recycle?"

 

"The smaller stuff, they can't handle anything that big, neither can Granda's dimension. Even major recycling companies don't want to do the hard stuff because they can't make a profit."

 

The Harvest festival comes and afterwards Josette is busy bringing in the new students. Josette sighs as plates of food and a bottle of Haven Dew are put in front of her and she looks up at Professor Parker.

 

"I wouldn't have thought we'd ever have this many students again, but at least they're not all in the same grade." He looks at her, Josette's chuckling. "James told us about your theory."

 

"It was after my show in Granda's dimension."

 

"Ah the airhead patrol was in full force?"

 

"I was asking if somebody was putting bleached blonde bimbo drugs in the water. One woman brought 45 dollhouses. The only reason she didn't buy more was her credit card was maxed out, so she had to wait."

 

"Ohhh." He hisses. "The 'oh my god, I gotta have it' brigade." Chuckles from next to them herald the arrival of Frances and Susie.

 

"You guys got a list started of what you want for the new building?"

 

"Yes, and thank you for taking us out after Thanksgiving to visit Ellis's place to talk with him." Ellis had passed along the invitation when he'd heard about the new building and representatives from Assyrian, Edinborough, and the school were visiting for a couple days.

 

"Josette, this is probably a dumb question, but do you recycle the plastic from the sheets?"

 

"Yep, it goes in a crystal to be reused. If we were still on Earth it would be stuff like that, plastic wrap, bags, and the stuff on frozen meals. I pick it up when I take care of the rest of the school's recycling." Frances nods as Josette picks up a piece of pizza and starts to eat.

 

"I can't believe we've got fifty dorms, some 60 rooms a floor while the rest are 40 rooms and they're 75 floors tall."

 

"I know." Josette shakes her head.

 

"What happens if . . ."

 

"They're be merged like the temporary housing dorms were or removed. We made sure because we had the same misgivings."

 

The next week Josette slides into her seat at the testing center.

 

"Dorms?"

 

"They added floors to a third of the dorms and put up three along with a dining hall and the third building for the textiles curriculum. They wanna put up another building for the fine arts stuff next year."

 

"Figuring on three years to get everything done?"

 

"Possibly four, they gotta enlarge the bookstore again. But that gives us time to expand without a massive influx of students."

 

"Slow and steady is always good." Josette nods.

 

"How was the textbook expo?"

 

"Good, I've got a lot of new books to go over this winter. Granda sent electronic copies up, didn't he?"

 

"He did, like you we've been slowly going through them."

 

"Granda's talking with Dad about them when we go out after Thanksgiving."

 

"Are you taking belongings back this week?"

 

"Yeah." Josette gets a message on her PADD and she nods, typing on the PADD for a couple minutes before she puts it up. "Agatha, she asked me to pass along a request about a new library for Albatross. David can go out, he'll want a break from his lessons anyway."

 

David looks around the library and shakes his head. "How do you find anything?"

 

"Lots of practice but we desperately need more room. Before everything started falling apart."

 

"So does the Historical Society by what I've heard." One of the women with then nods. James comes in a few minutes later with an architect and they start talking. "I'll have a good start of the plans by the end of the year, we can finalize them next year and start construction."

 

"And it will give us time to consider how we're going to pay for them." the mayor says.

 

Josette heads off the next day, Jane shaking her head at the number of containers brought out.

 

"Lotta people coming back and people are sorting out what they don't need. More they send out now means the less they gotta carry home." Jane and Calvin nod.

 

"Out long?"

 

"Couple weeks, I'm hitting the universities and taking out projects. Talking more bachelors and their grad schools."

 

"I need you to come out with me to meet the Avengers one day." Josette nods and heads off for the house.

 

Josette returns to Haven two weeks later for her.

 

"Vegas?" David knows that look.

 

"Yeah, I went out for a couple days while I was there."

 

"Get everything done?"

 

"Yeah, my projects are graded, I talked to the schools about new degrees, toured their grad schools. . ."

 

"Recycling?"

 

"Working on it when I come out midterms. I'll probably be bringing back some then too." The others snigger. Josette puts her feet up on the coffee table in the living room. A cat immediately jumps on her stomach. "Good day to nap." The others nod, it's been drizzling all day but by the darkening sky they should be getting a storm coming in by night.

 

Jane shakes her head at the piles of containers Josette brings out midterms. "I know, there's always somebody who will wait until the last second then whine about having to bring it themselves."

 

Josette arrives at Stark Tower with Calvin a few days later, sitting and talking with a number of people about students coming out next year. The next day they're at a meeting to talk about the charities that the school contributes to and Josette starts working on the recycling she'd brought out.

 

Back on Haven four weeks later her time she starts delivering everything.

 

"Did we have anything?" David asks when Josette slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"Some, more is coming out after Thanksgiving."

 

The rest of the semester flies by and Josette and the boys head to Archimedes for their finals. The crops are in and the recycling picked up on the other planets by the end of the week. After Thanksgiving everybody heads out, returning students and employees greeting family and friends as some of them head to the auditorium for the first graduation ceremony.

 

A couple days later Josette heads out to Ellis's with the others, everybody who hadn't been there before marveling at the buildings before going inside. Josette starts shopping as well and there's rooms full of stuff and more ordered by the time the others head back a couple days later.

 

Josette starts working on the recycling she brought out a couple days later, putting the money in her account then heading to Vegas with the others. Four weeks later for them the returning students head for the auditorium to have their bags checked as Josette splits off duplicates to deliver shipping containers to the school, factories, and at the dorm. She lifts off to deliver the offworld supplies and flies to the dorm, absorbing her other selves that had been to the other dimensions.

 

"Awww." Josette coos when three baskets are put in front of her by David. She pets the five adult cats, three younger ones that are curled around a couple puppies, then the kittens. "Russian blues." She looks up at Calvin.

 

"Yep, they're some from a puppy mill that was found and shut down." Josette growls. "The animals have all found new good homes. These guys are yours. Pat's got some from another breeder, so does Bethany, Frances, and Elaine so if you want future kittens they're not inbreeding. And we have seed from other breeders, they hated these guys and are glad they're going away forever."

 

Josette's new cats and dogs quickly settle in at the dorm. It's snowing lightly when they head upstairs to work on the growing area over the next couple of days. The decorations for the Lights Festival are brought up a couple weeks later. Buckaroo comes out with Doc and David chuckles.

 

"Ten bucks says Buckaroo ends up on the tenth planet in a couple years."

 

"Sucker bet, they're already getting in supplies." Josette snorts. David cackles. "How is it there?"

 

"The climate change people finally stopped saying I told you so. The whining about 'why do we have to do this' ended when their businesses either went under or were brought out by people who knew what they were doing. Recycling in mandatory now. . .everywhere and not just in large cities. New companies to handle the recycling and turn it into new material. With all the problems they're having, they've realized they have to make do with what they have."

 

"About time." James snorts behind them. He waves to the librarian, historical society president, and mayor of Albatross. "Got preliminary plans for you to look over."

 

"Come out next week third day, we'll go over everything before and after lunch." they make the plans and James heads off again.

 

The next few days pass and Josette slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Start a new degree offworld?"

 

"Yeah, another textiles, this one is all bookwork for the first two years then very intensive hands-on stuff the last three years. As in triple the projects I had for the other degree. . .for each class." The others shake their heads and moan. "Yep, this is a special degree. More books too. I already got the projects and I'm working on them." Doc snickers. "Not my fault nobody thinks to get the projects ahead of time."

 

"Three years?"

 

"Yes, I'll have another masters when I'm done."

 

"Why's James talking with Albatross?"

 

"New library and historical society."

 

"They've needed a new library for years."

 

"From what the others told me the other nearby libraries were even smaller."

 

"Did you go out to Thomas's world?"

 

"Just for supplies since we're still there."

 

"Do you have libraries?"

 

"Tons, we just swooped them into limbo. same with bookstores. Anything we might need for the future unless it was too old and going to fail or badly damaged, then we salvaged what we could and recycled the rest." The others nod.

 

"Books from the other dimension?"

 

"They've been coming in, they want to work on the library again this year. They're talking building a second or even third building and linking them." the others shake their heads. "Just passing on what they said."

 

"How are they coming on construction out there?"

 

"Good, like ours it's a two or three year job so people don't wonder what the fuck is going on." Sniggering from the others.

 

 

Josette stays by the door of the dorm when they come back, David looking at her until a kitten comes back into the building cussing as only a cat can.

 

"I told you you didn't want to go outside, the white stuff is cold." The kitten gives her the stiff back as he cleans his paws while Josette takes her boots off, putting them on the grate over the containers for the snow to melt and puts on her inside shoes. The kitten walks inside, getting pounced on by his sister as Josette walks into her first floor room with her bags from Town.

 

Josette heads upstairs after putting away the doughnuts and snacks, going to a room and starting to work. She'd finally started her Masters in Chemical Engineering and was working on a project for her thesis.

 

The next few weeks pass quietly and Josette picks up the second to last book from the printers a couple days before their first testing week. She puts it in the honeycomb of rooms.

 

"Show?" David asks.

 

"Boys Granda's, me Mom's."

 

"Third book debuting?"

 

"Yeah, I'm taking the books out the day before the show when I pick up the order for the school. I wonder if that fool woman paid off her credit card so she can order more stuff?"

 

"Pay it?" David says in a horrified shriek. "You mean the credit card fairy doesn't wave his magic wand and make the balance disappear?" In the front room Principal Madison chokes. Professor Druid cackles and repeats the conversation for the others. "I hope you got at least half down from her."

 

"That big an order betcher ass."

 

"The last book?"

 

"The printers are on break for a couple weeks, a 'woo hoo, only one more to go' celebration." Snickers from the others.

 

"Signing party?"

 

"Probably after the Harvest Festival now. Before then we'll be busy with the crops and offworld harvests."

 

"Are you still experimenting with adobo sauce?"

 

"Yeah, I'm growing more peppers on Vallejo for that." David nods in satisfaction. He looks at the boys. "Three years into your masters."

 

"Yeah, we're finishing the thesis this year and talking to our advisors about our dissertations. Next year we might pick up more classes. I swear it *seems* like we've been going for our Masters forever." The others nod in unison.

 

Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center a couple days later.

 

"How is the plans for the new library coming?"

 

"Good, we're looking at a three floor building for the library and maybe five for the historical society." Dr. Stark shakes his head but nods. "We're looking maybe two or three floors for the show for the founding of Haven. We're not sure if we need that much space but. . ."

 

"Better more space than you need than running out of room."

 

"The only problem with that is . . ."

 

"What do you do with it after the show?"

 

"Exactly, we're already planning the books for after the show. That will handle anybody that might possibly have missed it. . .and it's going to be open for a couple months so everybody can come in on their own and look everything over."

 

"You don't need an empty building just sitting there."

 

"No, that was part of Earth's problems. Keep building because new was always better then bitch because having all sorts of empty buildings makes the town look bad."

 

"How is Thomas's world?"

 

"They're coming in as we clean up the lost countries to see what needs to be done, there's a lot of places with water or soil contamination."

 

"London was the worst." Nods from the others. "They're working on cleaning that stuff up, deciding where they're going to be settling when they return to Earth, and setting up growing areas once the land is clean. They were settling in the Earth city in one of the lost countries when we left. They had a growing area in another for the moon and Mars."

 

Josette picks up the kitten trying to climb her pants leg when they return home, putting her on the couch as she heads upstairs to check on the growing area. She should be able to start picking the green tomatoes after midterms.

 

"When do you plan on going to the ship?" Alexander asks at dinner. "You said you needed to check on your peppers."

 

"Tomorrow. I've got the cafeteria set up."

 

The next day Josette sends out containers of chipilotes in adobo sauce to various places with the recipes she used and other information. She gets a number of thank you messages back and requests from both Vincents to grow again if possible.

 

'Yeah, I got plenty of seeds.' Josette sends back. 'Maybe not this year but in a couple.'

 

"How long were you out of time?" David asks as Josette puts the remaining containers in stasis.

 

"'Bout six weeks."

 

"With you making adobo sauce, I see the cooking school looking into growing the peppers."

 

"So can I, they were talking about expanding the Mexican cooking class and making it fresh means none of the shit manufacturers added. Same with Vincent at the cafes." David nods as they walk to lunch.

 

"Sooo, how does it feel not to be taking classes?"

 

"Waiting for the other shoe to drop from the others. 'Yes, you're on the waiting list for your doctorate, you're working on a dissertation, and you're working on the new library and building for the historical society in Albatross, but we've got our eye on you buster'." The others snigger. They look at Susan.

 

"I've got a good outline for my dissertation. Now. . .building for the show."

 

"I was talking to Dr. Stark and the others about this yesterday. If we put up a building we've got the problem of what do we do with it after the show." Susan nods. "Even if we leave it up for a couple months so everybody's got a chance to look at it."

 

"I'd suggest the new building in Albatross because they'll be using part of it for a museum anyway." Abby says slowly. "But that leaves the problem of getting to Albatross."

 

Josette sends off a message to the historians then the president of the historical society in Albatross.

 

"Let's see what they think of that before we make any more plans."

 

"Or . . .the others have plans on updating the library in town. . .we could put them there a couple months then move everything to storage and use the building for that purpose."

 

"Talk to Dad later about it." The others nod.

 

Josette goes out to the first planet a couple weeks later to plant peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and other stuff. She spends a couple weeks out there beyond the planting laying in the sun and swimming in the ocean.

 

Back on Haven she moves some of the special orders to the ships to give them more room in the woodworking building. Alexander and Michael sigh at being able to walk in the storage rooms and Josette grins.

 

Midterms Josette goes out to the school, nodding at the construction around her after she's dropped off the special orders, recycling, and picked up the supplies for the school.

 

"Good." Josette says, seeing James in the office with Calvin. "Do you have any plans for the building for the 100th anniversary show?"

 

"We've been talking about it, and I suspect you have." Josette nods and calmly sits in midair.

 

"We don't really need an empty building after the show's done."

 

"That's been the big sticking point with us." Calvin says, nodding.

 

"We could use the historical society building in Albatross, they plan on using part of it for exhibits." The two men nod. "But that leaves the problem of getting to Albatross, it's not as central as Town." Josette nods. "Or there's the thought of how you want to add onto the library in town."

 

James grins. "Perfect, once the exhibit's done you can use it for it's intended purpose."

 

"Has anybody thought about a building for the 100th anniversary thing?" President Bartlett asks the next day at the government building.

 

David sniggers and everybody looks at Josette. "The others want to add to the library in town, we'll use that for the show then put everything up and move into the new area."

 

President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "I talked to Granda and Dad yesterday, they had the same problems we were talking about, having an empty building after the show was done."

 

"Did you plant offworld?"

 

"A couple weeks ago, everything was going good when I left."

 

"How long were you out there?"

 

"About six weeks, I planted the raised beds and by the house." Josette looks out at the snow coming down. The others chuckle but nod.

 

"More adobo sauce?"

 

"Gotta grow more peppers. If the demand is good it's something we'll start growing more frequently."

 

"Homemade is better, don't get all the preservatives you have in the commercial stuff. And it's easy enough to freeze?" Principal Madison looks at her. She nods.

 

"Did anything ever come of the cooks looking into making soup mixes?"

 

"Yes, we've got a ton of recipes on the server and have plans for planting more crops so they can make individual servings or large pot of soup packets." Josette looks up from her PADD. President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "Right now it's vegetarian soups and dips, they're working on how they'd use vat-raised meat in mixes from the beginning instead of having to add it when the soup is cooking."

 

Principal Madison nods. "Can't do that with single-serve packets."

 

Josette nods. "Which is why we were looking into soup packets. Those people who live alone or just don't want a big pot of soup."

 

"Can't make a big pot of soup when you got the munchies in the middle of the night." Everybody nods.

 

"Textbooks?"

 

"Should be arriving over the next supply shipments. That way we have them on hand for next year. A lot of the 'updated' textbooks were just an excuse to make money. Handouts can give students the same information where there's something new added."

 

"'Bu bu bu but but but . . .New has to be better than old, right?" Josette says in a fake shocked voice.

 

"Yeah, that's why there was so many 'fixes' for the latest, greatest icrap a few days after it was released." David snorts.

 

Josette stops at the bakery before walking back to the dorm, checking on her other selves working on projects, taking lessons, or working on papers. Eating a doughnut, she looks at the list of stuff to go in the libraries once the work is done on them.

 

"We're going to need to triple the libraries to have enough room for all this." Josette mumbles. David looks over her shoulder, whistles, and nods.

 

"And then some. And your personal library's going to be an entire building now."

 

"Probably." Josette sighs. "I keep dreaming of walking through a regular school and unlocking what looks like a closet, walking down a set of stairs to a hallway that seems to go on forever with rooms of books or work areas on either side." David sniggers and pats her on the shoulder before walking to his room.

 

A month later Josette is green picking peppers on the first planet, delivering them to various places. She slides into her seat at the dining hall.

 

"A good chunk sold and the rest in stasis or drying?" David asks. Josette nods. "The rest should be ripening during the break."

 

"Are you growing an extra crop?"

 

"Yeah, I wanna see what the difference is between peppers grown on the ship and on the first planet. That way I have a good supply for more adobo sauce." The others nod.

 

A couple weeks later everybody starts opening windows and Josette's not the only person spreading manure on fields or gardens. She looks over towards the others to see if they need any help after she's done, finding the other farms either finished or nearly done. By the end of the semester everybody's planted their spring crops and Josette sits down at the pushed together tables in the testing center.

 

"Get everything ready for spring?"

 

"Yep, all the windows are open for fresh air, the crops are in and . . .Vincent, I should be coming out in a couple weeks with the first planet crops."

 

"Thank you Josette. Are you planning on more adobe sauce?"

 

"I'm planting peppers this summer. I want to see what the difference in the sauce is between those grown on the ship and on the first planet." He nods in satisfaction.

 

"Soooo, I understand somebody finally started their chemical engineering Masters." Dr. Cross chuckles.

 

"Yes, I know. . . finally." Dr. Stark looks between them. "And how did I miss this little bit of information?"

 

"You were off inspecting a lab because they were stupid." Dr. McNider says. Dr. Stark smirks. The next day Josette takes care of the recycling on the planets and later that week heads to the school. The construction that had been started when they were out last was completed and Josette nods in appreciation before walking into the administration building. The secretary's on the phone and she lets herself behind the counter. Containers are brought out and a student worker helps Josette counts the socks.

 

Several weeks later for her she comes back to Haven, delivering supplies to various places and absorbing her other selves that had been off with Doc and Thomas to their dimensions.

 

"How is Doc's Earth?" Alexander asks at dinner.

 

"Slowly recovering but it's going to be decades. Thankfully they learned their lessons about the climate and those remaining big businesses have to be eco-friendly or they're shut down permanently. All current vehicles have to be adapted to run on alternative energy sources, vehicle manufacturing is going to be strictly limited."

 

David snorts. "People will be pouting about that. Most of all the manufacturers."

 

Josette snorts. "A good half of the plants are now closed and won't be reopening. And that's just in the US, overseas was hit harder than that. The Japanese auto . . .you might as well say is gone, they don't have the manpower anymore since the islands were so hard hit by the flooding. They lost at least half of their population, so did Great Britain."

 

"That happens when you're an island nation." Susan says. Josette nods. "The smaller nations that didn't have the resources those two had are gone. Jamaica, the Bahamas, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba. . . Wiped out either by the flooding or the economic collapse. Hawaii is gone completely, the governor put his foot down about measures that would have kept them safe, it might interfere with tourism." Josette says in a sing-song voice.

 

"Moron."

 

"Yep, everybody died. . .everybody but him because he flew away and left his state to their fate. The President wasn't happy and threw his ass it Gitmo. I understand that he's visited nightly by visions of the people he murdered, seems Pele isn't too happy with him."

 

"Couldn't happen to a nicer asshole."

 

A couple weeks later Josette walks into the cafe on the 9th planet, it's a quiet time and Josette helps put everything away before Vincent puts a plate in front of her.

 

Back on Haven she finds the others arriving. James shakes his head at her personal library, David gets whapped upside the head by his mother at the comment that Josette's library will need to be an entire building soon but he chuckles and nods.

 

"Josette, is the last book in?"

 

"No, the storm last year first month delayed everything. They should be finished in a month."

 

"Josette, special orders? I know you took a batch out midterms." Calvin asks at dinner.

 

"We're working on them, more will come out for the show. That socialite wannabe who ordered so much stuff means more money for us, but also means more work for us."

 

"More times Josette takes stuff out to the ships so we've got room to move in the woodworking building." Alexander says. "'Cause we're working on orders for both dimensions. Oh speaking of dimensions. . ." He looks at Josette. "Is Buckaroo coming out again this year?"

 

"Yeah, he's looking at a spot for the Institute though since it's still winter on the 10th planet. . ." Josette shrugs. "Once he's decided I can start bringing out supplies. At least with the Institute settling in their China, they'll have experience both growing food and planning large gardens for both eating during the summer and canning over the winter."

 

"No handy stores to run to, either in China now or the 10th planet."

 

After dinner Josette is drug off to the first of several meetings with the teachers about the new textbooks. This takes place for about three nights to give those teachers who have night classes a chance to attend.

 

A few days later Josette blinks as she sees Calvin with a familiar group of people, she knows damn good and well he's on Archimedes for the week.

 

"Yes, I'm crossing my own timeline since I know I'm not here." He hugs her. "Ladies, Gentlemen." They stop looking around, especially up at the two suns overhead. "I know you've seen her around the school, this is Josette Takahawa. Second in command of the Hanford Institute for exceptional children behind Principal Madison and Professor Druid, my son and daughter-in-law. Like my school the Institute goes year-round, but their school year starts the first of the year and ends the end of the year."

 

"What's the semesters?

 

"Three twenty week semesters, four months of five nine day weeks. Each day is 36 hours." Shudders from some of them and most of them look at Tony Stark. Josette sniggers, recognizing the look. "The eighth planet is 48 hours, the ninth planet is 60 hours, and the tenth planet is 72 hour days. Those planets people work eight or so hours, are off another shift, might work another shift, and then are off the rest of the day. Everybody in Eureka is used to keeping different hours."

 

Tony Stark moans as Clint Barton sniggers. "Eureka is real?"

 

"In at least three dimensions besides yours, the one from our dimension is on the 8th planet, from a second is on the 9th, the 10th planet Eureka was a tv show and not just a fictional recreation of things that actually happened. . .as a way to make money for the DoD." Granda snickers at the others blinking as they realize there's a real Eureka. "And we met somebody from another Eureka a lot like ours but ours is ahead of his by about a decade or so."

 

Calvin looks at her at that slight bit of misinformation.

 

"A decade?" He asks quietly as they go on the tour.

 

"Century. Some of the stuff that was happening in his world had happened when we were just out of high school. The 9th planet Eureka was around the same point in time when they came out nearly 40 years ago."

 

The school buildings are inspected, including the new textiles building. "We're furnishing it this year, it takes a while to get everything." Tony Stark nods. "I've had scientists pout since everything isn't magically refilling and if they run out they have to order it."

 

"We've had a few students who still expect Momma to magically appear, make their beds, clean their rooms, replace the toilet paper when it's empty, do their laundry, and take out their garbage instead of doing it themselves even after being told they have to do it themselves."

 

Sniggering from the others.

 

"Do you have nearby stores?"

 

They walk into town, everybody looking around in satisfaction. "While school is in session students gotta sign up at the administration building to be allowed off the school grounds. They sign out when they leave and sign in when they return. During the breaks you can leave the school grounds whenever you want but there's still curfews."

 

"Breaks?"

 

"Two weeks between the first and second semester, two between the second and third, then five weeks at the end of the year with school starting the second week of the new year. Josette will bring students back one day during the breaks so they can pick up more supplies than is available at the stores."

 

"Chocolate, pop, other stuff?"

 

Nods from Josette and Calvin. "With the time difference we can be on Earth for weeks while only an hour has passed here thanks to the ships."

 

"Holidays?"

 

"The students come out for Christmas, usually spending a month with family and friends."

 

"Those students who don't have families?"

 

"Usually have friends who will put them up or have host families." Nods from the others.

 

"Rooms?"

 

"Keep them clean. The floor monitors do pop inspections and if there's a complaint. There's a list of items you can't have and we inspect bags before students get on the ship."

 

"And their bags are inspected when they return from a trip to Earth. Between that and most of our students are teenagers who will tattle in a heartbeat if you have something you shouldn't have, there's little to no chance of somebody sneaking in anything."

 

"Television, microwave, dorm refrigerators?"

 

"No on the first two and the last only if you have medication that needs to be kept chilled like insulin. Those and epi pens are the only medications that they're allowed in their rooms. Anything over the counter they have to go to their floor monitor, prescription they have to go to the health center on campus. And they take them in front of somebody." Nods of satisfaction.

 

"How is your recycling handled?" They'd seen the dropoff area in town where the recycling was sorted into containers and the garbage dropped in . . .something.

 

"Everything is sorted in the dorms, one of our rules. The bins in the hallways are emptied into basement containers when they get full. Every month Josette takes the recycling to the ships and brings it back to Earth."

 

"End up taking care of it back on Earth too?" One of the women chuckles at Josette's look.

 

"Most of the time, but it's good money."

 

"Every couple of months Josette or one of the others disintegrates the trash in the dumpsters, more often during the summer and it's beginning to stink."

 

The others spend three days on Haven, blinking as they return to Earth only seconds after they left.

 

"That is convenient." Steve Rogers says once they're back at Stark Tower.

 

"Yes. I don't have to worry about the kids now. The school is academically excellent and they can't come to harm on Haven." Phil sips a glass of ice water.

 

They're adding floors to more of the existing dorms over the next couple of weeks as Josette heads off to the first planet again, planting mirasol chiles to dry into guajillos for another batch of adobo.

 

The first crops are coming in when James comes up with a plan for her new personal library. Josette comes back from an offworld harvest and looks over everything.

 

"I swear I remember a day when we thought the school library was way too big." Alan sighs.

 

"I know. My personal library is already about five times bigger than the increased library and they're both getting bigger. And we thought Town's library would last us decades."

 

"If we hadn't had so many lost planets. . ." David says as Josette disappears then reappears seconds later. She sighs and walks over to the communications unit.

 

"Alfred, I need Thomas. Yes, it's important. Tell him that the library's curator has been lost and there's at least three more places like the compound that need to be gathered." A few minutes later she can hear running footsteps and Thomas comes into view on the screen.

 

"Josette?" She holds up a familiar key that catches the light before it goes back around her neck. "You've been chosen as the new protector?" She nods. "The others are in lost areas though one is under a building we cleared, but we'll have been there and gone by the time we arrive."

 

"Can you find them all with that?"

 

"Yes, we're just gathering the ones that don't currently have guardians." Thomas nods. "If Alex had been on Earth, he would have been chosen."

 

"I'd thought he might be." Thomas looks over at Clark who'd come up behind him. "We'll meet you on. . ."

 

"Brigadoon." Josette says. "Bring Alex with you, he can be my second." Thomas nods.

 

The others look at her. She looks at David. "Remember that dream I told you about?"

 

"The door at a school."

 

"Yep, I was having it more often when we were on Thomas's world, now I know why." The others look at her in 'answers now' tone of voice. "There's an area that is supposed to be the fount of all knowledge. . ." Josette says as everybody gathers stuff and walks through the tesseract. They find Thomas, Clark, and Alex waiting on them. "Only certain people have access to it, if you dream about opening a door and finding a hallway that. . ."

 

"Goes on as far as the eye can see with rooms on either side." Alex says.

 

"Exactly." Josette gets in the chair, it starts moving around her. "If you have the dreams you're a good candidate, our gifts give us an edge. I was chosen because I was close a number of times and it 'grabbed' me."

 

"Rarely is it just one person, most of the time there's at least two people who can handle the duties. Not that it's that difficult." Thomas says as the chamber closes around Josette and they lift off.

 

It's six months later when they return and Alex is carried off by his father while Josette is busy soaking up solar energy. Clark flies Thomas and Alex off as the others head back to the dorm.

 

The first crops start coming in and everybody keeps an eye on Josette and Alex but they seem totally recovered from taking on the duties of protecting the library. The offworld harvests start coming in and Josette and the others head off for the boys show.

 

"Thank you Josette, when is the show?"

 

"Tomorrow night, that gives you time to get the display set up."

 

"How many more books?"

 

"Ten, four that haven't been released on Haven yet."

 

"Josette, we're waiting on a couple more things for your order. It will be a few days." Ellis says as they sit in the office, Josette blowing on a mug of hot chocolate to cool it.

 

"We'll be here for a couple weeks at least. And expect more people coming out to make a large order, we're adding another fine arts building to the school." Ellis smiles and hands over some catalogs to give them an idea of what's available after Josette finishes her drink and starts shopping.

 

The next night David sniggers as Josette sits down to sign books. They're already lining up and he sees more than one person has older books for her to sign.

 

"Please tell me Josette's getting paid for this?" Mary sighs.

 

"About five dollars a book, not counting the price of the book themselves."

 

Mary shakes her head. "I thought Marcus was going overboard on buying a case of pens for each signing event."

 

Josette sighs and takes off her shoes after the show. "What's the damage?"

 

"Marcus will have the final tally in a couple of days but thousands of new books plus nearly as many old books."

 

"Did that woman order more stuff?"

 

"Judging from the pile of papers in front of her, oh fucking hell yes. Probably one of those women who have paths through their rooms since everything else is covered with good stuff."

 

"They don't have homes, they have masterpieces where you can't move something an inch."

 

"Exactly."

 

The next day Josette starts working on the recycling, spending a couple weeks hitting various places before they head back to Haven.

 

 

 

Josette heads off to the first planet with Hannah and one of Professor Druid's brothers a couple days later.

 

"These are new." Richard picks a mirasol pepper and sniffs it, then bites into it.

 

"Yeah, I'd been experimenting with chipilotes in adobo sauce. They freeze well and with stasis you don't need the high fructose corn syrup or preservatives the commercial ones had." Nods of satisfaction from both of them. "I grew a second batch to see the difference between growing on the ship and growing in a tropical environment and to sell to Vincent on the 8th and 9th planets once they're turned into guajillos."

 

Nods of satisfaction from the others. "Are you going to be planting again?"

 

"The second batch of tomatoes, herbs, and peppers we normally grow on the first planet."

 

Josette finishes putting the last wreath of peppers in the drying tables and straightens up. Richard and Hannah were looking at the yearly crops on the first planet.

 

"Do you have plans for more grapes here?"

 

"Not for a while, I added more vines a while ago and we've got the new grapes on Haven." Richard nods in satisfaction.

 

Back on Haven Josette plants the new vines, Calvin and the others looking in satisfaction at the new vineyard since Josette is off selling the new guajillo chiles.

 

"It will be a while before she can pick and even longer before we see the first blended wine." Calvin nods.

 

Josette returns a couple hours later. "A good demand for the chiles?"

 

"Yes, Vincent was already plotting dishes, I could see it in his eyes." The others laugh. "The communal kitchen take some?"

 

"Yep, and the rest is in stasis to be used as needed."

 

"Bronwen, last books are here." Josette says over the intercom a few days later. Bronwen grins and meets Josette at her workroom, opening a box of books and looking at the book in satisfaction.

 

James looks in the door and shakes his head, he'd have thought they couldn't possibly sell that many books but he's seen the stacks of boxes in the earlier rooms vanish after a show.

 

The next day Josette and the others head off for Josette's show in Mom Clarinda's dimension. Dropping off the special orders with Dexter, they also bring out books for the show and the website. Heading to the rooms they drop off their bags and head off again since the others are in a meeting.

 

In another building Mary receives the double beep of an alert and checks on the rooms. "The kids arrived, they dropped off their bags and headed off again." The others nod. They're home at the rooms when the kids arrive, Alan and Josette bringing bags out of subspace.

 

A couple days later Josette heads off to be gussied up for the show as the others snigger.

 

"Are the others on Haven?"

 

"Yeah, they're adding more floors to another chunk of dorms, putting up yet another one to bring us up to fifty-four dorms, putting up a third building for the fine arts curriculum, enlarging the school bookstores, and adding onto the school, town, and Josette's libraries." The others shake their heads. David sighs. "We know, but we're already got the rooms spoken for."

 

"Do you have enough school buildings and teachers for all the new students?"

 

"Yes, they put four or five new ones up besides the fine arts and textiles buildings and enlarged the others."

 

Josette takes off her shoes that night after the show and book signing, rubbing her feet and wriggling her toes.

 

"How long were you writing?"

 

"Three hours after the show ended. Dexter's going to have the final tally for me tomorrow. . .after he gets some sleep." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"How many books did you sell at the other show?"

 

"Over five thousand, and I swear I signed just as many old ones." The others snigger but nod.

 

"Did you get in a batch of wood and other supplies before we left?"

 

"Yes, and I'm expecting another when we go pick up the students, and a third when we head out for Thanksgiving." Josette says. Alexander blinks but recalls the number of orders and nods. David looks at Michael. "What were you talking with Bruce and Thomas about?"

 

"They wanted to see if I could use my metal powers to move the tumblers in locks and unlock handcuffs."

 

"Can you?"

 

"Never tried." Michael shrugs. "I'd probably just move the metal instead."

 

Several weeks later for them they return to Haven, small boxes of supplies and other stuff going to various rooms.

 

"Josette, how is Archimedes handling their new library and historical society building?" Lady Simone asks at lunch.

 

"A portion of the sales from the commercial garden is going in a fund for the buildings, a portion of sales from the pizza parlor, movie theater, and Agatha's store is going there, those people who are harvesting offworld are donating part of their bonuses, those who don't need the money for their own home repairs and whatnot. It's going to be a few years because they're not just paying for the buildings, they're paying for the furnishings and in the case of the library, more books."

 

Everybody nods in satisfaction.

 

Josette shakes her head at her new, new, new, new, newly enlarged library, reaching for her PADD and making a list of what she'll need as they walk through the new building. She looks out the window to see the school bookstores being expanded and nods in satisfaction, she'll bring the containers of textbooks out now. Calvin follows her gaze and nods in agreement. "Now, how many books do you have for the new library buildings?"

 

"Tons, I got at least four shipping containers full of books. That's not counting music, audio books, DVDS, and microfilm."

 

"And your books?"

 

"About fourteen." David sniggers as he walks through. "Also not counting music, audio books, DVDS, and microfilm."

 

"Shaddap from the peanut gallery." Josette rolls her eyes. "Not quite that many, but close."

 

Josette's working on something the next night and hands her PADD to James. "Look that over would you? I've been thinking of harvesting salt on the first planet."

 

James takes the PADD and sees a small area that can be blocked off after the water's entered.

 

"You're thinking blocking it and letting the water evaporate then dry the salt and bag it?"

 

"Yes, we wouldn't be doing it often, every other year. . .if that often." James nods. "You don't want to damage the environment."

 

"No, I'm going to be experimenting first with filling up containers of salt water and letting it evaporate." Calvin and Hannah nod in satisfaction. "You won't need a large scale operation."

 

"No, we don't need anything like they had on Earth."

 

Josette heads off with Doc to deliver the orders for his Earth, coming back with more supplies that are delivered to various places. When she's done with that she drops off recycling, containers of belongings from the seniors and teachers from the cooking school, empty shipping containers, and the orders. Picking up more containers of supplies for the school and the jobs she spends a couple weeks on Earth before returning to Haven.

 

The Harvest Festival comes and everybody is staring at the large sculpture Josette made with a chain saw that goes up in front of the library.

 

"Can you do these more often?"

 

"Yeah, but not in large enough quantities to add to a show." Josette snorts.

 

"No, but we could show one at the shows and raffle it off. You'd get ten dollars a ticket for sure. And we're talking thousands of tickets."

 

Josette shakes her head as she walks off muttering, everybody grinning behind her.

 

After the Harvest Festival they're back in the same time period when Josette starts bringing the new students out. Calvin waves Josette into his office one day. "The wards of the avengers are in this group." He shows her a few files and she nods.

 

"Welcome to Haven," Josette tells the students when they walk through the tesseract David opens. "Please follow Professors Fletcher and Jackson to the auditorium for your orientation, your belongings will be delivered to your dorms."

 

The students look around them as they follow the teachers to the building indicated. Frances chuckles. "You'll be going on tours of the campus after Principal Madison talks to you and you have a semester to get settled into your dorms and figure out where everything is before you start classes. You'll all be talking to your advisors over the next couple of months, especially those of you who are dual enrollment students."

 

The last of the new students are finally brought out and Josette settles into a seat at the pizza parlor. The seats around her are filled by teachers. Sandra grins at her. "Next year to have the rest of the dorms enlarged and the new dorm up?"

 

"Yeah, that should fingers, toes, and eyes crossed hold us for a few years. The next step rather than building more dorms or adding more rooms would have to be adding more beds to the dorms, making them three or even four student rooms as students graduate and the rooms are empty." The others shake their heads. "Yes, not an ideal situation, but we're at the upper limits for elevators. Adding more floors would mean having to add a concourse or other type floor where students could switch elevators. Which would mean more work on the dorms."

 

"Thankfully we have more than one elevator now."

 

"Because you can't really walk down 75 flights of stairs. As they proved at the World Trade Center attacks." The other three nod.

 

"So 54 dorms when the last are finished next year."

 

"Yeah, I can see it ultimately going up to 60 dorms but not for a few years. If it gets that bad we'll have to add more floors to the dining halls, more buildings, or both."

 

Back at the dorm Josette pins the binding to her latest quilt and takes it into the studio to sew, looking it over and working on the pattern before dinner.

 

"Get your quilt finished?"

 

"Yeah, and the pattern is done. I should have six quilts for the pool by the end of the year."

 

"Last crop for the first planet?"

 

"I'm planting in a few days. I'm also growing on the satellite after Thanksgiving so if you want something special put it on the list." She looks at the screen to the first room and Principal Madison nods.

 

Josette lays in the sand on the first planet, soaking up solar energy for a couple hours after the raised beds are planted.

 

"Get everything in?" David asks when she slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"Yeah.

 

"Project for your chemical engineering degree?"

 

"Been working on them for a while along with the papers since I only got fifteen more classes." Josette mock sobs and her loving family makes oooh laaa sounds as Principal Madison sniggers in the front room. The others look at the back room automatically, then him. "Josette's only got two years for the masters she's taking now, or rather fifteen classes after this semester."

 

"So she's got to work on a project and her thesis, and knowing Josette she's working on them for her doctorate at the same time." Professor Ziegler snorts.

 

"Yep."

 

"Well, she did take a page from David's book and wait several years between the degrees." Amanda sniggers.

 

"What degree is she working on now?" Professor Parker asks.

 

"Chemical engineering."

 

"We need to harvest the farms pretty soon."

 

"Before midterms, that way I can take them and the green picked peppers and tomatoes from the first planet." The others nod. After their midterms Josette heads off, picking the green peppers and tomatoes. The others harvest the mussels, oysters, clams, and goeducks and Josette delivers them to the various planets.

 

"Everything done until the ripe tomatoes, peppers, and herbs?" David asks at the government meeting.

 

"Yeah." Josette yawns. "We're going to have rain by dinner."

 

"We need it, the cisterns are getting empty."

 

"And we're at the point where the crops are gonna need the extra water." Everybody nods.

 

"Speaking of cisterns." President Bartlett says. "Do we see a need for a water tower?"

 

"It's been a few years since we talked about one." Doc says slowly. The arguments for and against take about twenty minutes and at the end they agree to table it again for a few more years or until they have a bad year where they need the water.

 

Josette looks over as Agatha taps on the door, going out and talking to her then nodding. The others look at her when she comes back. "Part of the plans for the new library, they want the potters to make bricks for the outside and pavers for a courtyard."

 

"People buying them and having their names on them like they did in other fundraising projects?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"That's what they're thinking." Josette looks at her PADD. "It will take a few years of work to have enough bricks and pavers, but it will take that long to construct the library."

 

Back at the dorm Josette brings out the fabric for a quilt and starts making notes, laying out the fabric for a couple blocks as she sets the sewing machine up.

 

"Is this your last quilt for the year?" Susan asks from the doorway.

 

"Probably. I'm running low on quilts." Josette's lips twitch as she looks at the rapidly dwindling bags of quilt projects. Susan snorts. "How many more do you have on paper you need to buy the stuff for?"

 

"A good notebook and a half." Susan sniggers as she walks off. Josette counts the quilts she has yet to make, the quilts in the notebooks, and sighs. "My muse is demented."

 

"Going to have to write some more books." David sniggers from the doorway.

 

"Shaddap."

 

The next morning Sue doesn't even blink when she finds Josette in the store when she arrives. She's been there a while, there's piles of fabric everywhere and the remnants cage is nearly full. Since she's busy making labels Sue starts measuring the remnants, calling out the information and taking the labels Josette hands her. Grabbing the now empty bolts Josette heads into the back room and brings out new ones that go on the shelves.

 

"Is this everything?" Sue asks as she runs the card Josette had been scanning the labels on through the machine, the list of materials and other supplies then the total quickly scrolling through the screen before Josette sends the payment. The receipt takes five pages and she shoves it in a bag before everything get popped in subspace with the wave of a hand.

 

"Nope, gotta hit Agatha's for the rest." She puts the bags in subspace and heads off, hitting the bakery and pizzeria on the way. At the school David's waved to the front room.

 

"Josette's in town getting everything for her next batch of quilts." he says before Principal Madison can even ask. Frances and Elaine chuckle. "Only had three shelves left of quilts to work on?"

 

"Somewhere around there, Josette said she had a notebook and a half of quilts to buy for, Sue and Agatha are going to have to put in an order with Ellis when we head out Thanksgiving." David looks at Frances and Elaine. "You have put in an order since you went out before the babies were born, haven't you?"

 

"Oh yes, we usually order at least every other year or so."

 

Josette arrives back at the dorm a few hours later, bringing everything out of subspace before joining the others for dinner.

 

"Lemme guess, good thing you get bonuses every offworld harvest, that's the only way you could pay for everything?" David sniggers.

 

"Something like that." Josette says, rolling her eyes.

 

"Not to mention the employee discount." Anna says dryly. Back at the dorm Josette starts sorting through the bags, making notes for each one before putting them in order on the shelves. The notes are also on the server, the first step for the files for the kits.

 

About a month later Josette heads to the first planet to pick the remaining peppers, herbs, and tomatoes, making the rounds of the planets and putting everything else in stasis when she returns home. The crops start coming in and one day Josette, Alexander, and Michael head to Archimedes for their finals.

 

"Who's working on the growing area plans?" Josette asks when she returns from picking up the recycling on the other planets.

 

"I am." Susan says. "Get all the recycling done?"

 

"Yeah, the school's is on the ship to take back after Thanksgiving."

 

"Shipping containers?"

 

"Took batch a bunch of the empty ones when I was picking up students. Not that they won't be returned when I pick up the supplies." Nods from the others. Josette touches the key around her neck.

 

"Five years and you'll be in the same time back on Thomas's world?"

 

"Yeah, a few years after that should see a continent lost." Josette grins. "Next year and you'll be starting your doctorate." David's lips twitch and he chuckles. "Anybody check the download?"

 

"Just under halfway done." They'd had a large update for their computers in the last databurst.

 

"Masters?"

 

"Starting another one from one of the textiles schools next year." The others nod. "Are you going to handle only having two years for a master?"

 

"I don't know, it'll be tight." the others snigger.

 

"Thesis and project for your other masters?"

 

"About halfway done and nearly done. I gotta turn the notes into a proper presentation."

 

After Thanksgiving the food from the offworld harvests are passed out and the graduating students return home, Josette picking up supplies and dropping off the last orders for the years, both at the warehouse set up by the government and the special orders with Marcus, drops off the recycling and empty shipping containers.

 

"Get everything taken care of?" David asks when she joins them at the house.

 

"Yeah, everything's on the ship now. I dropped off the orders for the others with Ellis, and I'm going to do some shopping myself in a few days." The others nod and check the food in the ovens.

 

Several weeks later after doing some shopping, picking up the orders from Ellis, and working on the recycling they return to Haven, David opening the tesseract for the returning students as Josette and a dozen of her other selves start moving the supplies to various places.

 

"Is this everything?" Principal Madison asks at dinner.

 

"For here, I've got stuff for the sorting planet I'm delivering tomorrow. Thomas and I are going out to his world, I'm taking a group to the other dimension to check on their Earth, Moon, and Mars. And we're going to the other dimension tomorrow so we'll have four of the ships off." Principal Madison nods.

 

A couple days later Josette slumps onto the couch after all the trips to the other dimensions are finished.

 

"Growing area?"

 

"Next week, I wanna lay in the sun for a few weeks." the others nod. It had turned bitter ass cold after Thanksgiving. They didn't have any snow to speak of yet but they were expecting it within the week when it began warming up.

 

The following first day Principal Madison chuckles when he sees everybody slightly darker than they had been the previous weekend when they pile into the back room with the kids. Who are also darker than expected.

 

"They are eight and fourteen, old enough to enjoy themselves on the first planet." President Bartlett says, nodding.

 

"And Victoria's group is going to be moving offplanet in seven years."

 

"Where are they going?"

 

"Ninth planet Eureka probably, they seem to make a loop of Stark, Wayne, Archimedes Eureka, and 9th planet Eureka for the kids."

 

After breakfast everybody heads upstairs to start working in the growing area, harvesting clams, oysters, and mussels and fish in the growing area while they're planting. By the end of that week everything's planted.

 

Josette puts the plates on her knees in the Albatross Nest, opening a bottle of Haven Dew as everybody starts settling down.

 

"Josette, quilts?" Sue asks a couple hours later after the cookies and kits have been passed out. She waves a hand and quilts appear on the table as files are sent to the server.

 

"Oh these are beautiful." More than one person says as the quilts are examined and put back in subspace along with Josette's kits and the cookies. Cleaning up with the others Josette heads to the dorm, putting everything away before joining the others at lunch. After lunch she checks the growing areas and looks through the kits before she starts putting everything away.

 

"I prefer the snow over the damn bitter cold." Susan says, shaking off her coat when she comes in from checking on the barns just as Josette was going out to do the same thing. Sitting down she pulls off her barn boots and puts them on the grate to dry and stay warm, putting on house shoes and walking through the ranch to the dorm.

 

"Anything to go up to the library?"

 

"No, I didn't finish any degrees this year."

 

"Cooking?"

 

"I'll probably start a new one year after next. How are you coming on your dissertation notes?"

 

"I'm starting the degree next year."

 

"Congratulations. You and David both going for a doctorate, the boys and I going for a masters, and the others are three semesters from bachelors." Susan nods. One of her other selves comes out of the switching chamber with the school computer books for the next semester as the others come in with the first book and other supplies for their classes on the other system. Josette puts all her books for the next semester in her first floor room until the new year. The others from the other dimensions start arriving a couple days later.

 

"How are you coming on your project?"

 

"Good, I'm working on my notes and figure on having that and my thesis done and handed in by the end of next year." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"Has Susan said anything about her doctorate?"

 

"She's starting it first semester."

 

"Awwww."

 

"The boys?"

 

"Still planning on making an appointment to present their papers this time next year. And pre-applying for their doctorates while they're there." Calvin nods in satisfaction. "David?"

 

"Picked up the first book for his doctorate a couple days ago. He and Susan will be finishing their doctorates the same time, the boys and I will be finishing our masters and starting our doctorates the same time."

 

"And the others will be finishing their bachelors at the same time."

 

"Have you started experimenting with the salt yet?"

 

"Yeah, I filled three basins of water on the first planet on Ulonda while we were gone. The water evaporated, the salt's drying in the sun here on Haven. I've got the same number of basins evaporating here on Haven."

 

Richard nods. "See what the difference is between the planets."

 

"Okay, probably a dumb question but what's the difference between the salt they mine and the salt from the sea?"

 

"Nothing mostly. The salt underground is left behind as salt water aquafirs are filtered by the ground into fresh water. The big companies usually crush it fine and add stuff to make sure it doesn't cake and iodine. I'm leaving it in the natural state and not adding iodine."

 

The others nod.

 

"Josette, when you make sausages have you ever thought of drying it for any length of time beyond the drying tables?"

 

The others look at Hannah.

 

"I have, the downside is we'd need a climate controlled building for long drying. I've been thinking of experimenting with hams and more types of sausages." Hannah and Richard nod in satisfaction.

 

"Okay," Josette says a couple weeks later at the government meeting. "Hannah asked me something before the Lights Festival." Everybody but David looks at her. "Making more sausages that age months or even years like they did on Earth."

 

"We'd need a building just for that." President Bartlett says.

 

"Hannah's got a few ideas and is sending me plans and lists of what we make."

 

"Power?"

 

"Piggyback off the smokehouse's." Principal Madison nods. "Cooking teachers?"

 

"Going home this year. Like the teachers and students they'll be packing up their belongings and I'll drop them off at the school."

 

"20 years. The cooking school has been open 20 years." President Bartlett shakes his head. "I can't believe it sometimes."

 

"We don't see the passage of time creeping up on us until something like this happens and we're reminded how long it's really been."

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"We went out for supplies after Thanksgiving. About six years with this one and we'll be in the same time again."

 

"Your hard degree from Calvin's dimension?"

 

"Nearly done, I've got a good half of the projects done and I'm a third of the way through the classes for the third year."

 

"The boys theses?"

 

"Still planning on presenting them after Thanksgiving."

 

"Your thesis?"

 

"Plugging along. I'll probably upload it and the project then."

 

After the meeting Josette stops to the bakery then returns to the dorm, shaking off her cloak and putting her boots up before pulling on house shoes. Heading upstairs to the growing area she checks on everything before heading to the workroom where her chemical engineering project is going along.

 

It's snowing again by the time they head to lunch, by common agreement walking outside so they can get some fresh air. After lunch Josette flies to Brigadoon, checking on the containers of water she has evaporating and talking to the ships about what kinds of sausages she can make by aging for months. By the time she's back at the school for dinner she's got a room full of sausages and hams she's got drying.

 

The next morning finds her at Wayne Manor talking to Thomas, Alfred, Ma, Clark, and Doc.

 

"I'd wondered why you hadn't made different sausages." Ma says.

 

"We never thought of longer drying sausages because we always needed the drying tables for the crops but . . ." Josette shrugs.

 

"So you've got a batch on the ship?"

 

"Yes, I've got five different types of sausages that will be aging for a few months and hams that will be drying for at least a year."

 

"Are you seeing if there's a demand?"

 

"I already know there's a demand, I sent the message out yesterday to the communal kitchen, the cooking school, Assyrian's cooking teachers, and Vincent on the 8th and 9th planets. The 'Hell yes messages and suggestions on what to make started pouring in." Alfred chuckles at Josette's hangdog look.

 

"We have the room and can make the vat-raised meat." Nods from the others.

 

"Here's what I have currently drying, I thought between us, Clark and Thomas, and Doc we could make a good selection. . ."

 

"And know what we'd need to do before we have the building up and running." Clark says, looking at the file.

 

"And we've got the old family recipes passed down that we can use." Ma says. More nods from the others.

 

"And we've probably got the information on the servers too from the commercial ventures."

 

"Talk to the others?" David asks at lunch.

 

"Yeah, Clark, Thomas, and Doc are going to be setting up areas to dry meat for an extended time too. Ma's got a number of old family recipes and we're going to be looking on the servers for the commercial ventures." Nods of satisfaction.

 

"Okay, we don't normally age cheeses that long but I know some places did, do we want to start making more cheese to age too?" Alan asks.

 

"We can look into it. We'd have to build a place to store the aging cheeses." Benton says in the front room after Principal Madison has repeated what they're saying in the back room. In the back room Josette nods.

 

Josette slides into her seat at the testing center a few weeks later, talking with Vincent over the plans to start making more hard cheeses that are aged and the other sausages and hams.

 

Vincent nods at the plans of the others making and drying different sausages and hams. "Sometimes you miss the obvious."

 

"Exactly, everybody concentrated on sausages that could be smoked or quick dried, but nobody realized people have been hanging them from the rafters for years. We wouldn't have needed to tie up the drying tables."

 

"Sometimes nobody sees what's right in front of their eyes." Dr. Cross says. "Now I hear this year the second batch of cooking instructors is going home?"

 

"Yeah, we're talking with them over this year about the sausages and other meats before they head off after Thanksgiving. The school's going to be keeping in touch with them just like we did the first batch after they left."

 

"Last of the new dorms going up this year?"

 

"Yeah, that will bring it up to 54 dorms, each 75 floors with either 40 or 60 rooms a floor. I never thought I'd see the day they got that big."

 

"Expecting the bubble to burst again?" Dr. Stark's lips twitch.

 

"Betcher bottom dollar." Josette grumbles. "Yeah, I know the extra dorms can be taken down if we don't have the students but. . ."

 

"Trust your grandparents." Dr. McNider pats her hand. "I hear there's talk about making them four bed rooms?"

 

"Yeah, switching them to four beds as they empty if we need to but. . ." Josette shrugs as the boys and Susan come over.

 

"Are there any belongings to go back next month?"

 

"Not yet, everybody's got the full year ahead of them. I expect them to start packing up stuff when they open their windows to get rid of the lived in small from over the winter and realize, 'Oh hell, I gotta move all this stuff now'." the others snigger. "Some of the students have been here for seven years, nearly as long as the cooking school teachers. I figure two shipping containers will be nothing but packing supplies, maybe even three since this is a dual year."

 

"Do you normally get that much materials in?"

 

"Depends on how many students we have graduating and how long they've been here. We always get at least one shipping container full of supplies like boxes, totes, tape, bubble wrap. . .stuff like that first midterms."

 

"Josette, do we need to open the shoe factory?" Dr. Cross asks.

 

"We probably should, it's been a while. I'll bring that up with the others and put up a notice on the server to see if there's a demand."

 

"Excuse me." Josette walks into Headquarters after they come back from the testing center, finding Doc, Doc, Clark, CJ, Clark Kent, Thomas, and Thomas gathered in the library. Doc looks over at her. "If I don't think of it at tomorrow's meeting, shoes and boots."

 

"It's been . . . nearly fifteen years since we had the factory open?"

 

"At least."

 

"Shoes and boots?"

 

"When we have the factory open we make a stock of shoes and boots, all good quality merchandise since we walk so much. It's mostly the common sizes so if you've got an off-size and don't get a special order in when the factory is open you use the replicator."

 

"Soles?"

 

"We've got a supply of them in the factory warehouse and can make more since we walk the soles off them. Some boots are on their fourth or fifth soles." Doc says. "Slippers?"

 

"Yeah, we'll put that on the server too, if there's demand we'll open the factories next year." Doc brings up the list of styles and sizes and everybody starts making plans.

 

The next morning Josette looks at the others. "I talked to Doc about this yesterday. Shoes."

 

"It's been a while since we had the factory open." President Bartlett says. "Has anybody checked the supply?"

 

"Yes, I did last night. We're good for this year, so I'll put the orders up after the Harvest Festival." Principal Madison nods in satisfaction. "Josette, this is probably a dumb question, but when we harvest the fish why don't we pickle them?"

 

"I've been looking into it but the short answer is. . .it's a matter of preference just like the olives." President Bartlett nods. "You're thinking something like pickled herrings?" Principal Madison nods. "Put up a notice on the server to see if there's interest and we can make up a special batch of them, leaving them at the store."

 

"And anybody who wants them can buy them there."

 

"Josette, the new, new grapes?" Principal Madison asks.

 

"I should be able to pick them next year, Samuel will come out to help me blend them. Alessandro's grandkids are coming out to learn too." President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "Aging it?"

 

"We're splitting this first batch, half aged and half not. Seeing which one gets a greater demand." Principal Madison nods in satisfaction.

 

"Shows?"

 

"Me Granda's, the boys Mom's."

 

"Carving?"

 

"I think Granda's off his rocker but yeah, I'll have one ready for the show."

 

"Books?"

 

"Fourth of the second group will be debuting next year."

 

"Thomas's world?"

 

"In five years, including this one, we should be at the same time. Eight years and we'll be harvesting again."

 

The next few weeks pass quickly and Josette heads to Eureka with the boys and Susan.

 

"How are you coming along on your special orders?" Dr. Cross asks.

 

"Good, hopefully that fool woman won't be ordering any more stuff." Alexander grumbles. Josette sniggers.

 

"Are Harvey and his crew planning on coming to GD for their internships?"

 

"Probably, Liam's crew went to the fourth planet so the babies will probably take on GD and the other companies on the 9th planet unless Drake, Wayne, and Dayton come out first."

 

"Seven years."

 

"Yep, Harvey had just turned two when Ma and the others came out."

 

The next day Josette heads to the other dimension, dropping off the recycling and picking up the mail and supplies. Back at the school she splits off duplicates to start delivering everything as she heads to the dorm.

 

"What's this?" A woman asks at the cooking school.

 

"Supplies for packing." One of the older teachers says. "We'll be packing up ahead of time, Josette delivers it to the school when she goes to Earth. That way we have the entire year to pack up belongings we don't need and just have a couple bags when we step on the ship. She does the same thing for the graduating students at school and the employees when their shifts end."

 

"What . . .?"

 

"Pack up the boxes, slap on a label with your name and where you're sending it, and bring it to the office. There should be a hints list on the server about what order to pack up belongings."

 

In the office Joyce and Principal Madison nod as they see the list of supplies arriving on the server.

 

Back at the dorm Josette checks on her chemical engineering project before joining the others at lunch.

 

"What are your plans for this afternoon?"

 

"Heading to Oxford with Doc, Doc, Thomas, and Thomas to talk to them about the new electrical engineering degree that specializes in the alternate energy." David blinks. On the screen Principal Madison does as well.

 

"They've been talking about it for a while, since before Doc settled on the 10th planet."

 

After lunch Josette joins the others in Oxford along with engineers from the various companies and some people from the 9th planet dimension. They talk for several hours, breaking for a meal and make plans to talk again the next day.

 

The next couple of months pass quickly, Josette having to toss out most of her winter sleepwear since it's worn out. Sheets and towels are next and she's not the only one visiting the various stores or pulling stuff out of the supply containers.

 

Josette isn't the least bit surprised to find Calvin nodding in satisfaction as he looks at the sculpture in the woodworking building when Josette comes back from planting the gardens.

 

"Oh yes, this will be perfect for the show. Have you talked to Marcus about it?"

 

"Yes, I've been sending pictures to him as the work goes on. He's over the moon and purchased fifty rolls of tickets before it was even finished." Calvin chuckles. Josette rolls her eyes. "Once it was done he purchased another fifty rolls."

 

"The other special orders?" He looks around, the room is empty.

 

"I just moved everything to the ship yesterday. We're taking a couple days off before we start up again." Calvin nods in satisfaction. "Relax while you can."

 

"If we need to we can spend a couple weeks outside time on the ship working on stuff before we go out. Especially if that one fool woman buys as much as she has the last few shows." Calvin sniggers. "That woman cannot possibly have any room to walk in her house."

 

"She probably brought a second one to fill." Michael snorts as he comes into the room.

 

"What's the latest on the Albatross library and historical society?"

 

"Good, the total took a jump when the pavers were announced. I'm working with the potters this year making them and putting them outside to dry. They figure they can start construction year after next." Hannah nods in satisfaction.

 

"I see you've been hitting the supply containers? Clothes finally wearing out?"

 

"Yep, clothes, towels, sheets, curtains. . ." David sighs. "It either went into the replicator to be used for new material or got tore up to braid for rugs."

 

After the students finals Josette and the others head to the other dimension, coming back with the students, Professor Druid, and Principal Madison four weeks later their time. Putting everything away Josette and the boys start working on the next batch of special orders having delivered the other batch to Marcus.

 

"Stuff for the shows?" David asks, looking in the room.

 

"In a different room on the ship, we've got a good selection for both shows even with all the special orders."

 

"Paper?"

 

"I gotta shred what I brought back today. I've got enough for the show but . . ." The others nod. "See what the supply is at the store?"

 

"Yeah, I'll do that after lunch." They finish what they're currently doing and walk to the dining hall. Where she's waved to the front room.

 

"Josette, paper?"

 

"I asked David to check the stocks after lunch. I gotta shred some for my shows. I can bring some out to the mill today."

 

President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "We can have somebody shred it and start it soaking."

 

She taps David on the shoulder as she walks past him to fill her tray. "Don't bother checking, President Bartlett just asked about it." He nods. "I'll bring it out and somebody will shred it and start it soaking. I gotta check the supply of old clothes for quilting too, we knew this was going to be a cold year.

 

After lunch Josette splits off three more duplicates before walking to Sue's store and checking the boxes.

 

"No, we're good on clothes, everybody's got a good supply of quilts on hand over the last few years." Sue says, looking over her shoulder. "Make them ahead of time and put them away until they're needed."

 

"Josette, how are you on your quilts and books?"

 

"Plugging away on the quilts. Like the quilts the books come in batches, I figure by the time the muse slams into me with more quilts I'll have plans for a dozen more books."

 

"You got all the quilt supplies purchased?"

 

"Nope, don't have the room or money for them yet either." Everybody in earshot sniggers.

 

"Josette, paper?"

 

"I'm delivering a batch of recyclable to the mill, somebody will be shredding it and starting it soaking over the next couple days."

 

"And we can replicate if we need something." Agatha says. "Order from Ellis's?"

 

"It should start arriving before the Harvest Festival with everything in by the Lights Festival. I'm heading off again next year when I debut the next book."

 

"How many books are available over there?"

 

"Next year will be the fourth of the second batch."

 

"School?"

 

"The rest of the existing dorms and putting up a new one. Possibly another dining hall."

 

A few weeks later Josette and Professor Parker head to the other dimension for a photography expo, Josette coming back with supplies, mail from the school, and other stuff.

 

"What's this stuff?"

 

"A type to print stuff using light and heat." Josette looks over her shoulder at David. "You take a picture, transform it into a negative and print it on a film. You put light reactive dye on whatever you want to print on, lay the film on, then pull it off after a certain amount of time. So far it only seems to be in black and white so it doesn't replace silk-screening but . . ."

 

"It's something to look into. Do you have the supplies on the replicator?"

 

"Yeah. I just brought a starter pack to see what it was about."

 

"Professor Parker get some too?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"The hundredth anniversary program?"

 

"Books are at the printers. We've got about three years worth of books working two shifts year round and will have them ready for the show in three years. Both batches of teachers will be returning home before the show but we're offering them and the cooking teachers books."

 

"What about taping the exhibits?"

 

"Yeah, we're looking at that too."

 

"How many books are we looking at?"

 

"Twenty-four, the last books are going to be available after the Harvest Festival in four years, just in time for the show to open."

 

Josette moans and complains that night when she's woke up out of a sound sleep by the book plans running through her head. She puts the notebook in front of Bronwen and inhales the pot of coffee she had poured into a travel mug after she fills her tray. "Books." She says at her look.

 

"How many?" Hannah asks, looking over her daughter's shoulder.

 

"A good sixteen, some of them can be split into two or even three book series." Josette moans. "Damn muse woke me up screaming in my ear."

 

Professor Fletcher nods in the front room. "I've had that happen many a time. I'd write down the basic outline and any special bits the muse told me then tried to go back to sleep. Didn't always work, especially after I switched from the typewriter to a computer."

 

"Are any of the other towns writing histories?"

 

"Yeah, the historical society in Cabot Cove is working on about five of them, so is Eureka. 9th planet Eureka is working on multiple books too. And they've offered our printers for books from the other dimension."

 

"How long?"

 

"I've got about six more books I can write from the quilts I already have made. We'd figured on about twelve, not counting the books on the socks or the t-shirts. How's Agatha coming along on the hand-sewing a quilt start to finish book?"

 

"Good, I planned on having Frances and some of the others beta the file this summer."

 

The show comes and like Marcus and Calvin had thought the sculpture has a lot of interest and the tickets fly off the rolls. Josette shakes her head.

 

A few weeks later Josette and the others return home, delivering stuff to the school, factories, library, restaurants and other stores, and the dorm. The list of what she's bringing out is sent to various places, people wiping hands and looking at the message before going back to what they'd been doing.

 

"How are we on rolls of paper?"

 

"Pretty good, we've got tons in the boxes and I can move them to the mill to be made up when we need it. So far there hasn't been that big a demand for it except for the printers."

 

Over the next few weeks Josette and the others are busy moving stuff to various places in the dorm and bringing in the yearly crops. Josette smirks as she settles into a chair for the boys show in the other dimension.

 

"How is everything coming along?"

 

"Good, I sent the chemical engineering project and paper to a couple people to look over for anything major before I formally upload it to the server after Thanksgiving. We started printing the books for the hundredth anniversary show this year, we're looking at having the last ones printed just before the show even with two shifts working on two different books and three books a year." Professor Xavier shakes his head. "The boys sent theirs to Oxford and they have an appointment in a couple months to present theirs and find out whether or not they can go on for their doctorates. Or should I say whether they have to go on for their doctorates since nobody will let them just stop at the Masters." Mary sniggers behind them, nodding.

 

Back on Haven nearly four months later for them Josette delivers more supplies before dropping onto the couch, her feet going up on the table as she reads papers and other stuff in the latest databurst.

 

The second crops start coming in and Josette gets her books from Archimedes before the Harvest Festival, then delivering the next two books for the 100th anniversary show to the storage area.

 

"Is this all the belongings coming back?" Jane asks at the piles of boxes Josette brings out.

 

"Doubt it, there's always somebody who has to wait until the last possible second." Josette brings out the next batch of projects for the textiles degree.

 

"How far along are you now?"

 

"This batch brings me into the fourth year of projects but I'm partway through the second year for the degree."

 

"Josette, you're getting a larger than normal upload this time, we're adding new schools. You're sending to the teaching units, the school server, and the replicator database." Calvin says. Josette nods and stretches from where she and Jane are counting socks.

 

"Are you going out to Ellis's?"

 

"Yes, I'm picking up the next batch of stuff for the new fine arts building, dropping off orders for the others, and picking up stuff for myself along with hitting a couple expos."

 

"Thomas's world?" He asks when they walk into the office.

 

"We figure five years plus this one and we'll be at the same time again. Eight years and we expect at least one continent to be gone."

 

"Have they selected a place to settle when Earth is. . .gone?"

 

"They're working on it while we're still there. Coming in behind us when we've cleared a country and seeing what needs to be done with the land and water."

 

Josette sighs as she slides into her seat at the government building for the last meeting before the Harvest Festival.

 

"Orders?" Doc asks.

 

"Delivered to both dimensions. We might be getting more orders from Doc's world, it's going to be a couple decades before the factories are back up and running." Nods from everybody. "Is Buckaroo coming out?"

 

"Yes, they've found a place on the 10th planet for the Institute and I brought up the first batch of supplies for them, we figure five years their time."

 

"Are they settled into the former China?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"Yes, they've grown their first gardens and plan on their first large crops. I took out one of the mills for their corn and wheat. They don't need something like the bread factory yet." Nods from the others.

 

"Glass factory?"

 

"Starting again next year to make glass for the speciality stuff." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"Shoes?"

 

"The announcement went out and will be repeated every week until the orders close at the Lights Festival."

 

/Guys, turn on your teaching units and somebody get mine too. We got a mega download./ Josette says mentally. In the dorm the others do so. /How long?/ David asks since he's not at the meeting.

 

/At least a couple days after the Festival./

 

"Damn." David whistles. The others look at him. The kids had just ducked into their rooms. "Josette says she's got a mega download for the teaching system. School server and the replicator?"

 

/Yeah, I gotta let the others know./ Josette looks at Principal Madison. "You and Mom need to turn on your teaching systems, we've got a major download. New schools." He nods and sends off the message to Katrina. "Replicator?"

 

Josette is typing on her PADD. In the office Joyce looks up at the beep from her PADD and heads out of the room to turn on the server connected to the replicator, starting the download before starting the download to the server and sending a message to Josette. In the government building she gets the message and nods. "Joyce just started it."

 

"Damn, Josette wasn't kidding about how big this download was." Katrina whistles as she checks her system.

 

"Have you been working with the potters for Albatross?"

 

"Yeah, we've got a good selection of pavers and bricks in various colors drying on Haven and the first planet. Next year we'll probably start putting the names on them." President Bartlett nods in satisfaction.

 

"Twice yearly harvests?"

 

"Next year, since I'll be there for the other stuff anyway it's not a hardship."

 

After the Harvest Festival Josette starts bringing over the new students, sliding gratefully into her usual seat at the pizzeria the last day and not at all surprised to find a plate full of food and a glass of pop put down in front of her . . .though who's doing it does make her blink a second.

 

"Is this everybody?" Dr. Hazlitt asks as Amanda and Professor Fletcher join them at the table.

 

"Yes, the dorms are full until the seniors graduate, next year the student size will go back down since we don't have the room."

 

"I heard rumors about making the rooms four students?" Amanda asks.

 

"Yes, so have I but we'd need more teachers and classes beyond what we have now with the 54 dorms. . .and can you imagine eight girls sharing one bathroom?" Everybody shudders and nods. "Hell, even the boys. I've seen summer camps where there was that many sharing a bathroom but . . ." Dr. Hazlitt murmurs.

 

"Exactly." Josette starts eating the first of four slices of pizza on her plate as one of the workers who knows how Josette eats brings over a bowl from the salad bar. "Thankee."

 

"100th anniversary show?"

 

"Four years from now, I have four of the books in storage ready to go out for sale and we plan on having all 24 ready for sale when the show starts by keeping the printers running two shifts year-round, weather permitting."

 

"You can always add a third shift or hold off on some of the books." Amanda says.

 

"Ayuh." Dr. Hazlitt and Professor Fletcher chuckle. "They're not all for the show, we've already put them on the end of the list."

 

"Cookbooks?"

 

"They're working on them again, we figure on having another ten ready for print by the show along with my next six books."

 

"Is this everybody?" David asks after dinner.

 

"Yes, the dorms are full until the graduating students leave. The waiting list that they had for the school is gone now so we should be good for a few years."

 

The next week Susan and the boys join Josette in Eureka for their first testing week.

 

"Paper and project?"

 

"I'm uploading them after Thanksgiving."

 

"The boys?"

 

"They've got an appointment next week to present their theses."

 

"And you've already started your dissertation?" Dr. Stark snickers.

 

"Ehhhh." Josette waves a hand as Susan and then the boys finish their tests and hand over their PADDS, going to the bathroom then joining them at the tables.

 

"Your super intensive textiles degree?"

 

"I'm on the fourth year of projects, hopefully by the end of next year I'll be done with the book classes."

 

"Assyrian cooking classes?"

 

"I'm starting a new one next year since I'll be done with the masters and not starting the doctorate until the following year."

 

"Your school computer class?"

 

"Starting my third year. I'll start picking up semesters here and there in various degrees I've got running to try to knock some of them down."

 

"How are you coming along?"

 

"I'm two semesters from finishing the degree from Cambridge on the London Blitz. I'm three or four semesters from various other degrees, but they're all multiple degree sets."

 

"If we had graduation today, how many degrees would you have?" Dr. McNider chuckles.

 

"Sixteen bachelors and the electrical engineering doctorate."

 

"Are you finishing any degree sets?"

 

"One, the anthropology comics degree. The others I'm only halfway through the second degree, haven't started it, or in the case of the sosh super degree programs, two or three semesters from finishing the first ones."

 

"It's nothing you have to finish right away."

 

"Exactly. There's plenty of other things to do beyond finishing degrees left, right, and center." Dr. Stark points a fork at her.

 

"And these are all degrees that I want to take, it's nothing I need for my job."

 

On Haven Josette heads to the cooking school, moving boxes to the ship to take back to Earth next month, then stopping at the school to pick them up there and heading to the bakery, filling a bag with doughnuts and other snacks.

 

She's eating one as she settles onto the couch, putting her feet up on the couch and waving a hand at Anna when she comes into the front room.

 

"The boys?"

 

"Checking the databurst for the new batch of special orders and updating the list." Josette looks over her shoulder as they come out into the front room. "Did the Kents ever get the alternate energy source?"

 

"Yeah, they had a backup generator installed after that storm. . .they felt they didn't need it but Clark insisted, then he put one in the other farm. Both Pa's just looked at him." The boys snigger. Josette looks at the PADD. The others look at her. "Light bulbs. We made a suger big batch years ago."

 

"And we've got them in the supplies from the other dimension and they're on the replicator. We can always make more if the supply is too low."

 

"No, we're still good." Josette puts her PADD on her belt as the kids gather around and they walk to the dining hall for dinner.

 

"Dad's coming out tomorrow to look over the furnace and generator."

 

"Thought the others probably would have."

 

"Probably did but they didn't say anything about it." David says as they settle in the back room.

 

"Anybody checked the weather for the winter?"

 

"Another light snow the whole winter years."

 

"Good, that will help the water table."

 

"And with the solar panels we keep the roofs clear so we don't get the roof collapses we saw on the news." Everybody nods. Even those buildings that don't have solar panels will have somebody go up to clear off the roofs to keep the weight off them.

 

The next day Josette slides into her seat at the government meeting. Doc looks at her then David's empty seat. "Dad's coming out to check over the furnace and generator before winter, not that the others probably didn't do the same thing while they were here but . . ."

 

"Is there anything we need to talk about? I saw you were looking at the supplies last night Josette." President Bartlett says.

 

"I was checking to see what the supply was on light bulbs. It's not something you. . ."

 

"Think about until you go looking for some and you're out." Principal Madison says. "Do we need to open the factory?"

 

"No, we made that super large batch several years ago, we've got them in supplies from the various dimensions, and it's on the server. But. . ."

 

"Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins." Doc says. "I was going to say something."

 

Josette nods. "It's been a few years since we had the factory going. I'll grow cotton next year and pull a couple scrub trees for the factory."

 

"The information going up on the server after the Harvest Festival and the factory starting the year after that?" President Bartlett asks. Josette nods. He makes a note on the minutes for this meeting.

 

"Shoes?" Josette looks at Principal Madison.

 

"The orders are coming in." He checks the file again. "Slippers?"

 

"I'll see if there's any interest next year and we can start the factory running again year after next. Socks and underwear too, it's been a while since we had the factories running." The others nod.

 

"Are you expecting a lot of containers to go back next month?"

 

"Betcher ass, it's the last trip out, if they don't get it out now they have to huff it onto the ship themselves. And there's always somebody who will wait until the last possible second." Principal Madison sighs but nods.

 

"I've got the floor monitors checking rooms and talking to the students. At least with this latest dorm the waiting list of students is nearly non-existent." Josette nods. "Josette, have you heard anything about why the massive influx of students?"

 

"No, the other school's been getting more students for the last few years too."

 

The next month passes quickly and Josette heads back to the other dimension after her tests, dropping off the recycling and empty shipping containers before picking up the supplies for the school, factories, and other stuff then arriving at the school and bringing out the containers of belongings. Jane shakes her head but nods when the last of the boxes comes out of subspace.

 

"I'd say there can't be that much more but I know better." Jane says.

 

"Exactly." Josette sighs as she perches on the counter. "Anything I need to bring out next time I'm here like socks?"

 

"We're good, how long are you going to be here?"

 

"At least a week, I've got an appointment with the school."

 

"Ahhh, I'd wondered why you didn't have any projects for us to pass along."

 

Josette nods. "Yep, and I'm picking up from Ellis's. This should have the third building completely furnished."

 

Bronwen is waiting for Josette when she comes out of the meeting. She gives her a look.

 

"I'm on track for everything and just brought in another batch of projects." Bronwen nods in satisfaction.

 

At Ellis's Josette has the muse strike and starts sketching something she puts away as they check on the orders then starts checking out the new orders.

 

Two weeks later her time she heads back to Haven, splitting off duplicates that send shipping containers various places before flying back to the dorm.

 

She's waved to the front table.

 

"Yes, this is everything for the new fine arts building." She says. Principal Madison nods in satisfaction. "Good news on your degree?"

 

"Yep, I'm on track for everything."

 

 

 

 

"Josette, have you thought about growing quinoa?" Thomas asks a couple days later.

 

"Yes, I'd planned on planting a field of it next year to see if there's any demand. I'm also planting different types of potatoes on the first planet."

 

"Cotton?"

 

"I'm growing offworld next year for toilet paper, I can grow for the next few years if there's more of a demand. We're keeping an eye on the supply of the socks, underwear, bras, and clothes to see when we need to open the factories again."

 

"And they're on the replicator." Thomas says.

 

"And they're on the replicator." Josette nods. "And we have them in storage from worlds I've had to clear. Not to mention what we've brought back over the years in supplies."

 

"Do you often grow new foods?" Alex asks.

 

"Every few years or so, there's so much food that we don't have." Alfred nods as he comes over to them in the store where Josette is bringing up supplies from the basement so they don't have to run up and down the stairs.

 

"Is that why that one cookbook. . .?"

 

"Is like that, exactly. It's introducing new foods to home cooks, giving them an overview of each food and then giving them simple recipes. Since the interest was good we're bringing out another like that. Richard liked that format and is using it for some of his cookbooks."

 

Josette brings out more pallets of wine and olive oil, putting the empty pallets on the ship.

 

"Thank you Josette." Mrs. Hudson says.

 

"I saw the supply was getting low. I took care of the empty pallets too."

 

"Flour?"

 

"I'm picking it up along with pasta in a couple months. I figured we'd be getting pretty low by then. This will be the last delivery of flour for us and the outlying areas.

 

The next couple months pass quickly and Josette is busy bringing in the last crops and the garden, splitting off a couple dozen duplicates to handle everything with the others while she, the boys, and Susan head to Eureka for their finals.

 

"Crops coming in left, right, and center?" Dr. Cross chuckles.

 

"Yep, and it's going to be asshole to elbow the rest of the week as we can, dry, or otherwise store everything for winter as it's coming in, I'm picking up the flour and pasta from the sorting planet, and taking care of the recycling."

 

"Plastic for Buckaroo's outbuildings?"

 

"Dad called about the first batch last night, I'm picking it up right now."

 

Josette slumps into her seat in the dining room that seventh day.

 

"Get everything taken care of?"

 

"Finally. The recycling for both dimensions is on the ships. Our recycling is sorted out into various places. The first batch of plastic is on the ship, when the next batch is done I'll start putting stuff up." The others nod as Josette yawns and starts eating.

 

"Orders to go back?"

 

"On the ships too. The only thing we need before we head off is the graduating students and returning teachers."

 

David opens the tesseract and people start walking through at the school as Josette starts delivering everything.

 

"Get everything done?" Susan asks when she joins them at the house.

 

"Yep."

 

The next few weeks pass with shopping and taking care of the recycling, the returning students walking through the tesseract back on Haven as Josette joins with her other selves that had been in Thomas, Doc, and the JSA's dimensions before they head off to the other dimension. A few months later for them they return back to the dorm.

 

"Ships?"

 

"I'll start delivering everything over the next few days. Who started the plans for the growing area."

 

"We did." The boys say. They put the file up on the screen, switching pages and making notes.

 

"Next week?"

 

"Yeah, I want to go to the island for a couple days."

 

"First planet?"

 

"Growing there next year, including some stuff we don't grow right now. And planting quinoa here next year."

 

"It's been a while since we added new crops." Alan says.

 

"Flour?"

 

"I took the last wheat crops out, should be picking it up finals first semester."

 

"Is everybody else who lives outside of town set for the winter?" They'd gotten in supplies for the winter at the dorm and the ranch over the year.

 

"Yeah, I delivered bags of flour to the outlying farms before I brought the rest to the store and Albatross. I noticed other supplies was being picked up." They look out the sliding glass door at the fat fluffy flakes.

 

A week later they're in the growing area with the kids planting in various rooms or harvesting the clams, mussels, oysters, and goeducks. Those join the fish in stasis.

 

"How is the salt coming along?"

 

"Done, dried on the ships and it's in canisters to use."

 

"Fish?"

 

"We're harvesting the farms next year, we might be salting part of it depending on the harvest."

 

"We've been talking about it for a while."

 

Josette nods. "We've never had a large enough harvest to preserve the fish all the ways we do now and salt them."

 

The dorm is decorated for the Lights Festival, Josette splitting off a dozen duplicates to handle the outside of the dorm.

 

Josette puts a plate down on her knees in the Albatross Nest, opening a bottle of Haven Dew. She takes part in various conversations as she eats three plates of food.

 

"Josette, are you premiering another book next year?"

 

"Yes, that will leave me two books in the second set and the third set yet to debut."

 

"Are the offworld harvests coming in before spring next year?"

 

"Yes, I'm going to be on the first planet planting anyway. Not only the normal crops, I'm growing more stuff we don't normally have."

 

"Is there going to be another 'intro to new foods' cookbook?" Somebody asks.

 

"Another in this group and we will have others eventually since the interest was so good." Somebody says from across the room.

 

"Josette, how many more books?"

 

Josette holds up a hand in a 'wait a sec' gesture and finishes the mouthful of food she's got. "Too damn many. Six from the last group that will be printed when the cookbooks are done plus a good dozen that the damn demented muse dumped on me earlier this year, some of which can be turned into two or even three books." Sniggering from the others.

 

 

 

"Are we harvesting on the islands?" Susan asks when Josette returns to the dorm.

 

"Yeah, the berries, oranges, cacao, and coffee should be ready again. It's been a few years."

 

"Pie factory?"

 

"For the dorm or Town? We don't have enough need for one in Town. Most people make theirs at home. I've been looking at a few with the plans of adding one to the dorm."

 

"Dessert pies and fruit pies?"

 

"Yeah, that's what I've been looking into." Josette brings up the files with the choices and they sit down and talk about each one before deciding on what they want. Josette starts the process of adding it to the dorm before they walk to the dining hall for lunch.

 

Shaking the snow off her cloak, she hangs it up and puts her boots up after lunch, going upstairs to check on the progress of adding the factory before going to her room and settling by the windows with a book she's been trying to read for a week but ending up napping in the chair instead.

 

A couple days before the Lights Festival Josette brings out the new books, putting them in storage with the others until the show.

 

"Cookbooks?" Richard asks when she returns to the dorm.

 

"About eight or ten books ready to start printing as soon as these are done." Josette says. "Plus Agatha's book should be ready to print then. Then it will be the rest of my second set of books."

 

"How are the third books coming along?"

 

"Good, I've been working on them on and off."

 

"Theses?"

 

"The boys presented theirs and are accepted for their doctorates. I uploaded mine a couple weeks ago. A few people at GD already saw the project and the paper so I'm not worried about not hearing anything. Dr. Stark will probably tell me I'm in after I apply for the doctorate next summer."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the government building the second week of the new year.

 

"How are the books coming along?"

 

"On schedule, we have six books in storage for the show and should have the last right before the show in three years."

 

"Then the cookbooks?"

 

"That or the other six quilting books I have finished. Agatha's book should be ready to print then also. They're all at the same stage, the files being proofread before they're on the replicator and advance copies printed."

 

"Josette, I see you're getting into new classes?"

 

"Yeah, I'm going to be starting another cooking degree from Assyrian after I finish my Masters. And I'm signing up for the ten week blocks on pies, quiches, stuff like that."

 

"Are we looking into another cookbook coming out of it?"

 

"Possibly." Josette says. "Quiches or refrigerator pies as they're also called can be made from nearly anything."

 

David suddenly sniggers. "The doctors on Earth would be horrified at our diets, real milk, real cheese, real eggs, real butter. . ."

 

"Yep, everything they claimed was bad for us and nobody has high cholesterol or anything else they claimed would happen." Josette sniggers.

 

"We still get in tons of dried eggs, dry milk, and other stuff. . .mostly because it's easier to use in big batches." The others nod.

 

"Shoes?"

 

"The factory opened today, the slippers are being started after the Harvest Festival." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"The new library?

 

"They're clearing the ground this year for the buildings and the pavers will start to be sold. We've got another year of work before they're all done."

 

Back at the dorm Josette starts making tacos, adding seasoning from the large canisters to taste. Like the cooking schools, dining halls,restaurants, and communal kitchen she gets a lot of things in the industrial size since it doesn't make sense to use individual packets.

 

The others begin dragging in as they finish their lessons, either taking hard taco shells from the stasis unit or grabbing tortillas as they fix their tacos.

 

"Did CJ ever start his doctorate?"

 

"Oh yes, Clark and Thomas were just giving him looks until he caved. he's two semesters into it this year, and like the rest of you finishing his bachelors next year." The others snigger.

 

"Have you heard about your doctorate?"

 

"No, but it's just a formality, I'll sign up when I finish the classes this summer and expect Dr. Stark to tell me I'm in this fall."

 

"Are they printing the same number of books for the 100th anniversary . . .?"

 

"37,500. It's a smaller run since there's less people interested in it."

 

"Yeah."

 

"If we run out we'll print more. I saw Granda giving the printing building a look?"

 

"Jane and the others are nudging him about a book on their school since I did one on the history of ours." The others snigger.

 

"Yeah, so he's not happy. They're talking about two books, one for theirs and one for when they took over our school since we have pictures and everything."

 

Sooner than they'd thought it would happen, Josette, the boys, and Susan head to Archimedes for their tests.

 

"Josette, you're in for your doctorate." Dr. Cross says when she sits down. She looks around. "Nathan is talking with Thomas about bringing out his Wayne Industries and Drake Corporation, and maybe the Daytons. Either here or Haven."

 

"Thomas had been talking about it."

 

"Five years?"

 

"Yeah, we'll be on the same time period then, seven and we expect to have continents gone."

 

"Are they going to let them go back to nature?"

 

"Africa for certain, the whole continent needs a lot of time to recover. The others we'll see on a case by case basis."

 

"How are the cities coming along?"

 

"Done, the one for Earth was settling in in one of the lost countries when we left."

 

"Do you see Thomas and the others needing a growing area?"

 

"No, they've got the one in the compound, that's just as big as ours in the dorm."

 

"Then they have plenty."

 

"Yep."

 

"The 10th planet?"

 

"They've been making plans, Buckaroo and his Institute coming out means they're enlarging theirs. Not that most of them don't have a growing area of their own in their buildings." Nods from the others as Susan comes over, the boys following her a few minutes later.

 

"How are you coming on your dissertation?"

 

"Josette's got the right idea, start the damn thing before you start the classes and you're ahead of the game. If there's something to add, it's not that hard to go back and move things around."

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"I'm off on one right now."

 

Vincent puts plates down in front of everybody and they talk about what new foods Josette plans on growing. Each items gets nods of satisfaction from the two doctors and Vincent.

 

"You've already planted them haven't you?"

 

"I was planning on doing it while I was out today with the drying tables." She looks at Alexander. "We gotta check ours before we plant." He thinks a second and nods. "It's been a few years."

 

"Aging building?"

 

"Finished, ready for everything this summer."

 

"Mushroom building?"

 

"We'll start growing come spring."

 

Back at the dorm they find David sacked out in the living room with a couple cats laying on top of him. Josette takes the picture and heads upstairs to the pie factory to see how everything is coming along. She knows that it won't be ready until this summer but that gives her time to work on recipes, do an inventory, and make plans.

 

Her workroom is next, where she finds a couple of her other selves working on various stages of quilts. Another is in a corner knitting on one of the projects from the kits. Her last step is the growing area, moving some of the larger plants from the greenhouse to either the planting area or the aquaponics section and checks on the green tomatoes, they should be ready for picking by midterms.

 

Josette merges with her other selves before dinner.

 

"Has anybody checked the growing area?" Alan asks in the dining hall.

 

"Yeah, this afternoon. I moved some of the bigger stuff from the greenhouses, we've got to start more seeds."

 

"That's what I thought, it's been a few weeks since we planted."

 

That weekend finds Josette grilling peppers and eggplants from the aquaponics unit, eating some then putting the rest in stasis to use in other meals. A batch of jerky is drying in the unit while another is marinating in the refrigerator. Checking her list, she starts making other foods in the vat unit, mostly different types of lunch meat for sandwiches. A half-dozen loaves of bread are rising on the counter when she breaks for lunch.

 

After lunch Josette heads upstairs to the containers, bringing out containers of dry products and putting them in the kitchens.

 

"Is that everything?" Susan asks.

 

"Yep, Sugar, Salt, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices. . .this should last us for a couple months."

 

"Pepper?"

 

"I'm growing peppercorn again this year. And mustard seeds."

 

"Maple syrup?"

 

"Tapping the trees this year, last year was so fucking nasty we couldn't."

 

"It didn't warm up enough during the day for the sap to run but cool down at night."

 

"Yep, it turned cold after Thanksgiving and stayed cold."

 

"Not as bad as it was on Earth." David says, coming up behind them.

 

"Yeah, we didn't get the storms dumping on us like Boston did."

 

"No freezing pipes bursting."

 

"No having to find space to put all the snow."

 

Josette heads to Calvin's school the next morning after breakfast, delivering the mail and picking up what they'd been holding for them.

 

Jane and the secretary wave her over and she whistles as she reads the news on the computer.

 

"Can you see many people doing it?"

 

"Not at first, most people can't handle not having a nearby store where they can buy stuff. But it's a start."

 

Josette leans between Principal Madison and Professor Druid at lunch.

 

"Earth is opening up a dimension for colonizing, there's going to be information coming out in the databursts."

 

"I can't see people on Earth not having a store to go to to buy everything they need."

 

"That's what Maria said at the school. If every store on Earth vanished tomorrow there'd be mass panic, hysteria, then rioting in the street."

 

"They'll have to start slow, showing people how to cook basic stuff."

 

Josette nods before she goes into the back room.

 

"You okay?"

 

"Yeah, they're opening a dimension for colonizing on Earth, they've got a lot of work ahead of themselves."

 

"But this is the first step." David agrees. "What are your plans for the afternoon?"

 

"I've got to start more paper for my shows. Whose turn is it to brush off the solar panels?"

 

"Mine, it's a lot easier to use the push broom on them then the snowblower. I'm always afraid I'll break them." Michael says.

 

"When do I need to move stuff to the ship?"

 

"Couple of weeks. Without that woman buying ten of everything, the orders have calmed down a little."

 

Midterms Josette brings back empty shipping containers and the recycling. Picking up supplies for the school and for their orders before heading to the school and dropping off the mail and socks.

 

"How long are you here for?"

 

"At least a week, I saw the recycling areas are getting full."

 

The woman at the drop-off center sighs when she sees a familiar face arrive at the yard and start filling bags, dragging them to the machines and starting to run them through.

 

A couple weeks later Josette checks the new balance on her account and heads back to Haven.

 

"Pick up glass and stuff?"

 

"Yeah, I'll sort through everything later." Josette yawns and drops onto the couch, closing her eyes for a power nap. David chuckles but everybody's been napping this winter.

 

"Another month and we'll be able to open the windows for ten, fifteen minutes. . .Maybe it will wake everybody up." Alan says as he walks past.

 

"Doubt it." Anna says, walking past with an apple. "This has been a long winter for all it's been a quiet winter. Even with the offworld harvests coming in."

 

"First planet harvests?"

 

"I'm going out in a couple days to harvest the green picked stuff. The mushrooms will start coming on strong too."

 

Josette brings out bushel baskets to the cafes on the 8th and 9th planets, she and Vincent haggling over the tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms before he feeds her.

 

"Get everything delivered?" Michael asks when Josette slides into her seat.

 

"Yeah, the rest is in stasis. I spent a couple weeks sorting out some of the clothes and other stuff I brought back."

 

"Move the books to the ships?"

 

"Yeah, I've got 25,000 on the ship, 5000 each for the two shows, plus about the same for sale on the websites and 5000 for Ellis." David whistles. "Yeah, that cleared out a good chunk of the area for that book."

 

"Do you ever take out the older books?"

 

"Oh yeah." Josette scowls. "I gotta do an inventory, I might need to reprint some of them." David sniggers and Josette blows him the raspberry while Doc chuckles, having joined them for lunch so he could talk to Principal Madison afterwards. Once again he thanks whichever gods are listening for deciding to come out personally to the school that day to apologize to Josette and Principal Madison. He can't imagine life without this sawed off squirt granddaughter of his.

 

It finally stops snowing and everybody's opening windows for a few minutes until the furnace comes on even though it hasn't started melting yet. Bethany comes in from the door to headquarters and chuckles.

 

She finds Josette looking at a picture of a waterfall with lush foliage on either side.

 

"Is that somewhere on the planets?"

 

"Yep, the first planet." She runs the file. "That's magnificent. Are you planting there?"

 

"Not right now, I'm looking into foliage around falls on the islands and on Earth."

 

"The water would take care of the need to water."

 

"Just like they planted on the banks of the river in Egypt." Michael says, walking towards them.

 

"Exactly, is that the new orders?"

 

"Yes." He sends the updated file to her PADD and she nods as she looks them over.

 

"Crops on Haven?"

 

"I'm heading out in a few weeks."

 

The crops start going in and they head off to Archimedes for their finals.

 

"Two more classes." Alexander says as he slides into his seat. "It feels like I'm been going for this degree forever."

 

"We have been going for this degree forever." Michael snorts as he sits down. Dr. Stark sniggers.

 

"Not quite that long, but it has been over a decade."

 

"And we're not done yet." Alexander moans.

 

"How are the special orders coming in?"

 

"Good, somebody seems to have finally put a leash on that fool woman."

 

Back at the woodworking building Josette starts moving everything to the ship. Once they can walk in here they go over the list of what they still have to make.

 

"First world harvests?"

 

"Going out tomorrow, I'll pick up the recycling and the second batch of extruded plastic while I'm there."

 

Vincent smiles as she comes in the next day, bringing out the bushel baskets of peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and potatoes. They haggle over the price and then put everything away as Vincent puts a plate in front of her.

 

"How's the long aging coming along?"

 

"Good, I was checking on what I have on the ship and they're looking good."

 

Josette returns to Haven, sliding into her seat at the dining hall.

 

"Get everything taken care of?"

 

"Yeah, good sales on everything and the rest is in stasis. Talked about how the long aging is coming and making plans for what we want to make this summer. Put up the first set out outdoor stuff for the Institute."

 

"When are they coming out?"

 

"End of this year, it will be early spring for them and they can plant. I'll have a second set of outbuildings ready for them. They can put the rest up over time because they don't plan on staying out."

 

"How much stuff are we making this year?"

 

"Tons."

 

"Do we have enough room?"

 

"Yeah, they figured enough room for a large manufacturer, then doubled that, then doubled it again." the others snigger.

 

David open the tesseract on Earth a few days later, Josette delivering the orders and dropping off empty shipping containers and the recycling before she takes the socks into the school. Calvin had been waiting for her and they count the socks before the payment goes off and they head to the house.

 

"Pat and Bethany came out?"

 

"They wanted to visit Ellis' place."

 

"Can you handle an increase in the sock order?"

 

"How big an increase?"

 

"Doubling it over the space of a few years."

 

"Easily, we're not using most of the machines even with both buildings in operation. I'll have to talk to the others of course but I don't see a problem."

 

A few weeks later the students walk through the tesseract on Haven, heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked as Josette joins with her other self that had been to Doc's world.

 

"Anything new?"

 

Josette sends them a file. "The government wants to increase the sock order. I told Granda I'd have to talk to you before I said anything but we have plenty of machines for all that we've got both buildings going."

 

Principal Madison checks the records and nods. "Anything on the colonization plans?"

 

"They're making plans. People can't just pick up and move. They're going to need a large amount of supplies. They're making plans."

 

"Just like they would when they eventually go into space."

 

"Exactly. We were very lucky in that our buildings came with us. If you read the Pern books, you'll see the first people on the planet were building for themselves and the others who came out after them."

 

"But unlike ours they were all there from the beginning but still on the ship."

 

"And ours we had the first temporary housing units ready for them and they were building for those who came out afterwards."

 

"And we were able to bring out supplies continuously, they'd have to bring out everything from the beginning."

 

"They've got the colonization plans from the 9th planet." The others nod.

 

"Doc's world, you were talking about more orders?"

 

"Yep, I've got a partial list of what they want, they'll talk to us at the Harvest Festival." She passes that over.

 

"Nothing we're not making now or can easily add to the factories."

 

"Exactly."

 

"How's Albatross coming along?"

 

"They're cleaning the land right now, the potters are working on the rest of the bricks and pavers for both buildings. We'll start engraving them this fall. Plans are still to start building next spring."

 

"Josette?" Pat asks when she finds her staring at the wall later that afternoon. She blinks.

 

"Sorry Pat, I had to go offplanet and harvest a few worlds."

 

"So you're getting used to humanity again." Pat pats her on the hand. "Did you get anything at Ellis'?"

 

"Oh yes, I got a shitload and I ordered more, it should be ready by the time I come back out for the boys show."

 

"Did you ever check the supply of books?" David asks, coming over.

 

"Yeah, We can't for a while because the other books come first but we'll eventually have to make more of them."

 

"If you have to you can save a box of each and replicate them." Pat says. Josette nods.

 

Josette smashes glass for the glassblowers the next morning.

 

"Thank you Josette, I was going to say it was beginning to pile up." One of the women says when the container of broken glass starts filling inside the building.

 

"What are you experimenting with now?" Alan asks when he finds her in the candy factory at the dorm.

 

"The old fashioned hard candies you used to find in the barrels at the stores."

 

"Hmmmm, we'd have to have some kind of poll to see what kinds and flavors people would buy."

 

"Yep, we don't want candy just sitting there going to waste. Are you individually wrapping it or like bulk stuff by the bag?"

 

"Not individually wrapped unless it's something edible like the candy bars. I was thinking bags or maybe paper cones like you saw on the travel shows where they the old type stores." Alan nods "Working on anything else?"

 

"Yeah, I've got about ten different batches of various candies going."

 

"Finish your masters?"

 

"First thing I did. I shelved the books in the library before I started working on this."

 

"Are you close to finishing any others?"

 

"I'm one semester from one class and two from another. The second one is a three degree curriculum one from the comic book school. I've got about three of them I'm finishing in this batch of degrees I haven't graduated with yet."

 

Josette looks up at the long line of people at her show in Mom's dimension a couple weeks later.

 

"How many books?" David asks after the show when they've returned to the rooms.

 

"If we didn't sell all the books I brought out for the show, we can't have that many left." Josette rolls her eyes.

 

"Have you been working on the other books?"

 

"Yeah, while I was off harvesting the other planets. I brought the files to work on while I was down, along with the chemical engineering dissertation."

 

Back on Haven several weeks later for them they check on the crops and start putting away everything they'd brought out from the other dimension. She finds both Dr. Crosses looking at the quinoa.

 

"Do you intend on turning some of it into flour?"

 

"Just under half, there's already been requests from the cooking school." The others nod. "Congratulations on finishing the Chemical Engineering Masters."

 

"Finally as Dr. Blake no doubt said." Josette rolls her eyes.

 

"I wasn't going to say it. How are you coming on the mega degree from Calvin's world?"

 

"I hope to have the first two years of bookclasses done by this fall, and should have all the projects done by next summer. But I suspect from what the others aren't telling me. . .

 

"Not a masters but a doctorate?"

 

"Somewhere around there. The only thing missing is a dissertation. But then I'm not officially in my third year yet so they might be surprising me with that."

 

"How are the books coming along?"

 

"They're starting number eleven and twelve, working year-round and having smaller print runs means they're able to be done quicker. I just took the other books to storage."

 

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" David asks at the drawing on Josette's PADD.

 

"Poor man's hot tub." She says with a smirk.

 

He walks off shaking his head.

 

"Do we wanna know?" Michael asks.

 

"A fire under a old clawfoot tub."

 

She heads to the first planet a couple days later, spending a lot of time at the fortress and the satellite.

 

The yearly crops start coming in and Josette's busy for a couple weeks, looking at everything put up in satisfaction.

 

"Is this everything until the second crops come in?"

 

"Yes, I'm working on batches of pavers and bricks with the potters now until the second crops start coming in."

 

At the farm Ma fills a tin cup with chicken manure to add to the plants in the garden, looking around in satisfaction at her neat patch then looks up when Clark and Kara fly in towing a wagon.

 

"What's this dear?"

 

"Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. We dropped the rest off to Alfred and he was already planning desserts."

 

"Are there still more on the bushes?"

 

"Oh yes, they'll be coming in after the Harvest Festival. So will the apples." They'd picked multiple bushels of apples yesterday, they were drying for chips on the tables, being made into applesauce, put up for pies, and eaten. And they'd be getting more before the end of the year.

 

Pa, Thomas, Alex, and Jason come out of the food building where they'd been filling the bin with potatoes from the commercial farm. They'd already filled the other root vegetable bins so this was it for a while. Until Josette comes over, waving a hand and putting the pallets of pasta and flour in place.

 

"Thank you Josette."

 

"Good, try this." Josette says when she finds both Vincents at the cafe on the 9th planet obviously up to no good. She waves a plate in front of them.

 

"What's this?"

 

"Some of the cheese and sausage I've been aging for a few years on the ship."

 

"Not bad, how long do you plan on aging it?"

 

"Between five and ten years. I know somebody on earth was going to release 20 year old cheddar cheese but. . ."

 

"We don't make enough to age that long."

 

"Exactly, the hams are different."

 

"Priscutto is meant to be aged that long."

 

"How are you coming along on the books for the 100th anniversary?"

 

"Good, we're already nearly halfway through the 24 books, we're making better progress than we thought."

 

"So they'll all be ready for the show?"

 

"Barring another storm that blows us in for a month, yes. Then it's the next batch of cookbooks, then my remaining books from the second batch of books, including Agatha's book on quilting by hand start to finish, then the last batch of books. I don't know if we'll keep the printing operation running two shifts after these are done or not, they're not saying it's too much work but we don't need it running that much either."

 

Both of them nod.

 

"Shoes?"

 

"They figure the orders should start going out after the Harvest Festival. Once the shoes are done, we're going to have the slipper factory running. That will probably run through the end of the next year, making a good selection of sizes and colors."

 

They head off to Granda's dimension for the boys show, Josette delivering the books to Ellis, picking up the orders, and doing a little shopping.

 

"How many more books?"

 

"Nine already printed, about 20 that will be printed as soon as the books for the 100th anniversary of Haven then the cookbooks are printed." Ellis stares at her. "The books, like the quilts, come in bunches."

 

Hannah sighs when she comes out for the Harvest Festival and finds Josette in a room of pasta drying on lines.

 

"We make extra, extra, extra, extra-large batches every few years. Once they're dry we'll cut them."

 

"I think you left out a few dozen extras there." She says looking up and down the room. It's easily as large as both the dining rooms.

 

"More like we make a couple dozen varieties." Josette says, looking around. "The dried dumplings room is just as large. . .and just as full."

 

"Josette."

 

"We all like chicken soup, but we like different types of dumplings and pasta so we all make mega batches and put them up to dry or stick them in stasis."

 

"So that way when you want a pot of soup, you can make it."

 

"Yep."

 

The table with the drill, pavers, and bricks does good business with people buying bricks and engraving them with their names, names of loved ones, special dates, or comments.

 

"Are we full?" Professor Fletcher asks a couple weeks after the Harvest Festival when she finds Josette sitting at the pizza parlor.

 

"No, and we've got more students heading home this year."

 

"They said the students would ebb and flow, we just got socked in for a few years."

 

"Exactly."

 

"How many pavers and bricks got sold? Every time I looked over there the line seemed to be just as long." Professor Eppes says, coming over.

 

"A damn good chunk of them. They're still counting and trying to figure away to mix the unmarked and marked ones in that won't make them stand out."

 

Josette gets up and fills her bowl of salad again, then filling a plate with pizza.

 

"How are we coming on the books?"

 

"They're starting number thirteen and fourteen, I took the others to storage before the festival."

 

"They're clipping right along."

 

"Smaller batches than the other books and they've been working year-round."

 

"Did the others talk about the new orders?"

 

"Yeah, I picked up the first batches of supplies for the socks, and the supplies for Doc's world should be ready by Thanksgiving."

 

"Buckaroo's land?"

 

"I brought out another batch of plastic before the Harvest Festival and delivered more supplies. The last of the supplies and the plastic will be coming out just before they do."

 

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

 

"Anything new? Besides Josette's new cooking degree?"

 

"I talked to the factories, the employees basically said 'Hell yeah, we can do it' when they heard about the increased orders."

 

"Shoes?"

 

"I'm delivering to the other planets right now, they'll contact people to either come pick them up or deliver them. Haven orders were sent e-mails and told to come pick them up at the factory."

 

David nods. "Alan's picking up ours today."

 

"I see a note about the sweater factory?"

 

"Yeah, the supply's getting low so we're opening it again next year."

 

"How are we coming along in the pie factory?" David asks once they're back at the factory.

 

"Good, we have several hundred pies made up of various types."

 

"Did you use all the apples?"

 

"Nope, there's tons down in the basement, at the ranch, and in stasis. Even with the applesauce, apple butters, and apple chips."

 

"Olives?"

 

"Most of it went to oil, the rest is in barrels in the basement."

 

"Black olives?"

 

"Next year, I've got most of a barrel left."

 

Josette sighs as she slides into her seat at the pushed together tables.

 

"How are the others coming in their classes?"

 

"Good, they'll be finished with their bachelors next year and may or may not go on to masters in their fields or pick up another bachelors. Or even take a couple years off again."

 

"It's not like they need the degrees."

 

"Exactly. These are degrees we want to take."

 

The others come over just before the buzzer sounds to end the morning session.

 

Back on Haven Josette checks on the sock buildings, bringing out more pallets of yarn and taking the filled pallets and recyclables to the ship. She brings out supplies for the other places in town, and heads to the dining hall, sliding into her seat.

 

The others look at her. "Moving the finished socks to the ship, bringing out more yarn and other supplies, taking care of the recycling and bringing out supplies for the other places in town since I brought out supplies at the school this morning."

 

On the screen Principal Madison nods in satisfaction. "Shipping containers?"

 

"None are empty yet, but they're getting there."

 

"Josette, if we send out shipping containers on their last legs, can you break them down and return them to Earth in pieces so they can be melted down and recycled?" Calvin asks during her next trip to Earth.

 

"Yeah." Josette says. "I was doing that before we lost Earth, the containers I delivered to Mars were on their last legs. It was a case of 'it's somebody else's problem now', just like the old machinery that was going to fail they sent off."

 

"Let them deal with it, they'll have to repair it to keep working." Jane says, rolling her eyes.

 

"Yep, because it would cost too much for them to repair. . .if they'd done a little maintenance in the first place. . ."

 

"That makes sense." Maria says behind the desk. "They couldn't do that. It wouldn't be somebody else's problem then."

 

"Exactly."

 

Josette leans between President and Mrs. Bartlett at dinner since Principal Madison is talking to somebody.

 

"Calvin asked if I can start taking apart bad shipping containers for recycling."

 

"About time, I've seen some pretty awful ones." Mrs. Bartlett says. "Usually by the coast where the salt rusts them just like it did cars."

 

"Exactly. They'll let us know when they start sending out the bad ones and where I can drop off the metal."

 

"Yeah, can't just take that to the drop-off site." Principal Madison chuckles.

 

"Wellllll, I could," Josette drawls. "But it's a little big to go through the machines."

 

Professor Druid chuckles as she heads into the back room, filling two plates and a bowl before sitting down.

 

The next day Josette heads off to the first planet to check on the raised beds and other crops.

 

The information on the shipping containers arrives a couple weeks later and Josette nods as she delivers empty containers when she picks up the supplies. Jane and Maria are busy when she arrives at the school so she grabs the mail, dropping off the outgoing mail and the boxes for the graduating students. Calvin's door is open and she ducks inside.

 

"I need supplies for the school." He nods and grabs his keys, opening the closet and bringing out what Josette points at. Maria's done by this time and scans everything, adding it to the list of stuff to re-order.

 

"Is this the last of the students stuff?"

 

"Should be, the floor monitors are pretty good at talking to the seniors about packing up early."

 

Josette drops off the supplies and mail at the office, the woman behind the desk nodding as she puts everything away. The students who will be sorting out the mail to deliver start arriving as Josette heads back to the dorm, joining with her other selves that have been delivering shipping containers to various buildings.

 

"Are you getting any shipping containers to take apart?"

 

"Yeah, about twenty in this batch with more arriving shortly. Companies are glad to get rid of the old ones to make way for new ones."

 

Josette heads off to the other dimension with Thomas and Clark the next day, picking up supplies and picking up the second offworld harvests, delivering to various planets before they return to Haven. Pallets of the rye and barley are sent to various places before Josette heads back to the school.

 

The next day Josette heads to the first planet, green picking peppers and tomatoes she takes to various places before joining the others.

 

"Done until the garden comes in?"

 

"Yeah."

 

The garden starts coming in several weeks later and everybody's busy getting in the crops or canning, drying, or otherwise storing everything. Josette sniggers as Alexander drops to his knees in the testing center loudly thanking god that it's done.

 

"Hush woman, yeah we know we're not done but let us enjoy the afterglow." Michael says as Susan looks up from her PADD, chuckles, and goes back to her test.

 

"Flour and pasta?"

 

"Picking them up this week, delivering the peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and other stuff we don't normally grow." Vincent nods in thanks.

 

"Plastic?"

 

"The last of it's due to be done after Thanksgiving. I'll put it up just before Buckaroo arrives. With all the problems on Earth, they're used to being socked in and it will give them a couple months to get settled in before spring arrives and they start planting. Once they're settled, Granda's bringing up farm animals for them."

 

Josette looks out the window when they return to the dorm. It's slightly overcast and looks like an early snow.

 

"Domes will be going up."

 

"Yep, thankfully everything's nearly in."

 

It's snowing the next morning when Josette heads to the first planet, laying in the sun when she's not working with the crops. Vincent looks over from his text when she comes into the 9th planet Cafe and he gets to his feet, they haggle cheerfully over everything before she puts it away and he dishes her up a plate of food.

 

"Done?" Alexander asks when she comes back to the dorm.

 

"Yes, everything that's left over is in stasis." She looks out the window and sighs.

 

"It's supposed to stop tomorrow, we'll be delayed a couple days but we'll get everything in before Thanksgiving."

 

"Not the first time this has happened, we've been spoiled by the good weather and three harvests."

 

"And we could use a couple days break, thank god we don't have to be out in this trying to save everything we can for the winter."

 

Josette heads off to pick up the flour, pasta, recycling, and plastic as the others head back to working on the gardens. By the next week everything is in and the shelves are full of canned food. After Thanksgiving Josette starts delivering the orders, empty containers, and the metal that used to be the other containers. A man there whistles at the three piles of metal and waves for the electromagnet to start lifting it into the trucks.

 

Josette joins the others at the house after everything has been delivered and the supplies for the orders, the school, and what the others are sending out has been moved to the ship.

 

"Get everything done?" David asks, looking over from checking the oven. Josette nods and settles on a bar stool, taking the vegetables and knife Alan hands her.

 

"Yep, I'll check and see if there's anything else to go back before we leave but all the supplies are on the ship, the recycling is delivered, the broken apart containers were dropped off where Granda told me to take them, and the last of the orders for the year are at the warehouse."

 

The next few weeks everybody relaxes, Josette making a last check of everything before they head back to Haven, the students heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked as Josette starts delivering containers to various places.

 

"How is everything on Haven?" Black Jack asks when they settle on couches and chairs in the rooms in the other dimension.

 

"Quiet, the last harvest was delayed by snow for a couple days so we're just waiting to see what kind of winter we're going to have. Last year wasn't bad for all that it seemed to drag on forever." The others nod. "We could be outside doing stuff, a difference from the year before that when it was so fucking cold." Susan shivers. "Did you get more bad shipping containers?"

 

"Yeah, nearly six dozen this time." The others look at her. "Calvin asked me if I could break them apart for recycling rather than have them rotting in yards somewhere. This way the metal can be reused."

 

"That makes sense." James says. "Have you done it before?"

 

"Yeah, with the Mars colony. They sent the old, rotten shipping containers there rather than deal with them, just like the sent the 'going to fail, but let's make it somebody else's problem' machinery. If they went down, they'd have to fix them to keep their livelihoods going. I tore apart the bad containers and machines that were going to fail within the year and sold them back to Earth for recycling."

 

"Out of sight, out of mind."

 

"Exactly."

 

"Why don't they just do it themselves?"

 

"If they went in and cut up the containers with arc welders or saws it would take too long, if they used a dozer like they knock down buildings, it's too much to clean up. Or that's their reasoning. Just like why they used to send all those old big boats to that other country in our world and let the natives tear them apart."

 

"Who cares if they get sick from whatever's in the boats, injured, or even dead, it's not our concern."

 

"Exactly. They had stuff from the boats up and down the streets of the . . .I think it was an island country but nobody ever bought it. I know when I harvested Earth we brought up tons of stuff from ships."

 

"And being outside all the time it can't have been much good."

 

"Exactly."

 

A couple months later they return to Haven, Josette joining with her other selves that had been on Thomas, Doc's, and the 9th planet's earths.

 

Calvin pulls Josette, Doc, and Principal Madison aside when he comes out for the Lights Festival.

 

"Josette, have you heard how ships are taken apart?"

 

"In dockyards like they're built or like the cheapskates used to on our Earth and had them towed to a country where the natives tore everything apart by brute force and had shit from the ships everywhere. Because 1, it was cheaper, and 2, that made it somebody else's problem?"

 

"The second I'm afraid."

 

"Lemme guess, can I grab rusting hulks and tear them apart, converting everything into usable raw material?"

 

"Please."

 

They head off to the other dimension, returning six weeks later for them.

 

"That's. . .how you managed to save everything that was in danger from the volcanoes on Doc's world."

 

"Basically. Since they were self-contained it was easy to grab them and put them somewhere until I can get to them. The ships are looking over everything. The other stuff I just beamed and chucked in rooms until I can deal with it."

 

"Thank you Josette, that will allow the other countries to see how badly off they are and how they can help . . .if they can help. A lot of the population is hurting from exposure to who knows what was in all the ships, in accidents taking the ships apart, or killed taking the ships apart."

 

"Josette, how is your degree on shipwrecks coming?"

 

"I start the last year next year, I'll pick up an extra class a semester to finish them by the end of the year."

 

Josette's waiting on the 10th planet when the buildings begin coming out, Buckaroo motioning her inside when she walks over. They go over what she'd put up for him in the way of outbuildings and what was in the supplies.

 

Rawhide finally pulls himself away from the window, finding the boss and what looks like a young girl until you look in her eyes in his office. "Rawhide, Josette Takahawa, she's the one that's been bringing out the supplies for us. Is everybody finally dragging themselves away from the windows?"

 

"Yep, and raring to get outside."

 

"Oh good, here's a list of what we need to bring out first and where they are in the shipping containers outside.

 

"I'll set out a roster, that way everybody gets a chance to be outside working and playing." Rawhide says. "Oh my . . .that can't be. . ." He says as a figure from his boyhood dreams walks down the hall.

 

"Josette?" A familiar voice calls.

 

"In here Doc. Anyway, I put a note on your PADDS about the Lights Festival in a few days. I'm sure your people will need the break from unpacking supplies and replace the 'omg, I'm on another planet' with seeing what you can do outside on during the winter. . . on another planet." Buckaroo chuckles and nods. Doc comes in. Rawhide blinks.

 

"Oh god, please tell me. . ." he burbles when they've left.

 

"The real Doc Savage? Oh yes. We met several years ago. That was the one from our Earth, there's one on the 9th planet and two on the sixth planet plus three that visit regularly. He's Josette's grandfather."

 

Rawhide takes a deep breath. "There's a difference between talking about the theory of alternate dimensions and. . ."

 

"Seeing the proof firsthand." Buckaroo nods.

 

Rawhide stands in the middle of the street and tries to take in everything in Town. Buckaroo chuckles and takes a cone of roasted chestnuts to eat.

 

Josette finds Professor Fletcher at one of the fires and slides a thumb drive in her pocket. "Tell me they're pieces of shit. The frigging bunny jumped at my throat and howled while I was off with Doc and Calvin. I spent months out of time writing just to shut the fucker up."

 

"Which didn't work." Professor Fletcher says. "The more you wrote the louder he got."

 

"Yep, there's two different versions of about five fics on there, both the original short story and expanded into a novel."

 

"Are these the only ones?" Professor Fletcher asks.

 

"Hell no, I got dozens of them written and a list of story outlines for future stories a mile long." Hannah and Lady Simone look at her, along with Clark Kent. Sighing she hands them thumb drives.

 

"Josette, your new quilting books?"

 

"Hannah and the others are editing them. If everything's good, they'll be going on the server at the printers."

 

"How are the anniversary show books coming along?"

 

"They're starting numbers fifteen and sixteen after the Festival."

 

"They'll be done by the Harvest Festival next year then."

 

"Yep, they're talking about still keeping two shifts and working all year until they get all the books finished. Even doing that it will still be five years for everything."

 

"Nothing we need earlier and it's a good source of money."

 

"Josette, did we get more orders?"

 

"Yes, I might be bringing out another factory, like the sweater one but on a larger scale."

 

Pat nods as she comes over. "Yes, it will be busy with our orders and it's meant more for a cottage industry, not large orders."

 

"Sweater factory?" Doc, Buckaroo, and Thomas ask. They walk over there.

 

"This was one of the first factories we brought out, it makes sweaters, hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves." Pat waves at the yarn on cones moving across the ceiling to machines.

 

"That's what Granda says the government wants, to sell various places, for supplies at various shelters and other places, and to stock up on supplies for colonizing the other dimension."

 

"How are they handling shelter?"

 

"Covered wagons like the old pioneers with loads of plastic extruded material for homes. One room log cabins with outhouses. Because they'll have to put them up themselves." Sniggers from the others. "Maybe panel type houses in the future if they have a way to put them together." Josette sighs and grabs her PADD, sending off messages. The others look at her. "Factories for candles and soap beyond our buildings since they won't have electricity right away?"

 

"And our candlemaking building is running year-round to handle all the needs for us and those places that don't have electricity on the other planets."

 

"And there's still places on our world that are dealing with power problems."

 

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt in the closet to prove it." Josette sighs. "At least your power problems didn't come from a fucking group of morons who didn't 'wike' that evil technology and attacked power plants all over the country because if they get rid of power all that would go buh-bye and everything would be better off. Because people were happier back in the pioneer days, weren't they?"

 

Buckaroo and Rawhide sigh. "They just saw the glamorous side, not . . ."

 

"The accidents, the illnesses, women maybe having a dozen children but only two or three living to adulthood, the hard work to clear your own land, raise your own food, hunt your own meat. . ."

 

"The good old days weren't."

 

"Exactly. The council stuck them in VR and made them live without technology, they ended up killing themselves over and over and over until they were begging for a nice jail cell. With so many power plants affected even with the factories running constantly it took a year to get all the machinery replaced. And large chunks of the country without power."

 

"At least thank god people had been investing in solar panels and having their homes insulated. And it wasn't winter so they were able to get in supplies before winter."

 

Josette hands her PADD over David's shoulder. "What's this?" He asks when she comes back from the bathroom.

 

"Three factories I've tentatively decided to bring out. One for the knitting stuff, one for candles, and one for soap. Because even with a 2nd shift constantly going, they couldn't make the amount of stuff I can see being ordered. Our buildings are meant more for a cottage industry, not the amounts you'd need to settle a new dimension." Calvin looks over the factories and nods. "They wouldn't have electricity or the means to make these type of stuff at first."

 

"They'll be busy settling down on their land, digging a well, bringing out the supplies for their home, planting crops, building a barn and outhouse, and putting up at least a small one room cabin for winter."

 

"The smaller the easier to keep warm from the cookstove."

 

"Can't be too small, they have to have a place to keep their supplies."

 

Alexander is busy sketching, by the time the Lights festival is over he's got seven or eight housing plans laid out. Calvin passes them along with the information on what kind of supplies they'd need for the proposed orders when they return to their dimension.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Good, you're here." Hannah says, looking around a doorway. "I need you to look at these books."

 

"Why?"

 

"You know I travel out of the dimension. I have three authors I want you to talk with. They're all established in their dimensions and I'm thinking of bringing their books out here." She hands off a thumb drive. She looks up the next morning when the woman she'd talked with comes into her office.

 

"Tell me about them."

 

"Clark Kent, a former newspaper reporter. He's written about three books. Josette Takahawa, she's actually a textiles artist who's wrote a couple dozen quilting books. Eight of them are available here self-published with nine more that have been published in their dimension and another seven waiting to be published since their printers are busy with a big order of books for a hundredth anniversary celebration. Jessica Fletcher, a woman who started writing after retiring from teaching English. Who ended up teaching again and writing. She was the most established author of the three."

 

"Josette writes quilting books?"

 

"And one history of the school she attended. She says the damn muses jumped on her throat and started howling until she wrote." The agent nods, she's heard her authors complain about that more than once.

 

"Are the other two still writing?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Have they done book tours?"

 

"Jessica has, I'm not sure about Clark. Josette. . .no. She gets her publicity from interviews before the show. She and her partners see it as a necessary evil. . .okay, this is done for another year."

 

"Authors?"

 

"Artists, Michael works with metal while Alexander handles wood. You might have heard of them, Madison, Jalex, and Jakahawa."

 

 

 

 

Josette drops off a double load of supplies for the students graduating that year and the school employees that will be leaving, Joyce nodding as she gets the contents of the containers.

 

"Get the supplies for the returning students and employees?" David asks when she slides into her seat in the government building the next morning.

 

"Yeah, a double batch. We'll see how much is needed and if they have to order a double batch next year."

 

"When are the new cooking teachers coming out?"

 

"Three more years, not counting this one."

 

"Are the requests to come out to the schools slowing down?"

 

"Nope. Granda says there's interest in a reality show coming up at the cooking school." The others roll their eyes. "Yeah, that was my thought."

 

"Talk to Dad about the orders?" Principal Madison asks.

 

"Yes, the government is putting together the orders right now, I'm with Dad bringing out the factories since if they don't use them Doc's world will." Nods from everybody in the room.

 

Josette shakes off her cloak and takes off her boots, sliding on house shoes as she walks down the hall.

 

"Finishing another degree this year? Beyond the Naval Academy?" Alan asks when they come out for lunch.

 

"Probably. I'm one semester from finishing a three degree set from the comic book school after this semester. I'm a year from three more degrees but they're the first degrees in those megahuge sets."

 

"What was the demand for the new wine?"

 

"About the same for whenever we bring out something new." Josette checks her records. "A tiny bit over since it was a blend of grapes."

 

"The ships?"

 

"Slowly tearing everything apart, I'll have a batch of metal and other stuff to deliver finals."

 

"Why the rush to get rid of them. . .not that I'm complaining."

 

"I think it's part of the plans for colonizing the other dimension. Or they're finally making people clean up their own messes. A lot of the companies were in court for one reason or other."

 

"Good." Alan says. The others nod.

 

"How is Buckaroo settling in on the 10th planet?"

 

"Good, I'm going out to till up the land for them next week."

 

"But why can't I have a mansion?" A stupid debutante whines, whimpers, and hiccups on Earth.

 

"Because that's not one of the houses we offer. You have to put it up yourself. A mansion would take years, we want people to be under shelter by winter. . .not still out in the covered wagons. Because in addition to putting up a house and barn they'll be digging wells and a pit for the outhouse."

 

"That. . .that's inhumane."

 

"That's what happens when you settle on a new world."

 

"Bu . . .bu . . .but . ..but. . .but. . .where's the cities? The malls? The grocery stores?" Not that she buys her own groceries, she has a cook for that. She walks off in a huff.

 

"Stupid twit. Do they fucking expect to walk through a portal and have everything the way it was on Earth?"

 

"Unfortunately yes, hopefully they don't breed so their stupidity isn't passed on."

 

"We're going to need classes."

 

"How to cook on a woodstove or over a fire." Somebody says with a nod. "How to grow enough food for the winter and still eat."

 

"How to can." Somebody else says. Nods from the others.

 

"How to make bread and other stuff from scratch."

 

"Did your family and the others do that Calvin?"

 

"Yes, the new settlers were getting classes in when they weren't working. When the orphans from the other Earth came out, they had the same classes."

 

"And they'll need the classes if we ever move off-planet."

 

"Exactly."

 

"They've got to realize it's going to be a lot of hard work, people who expect to live like they did on Earth are going to be sorely mistaken."

 

"And they're going to be alone. They're going to have to learn to depend on themselves for everything."

 

"No doctors, no dentists, no entertainment beyond books, musical instruments. . ."

 

"Having to wash and mend their clothes by hand."

 

"We'll have to have some type of store in a central location."

 

"Open wells with pails you lift out or the ones you pump?"

 

"An open well would need covered so a pipe and pump would be better. But then you have the problem of the pipe freezing unless you have it covered somehow. I know some places had buildings like wellhouses."

 

"Yes, they also used them to keep items cool during the summer."

 

"Icehouses."

 

Nods from the others.

 

"But people can't live like that." More than one person wails over the next few months.

 

"People used to live like that just fine before WWI. It was only after WWII that people started moving to the cities."

 

"But . . ."

 

"What the hell do you think will happen when we colonize another planet? They won't have power there for years. . .if ever."

 

"Solar panels?"

 

"Only half the houses and buildings in the other dimension have them. The cost to add them is enormous. Hopefully with more solar the price will start going down."

 

"Plus you'd have to wire all the houses. Now with buildings made of panels you might be able to but. .."

 

"And you'd be stuck with the supplies you brought out. It's going to take millions to set up housekeeping in the other dimension, it will be even more money for another planet."

 

"I can't believe people expect to be able to step from one planet to another and have life go on as usual."

 

"I can." Calvin sighs. "Josette told me stories about people suing because they needed this, this, this, this, and that on the new planet before they came up. One woman sued to have all the buildings on Haven torn down because they hadn't been built with feng shui in mind so they bothered her." Rolling eyes from the others in the room. "She told the judge she'd hold her breath until she turned blue if they didn't do it, the judge told her to go right ahead."

 

"Yes, I know people that damn stupid here on Earth."

 

"Do we have lists of supplies?"

 

"Yes, what went to Haven and the other worlds, what went to the Mars Colony in their dimension. . .which was mostly what big business wanted, and what went to the colonies in the other dimension. Since that was planning from the ground up, that's the one we're using with some alterations."

 

"Candles?"

 

"They're bringing out a large factory to make them, the outfit they have now handles their needs. Same with the soapmaking building and the factory that makes sweaters, hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves."

 

 

"How much work do we need on the factories?" President Bartlett asks at a meeting the night before Josette, the boys, and Susan are due to head to Archimedes for their third testing week.

 

"Not much, even with bringing out three of them."

 

"Are we seeing a great need for the candles from Doc's world?"

 

"Yeah, they're seeing more power outages as plants have to shut down for maintenance or repairs. Ideally they should build new ones but . . ."

 

"That takes time and money."

 

"Exactly, and it's not just the US that needs to replace power plants. The whole power grid really needs a major upgrading but ..." Josette shrugs. "Between those that were damaged in the flooding and those that are just old, there's a lot that's going to need replacing."

 

"And while solar power could handle all the world's needs, there's no way in hell the world will ever switch while other forms of energy are cheaper. Until it's too late."

 

"It was nearly too late this time." Josette says. "They have to shut down the coal fired plants, they don't need any more pollution in the air. Same with oil, not to mention all the fucking accidents on the rails. Nuclear plants are going up whether people complain or not, if people actually make sure they're well-maintained. . ."

 

"Too many horror stories about accidents from people cutting corners." David says. "Though nobody could have expected Dai-ichi. Changing the subject, how are you on your megadegree from the other dimension?"

 

"Good, I still hope to have the last of the projects in by the Harvest Festival but if not. . ." Josette shrugs. "I'm still ahead of the game, I just started the third year classes."

 

"Orders?"

 

"I've got a rough draft of what they want and I'm going to be picking up more supplies next month in both dimensions when I drop off the orders. The new orders will be finalized by the Harvest Festival."

 

"Okay, even with the time difference. . ."

 

"isn't this getting the supplies in quick? Yeah. But a lot of this stuff has been sitting in warehouses on Doc's world since factories made so much of it before they were lost. They've been going through the stockpiles they had and are running low now. Or didn't have a need for this until now. And this will get others back in business." President Bartlett nods.

 

"And this way Dad's world can stock up on supplies for colonizing the other dimension or other planets eventually. Shipments of metals and other recycled stuff from the ships?"

 

"I'm taking a batch back next month when the students head home for a few weeks."

 

"Shows?"

 

"Me Granda's world, the boys Mom's. Mine first. I gotta move stuff next month."

 

"How long do you see before they start moving out?"

 

"Five to ten years, their time. They're going to have to have a central location for the mill, the store. . .a one room schoolhouse, a doctor office. . ." The others nod. "People are going to have to learn how to do things without electricity."

 

"And they're going to have to have money set aside for their land, their supplies, livestock. . ."

 

"I can see people putting up the barn first and maybe having to pull their wagon in for the winter so they have some sort of protection if they can't put up shelter." Shudders from the others. "Yeah, not the kind of life I'd want either but . . ."

 

"The first year is going to be rough." The others nod. "We were damn lucky in bringing out our homes, in having crops planted before we came out, and in having a longer growing season."

 

"Books?"

 

"They just finished fifteen and sixteen. I took out more rolls of paper. I'll probably have more ends to pick up."

 

"Probably."

 

After finals Josette starts delivering everything to various places, picking up shipping containers from just as many places before she takes socks and the boxes to the school.

 

"Josette, did you deliver metal? Beyond the normal recycling?" Calvin asks from the door of his office.

 

"Yeah, both the ships and shipping containers."

 

Four weeks later after Josette's visited the agent Hannah drags her, Professor Fletcher, and Clark to with a grin they return to Haven.

 

"Supplies?"

 

"Two and a half shitloads." David sniggers.

 

"Doc and Thomas's worlds?"

 

"I was there while we were gone."

 

James shakes his head when he finds Josette putting supplies away in the storage areas for the new factories.

 

"How long until the factories are open?" President Bartlett asks at the meeting after dinner that night.

 

"Harvest Festival definitely."

 

"Are we doing one or two shifts?"

 

"I was thinking two but . . ."

 

"Have to see how it works out." Josette nods.

 

"When do we need to start delivering?"

 

"Not until finals first semester, this will give us extra in case of storms." Nods from the others.

 

"Start with one shift after Thanksgiving, if we need a second they can start after the Lights Festival." Nods from the others.

 

"Slippers?"

 

"Closing at the end of the year when we've got the supply back up again."

 

"Our sweater factory?"

 

"Running well, we'll have a good stock of everything again by the end of the year. And it's not like the knitters don't make all that anyway." Nods from the others again. "The only difference is the factory we don't wash by hand and lay out flat to dry."

 

"Yes, most places won't have that option."

 

Josette sniggers. "Yes, I know they're going to have to get used to washing by hand in the other dimension unless they have the washing machines you agitate by hand then run through the wringer."

 

Josette nods. "We've got one in the huts for our laundry, the water goes on the crops. It's a good bit of exercise, but it beats scrubbing them on a washboard."

 

"Are they going to be using biodegradable detergents?"

 

"Yeah, they've already got the formulas and will start making batches for the supplies a couple years before people start going out."

 

"Speaking of laundry?"

 

"I gotta check the supplies, we might be making more in a couple years."

 

"We can replicate if we run out."

 

"Are they going to have cities?"

 

"I say more small towns like town with a general store, the school, doctor. . ."

 

"Like Little house."

 

"Exactly. Maybe some people putting up buildings to live in over the winter. I can't see many people being able to handle a winter by themselves. Hell, the outlying areas here we have them coming out during the winter for their recycling or just to get the hell out of the house."

 

"Josette, are we getting more supplies in for the new orders?"

 

"Yeah, I figure at least three shipments of supplies per factory per year. That doesn't count the supplies to pack everything."

 

"At least teaching everybody to run the machines shouldn't take that long."

 

"No, It's not that different than the crayons, fill the molds and scrape off the excess for the pillars and candlesticks. I can't see them buying the glass jars for colony supplies."

 

"Neither can I, unless they had a dropoff where they could take the glass after the jars were empty."

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"Yeah, I can see them maybe buying candles in jars, that cleans up the mess of melting wax. And they'd be able to recycle the glass."

 

"A container for the wax to be reused in new candles. Either by the settlers or sold to a place in town that does it." Nods from the others, every home that uses candles has a container of wax from melted candles. More than one in cases of the scented or colored candles.

 

"Are the boxes to go back to the other dimension picking up?"

 

"Yep, I just picked up another roomful earlier."

 

"Are we getting more students this year?"

 

"Yeah, we had a couple slack years but it's picking up again."

 

"Which may be why they're talking colonizing again."

 

"Yep."

 

"Moonbase?"

 

"Scuttlebutt is they're sending up rockets filled with supplies for one this year, I'll have to look when we go out after Thanksgiving."

 

"Are they still trying to locate habitable worlds?"

 

"Yeah, that's going to be one of the missions of the moonbase."

 

"Classes?"

 

"I'm picking up four for my Naval Academy degree and getting in another for the doctorate, anything else this summer is just gravy."

 

"Finished degrees?"

 

"Naval and the last comic book this fall."

 

"That it until you finish the doctorate?"

 

"Yeah, Dr. Stark is probably going to start thinking of a graduation ceremony in a couple years."

 

"Yes I am since Alex and the others are all finished with at least one degree." Dr. Stark says from the communications screen. "Josette, toilet paper?"

 

"They planned on putting up the poll Harvest Festival and starting running after Lights."

 

"Good." He ends the call.

 

"Towels."

 

President Bartlett checks the list of supplies. "We're good on them right now."

 

"Good, with the three new factories opening, I'd rather not overwhelm everybody." Nods from the others as the meeting breaks up.

 

"Cistern?" David asks when they come into the dorm.

 

"The kids were checking them today. Another month and we'll probably need to fill them."

 

A couple weeks later they head to the ship, delivering special orders and stuff for the show to Marcus. Josette rolls her eyes as she gets gussied up for the show, Madison and Hannah watching the interview before the show on the website.

 

"She's good on the interview but . . ."

 

"There's a difference between interviews about her art and plugging a book. The quilting books she just announced they were coming out and people flocked to buy them since they were already familiar with her as an artist."

 

 

 

 

The next morning after breakfast Alexander and Michael head to Oxford to talk to their advisor about their dissertations. Josette goes upstairs and looks over the remaining quilt ideas in the notepad she hasn't purchased yet and the getting bare shelves. Shrugging she heads into town.

 

"We were wondering if you'd be buying stuff." Marilyn says dryly from where she's opening one of the fifteen or twenty boxes that had been brought in from the shipping container.

 

"I looked at my getting empty shelves and the partial notebook of quilts yet to make and bit the bullet."

 

"Josette, how are the printers coming on the books?"

 

"They started seventeen and eighteen a couple weeks ago. They're clipping right along and figure on having Agatha's book ready for sale at next year's Harvest Festival." Josette checks her notes and starts cutting lengths of fabric that go in piles, remnants being measured by Sue and put in the bin while new bolts are brought out of the back. The receipt for both stores takes ten pages and Josette sighs then shrugs. Putting the bags away at home she puts the notebook on the shelf and joins the others walking to the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Do you have scrap to take back?"

 

"Yeah, I've got more shipping containers took apart and nearly half a ship. Plus the regular recycling."

 

The crops and garden start coming in and everybody's busy canning, drying, or otherwise storing food. The second crops are planted after the rain and Josette, Dad, and David tour the factories. The jobs go up on the server and the soapmakers and candlemakers tour the buildings. The classes to run the machinery go up and nobody's surprised Josette's there along with the others.

 

Josette drops off the empty shipping containers, cut apart containers, and part of a ship at the drop-off sites as she starts picking up supplies.

 

Jane and Maria mark off boxes on the lists Josette sends them as she counts and puts away socks in the containers.

 

 

 

"These are Josette's quilting books?" Madison asks after she's stared a couple minutes at the two suns in the sky.

 

"And two other books, one on t-shirts she decorated with crayons, crystals, and glitter and her hand-painted socks."

 

"Oh good Josette, there you are." Hannah says when Josette comes into the library one afternoon. Madison is with her and Clark and Professor Fletcher are sitting at a table.

 

"Josette, the yearly crops?" Clark asks.

 

"The commercial farm will start selling next week, the bushes and tree crops should start coming in after that." She pours herself a mug of coffee and joins them at the table.

 

"How are the classes coming?"

 

"Good, it's all stuff we've done before. Just on a larger scale."

 

Madison meets with each of her authors individually over the next week and comes back with the signed papers. She puts everything in the files she's created for her new authors and goes over plans for putting out interest in their books.

 

Clark and Kara deliver wagons of food from the commercial farms to the food building, the farms, Wayne Manor, and the compound over the next week. Meanwhile Josette and the others are doing the same at the dorm and ranch, filling multiple bins and drying or freezing berries as the yearly crops start coming in. Then their second crops start coming in and everybody looks at the full shelves and bins.

 

Josette brings the new school employees out before the Harvest Festival along with the supplies for the school and factories, delivering those and the new employee's belongings before joining the others at the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Is this everybody?"

 

"Nope, one more trip."

 

"Have you been checking the moon?"

 

"Yeah. They're not there yet.

 

Josette's looking over the pictures of the dimension after lunch.

 

"Empty." Susan says over her shoulder. "Though the same can be said of Haven and the other planets by people used to the hustle and bustle of Earth."

 

"Yeah."

 

"How are they going to be paying for land and supplies? They can't do it like we did, there's no jobs."

 

"Yeah, they're going to have to have the money upfront, they're not going to be colonizing it for at least seven years our time but. . ."

 

"That will give them time to lay out plans for a small town."

 

"And a place to put the supplies they'll have to have. Once they're there, it's sink or swim on your own."

 

"Classes."

 

"Granda says they'll be offering them in a few years."

 

The next day Josette picks up another batch of new school employees and their belongings. David opens the tesseract and they walk out, looking up at the two suns in the sky, then around at the school where they'll be working for five years before following an employee to the auditorium. Josette starts delivering their belongings, maintenance checking off names and taking them to their new homes.

 

"Is this all the new employees?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Deliver orders to both worlds?"

 

"Yep, and picked up the supplies. Everything is ready for the factories to open in a few days."

 

"Get your projects finished?"

 

"Yes, I took the last of them in yesterday."

 

"Classes?"

 

"Eight classes into the third year."

 

"Josette, books?"

 

"Seventeen and eighteen just went into storage, they'll start the others after the festival.

 

The new school employees are busy looking around during the Harvest Festival.

 

Josette checks in on the new factories after the festival, finding everybody settling into work. Then she starts heading over to the other dimension to pick up the new students.

 

"They're starting to deliver the supplies to the moon." Josette says, leaning around President Bartlett at dinner.

 

"Really?" He says, taking her PADD and seeing the rockets on the moon. "A good first step."

 

"Yeah, something they'll need to do if they plan on colonizing other planets." Mrs. Bartlett nods and Josette shows the pictures to Principal Madison and Professor Druid before going into the back room. Three weeks later Josette starts moving boxes from the new factories, putting them on the ship after the students walk through the tesseract and are led to the auditorium.

 

"Is this it for the students?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Two more trips."

 

"Are we full?"

 

"Nearly. This year, next, and possibly the year after that."

 

"Ebb and flow."

 

"Yep, some years less, some more."

 

Josette slides into her usual spot at the pizzeria a couple days later, a bottle of pop, plate of pizza, and a bowl of salad going in front of her a few minutes later.

 

"Did you talk to Madison?" Professor Fletcher asks.

 

"Yes, our first books are being printed right now, we'll have to go out in a couple of weeks for interviews. Sample chapters have been released to gain interest in the books."

 

"How many books are we signed to?"

 

"Three each."

 

"Not bad, we've all got those finished."

 

"Yep, if there is any more interest they'll redo contracts, that way we're not stuck with books for them and they're not stuck with books for us. This way I can still self-publish my quilting books."

 

"And different publishers tend to specialize. No matter what type of book they offer."

 

Josette nods around a mouthful of pizza.

 

A couple weeks later Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center.

 

"Get the Naval Academy degree finished?" Dr. Cross asks.

 

"Yeah, and I'm partway into the anthropology comics degree, that's another multiple degree curricula down."

 

"Nathan's talking another graduation ceremony." Dr. McNider says.

 

"Yeah, he said so a few months ago. I've been slacking, I've only got 19 bachelors, a masters, and a doctorate finished."

 

"Well if you'd stick to one degree and concentrate . . ." Dr. Stark says in a tsk-tsk manner as he comes over to the tables. "Instead of flitting around like a butterfly. You'll never make anything of yourself this way." Everybody laughs.

 

"How are the others coming on their classes?"

 

"They're partway through their second class, they'll be done well before the crops start coming in."

 

"How is Buckaroo and the others settling on the 10th planet?"

 

"Good, they're making plans for their third crops. They're in contact with their Earth and at least Buckaroo is coming out with Doc and I after Thanksgiving when I take out the orders and pick up supplies for them.

 

"How are the new factories coming along?"

 

"Good, I've already moved some of the stuff to the ship. And it's only going to be worse come next year when we have two shifts running."

 

"Matches."

 

"We've still got plenty in our stocks, but yes eventually we'll have to make more. They've got factories in Doc's world and they'll either have to get in a supply for the other dimension or people will have to learn how to make fire without them."

 

"I don't remember them using them in the little house books."

 

Back home Josette finds David working on the plans for the growing area, leaning over his shoulder to add a few items. He nods. "Maybe we should grow on the satellite too?"

 

"Yeah, it's been a few years."

 

After dinner Josette heads up to the bakery and starts mixing dough for treats, making large batches of a couple dozen different treats. The next morning after breakfast she joins Professor Fletcher and Clark Kent going to the school then meeting Madison for a series of interviews.

 

"Ohhhh, I've forgotten how damn tiring that can be." Professor Fletcher sighs as they come back to Haven. They settle in the living room with mugs of coffee, tea, or other beverages.

 

"I never knew how annoying it is to have somebody coming back constantly on the same topic, like changing your question slightly is going to make a difference." Clark sighs.

 

"Entertainment reporters are like sharks, trying to scent blood in the water and going for the kill." Josette says. Professor Fletcher snorts but nods.

 

The next month passes quickly and Josette brings out the last of the belongings to the school.

 

"This everything?"

 

"Yeah, if there's anything else they'll have to bring it back on the ship."

 

Josette checks on the hams and cheeses aging on the ship on the trip back to Haven, dropping off the mail at the office as her other selves deliver the supplies.

 

"Take out the recycling?" President Bartlett asks from a door down the hall.

 

"Yeah, and another batch of the scrap."

 

"What's this?" Michael asks when Josette hands her PADD over his shoulder.

 

"What I'm going to be planting on the satellite." He nods as he reads then hands it back.

 

"Flour?"

 

"I'm taking out wheat after finals and bringing back flour and pasta. Alan pick up our stuff from the mill?"

 

"Yeah, part of it's in the basement, he's taking the rest to the ranch right now." Susan says as she walks down the hall.

 

"Are we set on cornmeal, grits, and polenta for the winter?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Yeah." Abby checks the list on her PADD. "Josette, are you making more masa?"

 

"Yeah, I'm running low. I gotta get some more cactus paddles too so I can make tortillas this winter."

 

After dinner Josette puts a couple extra quilts on her bed and gets a hot soak. Michael comes in and sits on the toilet seat.

 

"Anything else on the moonbase?"

 

"According to Granda, they hope on having the first module on the moon by finals first semester. They plan on seven to about ten modules with the ability to add more."

 

"Are you going out to 9th planet's Earth?"

 

"Yeah, to see how they're getting along on the Moon and Mars, drain some more of the radiation, and let the others see how everybody's doing in both dimensions."

 

"Is the city on Earth?"

 

"Yeah, in one of the tropical areas."

 

"You know. . ." David says from the doorway.

 

"A city would be a good stepping place in colonizing a world. Yeah, I was thinking that myself. Hell, not only could it travel in space, it could land on the planet."

 

"Ooooohhhhh, an underwater city."

 

"Like in the old comics, with tunnels leading from the surface to the city? Like in space, they'd have to make sure the shields didn't fail."

 

The twins grin when the finish the final for their last class a couple weeks later.

 

"Done?" Josette asks from the doorway.

 

"Yep." Anna starts putting the books in the container and Abby floats them up to the library to shelve.

 

"Masa?"

 

"Making it this weekend, the last batch of blue corn has dried enough. This one I'll use whole in the tortillas."

 

Josette puts the five barrels of masa in the basement. The next day she heads to Archimedes for their third testing week.

 

"I can . . .see your reasoning." Dr. McNider says slowly. "Learning how to start a fire without matches is going to have to be part of their classes."

 

"Ovens. Being so far from town they're going to have to bake their own breads."

 

"Clay ovens built into fireplaces? Learn to bake at lower temperatures or have something in the oven while you're cooking on the stove."

 

"Something else they're going to have to learn to do before they go out. A bank in town?"

 

"Yeah, they're going to *have* to have some sort of currency. To buy what they can't make themselves."

 

"And no matter how much supplies they bring out they're going to have to do that."

 

"And the psychologists, anthropologists, and other 'ologists are going to be looking over everything with a fine tooth comb to see how they react to being dumped in a life like that in preparation for colonizing other worlds."

 

"Yep."

 

Alexander comes over a couple minutes later, using the bathroom then settling in his usual space. He drops his face on his crossed arms and moans dramatically. Josette sniggers and pats him on the shoulder. "Only five more years."

 

"Only five more years she says." Michael says, coming over.

 

"Hey, I've got three more on mine. Susan's got four more years."

 

"It's just the degree is so damn boring."

 

"How are you on the books?"

 

"We should have nineteen and twenty done by Thanksgiving. And they plan on having Agatha's book for sale at the Harvest Festival even with the larger order. Then start working on the cookbooks and the remaining books."

 

"How many?"

 

"Eighteen, the remaining six from the second batch plus a dozen from the third. Some of these are the first of two or even three books of that type. I'll write those later." Dr. Cross chuckles. "And your other books."

 

Josette rolls her eyes. "They're supposed to be on sale by the time we take the returning employees and students home, the three of us are going to be doing some book signings while we're there and maybe a book tour depending on sales."

 

After lunch Josette replicates a meal and eats a few of the snacks she'd made in the bakery as she goes over what she plans on growing on the satellite. A good portion of its going to be food they don't normally grow on Haven and Josette sends a message to the other planets to see if there's special requests before she joins the others walking to dinner.

 

The next day Josette heads to the factories again, checking on how they're doing and bringing out more supplies. Empty containers are moved back to the ship and Josette stops to the bakery before she returns to the dorm.

 

"Take care of the empty containers?" David asks at lunch.

 

"Yeah, and got a list of others that will be empty by the time we head back. Moved supplies to places that were running low, I gotta check again before Thanksgiving to make sure everybody's stocked up on supplies for winter since it's going to be a bitch getting into the containers in the middle of winter."

 

The crops start coming in a couple weeks later and everybody's busy canning, drying, or otherwise storing everything. Josette, the boys, and Susan head to Archimedes one day for their finals, Josette dropping off wheat and picking up recycling and orders for the other dimensions.

 

After Thanksgiving they head to the other dimension, David opening the tesseract as Josette starts delivering the recycling, orders, and scrap metal. She joins the others at the house a few hours later.

 

"Get everything delivered?"

 

"Yep. They leapt on the metal. I see the plastic supply has been taking a hit too, probably getting ready for the houses and whatnot." The others nod. "Same with the metal."

 

"Tubs, pails, stoves, troughs, pipe for pumps if they go that way. Everything you'd have seen in the Little House books or the Wild, Wild West."

 

"Exactly."

 

A couple days later Josette has her signing for her first fiction book, returning back to the house that evening and joining with her other selves that had been out and about all day.

 

A few weeks later Josette starts delivering containers to various places back on Haven, including the dorm. David opens the tesseracts for the returning students and employees before they head off to the other dimension. They return a couple months later their time and start putting away more supplies as Josette joins with her other selves that have been to the other dimensions.

 

"First planet?"

 

"Tomorrow, we can spend a week or so there and I'll go to the satellite."

 

"Then we'll plant here when we get back."

 

"Yep." David looks at Josette. "Is there any news about bringing out Wayne, Dayton, and Drake?"

 

"Yeah, we're bringing the buildings out in a couple years. They're sharing everything they're working on and saving it for. . .the end."

 

"I don't know which is worse, a slow death or a fast one."

 

"No death." Josette snorts. "But mankind hasn't dragged themselves out of the muck yet." The others sigh and nod.

 

The others get in supplies and the next morning after breakfast they head off to the first planet, changing out of their clothes and laying in the sun.

 

"Have they figured out a place for the companies?"

 

"Yeah, about seventy-five miles from Town, there will be tesseract links to the companies for the employees instead of a permanent link like the Albatross Nests."

 

"Working on the buildings."

 

"Yep, once they come out it will take about a year before the renovations are done. Right now the library and historical society comes first." Nods from the others.

 

"Have we figured out a fire system for the planet?"

 

"Yeah. . ." Josette grabs her PADD and brings up the file, sending it to the others. "Expands in air, a good sized ball should put out a fire though two or even three might be needed for something like a wildfire. Like the foam if there's no fire it becomes inert. The probes have been programmed to send alerts if the temperature rises in an area."

 

"Good, after seeing the footage of the California fires. . ."

 

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I wanted a way to nip them in the bud. They were experimenting with the formula on Earth when we left."

 

One afternoon Josette heads off, returning a year later her time with the food in stasis. A few days later they take off, Josette delivering food to various places before they head back to Haven. Josette puts everything in stasis and they head upstairs to start planting after breakfast while Victoria and her age group head to GD on the 9th planet to talk about their degrees and internship.

 

Josette settles in her usual spot at the Albatross Nest, a bottle of pop in her hand and a plate on her knees. The conversation flits from the books for the anniversary to Agatha's book, the cookbooks, Josette's other books, and Josette's fiction to the new library and historical society, the new factories and whether this winter would be assbiting cold with a few good storms since it had turned cool early or warm but snow nearly every day. A couple hours later she puts the kits, cookies, and leftovers away at the dorm.

 

"Others talk to you three yet about another bachelors or going on for a masters?" She leans over Alan's shoulder.

 

"Not yet, maybe they'll let us be for a year." Josette sniggers and walks off.

 

"Yeah, that was our thought."

 

"Any interest in the other dimension?" David asks when the others start coming out.

 

"A lot, but most people walk off pouting when they realize they gotta do everything themselves."

 

"Awww, no manis, pedis, facials, massages. . . How can people live like that?"

 

"Exactly."

 

"Too long getting everything handed to them on a silver platter and not having to work for it."

 

"They haven't lived through the natural disaster or hardship that makes people pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get on with life. Be it a world war, an earthquake or other natural disaster, the loss of power. . ."

 

"Epidemics. . ." Alexander says, coming down the hall. "Laundry." They sort out their laundry and put everything away.

 

Madison looks around the transformed town during the Lights Festival. She takes pictures of everything then talks to her authors. She goes over sales and talks to Josette about a possible book tour after the second book is out to gauge the response for the third book and any future ones.

 

"Josette, your quilting books?"

 

"I'm debuting another one at the boys show in about five months our time."

 

"Do you know how many books you. . .?" Josette pulls up the file and hands it over. "That's just how many books I have in storage, that doesn't include any that's with Ellis, Marcus, or Dexter for the websites."

 

"Dexter?"

 

"Our agent in Mom Clarinda's dimension."

 

"Is there any interest in the older books?"

 

"Yeah, there's always a few dozen people who have the older books for me to sign at the shows. I usually bring out some of the older books whenever I debut a new one."

 

"Are you planning a new printing?"

 

"If the demand is good yes. It won't be until the other books are done, that will be about five years? We've got Agatha's book, ten more cookbooks, then the rest of the books I have written."

 

"Do you have any more fiction. . .?" Alexander sniggers as he walks behind Josette, goosing her. "Yeah, several dozen more."

 

"Not that many." Josette grumbles.

 

"How?"

 

"I'm a lot older than I look and we routinely spend weeks, months, even years out of time on the ships."

 

"Why?"

 

"Most of it is traveling on the ships, some of it is when we harvest the offworld crops. We have huge gardens on other planets that even with 200 people harvesting sunup to sundown still takes six months. Each inhabited planet but the 9th and 10th have three of these offworld harvests that are canned, dried, or otherwise stored for their winters. The 9th and 10th planets share three harvests, that's 18 trips a year. The others might be on two or three if they want to make some extra money, I'm on every trip. I'm out there out of time working on the recycling I pick up from the other dimensions they can't handle like the paper ends."

 

Madison nods. "I can't see many recyclers being able to handle those."

 

"Neither can I, I routinely visit drop-off sites whenever we go over to the other dimension. I know what gets used and what doesn't. Though with the plans for colonizing another dimension, the plastic and glass is getting used there more often. But I routinely bring back tons of paper, plastic, glass, clothes. . ."

 

After the Lights Festival Madison heads back with the others, sighing at the message on her desk. "Politely sir, go fuck yourself. We don't own the rights to Ms. Takahawa's quilting books and can't force her to stop publishing them." She says in a phone call twenty minutes later.

 

"But they're not making us any money." the man on the other end whines. "What about her contract here? You've got to have slipped a non-interference clause in there we can use to shut her down."

 

"For three books, she keeps the right to them herself, if we want to print them again we have to enter into another contract with her."

 

"Noooooooo." he wails as he ends the call.

 

"Damn drama queen." Madison mutters as she checks the sales records for Josette and the others. She whistles. "No wonder the old fool wants to control her books."

 

"Anderson again?" Another agent says from her doorway.

 

"Yeah, one of my writers self-publishes quilting books, since she's an artist the looky-lous buy them by droves."

 

"And he wants her to stop or turn them over to him so he can make the money." She snorts. "Lemme guess, you had to slip in a non-interference clause in her contract because he would have, even though the courts ruled them illegal."

 

"Yep. And she's only got a three book contract with us, and retains the rights to her books so she can turn around and publish them herself after we run out of our print run."

 

"Ahhhhh, and the old fool is howling at the injustice of the person who's doing all the work being able to reap the benefits."

 

"Yep."

 

"Wanna go to lunch?"

 

"I can eat."

 

The second week of the new year Josette slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Sorry I'm late, I was checking on the factories."

 

"The second shifts start?"

 

"Yeah, we'll have a good chunk of orders for both dimensions."

 

"Slippers?"

 

"Good supply in in various sizes at the store."

 

"Sweater factory?"

 

"Going to be open another year."

 

"Toilet paper?"

 

"Started operations last week, they figure on being done next year since they've got more than the toilet paper." The others nod.

 

"First planet?"

 

"I'm heading off in a couple of days to plant."

 

Josette stops at the bakery on the way home, taking off her boots and shaking off her cloak. Hanging it up she joins the others in the living room.

 

"So how many classes are you going for this semester?" David asks.

 

"Only sixteen, I'm picking up a semester first and third semester online for a couple of my degrees instead of starting a new one this year. Might do it next year too, I'll see when I look over my classes this fall."

 

"How are they coming on the books?"

 

"Going like gangbusters, they'll have the last four books done for the 100th anniversary and Agatha's book for sale at the Harvest Festival, even with it being a normal sized order. I'll let it slip at the show that it's going to be available if there's any interest." The others snort, remembering the books flying off tables at the shows.

 

The next few weeks pass slowly, a storm coming in that dumps a couple feet of snow on them over a few days. They get dug out and Josette spends a couple of days making up batches of seasonings to replace what they're running low on. Josette knows the others are doing the same, all real cooks prefer to make their own spice blends.

 

Dr. Stark nods at her reasoning when she, Susan, Alexander, and Michael head to Archimedes for their first testing week. "No use signing up for new degrees when you have others you can finish."

 

"Yep."

 

"I know the boys talked to their advisor last year about their dissertations. Susan, David, and CJ?"

 

"CJ's going to be two years into his doctorate next year, he's been working on his dissertation and talking to his advisor at Cambridge. David and Susan are going to be talking to people next year about their dissertations.

 

"Your dissertation?"

 

"Ahhh, I'll upload the paper for a couple people to look over next year and formally upload it the year after that."

 

"I heard rumors that they're using more of their plastic in the other dimension?"

 

"Yeah, they're stockpiling it for extruded plastic homes when they finally start moving out to the other dimension. I'm still picking up paper, clothes, and glass though. ..at least until they need to start making canning jars and glass windows."

 

Nods from the three men as Alexander comes over.

 

"Who's got where this year?"

 

"The boys Granda's, me Mom's. Mine comes first."

 

"Got the books on the ship?"

 

"Moving them when I move the special orders."

 

"How are you coming on tearing apart the ships?"

 

"Pretty good, I've been averaging about half a ship whenever I deliver the recycling, I've got nearly an entire ship torn apart now."

 

"Did you get more bad shipping containers?"

 

"Yep, some with supplies. . .some empty. I think they're just dumping them now."

 

"Probably." Dr. Stark sighs. "How are the orders coming?"

 

"Good, I've got to move stuff to the ship tomorrow."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the government building the next morning.

 

"Get the stuff moved to the ship?"

 

"Yeah, and got the totals updated in my list."

 

"The power grid on Thomas's world?"

 

"We're seeing it beginning to fail as more people are lost, I've been inspecting them with the Justice League, shutting down the plants that are still good in the lost countries and taking out the ones that are bad."

 

"And there's more bad than good?"

 

"Unfortunately. A lot of it went right in the replicator for raw materials."

 

"They won't need power plants for decades after everybody's . ..gone."

 

"Yeah, the ships supply power to people who live on them, there's the alternate power, and solar power for the houses on Earth."

 

"No megamansions for people to rattle around in anymore." Dr. McNider laughs.

 

"Hey, we resemble that remark." Dr. Cross nods around his mug of coffee.

 

The next morning Josette heads to the other dimension after breakfast, picking up the mail and dropping off the socks. Calvin waves her into his office after her and Jane count the socks.

 

"What's the news on the moonbase?"

 

"The first module is on track to be going up around the time you come out after your finals. They hope to have a second up by the time we come up for the Lights Festival. Now, is Agatha's book going to be available by the show?"

 

"No, but Marcus is going to put up an announcement to see if there's interest. If there is we'll bring them out when I'm either picking up the students or midterms. And Ellis is already demanding copies to sell." Calvin nods in satisfaction.

 

Josette drops off the mail at the office and brings theirs back to the dorm, grabbing a package of toilet paper from the supplies and splitting it between her two bathrooms. She thinks somebody on Earth would be no doubt up in arms over the fact that their toilet paper doesn't have cardboard rolls as she joins the others sorting through the boxes.

 

"Moonbase?"

 

"The first module is due to go up just before we come out after finals, I'm sure it's all going to be broadcast six ways to Sunday and they'll send us the footage in the databurst. I'll detour past the moon so everybody can see too."

 

"Please god let their moonbase go better than the Mars Colony."

 

"Your mouth to their ears, but NASA has learned from the mistakes of the Mars Colony. Better shielding, they made damn sure they were in a protected location. . ., doing everything they can."

 

"How long is the base supposed to be open?"

 

"At least five years, one of the modules that comes up is going to have to be a greenhouse."

 

"Yeah, they couldn't expect Earth to supply all their food, for all that the space station does."

 

"Especially if the moonbase lasts beyond five years."

 

"Yep. We were damn lucky both in having habitable worlds waiting for us, having Atlantis and the other ships to bring up supplies, and being able to bring our homes with us."

 

The next month passes quickly, Josette heading off to Earth again after her midterms to pick up the orders. Ulonda takes pictures of the activity on the moon and she shows them to the others when she returns to the school. Josette delivers mail and the list of supplies in the container to Joyce in the office, handing over the boxes of stamps she'd picked up at the school.

 

"Looking good." Alexander says when she brings out their mail at the dorm.

 

"Yep."

 

Josette puts her feet up on the coffee table, getting a lapful of cats. "Did you get books and magazines?"

 

"Yeah, for the school library, the town library, the stores, and the dorm. Later this year I'll start bringing out books for the Albatross Library."

 

"No use bringing it out until they're nearly done."

 

"Yep."

 

"Get more empty containers?"

 

"Yeah, like I said last testing week, I think they're just dumping them now."

 

"Not the first time big business had decided out of sight, out of mind."

 

"First planet?"

 

"Tomorrow. I'm picking green tomatoes and peppers and doing the mushrooms while I'm there. I also gotta get some more ocean water for salt."

 

"Oh wwwwoooowwww." Somebody says as Josette turns off the lights and clears the windows so they can see the moonbase.

 

"Are we taping this?"

 

"Yeah, I think people would like to see the moonbase on the moon."

 

Josette starts dropping off the empty containers when they go out after their finals, the scrap metal dropped off to two different places as David opens the tesseract for the students.

 

"Oh my god. . .where. . .how?" One of the major newscasters in America asks when Calvin passes along the footage.

 

"The other dimension went into space years ago. When they brought back the students and employees after finals to stock up on snacks, get new clothes, and spend some time with their families they flew past the moonbase so they could see it in place, we'd sent them pictures of the launch but . . ."

 

"There wasn't pictures of it on the moon until now."

 

"Would they be willing to be interviewed about colonizing their planet?"

 

"Planets, plural. There's six planets with permanent settlers out of sixteen in their solar system. But there's not really much to tell about how they settled their worlds, they have the technology that they were able to bring up their homes and even small towns, it was just a matter of going to bed on Earth one night and waking up on their new planet their next morning. There were groups of settlers who came up on the ships on the sixth planet and built temporary housing to live in as they repaid the costs of coming to the planet but for the most part that's how they arrived. Now, they are planning an anniversary show on how everything's changed since they first settled on Haven. And books."

 

"Temporary housing?"

 

"Dorm type housing with two people to a room for single people and small houses for families. They were meant to be temporary, the settlers would be putting money away to pay for land, supplies, and putting up housing on their land. After they lost Earth most people elected to stay in Town so apartment buildings were brought out while a number of the temporary houses have been renovated over the years."

 

 

Josette, Clark Kent, and Professor Fletcher meet with Madison, talking about how their books are selling while they're there.

 

"How are your books selling?" David asks at dinner that night.

 

"Good, the interest in the second book is growing, as is the interest in printing the books in other languages and audio."

 

They have a few other meetings before they head back to Haven.

 

"Being printed in other countries and languages?"

 

"Yep, we came up with another contract for that and audio books, the old fool who wanted me to stop selling my quilting books bitched, moaned, and whined about how it wasn't fair that I didn't turn my books over to him but the big brass finally had enough of his stupidity and told him shove off. People were investigating his department and found out he didn't do a damn thing to publicize his authors so he was given the ax. Finally as the others who had to deal with him whining about how they took care of their authors said."

 

"Lemme guess, the old boy network? The same reason we got the headcases at the school before Jackie?" Principal Madison snorts.

 

"Yep. Blubbering about how they didn't know he was that bad while they were ignoring the complaints from the other agents about his bullshit. And his whining when they wouldn't cave and told the brass where to shove his complaints."

 

"Jackie?" His father asks.

 

"Hastings, our school social worker. She first came to the school when Josette was a sophomore when our previous social worker demanded a dorm inspection because of her clients had been caught doing drugs and was being expelled."

 

"And if she could find somebody else breaking the rules she could get him off?" Hannah sighs.

 

"Yep. She was a nasty woman who took an instant dislike to Josette because she didn't bow down and kiss her ass. She hated that Josette had Samhein, that Josette had a bigger room than the others, Josette had to be hiding contraband, emptied the vacuum cleaner bag and dumped out all her underwear then demanded what to know what was in the urn on the top shelf if it wasn't contraband, then went 'oh' when told is was Josette's mother ashes. I made her clean up her mess by folding everything she'd thrown on the bed instead of dumping it back in the drawers like she would have done and vacuum back up the mess she'd made of Josette's floor. She hated the twins too, made one sit on the bed and the other at the table so she could make sure they weren't switching places on her even though not only do Anna and Abby wear different clothes they had different hairstyles even back then. She hated the fact that the twins could have Alan in their room, accused them of incest."

 

"Stupid woman." Calvin sighs.

 

"Yep, I put in a complaint with her supervisors. She wanted Josette expelled because she didn't respect her authority." Sniggers from everybody who remembers South Park. "One of the reasons she didn't want her client expelled was because until they graduated, the state was on the hook for their school costs. If they graduated, they had to pay them but if they were expelled they had to pay the whole thing in 30 days or be in default. When she saw how big a bill Josette had back then her hurt feewings weren't hurt that much."

 

Sniggers from the others. "I was having her escorted off the premises when she saw Josette heading to the laundry and accused her of going off to meet a boy. Josette turned away after saying she was going to work and the stupid woman attacked her. Josette handed her her ass and I had her arrested for assault. She tried blaming Josette but the video showed Josette walking away before the attack. She was out a couple of weeks due to deep bruises on her shoulder." The others hiss. "Yeah, with that proof she pled no contest to keep from facing some real jail time but had to attend counseling and pay for Josette's medical bills and the time she missed work, plus pain and suffering. Jackie came to the school the next day with two of her clients who had been kicked out of their foster home by their parents because they were lesbians. Stupid fools called the police to have the girls removed from their home and didn't realize that having warrants out for their arrest would get them taken in. They'd been defrauding people for years, had a record as long as my arm but. . ."

 

"Slipped through the cracks." Dr. Cross sighs.

 

"Yep. They stole the girls allowance from their scholarship loans and had been running up their cards, the girls didn't even know they had cards or allowances. Jackie brought the girls to the school and Anna and Josette got them settled into the dorm. Jackie found out from Josette the state didn't pay everything to keep the students in school, the social worker wouldn't help out the other wards of the state, she was only there to get her clients settled into their first year of school and screw the others, the students had to schedule their own doctor, dental, and optometry appointments and take the shuttle to them, and that none of us knew about a fund that would pay for wards of the states dental and vision since the state plan didn't cover it."

 

Moaning and shaking of heads. "I contacted the office and asked for her as the new social worker for the school. She accepted the job and started kicking over anthills right and left, it took her and four people from her office three weeks to go through all the records to make sure the wards of the state were getting everything they could. Josette and the others not only started getting food benefits since they had a way to prepare food in the dorm, she also got signed up for the fund that paid for the dental and vision, she got a good portion back of what she'd paid for her glasses, Jackie took her to the phone store along with the other wards of the state at the school and got them phones so their workers could contact them. Josette's worker had told her that leaving a message at the office wasn't enough for her, so she'd brought herself a tracfone and paid for the minutes out of her pay."

 

"And we hated that piece of crap. And you could have gotten a better one after two years since you were still in school."

 

"I'm cheap, if I'd gone for a more expensive phone I'd have had a larger bill to pay after I graduated or a huge disconnect fee. I had that 'piece of crap' as you call it for nearly four years."

 

"Until the damn thing finally died when Bruce was using it." David smirks. "And he brought you a good phone. You had that one nearly ten years before we brought new ones again. And we had those until we left Earth." The others start sniggering.

 

"Story?" Charles asks.

 

"Oh yes, as with most big business on Earth they couldn't believe we weren't taking everything with us to Haven. They were 'here's the models we have available' expecting a huge sale and were told that we weren't having cell phones on Haven."

 

"How can you live like that?" Bronwen says in a mock-trembling voice.

 

"We'll show you, we're not going to sell to you, you'll come begging us to buy our phones." Richard says in the 'no soup for you' soup nazi voice.

 

Josette's cackling, her head frantically nodding.

 

"Indeed, when they found out we weren't buying cell phones they sued and lost."

 

"Post office." Abby snorts.

 

"Oh yes, of course we'd want to bring up a post office, they'd need this this this, that that that. . . They were stunned when we said we had no intentions of bringing up a post office, then sued to try to stop us from using the school's mailboxes store to handle our mail. And lost." David rolls his eyes.

 

"People are stupid." Principal Madison snorts. "We had some fool who went to court to have the school shut down so he could build a golf course nearby. He felt having a school nearby would send the wrong message to people. The judge told him to go away."

 

"Huh, I wonder if that was the same guy who wanted the first golf course in space?" The others look at her. "Of course they'd need restaurants, bars, hotels, golf carts. . . Our little people could have jobs at the businesses. . .not high ranking ones of course, but they could work. The judge told him to go blow in the wind, but more politely. He walked off pouting"

 

"Oh of course what the world needs is another fucking golf course." Abby says, rolling her eyes. Josette moans and grabs her PADD, making several notes before she puts it away. Bronwen looks at her. "Zero gravity sports complex. . . bowling, golf, tennis. . ."

 

"Pilates in space?" Alan says dryly.

 

"Lifting yourself right off the bike during spin class?"

 

"Pool tables in space?"

 

Josette starts delivering containers to various places when they return to Haven, joining with her other selves that had been in the other dimensions.

 

"How is it in Thomas's world?"

 

"We're getting close to being in the same time period, couple more years and we'll be harvesting again. By the time Victoria and the others head off for their internships we'll have at least one continent gone."

 

"City on Earth?"

 

"Yeah, they were settling in when we went out."

 

"How is Doc's world?"

 

"They were in the middle of a pretty bad power outage when we were there."

 

"And it was going to be worse before it got better."

 

"Yep." Josette sighs.

 

"How are you coming on the ships?"

 

"Going at it like gangbusters. I'll have it all broke down and delivered back to Earth in a couple years."

 

"Get more empty containers?"

 

"Yeah, they're not even pretending not to be dumping them anymore."

 

"That's big business for you." David rolls his eyes. "Let them be somebody else's problem."

 

"If they find them dumping, they go to the end of the line for new ones. Which cuts into their business. They tried whining to the courts and got told to grow up, if they didn't want to lose business they should have waited."

 

"So what are you taking this semester? Beyond the classes for your mega degree for the other dimension?"

 

"Finishing the third year for one of my Montague degrees, I'll be a semester from finishing the first year of the mega degree curricula from the sosh school, I'm finishing the third semester for the cooking degree, and I'll be halfway through the doctorate this fall."

 

Madison moans at the outline of the new book, passing the sample chapters along to a few of the other authors who can be heard sniggering in their offices.

 

"I think I've been behind this woman in my classes." One of them laughs.

 

"Graduation?" Alex asks, tapping on the door frame of the pocket doors a couple days after the announcement has gone out.

 

"GD on Archimedes holds them once a decade or so, this allows everybody who's finished a degree since the last one to get their diplomas. The schools up here will send somebody for their schools, Dr. Stark handles the schools that didn't come up. You should be getting the cap, gown, and collar if you went for a masters or doctorate. Josette does a quick change on the stage since she gets degrees from so many schools."

 

"How many has she finished?" Thomas asks behind his son.

 

"Nineteen bachelors but she's not graduating with all of them, a masters, and a doctorate." Thomas shakes his head. Susan shrugs. "We all have at least one degree to walk for, Josette just goes for multiple degrees at the same time."

 

"How many degrees does Josette have?"

 

"At least 230 bachelors, she's got the 19 she hasn't gotten her diplomas for yet but at least two of them are multiple degree curriculum that she doesn't count until she gets the last degree done. If you added all those she'd have at least 250 with the cooking, shipwrecks from the naval academy, comic book, and degrees from Montague degrees. 22 masters with this one and 17 doctorates with this one. Even if she was old when she started her first doctorate at 31." Sniggers from the others. "Old joke, she was complaining that most people don't start their first doctorates that late in life. We reminded her that most people didn't already have fifteen bachelors and three masters and most of them went for a doctorate for their job, not because they could."

 

"How many degrees does Josette have started right now?"

 

"About 9? She's got about seven that she rotates through, four of them she's got one semester in before she's done but they're the first of huge multiple degree curriculum so she's not counting them, she's two or three semesters from three others but they're the 2nd of a three degree set so she's not counting them either, the cooking degree. . .which I think is number seven and her doctorate. Plus whatever she's taking from the other dimension."

 

The next few weeks pass quickly as the field crops start coming in. Josette puts the last of the bags in various buildings. Her newest book is coming along and Josette sends more out to Madison, getting a swear back that makes her grin. She meets with her again when she goes out to pick up the supplies midterms the summer semester and find out how many students they can be expecting this fall, detouring past the moonbase to see the activity.

 

The interest for the second book has been growing thanks to the first book being printed in other languages and the audio book coming out. Now, your new book?"

 

"I have all but the last chapter finished. I'm trying to keep it from going to another book but the damn muse is fighting me." Madison looks at her. "The muse wants to end the book with the words 'uh oh. What do you mean uh-oh?'."

 

Madison sniggers despite herself. "Either way it leaves it open. You could either end the book there or leave it open for a second. Now other books?"

 

"The last two books for the 100th anniversary are going to be finished in a couple months and available for sale next year after the show. Agatha's book will be available for sale at the Harvest Festival this year."

 

"Are you offering it at the show?"

 

"Won't be available yet, just my ninth book here. Marcus is going to be putting the information up on the website to see if there's interest and Ellis has already demanded copies to sell. I'll bring them out when the returning employees and graduating students come home."

 

"Josette, do you use the hand operated washing machines?" Jane asks, looking at the schematics.

 

"Yeah, we have one on the first planet for when we're on vacation and need to do a little laundry."

 

"That's going to be a bit of work."

 

Josette nods. "Drawing the water, warming it, and then dumping it in the machine. But nothing they didn't have to do back in the old days. And no scrubbing by hand. Not that people are going to have the types of wardrobes you see now."

 

Maria nods. "Technology has made things easier, but we've become spoiled."

 

Josette starts delivering containers various places when she returns to Haven.

 

"Drop off more scrap?"

 

"Yeah, and the regular recycling. Took care of a good bit of it at the drop off areas too. Brought back a lot of cloth, paper, and glass. Though I expect some of that to taper off when they start getting more supplies in for the colony."

 

"Clothing at least, they'll be putting a lot of the worn out stuff in the replicator to use for raw material."

 

"And glass if they reuse the glass for the canning jars. Though they'll have to make the ones with the wire and glass lids since they can't bring in umpteen tons of lids and rings."

 

A couple weeks later they head off for an hour to the other dimension, dropping off the books and special orders with Dexter before they head to the rooms to drop off their bags.

 

In another building Black Jack checks the monitors. "The kids." He snorts. "Josette just waved at the camera." Clarinda sniggers.

 

"Whose show?"

 

"Josette, and she's debuting a new book. Did. . .Yes, I see Dexter or one of his assistants is already updating the website with Agatha's book."

 

Josette heads off to get gussied up for her show, meeting the others at fancy restaurant for dinner afterwards in a megascraper in another city. After dinner is the interview and then the show, staying afterwards to talk about Agatha's book and sign copies before going to the hotel.

 

"Any interest in Agatha's book?"

 

"Yeah." Josette blinks and David sniggers as the twins get her undressed and shoved into a bed.

 

"Gah, I hate these late signings, I always crash afterwards."

 

"Josette, this is probably a dumb question but cars in the other dimension?"

 

"Do they get recycled? Yeah, they've got setups similar to the factories that built them that tears them apart on a 'disassembly line' for recycling. Those that are involved in accidents and totaled or stuff from cars that can't be reused get taken out with a disintegrating gun and turned into energy. It's just stuff like ships and shipping containers that I got tapped into taking care of, one because there's so much stuff and the other because they're so big and it would take a lot of people with torches to cut them into manageable pieces if they didn't use a dozer to knock them down like they do houses."

 

"And then they'd have the pieces to move somewhere else. You doing it can deliver it right where it needs to be to be made into something new. Even the 'factories' have to sort everything out and send it off. Just like the drop off centers."

 

Nearly two months later their time they return to Haven, delivering the small boxes that can literally hold tons being moved to various rooms. The yearly crops start coming in and Josette and the others head off again to the other dimension.

 

"Damn, they're coming right along." Katrina says. "Any word on plans for greenhouses."

 

"They're talking it, right now they're relying on supplies they brought up and small growing areas in their modules."

 

"Anywhere you can fit a box or a couple plants?"

 

"Exactly. They were really happy to read my dissertation on zero-gravity growing."

 

"They'll need it if they ever intend to go out into space."

 

Josette brings out the boxes at Ellis's after she's toured the buildings and made her purchases. Ellis smiles as he looks through both Josette's book and a special signed copy of Agatha's book she'd brought out for him.

 

"Thank you Josette, these will go in my bookcase of special authors. Along with your fiction."

 

Josette snaps her fingers and brings out a box. "Sneak previews of the books from Haven for the 100th anniversary. They won't be available for sale until after the show."

 

"Thank you."

 

"Problems?" Josette asks Madison when she meets her at the school.

 

"Stupid fuckers who are currently rotting in the high security dimension. That old fool Anderson was talking to an undercover officer about shooting you because you didn't turn your quilting books over to him." Josette calls him something scathing in Ancient.

 

"Exactly, and a fool of a 'religious' person in Iowa added your name to the list of people he threatens because you don't write the books he wants. They finally put that fucker away for life. His butt buddies who were protecting the little shit citing freedom of speech and freedom of religion are facing their own charges for aiding and abetting. They tried getting him off saying he was 'troubled' and the judge called them lying fools. The original judge over the case would have thrown the case against them out, but he got his ass handed to him by the ethics board for demanding another author stop writing fantasy. It's not illegal, unethical, immoral, and it doesn't make him fat so why try to make him stop something he enjoys that makes him a living? He was blubbering about how it wasn't fair they were punishing him, don't they know he's special. His Daddy's got money."

 

"I am so glad people aren't accepting that as an excuse for bad behavior anymore unless somebody really is cuckoo for cocoa puffs." Madison sniggers.

 

"Book?"

 

Josette pulls out a thumb drive. "Completed, edited by both Professor Parker, Professor Fletcher, and Lois and Lana."

 

"Bless you for having sense." She heads off to her office. She reads over everything, sniggering at some scenes and sends it off to be printed. She'd given Josette the advance check a couple weeks ago when she'd talked to her.

 

"Damn, no wonder that old fool wanted your money." She says a few nights later at the show, seeing the boxes of books being opened and the line of people out the door with their books to be signed. And it's not just the new book that is being signed.

 

"Well if the old fool had done his job instead of sitting on his useless ass telling others how to run their lives he might have made money." One of her fellow agents says as they wander the gallery. "I've never been to one of these though I have purchased some of their furniture, including one of the doll houses for my daughter."

 

"Josette makes those."

 

"Really? My ex and his mother had a fit, trying to claim I was turning her against them because they don't like dolls, toys, or children being children. They took me to court and the judge told them to grow the fuck up. When they saw the dollhouse they agreed that it might be an investment in her future so they guessed it was okay, the judge rolled his eyes and called them a bunch of drama queens. They're the type that want children to be little robots instead of kids. Not the first time they took me to court, fucking fools tried declaring me an unfit mother so they could get custody and got their asses handed to them by the social workers, they sued to stop the child support and got their asses handed to them. . ."

 

"Your ex and his family need a good swift kick."

 

"Amen."

 

Josette sighs and stretches after the show is over, grabbing her shoes as she joins the others walking through the tesseract to the mansion. The next morning Marcus and Madison do a good imitation of a Mexican standoff before they grin and start talking.

 

"Josette, more information on the books being printed in other languages, other countries, and coming out on audio." They go over the paperwork.

 

"Books?" She looks over at Marcus.

 

"4800 of the newest one sold, 8275 signed. Here's the checks. And are you interested in possibly printing them in other languages? There's been some interest on the website. I know about five people who can translate the books into eight languages. Yes, I know you speak and read fifteen languages but. . ."

 

"Let somebody who knows what they're doing do it, there's a difference between reading in a language and being able to write in it. That's why there was so many problems as brands were translated into other languages." The others laugh and nod. The boys get drug in and they talk to Marcus.

 

Back on Haven the second crops start coming in and Josette attends a signing party at the Albatross Nest before heading off to the other dimensions to deliver supplies, pick up the new employees, and drop off more containers of belongings for the graduating students and returning employees. That takes three days and Josette sighs when she drops into her seat.

 

"All the new employees in?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"Still having power outages because the power companies are digging in their heels about having to build new plants and not being able to gouge anybody over the prices. The government is going in and inspecting plants and people are howling because they've been cutting corners on maintenance and are being charged."

 

"Sounds familiar. Pick up more supplies?"

 

"Yeah, I just got done delivering everything to the factories."

 

"Books?"

 

"Working on the cookbooks. Then the rest of my books."

 

 

Calvin and the others start coming out with a guest that stands in the middle of the street and looks around, then up. Madison snickers as she comes over. "That old fool Anderson is blubbering about how everybody's being mean to him making him work and the judge asked him if he wanted to go to prison for the rest of his worthless life instead. He shut right up. The brass wants to talk to you about another printing of your book since the second book is rocketing up the charts. If the demand is still good they'll reprint the second one and double the print run for the third book. The new book will be out by the time you come back after Thanksgiving and I need to talk to you about the press tour for the third book."

 

Ellis looks over and grins. "Books?"

 

"We're working on the cookbooks right now then the rest of mine. We figure five years will have them all done."

 

"100th Anniversary Show?"

 

"After the Harvest Festival next year. Over the winter the historians are setting up the exhibits in the new library building, then next winter we'll be putting everything away and moving books into the new building. We've needed the extra room for a while and this way we don't have an empty building going to waste."

 

"Albatross?"

 

"They're hoping to have their new buildings open by the Lights Festival. They're going to be adding all the new materials and shelving after the Harvest Festival. It will take a few months since they're working on the new historical society building the same time." Madison nods as they walk through the school.

 

"Is that a dorm?" the visitor asks.

 

"Yeah, 75 floors with either 40 or 60 two student rooms per floor. Every two rooms shares a bathroom. Each floor also has storerooms where two student rooms and their bathroom would have been for supplies."

 

"I haven't seen apartment buildings that high."

 

"Dining halls?"

 

"Eight buildings each four floors with two rooms per floor. All but one of them is open to the students. That last room belongs to Josette and her family, we eat there when we come out and any friends that come out over meals eats there too. There's two more buildings that have restaurants, one a burger place...not fast food but the thick burgers that you get in restaurants that you have to hold with both hands that are held together with a toothpick and comes with fries or onion rings and a pickle spear on the side. One's a chicken place that has a different speciality a night, and the other is a pizzeria that is on two floors in the other building. It used to be just take-out since the school didn't want to compete with the two pizza parlors in Town or the one in Albatross, but they needed the help with take-out orders. After a few months the pizza parlors in town told them to open it up to sit down traffic."

 

"Do they get a lot of business?"

 

"Oh yes. Especially the pizza parlors during the week before midterms and finals."

 

"I heard rumors that the students are taking university classes in their spare time?"

 

"Yes, a good quarter to third of our students are enrolled in dual enrollment and can finish a bachelors by the time they've graduated. A good percentage of those students are enrolled at Cambridge or Oxford on the fourth planet." He moans. "Those students who aren't enrolled in the program will still start university as a junior."

 

"Josette, new cooking teachers?"

 

"Two more years." Calvin says. "I've got a tentative list and a few people want to do 'reality' shows. Nobody like Gordon Ramsey."

 

"Good, because I'd yell right back at him and if he threw something I'd be throwing it right back at him."

 

"I don't know why people sign up for those types of shows."

 

"For the publicity, like all so-called 'reality' shows."

 

"But. . .but. . .but there's no such thing as bad publicity." Josette mock-blubbers. Snorts from everybody in earshot. "Yeah, that's why there was so many lawsuits that people were 'mean', they should be allowed to do whatever stupid shit they wanted, who cares about the little person. They should be honored I'm lowering myself to acknowledge their existence." Josette strikes a stupid-model pose.

 

The next couple of days has their guest exploring everything, plastering himself against the window when Josette takes him on a tour of the system. After the Harvest Festival they head back to Earth and he blinks as he sees only a few minutes has passed.

 

"That is very convenient. I hope the settlers in the other dimension are able to settle in as easily as they did."

 

"They've had years of experience."

 

Josette starts bringing the new students out over the next few weeks, looking over at Albatross to find people bustling as they move boxes from the shipping containers to the library and historical society building.

 

"Is this everybody?" Professor Ziegler asks one day at the pizza parlor.

 

"Yep."

 

"Full?"

 

"Until the graduating students and returning employees leave." Josette leans backward over her chair. Frances and President Bartlett chuckle as they come over and an employee puts down food in front of Josette.

 

"How is everything coming in Albatross?"

 

"Good, they're moving boxes from the shipping containers. I'll take the empty ones back midterms the way they're moving stuff."

 

"Josette, detergent?"

 

"The factory is opening next year, be about two years as the make various types, then after that we should be running low on toothpaste."

 

"Clothing?"

 

"Wrapping up before the Lights Festival. I've been delivering orders from the paper factory the last few days." Everybody nods as Josette takes a bite of pizza.

 

"Any chance of you printing your fiction?"

 

"Not until after the last of the quilt books. Once they're down to only a couple books I'll put up a poll to see if there's interest."

 

"See if there's interest she says." President Bartlett rolls her eyes. "The sample chapters you put up on the server of your latest is evil young lady."

 

"No evil is the damn muse that woke me up in the middle of the night howling, demanding I write the sequel right now." Josette snorts.

 

"Classes?"

 

"I'm picking up semesters of older degrees online instead of picking up new ones. As it is, I'm a semester from finishing four degrees, two semesters from finishing three more, and halfway through the doctorate this semester."

 

"Are they going to have any power in the other dimension?"

 

"Limited, probably one building that's going to have the supplies. They can have solar panels on their houses but . . ." Josette shrugs.

 

"Most modern conveniences would drain them rather quickly and adding the wiring would be a problem." Professor Ziegler says. Josette holds up a hand and pulls up a file on her PADD, handing it over.

 

"Something I was working on, adding the panels for wiring and how much electricity common appliances would need. We make more power because we've got the two suns. And not many people go hogwild on energy draining appliances."

 

"There won't be tv or radio stations in the beginning, they might need a refrigerator but it's easier to dig a root cellar or use an icehouse."

 

"Washing machines are going to be hand cranked and there's no dryers. Stoves will be wood and will need to be both heat and cooking. Especially during the winter."

 

"No electric lights."

 

"I can't see many people popping for the solar panels right away, it's both more stuff to add to the house as you're building it and there's nothing that runs on electricity, at least at first."

 

The others nod. "They're going to be busy settling in and putting in a garden, planting crops to make money for more supplies. . ." Nods from the others again.

 

"And the solar panels and wiring panels would add to the cost of the house. It's not like our world where they had jobs waiting on them they could start making money with to start paying off their debts as soon as they arrived and had a place to stay waiting on them." President Bartlett says.

 

The others nod.

 

The next week Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center.

 

"How many bachelors does this make?"

 

"248, I'm still not counting the multiple degree curriculum until they're all done." The others shake their heads.

 

"Josette, are the characters DC picked up and the independent publishers DC took over two separate sets of degrees?" Alexander asks, coming over and looking at something on his PADD.

 

"Yes, though it doesn't seem like it should be." Josette says, rolling her eyes. "I was looking into that myself and wondering. ..didn't I already take these? Another example of degrees that come at the same topic from different directions."

 

"Are you going to have a full shipment of stuff to take back next month."

 

"Ohhhh yeah, Joyce already asked me to move stuff to the ship and it was already beginning to pile back up again. Everybody realizes midterms is it, anything else you gotta heft and carry yourself."

 

"Are the students and employees leaving going to be able to buy the books and video of the show?"

 

"Yeah, the information will go up on the website the school set up for ours. I'll either take out books for them to ship or as they're ordered bring them out."

 

"DVDS?"

 

"Once the material is compiled, they'll be replicated."

 

"Good grief." Josette says as she pulls on a sweater when they return to Haven.

 

"Yes, they're already predicting a cold fall and bad winter."

 

"We had to expect it, we've been lucky the last few years."

 

"How are we on clothes for the patchwork quilts?" Josette asks the next morning.

 

"Good, most everybody has a good stock of quilts on hand from previous bad years so they're not making a dent in them like they have been. How is Buckaroo getting ready for their first winter on the 10th planet?"

 

"They're getting in supplies, they were there for a few weeks when they arrived but that's different than . . ."

 

"Being there for your first full winter. Something the settlers will learn in time in the other dimension."

 

"Yes, the extruded plastic will mean good thick walls to keep in the heat but they'll have to chink the gaps just like they did in the old days."

 

"Chamber pots."

 

"Yep, during the winter when you don't want to or can't run to the outhouse. Lye to dump down the hole to keep down the smell. If they have VR I'd say get together a good training package and put the settlers in there so they know what they're doing before they head off."

 

Josette grabs her PADD and sends off a message to go in the next databurst. "Now. .. how is everything coming along in Albatross?"

 

"Good. Empty containers."

 

"I was going to see if you had any empty already you wanted me to grab, otherwise I'd be picking them up at the end of the semester when I got the others."

 

"Yeah, we'll have them empty by then even if we have boxes everywhere."

 

Josette nods. "There's something about not seeing them outside that means you're done. Even if you've got rooms filled of boxes as high as you can pile them."

 

"Exactly."

 

"I do like this idea, that way the settlers have a heads up on what they have to do. And we can weed out the ones that wouldn't be able to handle it." A government official says as he looks over the message Calvin had passed along from Josette. "Did they do this on their world?"

 

"No, they were able to bring their homes up with them. But they did use this on the people who attacked the power plants, they didn't like technology and figured with the loss of electricity everything would go back to the good old days when people were better off."

 

"The good old days weren't." Somebody snorts.

 

"Exactly, they saw the sanitized version in the Little House books and forgot all about the epidemics, illnesses from lack of clean water and sanitation, accidents, the women that had a dozen children and maybe only two lived to adulthood if they were lucky. . ." Nods from everybody in the room.

 

"Crops coming along okay on the first planet?" Alan asks when she comes back to the dorm.

 

"Yep, I'll green-pick some stuff after midterms."

 

"We'll have snow early."

 

"Yep, I figure at least once before we harvest."

 

Josette sends out more chapters for the second book to Madison in the next databurst, getting more complaints and another stop to meet people when she comes out after Thanksgiving. Josette smirks.

 

"Will the second book be done by then?"

 

"Yeah, but not edited. But it will give Madison the time to come up with a contract."

 

The next month passes quickly and Jane moans at the seemingly never-ending piles of boxes.

 

"Yeah, that's why I doubled the order for supplies." Calvin says from the door of his office. "Madison wants to beat you for including her in your latest. You have her down perfectly, the others in her office cackled when they read that scene." Josette cackles and starts bringing out the socks.

 

"Should I find a shield to put in front of me?" A voice asks around the door of Madison's office.

 

"Get in here Josette, you rotten horrible person you and look over this list of signing spots. I was expecting you yesterday."

 

"Had to be in court, some fucking fool woman is trying to shove her opinion down everybody's throats and doesn't like the fence around our pool, said it was gaudy and bringing down the neighborhood property values. Since we own the entire neighborhood the judge told her to go blow in the wind and she walked off pouting. She's tried this shit with other people in the past the scuttlebutt is and next time she's getting her ass handed to her."

 

"Still not a crime to be too stupid to live. And I didn't know you had a pool."

 

"Yeah, you can't see it from the road so the judge asked her how she found out about the fence. She tried saying she could see it but we had video proof you can't see it from the road or the driveway. She finally admitted she used a drone to take pictures then complained when our security system destroyed it."

 

"The nerve of you. Protecting your own home and property. How dare you." Madison says sarcastically.

 

"Yeah, the judge blasted her with both barrels and she was boo hoo hooing about how mean everybody was to her. I made a dramatic showing of taking a picture of her and saying I was setting the security system to shoot her if we found her anywhere near the land. She ran off crying, nearly leaving a trail behind her. The judge gave me the 'I've got to chide you for being mean but I'm rolling on the floor laughing my ass off on the inside' look."

 

"Book? And we will be cutting that scene, right?"

 

"Nope, that's a lead in to something major at the end of the book. That might even bring out another book the way the muse is blinking up at me." She slides a thumb drive across to her. "Another few chapters of the book and a few more things that I didn't show Bronwen. The book will be done by the time I'm back to deliver the graduating students and returning employees and might even be edited by somebody, all depends on how soon I can get the ending done and if they're all busy with wrapping up their classes and finals."

 

"Thank you. Are you in long?"

 

"Few days. I was off delivering the last of the stuff the returning employees and students are sending back so they don't have as much to carry onto the ship when they come home in a couple months, picking up supplies for the rest of the school term, dropping off another load of scrap, and dropping off the regular recycling."

 

They talk over the list for the book tour, Madison adding a couple more stops in a couple cities since she knows those type of people will love the new book and then goes over the sales records and what clothes Josette will need. A few days of working on the recycling and Josette heads back to Haven.

 

Josette starts delivering the containers to various spots and slides into her seat at the dining hall after filling a tray and a bowl for salad.

 

"Get everything done you needed?"

 

"Yeah, all the belongings are now at the school, anything else and they'll have to shuffle it home themselves. Delivered the supplies for the school just now, dropped off more scrap as well as the regular recycling. Had to deal with some stupid woman who didn't like the fence around our pool at the mansion, said it was tacky and bringing down the value of the neighborhood. Since we are the neighborhood and the fence can't be seen from the road or driveway the judge let her have it. Remember that security blip a few months ago?" David nods. "That was her using a drone to look over our property. She complained our security destroyed it."

 

"How dare we protect our own property." Anna huffs. "Jackass."

 

Mom is there and looks like she wants to chide her for the language but is secretly agreeing with her. Ma and Ma are openly laughing.

 

"Yeah, I made a huge production of taking a picture of her and saying I was setting the security system to shoot her next time. She nearly left a trail behind her as she scurried off. She's done this before and the court is getting fed up with her Bertha better than you self." The others shake their heads, remembering people like that.

 

"Talk to Madison?"

 

"Yep, she did not like me putting her in my second book, asked me if I was going to remove that scene because everybody at work recognized her then moaned when I said it was a lead up to something major at the end of the book that might turn into another one. We talked about the book tour and she added a couple more places for the other book."

 

"How long?"

 

"Six weeks, fifteen cities, and 28 stops. I've got a couple of expos and writing conventions here and there in there." In the front room Professor Fletcher nods. "I remember those days very well."

 

"Did you take out more books for Madison?"

 

"Yeah, some I hadn't even shown Bronwen yet."

 

The next afternoon Josette delivers bushels of green picked peppers and tomatoes various places, sitting down at the cafe and getting a plate put in front of her.

 

"How are the cookbooks coming?"

 

"Due to be finished year after next Harvest Festival. How's the pool of new recipes coming along?"

 

"Good. Everybody's got time over the winter to experiment if they have growing areas of their own."

 

"And we've got the new cooking teachers coming out in a couple of years, they'll add new recipes."

 

Josette sighs as she returns to the dorm.

 

"Get everything delivered?"

 

"Yep and the rest is in stasis. How are we on the clams, geoducks, mussels, oysters, and fish?"

 

"Fish is still good, but the other stuff we'll have to harvest next week."

 

"I thought we had to be getting close."

 

The next month passes slowly, Josette, David, and Alexander harvest everything, putting most of it in stasis.

 

"No cookout this year."

 

"Nope, won't be warm enough even if it's not snowing." David looks out the window at the light fluffy stuff falling from the sky. "Everybody's getting in extra supplies since we know this is going to be a bad winter."

 

"And the factories are ahead on the orders so if they're shut down for any length of time we're not too far behind."

 

"Nope, we can add more hours if needed."

 

"Oh wow." More than one person says when they detour past the moonbase and find the second module up.

 

David opens the tesseract to the school, the returning employees and graduating students heading one way while everybody else who'd come out for supplies and whatnot heading the other. Josette starts dropping off items at various places and joins the others at the mansion.

 

Josette tosses the thumb drive to Madison the next morning, taking the contracts and looking them over. She holds up a hand and points at a box in the corner, Josette brings it over and opens it at her look, cooing at the different versions of her book.

 

"Mine?" Madison nods and Josette flips the box into subspace before turning her attention to the contracts.

 

"And Marcus wants to talk to you about the quilting books in other languages."

 

"I'm seeing him tomorrow, he was out when we delivered the special orders yesterday."

 

Madison brings up a file she'd saved, sending it to Josette's PADD. "Was that the woman who had sued when you were here last time?"

 

"Oh yes, what happened to the fool?"

 

"Rented a bobcat under the homeowner's name to tear down a gazebo she didn't like, destroyed a decorative garden, tore up a patio, and threw paint on a house, she's in a shitload of trouble. Facing serious prison time on top of time in the medium security dimension to pay for everything. She can't believe she's getting in trouble for that. Nobody else would do it, she had to take care of the examples of bad taste. She'd gone the legal route and the court wouldn't do anything, so she had to get her hands dirty."

 

"Couldn't happen to a nicer asshole." She turns her attention back to the contracts.

 

"A second printing already?"

 

"Oh yes, I told you the interest in the first book, it just got better with the books in the other languages and audio. And there's similar contracts for the second book, the first book in this series, and this one."

 

Josette sighs as she goes back to reading, signing and writing her initials at the arrows.

 

"Thank you, here's the receipts for your checks." she hands over the paperwork and Josette checks the balances on her account, nodding. She'll update the money program later. "Now, your tour." She hands over an envelope of tickets and hotel reservations. "If you go overseas you're going to have to fly. You'll need a passport."

 

"Got one. Airports are the eighth circle of hell though." Josette dryly. "And don't get me started on ticket prices and excessive baggage fees. That's why most of the family flies private planes."

 

"I can't argue with that. Wait yes I can, you can do the same thing with your luggage so you don't have to worry about baggage fees." Madison snorts. Josette sniggers

 

"Trains let me see the countryside, they usually have a place to eat nearby if they don't have a dining car."

 

"They also have the damn fools that run the gates and get hit by the trains. Not to mention the damn tanker fires."

 

Josette nods.

 

Bronwen and Mom are looking over her clothes for the tour when she gets back, nodding in satisfaction.

 

"When do you leave?"

 

"Two days. I gotta talk to Marcus tomorrow about the quilting books in other languages and I'm heading to Ellis's with Agatha's books."

 

"Try not to be conspicuously in too many places at the same time." Dad snorts as he walks through. "Since I know you're going out to Portsmouth for a few days while you're here." They'd finally come across two of Josette in one place at the same time and just moaned.

 

"And visiting Charles and Doc when they come back from the . . .whatever it is they're doing for a couple weeks." Josette waves a hand and Dad snickers.

 

"Thank you Josette, the interest has been exceptional for having the books in other languages." Marcus says when they meet the next morning. "Did you take the books out to Ellis?"

 

"Yesterday, after I talked to Madison about the other books."

 

The others sigh but nod as numerous bags and boxes start appearing in the room set aside for the stuff Josette's sending back on her tour. She finally drags herself back to the mansion and drops into a seat, waving a hand and bringing stuff out of subspace before she falls asleep.

 

"Hmmm, five hard drives, laptop, camera, clothes that need washing. . ." Alexander grabs the bags and starts sorting them out in the laundry area.

 

Josette wakes up when David waves a pizza slice under her nose. Grabbing it she eats as she walks to the bathroom, then joining the others at the table which is covered in food.

 

"Expos?"

 

"Directly to Macchu Picchu, along with the stuff I got at conventions."

 

"Hard drives."

 

"Pictures, tons of pictures. Both at the book signings and when I was playing tourist." She interlaces her fingers and throws her arms over her head, stretching backwards then forwards and side to side.

 

"Others?"

 

"One's off with Doc and Charles, the other's in Vegas with the girls." The boys snigger.

 

"Supplies?"

 

"My other selves have been picking them up. Including some major orders I put in at the

expo."

 

"Go through a lot of pens?"

 

"Thirteen boxes, Marcus told Madison which brand to order for me and made sure we had a supply on hand when they set up everything. The interest for the other book was high at the comic book type stores and I got a lot of stuff there. Some nearly swooned when I said there was a sequel coming out in a few months, one squeaked like he got goosed and I heard a hissed 'behave' from his friend."

 

"Is Scifi/fantasy picking up with the moonbase and off-dimension colonizing?"

 

"Possibly, all types of literature have their peaks and valleys."

 

A couple weeks later they land on Haven and Josette starts delivering stuff as David opens the tesseract for the returning students and employees who are busy putting on warmer clothes they'd left on the ship for the walk to the auditorium to have their bags checked. The supplies are offloaded to the school and factories before they lift off again, heading to the other dimension. Several weeks later they return to Haven, Josette moving everything to the dorm before joining the others, merging with her other selves that had been off to Doc and Thomas's dimension."

 

"Are they looking at building a city on Earth?"

 

"Yeah, right now they're looking at a good space to start building it. Earth doesn't have big empty spaces like the Moon and the other dimension."

 

"A desert?"

 

"Probably would be the best bet."

 

"Do they have plans for spaceships?"

 

"Yeah, but they'd need a satellite in orbit for people to live in while they build them in space. Unless they're meant to land. Then they'd have to have a helluva place to take off from."

 

"The same desert?"

 

"Possibly, they'd have the necessary machinery to put everything together."

 

Josette leans back in the couch, one leg coming up to rest on the couch while the other leg goes over it. "Who's got the plans?"

 

"Me, I figured we'd talk about it after dinner. Now first planet?"

 

"This weekend." Josette looks out the window at the snow falling outside.

 

"How are you coming on your classes?"

 

"One semester for four degrees but they're the megadegrees and a year on three others. Halfway through my doctorate." Josette looks at the time, stretches, yawns, and floats up to her feet. The others snigger but get on their outside clothes to walk to the dining hall for lunch.

 

After lunch Josette and David join Doc, President Bartlett and Principal Madison for a meeting.

 

"How are they coming on Earth?"

 

"The second module of the moonbase is up and rumors are that they're going to be a semi-permanent colony with revolving people."

 

"They'll have to have a module devoted to growing stuff." Josette shakes her head. "I sent Granda the idea we had about building one of the cities and future spaceships in one of the deserts if they built ones that could take off and land."

 

"Instead of like Pern leaving them in orbit around the planet?"

 

"I can understand either way, they've got the fuel to stay in orbit but that's a waste of materials that could be used on the new planet."

 

"They wouldn't rot in orbit." President Bartlett says.

 

"And they can be used as satellites to link computers and stuff."

 

"Orders?"

 

"Took the last of them in, we've got some in reserve for when we have to shut down the factories for storms. Which is going to be in a couple of days. Bad one." Josette says, the others sigh and start grabbing their PADDS to send out alerts.

 

"At least everybody was getting in supplies early since they knew this winter was going to be rough."

 

"And with over a day's warning they can get the animals inside and settled in before it gets bad. How long?"

 

"Two weeks snow, give it two to dig out. The Lights Festival will go on as planned. We'll be dug out by then." She sighs.

 

"Get it out of its system early so we can get around the rest of the year. The factories are planning extra shifts nights and weekends to make up the time they'll be missing since they knew this would be a bad year and we'd get at least one storm."

 

In their home Calvin looks over at Simone. "Huh, that makes sense." She looks at him.

 

"Josette, saying that we could use a desert to build a city like they have in the other dimensions."

 

"We have been looking for a large enough place, and it's better to build it in one place than have items shipped from other places and finding out it's not going to fit because a supplier cut corners."

 

"Josette says they can also use deserts for building spaceships if we decide on the type that can lift off and land on planets."

 

"They've been arguing which way to go, that would mean you wouldn't need shuttles to deliver to a planet."

 

Calvin nods. "That's why we've been looking at the cities, they can take off and land as well as travel through space. And not having shuttles would be extra room for supplies."

 

"That's why we've been looking towards the cities after we colonize the dimension."

 

"And if we build spaceships in orbit, we need ships to bring up supplies, a satellite for the workers to live, and shuttles on the ship to take everything down to a planet surface when they find a suitable world."

 

"Plus ships to bring everybody down, fuel for the spacesuits. . ."

 

"Something they definitely need to talk about before we colonize other planets."

 

"It won't be for decades, if not a century or more."

 

Calvin nods. "We need to find habitable worlds and make sure there's no sentient life or stuff like you see in science fiction. That will take years."

 

Josette shakes her head as it begins to turn dark the next day on Haven in the middle of the afternoon.

 

"Everything locked down until the storm's over?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Turbine?"

 

"I'll check it after dinner and start it spinning if one of the others hasn't." Josette says. They nod as the others come down from working in the growing area. "Everything planted now?"

 

"Yes, and we can head off to the first planet in a few days if it gets too bad in here, be back in an hour."

 

"So how was the book tour?"

 

Josette spends the next hour talking about where she'd gone and showing off the pictures.

 

"Any chance of an international signing?"

 

"They're talking about it after the third book drops if the sales are good." The others look at her. "The brass's words, not mine. They didn't like the idea of sending me on this one until they saw how many books I've already sold. They haven't quite figured out yet you need publicity and you have to spend money to make money."

 

"Other language quilting books?"

 

"Contracts are like my other books, I own the books and if the demand is good after this printing, they contract with me again."

 

The others nod as they check the clock, yell for the kids, and head to the front of the dorm to take the tunnels to the dining hall.

 

By bedtime it's starting to really come down and everybody settles in for a long two weeks. The next morning they can't even see outside and push open doors to keep them from totally being blocked before they walk to breakfast.

 

Two weeks later Josette flies to the roof and is busy blowing the solar panels clean while she splits off duplicates to handle the houses on the other continent, the buildings at the school, and the major buildings in town before joining the others walking to the dining hall for breakfast. Her other selves join with her after breakfast and they dig out the snowblowers to start digging out at the ranch and clear the paths around the dorm.

 

More than one person is looking out the window to see the suns after so long and students are leaning against doors looking outside. A few brave souls head out and the dam bursts with students heading outside even if they have to wade through the snow.

 

"They're enjoying themselves."

 

"Yep."

 

The databurst has Josette sniggering. "Good news?"

 

"The twit that didn't like me going on a book tour is trying to claim credit for the increased sales and got her ass handed to her by the bosses. The pre-release buzz for the second book is good, they're going to offer pre-orders in a couple weeks."

 

"Hey, maybe you'll have people lining up at midnight to buy the book like Harry Potter."

 

Josette makes gagging sounds. The others snigger.

 

After they dig out everything gets back to normal, the factories picking up extra shifts after the Lights Festival to get back on track because they want to.

 

"Degrees?" Doc asks at the meeting the first day of the new school semester.

 

"I'll have at least one finished this year but since it's one of the mega ones?" Josette shrugs. "I'm starting a new degree from the history school on Italians during World War II, the rise of Mussolini, how Italians in the US reacted to fascism, how they reacted to the war, and how the US treated them here in the states. You heard all about how they treated the Japanese during the war but the Italians didn't get the same treatment. Which wasn't fair."

 

"No, but that was the mentality of the time, and they didn't have a Pearl Harbor." Doc sighs. "But we were at war and . . ."

 

"Humanity is still a beast." Josette says. Everybody nods.

 

"Okay, factories?"

 

"Detergent started last week, the others have been picking up extra shifts . . .'because we want to damn it'." the others chuckle and nod. "We have loyal employees."

 

"Yep. The stuff for the show is going up in the new library building in a couple months and we're still on track to open it after the Harvest Festival. Everybody's settling in well after the storm, the fact we all 'yeah, this happens . . .we'll dig out when it's over' helped a lot."

 

"Yeah, nobody was panicking about the storm of the century like you might have seen on Earth. Here it was 'meh' and the conversation turned to something else. Once everybody realized we weren't worried, they calmed down."

 

Josette knocks the snow off her boots and shakes off her outside clothes, hanging them up and putting on indoor shoes before walking into the dorm.

 

"Factories back up and running?"

 

"Yep, the cookbooks might be a little late but that's okay and the others are already talking about adding extra shifts . . .because we want to dammit." The others snigger and head various directions.

 

A couple weeks later Josette is looking over the messages from Marcus and Madison in the databurst.

 

"Good sales?" Alan asks over her shoulder.

 

"Yeah, the news that the quilting books are being released in other languages is on the website and they're getting a lot of interest in pre-orders."

 

"I'm sure that old fool you were complaining about would be howling at the injustice."

 

"Yep." Josette smirks. She looks out the window at the falling snow.

 

"Sooo," Alan leans over the couch back, his arms going around her neck. "You made one of those houses in the colony plans and seen if you could survive a winter by yourself."

 

"I fucking hate you." Josette sighs. "I've been telling myself not to do it." He sniggers. "I can't see myself cooking with dried crap."

 

"Yeah, it would give the soup the 'exotic' flavoring you don't want." He laughs as he walks off.

 

"The huts are nearly a home in the colony dimension." David says.

 

Josette nods. "Cooking outside or in a cookstove, a garden. . .the only we don't have there is farm animals and having to dig our own well and outhouse. No having to deal with winter and we can easily come home when we need to."

 

"Any word on the VR?"

 

"They loved the idea of putting people in so they can weed out the ones who would have problems or are only in it for the 'omg' factor." David sniggers and nods. "I can see some people having to pull their covered wagons into the barn for the first winter though since they didn't have time to get everything together."

 

"Unless they put up a barn and house on their land first, then come out with the farm animals and start a garden the following year?"

 

"'Where's the mall, where's the phone? Whaddaya mean there's no tv?'" Michael says in a fake teenage whine. The others snigger.

 

"Going to have to get used to those if they colonize other planets." Josette shrugs. The others nod.

 

Josette goes out the next morning to pick up the mail. She drops it off at the school and flies out to Albatross, tapping on the door of the library and getting waved in when they see who it is.

 

"How's everything coming?"

 

"Good. We were delayed by the storm but . . ."

 

"You're not on a deadline, open when you open."

 

"Exactly. Now tell me about the plans for the colony in the other dimension." Josette sits down and starts talking about the plans, sending out pictures of the cities on the other world and the moonbase.

 

Back at the dorm Josette makes a list of what she wants from the vat meat, bringing out the large slicer and slicing it into stuff for sandwiches that she puts in marked bags and splits between stasis and her refrigerator.

 

Susan's in the basement kitchen with her PADD checking the supply of casseroles they've made up ahead and frozen or put in stasis. "We've got to make some more up." She looks over her shoulder at her as she shuts the oven door and turns it on.

 

"Yeah, and make bread." The others nod as they come upstairs.

 

"Susan, your dissertation?" President Bartlett asks at lunch.

 

"I've been talking to the historians. I'm nowhere near ready to upload it."

 

"Josette, your dissertation?"

 

"Working on it on and off and figure on uploading it next summer when I'm a 'semester' from finishing the degree."

 

"Did you finish one of your sosh school classes."

 

"Yeah. Feels almost wrong* to be starting out with just one finished degree again." The teachers at the front table snicker.

 

"Hey Josette, if 31 was old to be starting a doctorate what is starting one in your hundred and thirties?"

 

Josette looks at David, who just smirks. "I heard the Ghostbusters are going for more degrees."

 

"Yeah, they were talking about it the last time I was out. I'm taking them out with me when we go out to Thomas's world, they want to see if there's any spectral energy from all the deaths there and in the 9th planet's dimension." The others say a silent prayer then Josette smirks and pulls up a scene, handing the PADD to Alexander. He reads it and snorts. "Harvey will kick open the gates of heaven to come down and beat you, Sarah will be grabbing the pom poms and cheering him on, while Jason would be pissing himself he was cackling so hard." He passes the PADD on to the others who read, laugh, and nod.

 

"What are you making?" David asks, finding a half-dozen Josettes in the kitchen working on stuff.

 

"Making dumplings." She nods at the pot simmering on the back of the stove then the steamer baskets waiting to be filled. He nods and heads back to his room. "Oh, meant to ask you. Degree from the other dimension?" She gives him a sour look. "Ahhh, Doctorate after all."

 

"Yep. I'm talking to my advisor about the paper when I go out for midterms."

 

"Scrap?"

 

"Should have everything but the bad shipping containers done by the end of next year, and those seem to be slowing down. Either I'm coming to the end of them. . ." David sniggers. "Or they realize that dumping them is going to hurt them In the long run and they're going to have to wait.”

 

David walks off sniggering.

 

"When does your new book go on sale?"

 

"Just after midterms. The third book is due to come out about three months after that."

 

"Movie deal."

 

"Fuck no, they're never as good as the books."

 

A couple weeks later Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center.

 

"Books?"

 

"The second gym in space book comes out after midterms, the third book in the original series comes out three months after that. And I gave Madison some more books while I was out picking up supplies and taking in the last of the employee and student belongings last fall."

 

The next month passes slow, a storm has everybody inside for over a week, but it's not the wet heavy snow that fell earlier so they get paths cleared within a few hours thanks to the snowblowers.

 

Josette knocks on Madison's door.

 

"Good you're here, here's the promotional copies for your new books. . ." She brings out a few boxes that she puts in front of Josette.

 

"We're going to have to have the printing machinery cleaned and inspected when we finish my books." Josette says at the government meeting when she comes back. "Especially if we're going to be printing my fiction up here." The others nod. "We forget how long the machines have been in operation with your books, everything for the show, then the new cookbooks and your latest."

 

"It's steady money for the employees."

 

"Book selling well?" Alexander leans over her shoulder as she reads a databurst a few days later.

 

"Yes, Madison says it started out in the middle of the charts and is climbing. It seems the arrest of the shit stain who was threatening people for writing what he didn't like made people start looking at other forms of literature to see if he had a real cause or was just an idiot."

 

"People are stupid."

 

"Yep, somebody was claiming that the returning employees and graduating students would need extensive counseling after being in a 'wilderness' for so many years so the school should be shut down. And Calvin's for sending young, impressionable students away. Since the kids of the judge they'd approached went to the school they were sent away with a foot up their asses. They walked off pouting. Of course their school would be willing to open it's arms to the poor traumatized darlings. For a lot of money, they'd have to hire a lot of people. . .to help the students of course."

 

"Oh of course." David drawls, rolling his eyes. "And somebody dropped a dime so the story got told to the media and now everybody knows what sort of manipulative people are in charge of that school and families that had been looking at their school is going somewhere else."

 

"They'd hoped the judge was as big a moron as they were?" Susan snorts.

 

"But we need those students, we can't compete." Anna whines.

 

"Basically, yeah." Josette leans back in the couch and sighs. "Growing area? I gotta pick the green tomatoes, if nothing else."

 

"Yeah, we're going to have to start harvesting stuff this weekend." Michael looks out the window and shaking his head at the darkening sky.

 

"Yep, another open up and dump a couple feet on us storm."

 

"Did you pick up supplies for the graduating students?"

 

"Yeah, just a normal shipment since we had returning employees and graduating students last year."

 

"How is everything coming in the libraries?"

 

"Good, there was some complaints about something had to be in the wrong order but they were soon shot down by people who had brains and checked the list." Sniggering from the others.

 

Josette comes out a couple weeks later with Professor Fletcher and Clark Kent, finding somebody walking off whining. "Wannabe author?"

 

"No, fucking fool who came over with their hands out for a donation to their cause and got sent off with a foot to their pants because we'd offered to hold an event but we were just trying to make ourselves feel better."

 

"Twits."

 

"Yeah, their little rant got them a lot of bad press and the event went on anyway with somebody else getting the money. Now they're scrambling trying to get people to donate to them again."

 

"'But we said we were sorry.'" Professor Fletcher says in a sing-song voice.

 

"Exactly." Madison rolls her eyes. "Now, let's talk about your sales."

 

Josette and the others return a few hours later for them.

 

"Third book?"

 

"Couple more months, Madison's releasing a chapter for one of the side books to the original trilogy to gauge interest in printing them. She moaned when she asked if I had any more books in that universe and I just smirked."

 

"Quilting books?"

 

"They're taking pre-orders now, the books are due to be delivered in a few weeks. Marcus is hiring more people to fill the orders."

 

"How many?"

 

"First four right now, if the demand is good, they'll translate and print more."

 

"Ten bucks the looky-lous grab them even if they can't read the language."

 

"Sucker bet." Josette snorts.

 

"Talk to your advisor?"

 

"Yeah, I talked over my old papers and we decided on a dissertation I wrote on the ship while I was coming back from picking up supplies.

 

The others snigger as they walk to the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Shows?" Principal Madison asks, waving her to the front table. "Me Granda's before midterms next semester. . .as a lead up to the third book debuting, the boys Mom's just before the Harvest Festival."

 

"As in you'll still be there when they're heading here?"

 

"Exactly."

 

"Books?"

 

"Eight more left to debut of the ones already out here."

 

The next day Josette walks out onto the 9th planet, sitting out in the sun.

 

"Getting a little tired of winter?" Billy chuckles as he settles beside her on the cliff edge.

 

"A little, we knew this was going to be a bad winter and we can get out when it's not storming but. . ."

 

"Sometimes you just have to get away from it."

 

"I've been in and out of the dorm all year, going to Earth to pick up the mail, pick up supplies, talk to my advisor on that damn megadegree that turned out to be a doctorate." Muffled snickering behind the pair, "And talking to Madison about the books but. . ."

 

"Sometimes you just need to sit outside, breathe fresh air, and relax."

 

"Unwind and remind yourself that this too will pass. Now, have you heard anything about a city on Earth?" Charles says behind them.

 

"They've got the plans, they're working on finding a spot to build them. And debating building ships in space that will stay in space once they find habitable planets or building ships that can take off and land on planets."

 

"Like the city you'd have your settlement with you instead of taking shuttles down to the planet to build for the others still on the ships." Dr. Cross says, coming up behind them.

 

"Yes, each has their pros and cons. Unless you got a huge place to build, you can't build a city as large as mine. While they could in space but moving supplies up to space is a consideration, so is making sure that the pieces made on Earth will fit together because I know there will be at least one company that will shave something off the specs here and there to try to save money."

 

"And in space that could be deadly. On Earth it's easier to ship in supplies and get people onto the ship." The others nod. "In space everything's got to be shipped up, a place for the workers to live has to be built, and they'll have to come back down after the ship is off unless they build a second one. Even then they'd have to rotate out the employees because we're looking at years to build spaceships, even in space with everything being brought up in large panels."

 

"Yes, making the pieces to put together will take a while before the ships themselves can be built. In space they wouldn't need security guards to keep out the looky lous and make sure the supplies aren't stolen before the settlers and livestock get on the ship."

 

"And they still need to figure out how they're handling the voyage."

 

"And nothing can happen until they find habitable worlds. That don't have life of their own."

 

"Until then they can work out the bugs colonizing the other dimension. They can't really use us as a blueprint for settling a new planet, we had it easy being able to bring everything with us."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the testing center the third testing week.

 

"Winter's last hurrah before it starts turning warmer?" They'd said it was storming on Haven.

 

"I hope so. I know it really hasn't, but it seems like winter has been here forever since it was a cold fall with a couple early storms. Any more storms and we're going to have to seriously consider whether or not we can plant a third harvest before real winter again."

 

"You've still got a couple weeks before you have to decide."

 

"Yes, and people should remember that other bad year and when we tell them to plant full communal gardens, they plant the whole thing."

 

"Did you plant on time?" Jane asks when Josette comes out with the students after their finals.

 

"No, we were delayed by about a week by the last storm." Josette says, straightening up from counting the socks going into the boxes at the office. "Not as bad as it could have been and we're hoping to make up the time this year." Maria nods. "Crops don't come in on a schedule."

 

Josette peeks around Madison's door, finding her on the phone. She waves a hand at a seat then points at the coffeemaker. Josette grabs her mug, fills it, and adds a packet of equal before putting it in front of her. She's waved to a seat and she grabs an industry magazine to read as she listens to a lecture

 

Madison finally gets off the phone and tosses a throw pillow Josette's direction, making her look up and pause the recording.

 

"Music?"

 

"History lecture from the Smithsonian, one of the dozen or so they have available for download monthly if you have a membership. I'm using the school's. They've also got a good bit of lectures about space travel and astronomy, especially since the moonbase went up."

 

The others knock at the door and they have a lunch Madison can expense before Josette heads back to the mansion. The next day she's talking with Marcus and looking over the books.

 

"How's the pre-orders?"

 

"Good, I've got three people starting next week to start processing the orders and mailing them out." Josette nods in satisfaction.

 

"People are stupid." Josette sighs as she reads a story about somebody suing to have the plans to colonize the other dimension and eventually other planets stopped because it's against her religion in the paper while she's waiting for Calvin to get out of a meeting. If man was meant to live on another planet they'd have been born on one. "How do you know you weren't born on another planet Lady?"

 

"Amen." Calvin sighs. "I've been asked to pass along requests from various governments for you to build official government buildings and residences because they feel using a boardroom in a law office and living in your own homes is beneath the dignity of a government."

 

"Fuck no."

 

"That's what I told them. Some tried blustering they wouldn't officially recognize you then and were told to shove off by the world government. They walked off pouting. Of course these are the same countries that had conniptions about a five person government that met once a month for a hour or two not being proper."

 

"Morons. Okay, textbooks?"

 

"Yes, ignoring the books that were reprinted just to make money there's been a few that are actually changed and new ones coming out."

 

Several weeks later after trips to suppliers beyond Ellis they return to Haven, David opening the tesseract for the students and returning employees as Josette starts delivering containers to various places.

 

"Did the employees get caught up on their orders?"

 

"Getting there, they're adding a couple shifts a week to replace what I had in storage that was set aside for times like this." The others nod.

 

"Books for the show?"

 

"I'll start bringing boxes over to the library after midterms. Right now they're taping the exhibits and working on the cutting the footage down into a DVD. This way it's all done before the show starts. If they have to they'll make it a set."

 

The others nod and head separate directions as Josette joins with her other selves that had been in the other dimensions.

 

"Are you nearly in the same time period?"

 

"Yeah, if we're not by the time we head out before the Harvest Festival it won't be that long. End of the year definitely but it will be too soon to harvest again. Not that I would love not to have a reason to be harvesting." Nods from the others.

 

"Plans for the summer?"

 

"I gotta send out the outline and some of my thesis to have it approved this summer. Finishing another degree from the sosh school. Got more books from the cooking degree. . ."

 

"Are the cooking classes going on the server to be passed along?"

 

"Yeah, they're going out to 9th planet Earth and Thomas's Earth, so are the information on crop growing. . . " the others nod. "Everything they'll need to be able to survive."

 

"Cookbooks?"

 

"Figure to be done by the end of next year now."

 

"Not that they'll be needed before then."

 

"No, we're not on a deadline now that the show books are done. And we printed Agatha's book first to make her bitch and moan." the others laugh and nod. "And my other books are. . .ehhh whenever. Not like I don't have eight books to debut in the other dimensions anyway, let alone the other 18."

 

"You're going to have to release more than one at a time."

 

"Or every year instead of every other year. Otherwise we're looking at 52 years, our time."

 

"Anybody stop to think . . ."

 

"How long it's been we've been actually going over to the other dimensions?" The others nod. "Before we lost the other Earth."

 

"And it wasn't that long afterwards we met Granda and the others. The boys were six months old when we were brought out and they're turning 41 now. Fuck. . .Harvey was two when Grandpa Charles and the others started coming out. They're finishing university and moving out in two more years."

 

"With family not aging you don't stop to think how long it's been." Alan says. Josette nods. "I'll e-mail Marcus and Dexter and see if they could handle debuting two books at a time. Ellis just has to set up a place for them in his books and magazines building." She sends off e-mails to all three and puts up her PADD.

 

"Cisterns?"

 

"I'm checking them this weekend. It's too early to need to fill or clean them but . . ."

 

"Yeah, the septic units."

 

"Emptied and cleaned them last month. Checked the filters on the water system too."

 

"Good, then we're good on all the spring maintenance for the dorm. Barn?"

 

"The bird manure is in the containers aging, I bagged the other since it was getting full. The other manure is out in the piles aging."

 

"How is Buckaroo dealing with his first full winter on the 10th planet?"

 

"Good, they're getting in some stuff they hadn't been able to do during the rest of the year while they were busy getting in crops and making plans for the crops in the growing area. And like the rest of us, they can go to another world when they need a break. He's been poring over everything from the two GDs, Waynes, and Stark. So's Doc."

 

After lunch Josette starts sorting through her clothes and linens again. She really doesn't have any that are getting bad beyond underwear and bras but she knows getting ahead on stuff will keep from having to replace everything in a few years.

 

"What is Hank and the others working on?"

 

"One of those old-fashioned giant steam organs. Like they used to have in the huge halls before the advent of modern speakers." The others shudder, either in dread or from desire.

 

"I got ideas for various pipe organs, from small ones for churches to that big mack-daddy."

 

The new semester starts and Josette settles into work, going out one day to talk to her advisors. She'd brought out all her papers to prove to a flaming jackass that she hadn't passed off another paper as her work and he's glared at by everybody on the board who'd had to read all those papers to prove they were in the same writing style.

 

"I'm sorry Ms. Takahawa for the baseless accusations made against you by a soon to be former board member."

 

"Everything taken care of?" Principal Madison asks at dinner.

 

"Yes, after reading all my papers." Sniggering from some of the nearby teachers. "They agreed that they're all in the same style and they apologized for the accusations of the soon to be former board member."

 

"Lemme guess, but she's got to be cheating us somehow. She's just a kid." Professor Eppes sighs.

 

"More along the lines of 'If I dig in my heels, she's grease the wheels to make us go away."

 

"And didn't know that the first rule of Takahawa is 'piss me off and I'll destroy you." President Bartlett snorts.

 

"Ohhhh yeah." Josette says in a sing-song voice.

 

"How are you coming on your degrees?"

 

"Finishing another one this summer and I'm going to be a semester from finishing the second of three degrees from Montague Thanksgiving."

 

"How are they coming on taping the exhibits?"

 

"Done, they're editing them right now. They figure a three DVD, two cd set with all the taped commentary."

 

"Was I nuts or was more of the plastic getting picked up."

 

"You're not nuts. It's going for buildings and other stuff in the colony and future plans for the ships. Even stuff like food containers and the wrap on electronics."

 

"About damn time that stuff finally got used."

 

"Nobody thought of it until now."

 

"Are people complaining about using extruded plastic?"

 

"Yes but since they couldn't tell the difference between the plastic, wood, or metal once it was done people realized they were bitching morons and ignored them."

 

"Scrap?"

 

"I should have the last of it done by Thanksgiving. Correction. . .I'll have it done by Thanksgiving even if I have to be out of time on the ships. They want it done just as much as I do."

 

"Have you been taking care of the bad shipping containers on Thomas's world?"

 

"Yeah, that gets them taken care of and gives them a good supply of raw material ready to reuse when it's needed. The still good ones are filled with supplies they'll need. . .on the moon, mars, or Earth."

 

"Homes?"

 

"They're already making plans. Solar panels or boxes to pick up the alternate power since they're not starting out from scratch. Either putting in linking areas or moving them to a central location and building other houses. Putting up a laundry and communal kitchen like ours when they're working in the fields getting in a harvest. They'll have better sources of heat than the ceramic heaters though." The others laugh.

 

"And there's the city."

 

"Yeah. Depending on where they settle they might be in the houses for the growing season then on the city over the winter. Especially considering how some of them had been." Nods from the others. "But the loss of so many people is helping the greenhouse effect. Any industries in the future will be totally clean like ours."

 

At the compound Alex looks up from the wax he has melting on the heat, each pot has a small bottle of color in front of it.

 

"Alex?"

 

"Yeah Dad?" He looks over his shoulder.

 

"Candles?"

 

"Yeah, making some containers. Some scented, some just pretty colors. The melted wax was piling up again. Tara's making some for rituals in the other room." Thomas nods.

 

"Have you talked to Josette recently about the library?"

 

"Yeah, we were in there for several days here and there over the winter when it was so bad out we couldn't do anything. Or should I say we didn't want to do anything. Josette's also been going through the others." The wax is melting and he's beginning to add the colors, stirring and adding more until he gets them the colors he wants and adding the scent when he's pouring.

 

"Degrees?"

 

"I've been looking into Oxford and Montague's got some interesting degrees." His father looks at him. "Yes, even masters and doctorates." He nods in satisfaction.

 

Josette pours the last of the soap into a bar mold, putting the last of the pots up to wash in a couple days and looks around tables covered with molds and lengths of PVC pipe with liners stuck in various containers in satisfaction. Looking at the time she joins the others downstairs.

 

"Making soap, my shelves were getting bare." She says at their questioning looks.

 

"Figured that or paper."

 

"Yeah, I gotta make some more for my show in a couple days. And start more soaking."

 

"This for your show?"

 

"No, I've got that already on the ship with the books and special orders going back. It will give me a good supply on hand for the next few shows."

 

"You have how many books yet to debut?" Marcus asks a couple days before the show when they've gone out. Josette had gone out with Professor Fletcher and Clark Kent a few days before when the last book in the trilogy had been released.

 

"Eight that are out on our world, and other eighteen that will be printed after the cookbooks are finished." Marcus blinks at her. Josette rolls her eyes. "Like the quilts, the damn things come in bunches. And probably another half-dozen that can be second and third books in a set from some of these."

 

He shakes his head. "The new books won't be printed for a couple years yet, right now the printers are working two shifts on the cookbooks. The third and fourth books are supposed to be done in a few days, they were delayed by the bad winter we had. Since there's not a deadline for them nobody's worried about them being a few weeks late."

 

"And if it's before the end of the year, they can take that time to check the machinery before they start the others all the better."

 

"It's got to be done, they've been running for years. So do some of the other factories."

 

The others nod as Marcus talks sales for the translated books as he assistants send out messages about the furniture and other special orders. The show is well attended, some people bringing out Josette's fiction books to be signed too.

 

"You're doing an international signing tour." Madison says the morning after the show. "The whiners at the office finally figured out you're pretty famous as an artist."

 

"Other books?"

 

"Due to be printed in a few months, I've got the contracts and the latest information for the third book here." The go over the details and Josette nods as she drinks a mug of coffee David pushes in front of her along with a full plate, doing the same for Madison and Marcus when he arrives.

 

"We'll try debuting two books at next year's show."

 

Josette nods around a mouthful of oatmeal. "Ellis said he's got no problem now that he's enlarged the books and magazines area into its own building. Like most of us he thought he had enough space for a while. . .until he didn't." Nods from the others.

 

"Now, I know you speak a number of languages and we have interpreters going along." Madison looks at the list of stops again.

 

"Doc's got a good selection for the languages I don't already speak. And I should brush up on the ones I already know."

 

"Good clothes, we'll be giving you an allowance for laundry." They hammer out the details and Josette heads to Headquarters, looking through the tapes in Doc's library. He stands in the door and looks at her. "International book signing tour in a couple weeks. I gotta brush up on my languages." He nods and goes back into his lab as Josette sets the tapes up in the sleep-learning machine and lays down, the helmet coming down as she drops into a trance. The next thing she's aware of is Charles lifting the helmet off her.

 

"Mary says nice excuse, but you've still got to get some good clothes for the signings. She and Bronwen will see you in the morning."

 

"Shit." Charles laughs as he helps her sit up.

 

Josette brings out her bag of supplies to keep her occupied during the flight before she boards the flight for the first leg of her tour. Several weeks later she drops onto a couch in the mansion, bringing everything out of subspace before she takes a nap. The others chuckle and start looking over everything.

 

"Tons of pictures?"

 

"She brought several hard drives for all the photos she planned on taking."

 

Josette grabs a couple pieces of pizza when she comes into the kitchen a couple hours later.

 

"Interesting tour?"

 

"Yeah, some of those fans are nuts." Sniggers from the others. "I talked to the other authors at a 'meet and greet' before the first signing, they come from all walks of life. I got a few blinks at being multi-lingual but when I said I live and work at a boarding school that gets a lot of students from other countries. . ." The others chuckles.

 

They return to Haven a month later after Josette's had the chance to talk to Madison about the tour and signed the contracts for the other books. The first crops are starting to come in and everybody's busy for a couple of weeks canning, drying, or otherwise storing the crops, adding compost or manure to the fields and garden, tilling it under, then planting the second crops after the rain.

 

Josette's busy making scrapbooks from both the book signing tours and puts them up in a new library that had been added to the dorm when her books started selling.

 

"This is . . ." President Bartlett looks around at the sneak preview of the show before it opens.

 

"Reminds you of how much time its been since we came up and how we've grown." Josette says. "That's why we took pictures of the dorm before and after each round of renovations."

 

"Any news on the colony?"

 

"They're starting to plan the 'town' and bringing out the shipping containers of supplies. Stupid woman tried suing again to stop the colony because of course this time they have to say yes and was told to fuck off. They're planning a greenhouse for the moon in the next module that's going to be up by the time we take the returning students back."

 

"The moonbase is settling into a real colony."

 

"Yeah, they're already planning for ten years beyond the original five. Right now they're looking at five year shifts on the moon with it going to ten eventually. We can't see somebody living there permanently for a while yet."

 

Nods from the others.

 

"Hell, I know they're busy building everything, otherwise I don't know how they could handle a five year shift on the moon."

 

"Explorers are a different breed of man." President Bartlett says. "Some could say the same about you and your trips on the ships, being on your satellite, or even being on the first planet out of time."

 

Midterms Josette takes out the recycling and belongings for the returning students. Jane is checking the packages against the list Josette had sent over. Calvin looks on from the door of his office.

 

"Not as bad as it has been the last two years. Did Josette say anything about scrap?"

 

"Bringing out more when she brings out the orders and she should have everything but the bad shipping containers she's getting when they come out again after Thanksgiving. She's off talking to Madison about her sales."

 

Josette sighs as she comes back to the school, nudging Alexander. "Puzzles, either with pictures, scenes, or just solid colors for the harder ones?" He moans as he sees the possibilities. "Something to experiment with for the future. Wooden toys too." Nods from the others.

 

"More durable than the ones for sale now." David says. "How to package them?"

 

"We'll think of something. Maybe the surprise factor. Put them in plain boxes or bags and see what you get when you get home?"

 

"Something to think about."

 

The yearly crops start coming in and everybody's busy canning, drying, and making batches of stuff up until the second crops start coming in. Josette and the others head off during the 'piss pouring from a boot' rain, finding the others waiting for them at the rooms.

 

"How is everything on Haven?"

 

"The factories replaced the supplies I'd set aside for times like this, when we had a bad winter that shut them down for a few weeks so we wouldn't be late with the orders. The books are getting caught up, the last of the cookbooks will be ready by the Lights Festival next year instead of the Harvest Festival but that will allow the printers to shut down for a few days to inspect the machinery before the rest of my quilting books. I know they do it during the night shift when the machines aren't running but still they've been running for years."

 

"And your other books?" Professor Xavier asks dryly.

 

"Went on an international book signing tour with other authors after the third book had come out in the original trilogy to see if there would be enough interest in printing the side books . . .then they found out there was later ones." Josette smirks at the hoots from the others. "Clark and Professor Fletcher are making good sales, it's just that fantasy fans are nuts."

 

"Hell, knew that from all the people who dressed up like Harry Potter characters when the books would go on sale at midnight." David snorts.

 

"Talk to Dexter about doubling up on the books?"

 

"Yeah. We can try it next year like the other dimension and see what the sales are like. The only problem is that would be even more books to sign."

 

"Be signing all night after the show."

 

"Probably. At least in the other dimension it's your turn and I can sign during the show. Marcus and Dexter are going to have to double up on the pens though."

 

"How many boxes did you go through on the international tour?"

 

"Three cases, I popped them in subspace and brought out a box or two at a time. The empty pens went into the replicator to be refilled."

 

"Something else they're going to have to get used in the colony. Ink pots and fountain pens."

 

"Slates. Easy enough with wood and the chalkboard paint." Josette makes a note of that on her PADD before they go out to dinner to a fancy restaurant. Afterwards the kids head to a movie and then shopping while the adults have to attend another meeting.

 

They return to Haven an hour later, bringing out boxes to various rooms before heading to the dining hall for lunch. After the ground is dried enough they plant and soon the others start arriving for the Harvest Festival.

 

Jane and the others are also there since the school is closed for break and they look around and sigh in pleasure.

 

After the Festival people start pouring into the new library building going over the exhibits.

 

"Damn, I didn't realize how much smaller everything was back in the beginning." More than one person says.

 

"Yep, we could walk one side of town to the other in five minutes, which made the people on Earth who wanted a subway complain." Rolled eyes from people in earshot.

 

"Is that your dorm?"

 

"Yep, before the others started adding onto it. We'd held off on adding more buildings on the outside to keep the view we had."

 

"Yeah, looking out your window to see another building is depressing even if it's still your home."

 

Josette nods. "They charmed the windows so we get a clear view."

 

"Decent."

 

The books start flying off the tables and Josette brings out more books before the show closes two weeks later. They'd replicated a large batch of the DVD and CD sets and still ran out twice.

 

Josette starts bringing out the new students, dropping off boxes of books and the DVD and CD sets at the school along with the socks.

 

"Is that it for the students?" Amanda asks a few weeks later when she drops into a seat at Josette's table at the pizzeria.

 

"Yes, thank you god. We're full until the graduating students head home." Josette takes another bite of pizza and then starts eating her salad.

 

"I can't believe I'm a hundred years older than I was when we came to Haven." Professor Eppes sighs as he sits down.

 

"Doesn't seem it, does it?"

 

"No it doesn't." President Bartlett joins the table. "What was the demand among the others?"

 

"Good, I already took out more books and the box sets. If we have to we'll replicate the books since they're all in the system." Nods from the others. "New library?"

 

"The same people who were putting it up is taking it down and putting everything in storage in the climate controlled room in the attic. Then the bookcases will start coming in and we'll start adding books to the system over the winter just like the library in Albatross did." The others nod. "The school library?"

 

"Being enlarged again in a few years."

 

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

 

"Working on the plans for the 'town' and getting in more supplies."

 

"Are you in the same time at Thomas's dimension?" David asks after dinner.

 

"Yes, though it's too early to be harvesting again. Thank god."

 

"No, not when they're already at 4 billion people."

 

"Gotta stop to think it's been fifteen years our time since those fucking morons set off the virus. So gotta be at least 20, closer to 25 years there. Old age if nothing else." Nods from the others.

 

Josette slides into her seat at the testing center her first testing week.

 

"Not finishing another degree?"

 

"No, I started a degree on jungle adventure books from the sosh school instead."

 

"Others?"

 

"I'm a semester now from the three from Montague, like the others I'll pick up one or two a year until I've got all the degrees I can finish finished and start on another batch of new ones."

 

"Colony dimension?"

 

"Working on the plan for their community, getting in supplies both for them and for the settlers. Ignoring the whiny fuckers suing to make them change the colony to suit them, and starting to take applications in a couple years."

 

"Moonbase?"

 

"Two modules up and they're working on the third that will be a growing area for them. They're already talking ten years after the original five."

 

"And if they have to leave?"

 

"Either leaving it as a museum as the first step in off-world colonization or it everything can be brought back to Earth."

 

"I couldn't handle five years in a tin can." Sheriff Carter says as he comes over. "Allison is on the warpath."

 

"Awwww." Josette coos. Dr. McNider and Cross chuckle. "Must be something in the water, Ma and Pa, Ma and Pa, Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad, and Lois and Lana all had that look in their eyes at the Harvest Festival. Ma and Pa are going to be wonderful parents, just look at Clark."

 

"Not you lot?"

 

"We're trying to remember what a empty nest is." Josette says sourly. The others chuckle. "Two years Harvey and his crew head to the 9th planet, eight years the babies are leaving home."

 

"Drake, Wayne, and both Daytons?"

 

"Came out after the Harvest Festival. They're going to be working on the outside as long as they can this year, then start again in the spring. A lot of the work they did before they were brought up."

 

"Will they handle the winter without anybody there?"

 

"Yeah, they've got the alternate energy sources to handle the heat and the water is off until somebody's out there all the time. The kids are already interested in working there when they get their degree."

 

"Lemme guess. . .it's something their brothers and sisters hadn't done yet." Sheriff Carter chuckles.

 

"Yep."

 

"Dissertations?"

 

"Uploading it first semester next year when I'm 'officially' a semester from finishing it. The boys are talking to their advisors next year, so's CJ. He's three years from finishing his so he'll present his year after next when he's a semester from finishing it. Susan was talking to the historians again and figures on uploading hers in about three years, David has another appointment with his advisor when we return after Thanksgiving. Is Buckaroo and the others signing up for degrees?"

 

"Oh yes. Everybody there's signed up for a degree in various fields."

 

"People never stop learning."

 

"New cooking teachers?"

 

"Coming out next year. That way they're settled in for two years before the others head off. And thank you gods and goddesses we do not have school employees, cooking school teachers,and graduating students heading home at the same time."

 

"Employees and students heading home at the same time must be bad enough."

 

"Yeah." Josette says as Alexander comes over. He sends a file to her PADD. "What we were talking about, I got dreaming about them last night."

 

The others look at her as he walks off to use the bathroom. "I had the idea for wooden puzzles and toys."

 

"Better quality than the ones available commercially but unless they're small ones. . ."

 

"Yeah, that's why we've been tossing ideas back and forth."

 

"When do they plan on starting to make stoves and stuff like that?"

 

"Year after next when they're starting to plan individual houses in town. Then as new settlers are accepted."

 

Nods from the others. "No use making up stuff that won't be used. That's half of Earth's problems."

 

"Yep."

 

The next day Josette heads to Earth to pick up the mail, hitting a couple expos while she's there and moving stuff to Macchu Picchu since she'd come by ship.

 

"Josette, the last of the scrap?" Calvin asks since she's at the school eating dinner one night before heading back in a couple days.

 

"Everything's done, I'll bring it out with the recycling and the last of the students belongings." He nods in satisfaction. "David's dissertation?"

 

"Appointment when we're here with the graduating students, I stopped to talk to mine about my thesis."

 

"Books?"

 

"Talked to Madison and Marcus, attended a couple writer's conventions. Graduated from the new writers field. Passed along some books to a friend of Madison's that made her cuss for a good ten minutes, she's passing along the contracts to Madison."

 

"You're rotten."

 

"No, the damn muses are rotten. They jumped me with no less than three books for the gym in space series." Josette sighs.

 

Josette returns to Haven and slides into her seat.

 

"Scrap?" David asks.

 

"Done, I'm taking it in when I take in the last of the student belongings and the recycling midterms."

 

"Go a few places while you were there?"

 

"Yeah, expos for myself and a writers convention. Got moved from the new writers group. Madison passed along some of the books to another agent who fell in love with them. Got the idea for three more books in the gym in space series. . ." The others shake their heads.

 

Josette's looking through the factories they have in limbo, finding the one that she was looking for then the tutorials. She starts adding the factory to the dorm and talks to Alexander about the plans for wooden puzzles. Sighing and looking over everything she's added to the dorm she adds another factory to the dorm and heads to bed.

 

Midterms Josette waves a hand and brings out the student belongings, sending the file to Maria who's behind the desk.

 

"Is this it?"

 

"Should be, the floor monitors are pretty good at reminding the students they need to start sending this stuff home early. The new ones are told by their roommates what to do before they head home."

 

Back on Haven she starts delivering containers to various places, including the dorm and the libraries.

 

"Get the scrap dropped off?"

 

"Yes, and the ships are very grateful to have it gone. Now all that's left is the bad containers and they take up a lot less room. Even the never ending paper ends are better than the ships, those eventually get taken care of." The others snigger.

 

"Is anybody making cast iron cookware beyond the replicators?"

 

"Assyrian is experimenting with it, making the sand molds is the hard part. The blacksmiths and Edinborough are working on them too. There's still a good sized failure rate but there's no waste, just make the mold again and melt the iron."

 

"Something that they'll have to learn to make in the colony or get large supplies in." David nods. "I gotta make bread this weekend."

 

"Josette, this is a dumb question but potters? Without power."

 

"They'll have to have somebody turning the wheel by hand and put the products somewhere to dry. I saw them doing it on one of those PBS cooking shows, a woman was making a pot while her granddaughter moved the wheel with one foot while she was kneading the clay."

 

The others shake their heads. "Something they'll have to think about in the colonies."

 

"Yep. Because they can't take everything with them. They're going to have to make new stuff."

 

Josette sighs as she strips her bed that weekend, flipping her laundry to the basement and turning her mattress. "Nope, gotta do it." The mattress and box spring go in subspace as she walks to the supplies, bringing out a new set and making her bed with new bedding she'd also gotten from the storeroom.

 

"Yeah, I had to replace mine earlier this year. They wear out even turning them." David says, finding Josette shooting her mattress with the replicator gun.

 

"Something that didn't happen with the old straw ticks, you just emptied out the straw and put in new stuff."

 

"Yeah, but the damn rustling would keep me up all night. And they didn't give you the best support."

 

"Itchy, scratchy, and poky."

 

"Sounds like a new cartoon on the Simpsons." Alexander snorts as he comes in. "Fall chores to get the dorm ready for winter?"

 

"Yeah, we gotta start them soon. Warehouse store."

 

"Malls." Josette shudders. The boys snigger. "Wood?"

 

"We got a good supply here and the ranch for fireplaces and the wood burning stoves. So do the others as backup for the other heating systems."

 

"Nothing better than a pot of soup slowly cooking on top of a stove on a cold winter's day."

 

"9th and 10th planets?"

 

"9th is getting ready for winter, 10th planet is hitting their late winter, it should be turning warmer after the Lights Festival."

 

Josette starts various meats marinating in the refrigerator for jerky and other dried meats, bringing out some of the aged sausages and putting them in her first floor pantry.

 

One of the hams is also brought out and sliced before being put in the refrigerator after she comes back from dinner.

 

On the 9th planet Billy puts the last of double batch of wood in the subway station, looking at the barrels of staples before he goes back upstairs. He's got more wood up here to supplement the furnace in the building that's been renovated over the years into a proper home.

 

He's got more bags and barrels of supplies up here and checks on the vat meat drying on the drying tables before joining the others at JSA headquarters to talk about their plans for the winter.

 

"Hank?" Alan nudges the shoulder of the young man next to him.

 

The former Brainwave blinks. "Sorry, just going over the plans for the colony in the other dimension again. I don't think I could handle having to build my own home, dig a well and outhouse, and all that though I know people used to whenever they moved from one place to another. Unless they were buying a place that already had a house or some other shelter already in place."

 

"They did it though, packed everything in a covered wagon and headed out. By the time we were born they were all settled."

 

Back on Haven Josette dices one of the ham steaks she'd made and adds it to a salad as the bread dough rises. She'd gone to the yarn store earlier.

 

"Really?" Marilyn had purred when Josette grabbed a cart.

 

"Nu-uh, we're still hoping to find the mythical 'empty nest' everybody keeps talking about but everybody else is looking like they're having empty arms. All except Dr. Blake, she wasn't happy with Dr. Stark when I went out last month." A familiar figure goes past and Josette sighs and grabs more yarn. "And Momma just came through with the 'I'm going to gut my husband' look." Marilyn laughs as she rings her up. "And there goes Dad behind her with the 'I am the man' look."

 

Marilyn's laughing when she walks into the Albatross Nest. "Josette just stopped at the yarn store."

 

"Really?" Agatha purrs.

 

"As she said Nu-uh, they're still hoping to find the mythical empty nest everybody keeps talking about. But the others are getting empty arms again, Allison's not happy with Dr. Stark and Clarinda just came through town with the 'I'm going to gut my husband' look."

 

"Clarinda can't complain about having too many children compared to Josette."

 

"And they spread them out a lot more than Josette and her group does."

 

"Yeah but there's four of them too. Not to mention the Covington multiples. . . thing." Sue waves a hand across the room where they've got a quilting frame set up and a half-dozen women sewing.

 

"Did you talk to Clarinda? She called earlier." David asks from the door.

 

"No, but I saw her going through town with the 'I'm going to gut my husband' face so I have a good idea what she wanted to talk about. A few steps behind her was Dad with the 'I am the man' look he quickly wiped off his face whenever she looked back at him."

 

David leans on the wall cackling. "Thought that was probably why she called, she'd just come over otherwise. Watcha working on?"

 

"Plans for a satellite for the workers if they work on the ships in space."

 

Josette sends the file to Calvin when she goes out for mail a couple days later.

 

"Thank you Josette, I'll pass this along to the others. With the information on both types of ship building, we can make plans."

 

"And you'd need support services."

 

"Food, lodging, entertainment. . ."

 

"How long did it take them to build the cities in the other dimensions?"

 

"About three years but they also had the means to speed that up, the green lanterns used their rings to put together larger sections, Superman was able to build a lot of stuff and put it together, stuff like that. I went through the figures with the ships, they're in there."

 

"And we'd have to have the sections already made on Earth and shipped up."

 

"Yeah, and you don't have the number of spacecraft to send up supplies or workers that they had in science fiction."

 

"We'd have to build before we could start either way." Calvin says. Josette brings out more socks, nodding.

 

"Talking to Marcus and Madison?"

 

"Yeah, I'm heading off to talk to Madison when I'm done here."

 

"Oh good, I figured you'd be coming in soon." She calls somebody and they arrive a few minutes later.

 

"Jessica James, my pain in the bupkiss author Josette Takahawa."

 

"You call me the nicest things." Josette coos, then laughs.

 

"Now. . .more professional clothes?" Jessica says a half-hour later. Josette brings up photos of her shows and her signing tours. "I can dress up when I have to, most of the time I don't need to."

 

"Interviews?"

 

"Before my shows, but talking about my art is different than talking about my books."

 

"I had her signed up for an interview but the reporter felt a new author was beneath her so the interview fell through. Of course when the books started taking off and she realized Josette wasn't just a flash in the pan she was all ready to do an interview."

 

"And we had interviews during the signing tours." Madison nods.

 

"Talk to Madison?" Principal Madison asks at dinner.

 

"And Jessica, I've got another book signing tour lined up for when we return after Thanksgiving. Passed along the plans for building in space to Calvin who is going to pass them along to the others. The plans for colonizing the other dimension is moving right along, next year they'll be opening it to settlers. Though it will be two or three years after that before they start moving out. They'll have to spend some time in VR and get training on some stuff."

 

The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"If it were me, I'd. . ."

 

"Have them go out first to put up the house and barn? Yeah, I had that thought too. I know they're going to be busy. And they'll need different sections of the barn for the machinery and the livestock."

 

"And they're only going to be traveling as fast as a cow can be led on the back of a wagon."

 

"Or a dog can travel."

 

"I hope they settle where they buy the land, I know Pa Ingalls always had the hankering to get up and wander whenever they were settled in a place because he was feeling boxed in."

 

"The books were meant for kids, beyond Mary losing her sight to Scarlet Fever they didn't really get into how hard life really was for the pioneers."

 

"It was sanitized, that's why the morons on Earth thought life would be sooooo much better without technology."

 

"Can you imagine plowing the fields without the tractors?"

 

"I can, either one of those old heavy plows you pushed by hand, hooked to a team of horses or oxen, or in the poorer places, a person."

 

"They'll have to get in a lot of supplies."

 

"Yes, they'll need to be able to eat those and what they can grow in the garden before they can grow crops to sell."

 

"Potatoes, wheat. . ."

 

"Yeah, in the Farmer Boy book they had the people who'd come out and buy the crops. But then they had trains to take them to other markets, in the colony you're stuck with what you can get in a wagon. Which is really what you're stuck with here too."

 

Nods from the others.

 

The last testing week comes quicker than expected.

 

"Are you harvesting?"

 

"Yes, we were able to make up most of the time over the year so we're only a couple days behind." Alexander says, coming back from the bathroom. Josette nods, not looking up from the PADD in her hands where she's reading something in the latest databurst from the other dimension.

 

"Books doing okay?"

 

"Latest details on my new book signing tour. Some stupid woman trying to pass a law making nudity illegal even in your own home because her useless son was caught peeping and got his ass beaten. 'But if they hadn't been naked, my son wouldn't have been looking.'" Josette says in a snide tone. "Stupid bitch didn't even want them nude getting a bath, everybody should be wearing modesty clothes that you take one piece off, wash, put it back on, take off another piece, and so on. She's stunned nobody is taking her side."

 

"Christ, what a useless woman."

 

"Well yeah, her son's got to be the victim." Josette rolls her eyes. "Little shit got sent to the minimum security dimension once he got out of the hospital and did the same damn thing. Where he got his ass kicked again. He got hard time after that."

 

"Little bastard needs to be beaten to death. And his fucking mother for letting him get that bad. He's going to end up in worse trouble."

 

The others nod. "You hear stories about how one thing escalates into something else in personalities like that, they think they're above the law and the rest of the world should bend to suit them."

 

Josette starts delivering the orders to various places as David opens the tesseract for the returning students. She joins the others at the mansion a couple hours later.

 

"Everything delivered?"

 

"And the supplies are on Aberdeen."

 

"Are you in the other dimensions?"

 

"Clark, Thomas, and I are on Quetzatlan in their dimension. The others didn't go to the 9th dimension Earth this year, they only go every few years since the others can come out." Nods from the others. "Are the others coming out?"

 

"Yeah, they're talking about building homes on the 9th planet." The others snigger.

 

"Signing tour?"

 

"Couple of days, Jessica and Madison are coming out tomorrow to look over my clothes." The others snigger again.

 

"Oh my. . ." Jessica looks at the house that sprawls out on either side of the circle in front.

 

"Yeah, it's a beauty isn't it. They didn't go for the megamansion approach, it doesn't look like they're flaunting their money like some places." She goes to knock at the door, finding it opening.

 

"Hello Madison."

 

"Hello Abby, this is Jessica James, she handles Josette's other books."

 

"She's in the kitchen with Marcus going over the sales for the quilting books in other languages and making plans on translating some of the others."

 

"How many books did he do?"

 

"The first four, there's five more that have debuted over here and eight more that are available on Haven. That includes the books on her socks and her t-shirts so they're arguing back and forth on including them, Josette doesn't think there's an interest since they're not quilting books and Marcus swears up, down, and sideways that they will."

 

Madison whistles despite herself. "We're talking about debuting two a year to get them caught up before the new books go to print. At the rate we're currently debuting them here, it would be 52 years to get them all, not counting any new ones."

 

The others shake their heads.

 

"That's one of the reasons we're releasing books yearly." Madison says. "Josette's got a backlog with us also. How do you handle the books on your world?"

 

"Yearly parties at Agatha's store for whatever books are completed at that time. We've had the printers running for a number of years between Josette's earlier books, the books for the show, Agatha's books, now the cookbooks, then finally Josette's other books."

 

Madison and Jessica go through the closets in Josette's room, choosing clothes for each signing and other events as Josette packs her computer, hard drives, camera and extra cards, boxes of pens, and other stuff she'll need.

 

"Okay. . .How are we doing this?"

 

"I've got Hidalgo here too, the me that's doing the book tour will be heading to Doc's dimension afterwards to deliver the orders and pick up supplies, both for the factories and for Doc and Buckaroo."

 

"They should be getting pretty near spring?"

 

"Yeah, about a month for them, they're busy planning for the spring. I'm sure more than one person will be opening windows to air out buildings. Even with air scrubbers. . ."

 

"It's bad in the dorm after a winter, gotta be worse there."

 

A couple days later Josette gets on the train. She spends the trip on the internet, checking the national news. She shakes her head and sighs at the news of a country that had been blocked off for terrorism, left to destroy themselves.

 

'Good riddance to bad rubbish.' Josette thinks quietly as she turns to more enjoyable news. She's not vain enough to check the rankings of her books but she's glad to see Clark's and Professor Fletcher's are going up the charts and Madison wanted to talk to Lois, Lana, and Professor Parker when she comes out for the Lights Festival.

 

Josette checks in at the hotel and checks the brochures she'd grabbed from the rack by the desk, finding a few places to visit while she's there.

 

She looks over at the man who'd been talking to her for several minutes trying to get a donation in Boston one night.

 

"You have got to be kidding. I had a perfect 4.0 grade point average but I wasn't good enough for you when I applied to Harvard, but now I'm good enough for you to come around asking me for a donation?"

 

Several weeks later, Josette returns to the mansion, washing her clothes and putting them away in her closet before heading off to Hidalgo and Doc's dimension, delivering the orders and picking up supplies. She flies to the 10th planet, finding Doc and Buckaroo talking at Headquarters.

 

"How is it there?"

 

"Bad, roving blackouts at some plants because they desperately need work that the managers had been putting off for years. They're trying to say the customers own the plants and jack up their bills but the government is slapping hands telling them they have to pay for the repairs. They're whining to anybody who will listen but since everybody knows it's their fault they're not getting any sympathy."

 

"Power plants only have a limited lifespan."

 

"If they're properly maintained."

 

"The solar companies have waiting lists but it takes a while to make the panels and batteries."

 

They talk on and off about this and that over several days before Josette heads to Haven, flying to the dorm and starting to sort through the stuff she'd brought on the tour. The stuff that had come from Thomas's world starts arriving and she starts kneading dough in the bakery for cinnamon buns and other treats, looking over her shoulder when she's done and merging with her other self that had been in the other dimensions with the others.

 

"How was the book signing?"

 

"Good, had a flaming moron from Harvard in Boston who was hinting at a donation, I told him I wasn't good enough to attend the school but I was good enough to give them money?" The others laugh and nod.

 

"Harvard, like many other schools, was looking for the big names that would make them rich." Principal Madison says from the doorway. "It's not 'what can our school do for you, it's what can you do for our school?'"

 

"Exactly. I got asked about it at a later interview and showed off both the e-mail blowing me off and my acceptance to a dozen other schools, including Oxford. Scuttlebutt is there's some finger pointing at Harvard and wails of 'why couldn't we have had her as a student, she would have . . .this, that, and who shot the cat for the school'."

 

"That's usually how it goes. Doesn't stop it from happening again though." Principal Madison says dryly.

 

"Oh of course not. Now if I'd mentioned Doc was my grandfather I'd have been in like Flynn." Nods from the others.

 

"Josette, did you and Dad talk about textbooks?"

 

"Yeah, earlier this year. Discounting the ones that were updated just to make more money there was several that had new information and some new ones coming out. The expo is in a couple months, I should be attending it while I'm out our first testing week. If not I'll make a special trip out." The others nod.

 

"Anything else? Thomas's world?"

 

"Seems to have hit a lull period, which isn't a bad thing."

 

"No its not. Doc's?"

 

"Roving blackouts from power plants that are having trouble. They're still trying to put up new ones but that takes time and money. The solar companies are doing good business, even with the waiting period it takes new panels and batteries to be"

 

"Sewage and water?"

 

"Still working on it, but. . ."

 

"This is the worst before it gets better."

 

"Exactly. We went through the same thing on Earth except for the flooding."

 

"Yes, thank goodness it wasn't as bad as that. We'd have had more deaths if we'd had the flooding, volcanic activity, and Earthquakes they had."

 

Josette links the hard drives with the pictures to the screen, showing off the pictures she took on the book signing tour.

 

"How many boxes of pens did you go through?"

 

"Two cases beyond the rest of the one from the previous tour, I chucked them all in the replicator to be refilled when I went home after the tour. Did that, my laundry, and put everything away before I flew to Aztec and went to Doc's dimension."

 

They come back from the first planet a couple weeks later their time a couple days later, going over the plans for the growing area they start planting that afternoon.

 

Josette settles in her usual spot at the Albatross Nest, a plate of food on her knee and a bottle of pop next to her.

 

"Josette, books?" Sue asks after everybody's eaten.

 

"The fifth and sixth books are due in a few weeks. The others will be done next year and we'll be closing the printers down to inspect the machinery and make sure everything's running okay before my books start."

 

"How was your signing tour?"

 

"Long." The others snigger. "Somebody from Harvard came up to the book signing trying to get a donation out of me, the 'if I wasn't good enough to attend your school, why should I be good enough now' conversation got the media's attention and people are pointing fingers at each other about why somebody with my grades didn't get a spot."

 

"Because they're snobs and you didn't come from a famous family so they could tout you around as as one of theirs for the money."

 

"Yep, and if I'd have let it drop that Doc's my grandfather . . ."

 

"You'd have been welcomed with open arms by the school."

 

"Anyway, apart from that it was good. Went through two cases of pens plus the rest of the case from my previous tour, they went into the replicator at the mansion to be filled with ink again."

 

"The quilting books?"

 

"We're looking at debuting two a year now because otherwise it will be 52 years our time to debut them all, not counting any other books I write in that time." Nods from the others.

 

"Other language books?"

 

"Good, they're translating three more, that will leave two already out there but since I'm debuting two more. . ."

 

Nods from the others. "They can do those four together, then four or so at a time."

 

Josette puts the cookies, kits, and leftovers away back at the dorm.

 

The others start coming out for the Lights Festival a couple weeks later. Clarinda looks at Momma Clarinda knowingly as she sips raspberry tea. Grandpa Charles Clarinda laughs and nods.

 

"Is Allison here?"

 

"On Archimedes, she's too far along to travel."

 

"Awwwwww."

 

"And the others are talking to GD about the gestation chambers again."

 

Josette brushes off snow from hanging up the last of the outside lights around the windows, nodding in satisfaction after dark when they go outside to look over the decorations at the school and in Town before the festival.

 

Josette slides into her usual seat at the government building the second week of the new year. "Sorry I'm late. . ." She puts up a picture on the screen, Dr. Stark holding their new daughter.

 

"Awwww."

 

"Toothpaste?"

 

"The factory opened last week, I'll be delivering after the Harvest Festival."

 

"Books?"

 

"Number five and six should be finished in a couple weeks, they're hoping to have all of them finished by the Harvest Festival but . . ." Josette shrugs. "We can have them on sale at the Harvest Festival anyway, even if they're still working, then we'll be shutting down, cleaning, and inspecting the machines before my books start."

 

"Shows?"

 

"The boys Granda's, me Mom's. I go first."

 

"Books?"

 

"Two debuting this year to cut down the time it will take to release them all." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"Did Madison talk to the others?"

 

"Yeah."

 

After the meeting Josette stops at the bakery then heads to the dorm, shaking off her cloak and putting her boots up on the grate before putting indoor shoes on. In her workroom she walks into her TARDISES, coming out a few minutes later to the outside world.

 

"Dissertation?"

 

"Uploading it over first break."

 

"Your Ph.D?"

 

"I'm just over five years in, next year I'll present it when I've finished the classes. The others nag about a degree?"

 

"Yeah, we're picking up lit degrees like we get at the sosh school or Montague." Alan says, the twins nod. "Degrees?"

 

"David and Susan are gonna be two years into their doctorates, the boys are sixteen classes into theirs, and CJ's gonna be two years from finishing his. He's hoping this will keep Doc and Thomas from dropping more hints for a couple years."

 

The others snigger.

 

"Yeah. Okay, plans for the week beyond starting classes?" David asks. Josette's reading the databurst from the other dimension and suddenly guffaws.

 

"Do we wanna know?" Alexander snorts.

 

"How can they live without bottled water? It's it's inhumane" Josette says in a fake quavering falsetto voice.

 

"Here or there?"

 

"Here."

 

Rolled eyes and muttered complaints about intelligence. . .or lack of intelligence.

 

"Please God don't let the morons breed." Susan snorts. "They'd be horrified at drinking well water, let alone cleaned water from the sanitation units."

 

"First planet?"

 

"Yeah, I'm heading out tomorrow to plant."

 

Clark leans around the frame of the pocket doors.

 

"You letting CJ have a couple years after he finishes this degree?" Josette asks, her lips twitching.

 

"We let him have a couple years before he started his doctorate." He says, his face serious before his lips start twitching. Josette sniggers.

 

"I'm turning one of the lower levels into a library."

 

"Are you doing any structural work?"

 

"I'll have to, a lot of the lower floors are broken up into various corporations. If they were any bigger. . ."

 

"You could use them for individual areas."

 

"Any plans for future expansion? Josette's living proof that what you think is too much room isn't." Josette rolls her eyes then looks at the time and whistles for the kids. They talk over the plans over lunch and afterwards, Clark returning to Headquarters before dinner with a few good suggestions. Thomas looks over from a book he's reading when Clark returns. "Josette and the others had several suggestions for the library, including eventually making it more than one floor. Because as Josette proved, what you think is more than enough room isn't."

 

"I can see that in the future." CJ says, looking over from where he's on the computer. Typing for ten more minutes, he saves what he's been doing before shutting it down for the night.

 

The next morning Josette head to the other dimension for mail after breakfast, nodding at Jane as she brings out the mail, piling everything that needs extra postage in a corner.

 

"Did you see the story about how you don't drink bottled water?" Maria asks once she's off the phone.

 

"Yes, people like that only do it for the glamour." Josette rolls her eyes. "They think drinking bottled water or expensive beers makes them look cool. It just makes them sound like fools when they try to make everybody else do what they do and people say no."

 

"Are people looking into buying land?"

 

"Yeah, then when they realize they'll have to show some signs of settling the land and making a go at it instead of buying land as a status symbol they go skulking away."

 

"Awwwww, no megamansions to prove you've arrived." Josette coos. "With beautifully manicured lawns taken care of by the servants ala Downton Abbey."

 

"What? You're not going to have propane or natural gas? Homes will be heated by a stove or fireplace?" Maria says in a fake falsetto voice. "And you expect us to cook our own food?" Calvin's sniggering from the door of his office. "Wait until they found out there was no indoor plumbing."

 

"Muck stalls and clean out barns."

 

Josette puts the mail in subspace and heads back to Haven, sorting out their mail and dropping the rest off at the office. She joins with her other self that had been on the first planet planting and starts putting containers of mail in front of the others.

 

Josette shakes her head as she opens a letter from Harvard once they've sorted out their mail. Josette's got a number of trade journals and other magazines in addition to the letters.

 

"Blubbering apology about how they're sorry they didn't take you as a student?"

 

"Yeah, they hope their failure to welcome such a successful young woman as a student to their school won't stop me from supporting their school in the future."

 

"Yeah, we screwed up but still give us money." Michael snorts. "Notice they didn't say 'come and give us a chance to make up for our stupidity."

 

"Of course not. They want your money, not you as a student." Alan snorts. "Soooo, anything else?"

 

"People were looking to buy land for status in the other dimension, then walked off pouting when they realized they'd have to show an effort to work the land, no megamansions with acres of carefully sculpted lawn taken care of by the little people."

 

Hoots of derision from the others as they gather the kids for lunch. "Beyond fireplaces in every room which would mean people cleaning them, how'd you heat something that large?"

 

"What, you're not going to have natural gas or propane so all you have to do is turn up a dial? You're using stoves or fireplaces that you'll be cooking on?"

 

"I wonder how they'd react to no running water and an outhouse?"

 

"Oh gods, you know somebody would be in hysterics. But if they can't handle this how are they going to handle colonizing another planet?"

 

"By the time that happens, science will have advanced enough to give us everything we need." Susan says in a huffy tone. "Besides it won't be me doing it."

 

"Exactly. Of course when we were in school I don't think any of us even dreamed about any of the stuff we've seen or done."

 

In the dining hall Josette fills her tray and sits down. "Do the factories need supplies?"

 

"I'd planned on checking on them in a few days. And moving the orders to the ships."

 

"Books?"

 

"Should be done the end of the month or early next." Josette says.

 

"Textbooks?" Principal Madison asks in the front room.

 

"We've been talking about them and plan on visiting an expo midterms. Beyond the 'reprinted because we need the money' books, there's some that have been updated and a few new ones. Mostly dealing with the plans for colonies in the other dimension and moonbase. Including grad and pre-grad. Big honking expo. I'll be bringing back copies of everything."

 

President Bartlett nods in satisfaction.

 

After lunch Josette goes up to her workroom, patting her TARDISES as she goes eeny meeny string bikini with the bags of quilt projects, grabbing one and starting to turn her notes into a proper pattern.

 

"Josette, we need you to handle the glass." One of the glassworkers says a couple weeks later when Josette comes through town.

 

"I'll get it right now." Josette says, heading to the shipping container where the glass is stacking up. Shutting the door enough so the glass doesn't fly out and hit anybody but she still has light coming in she starts throwing it at the wall. The container inside starts filling and one of the glassworkers calls a thank you.

 

"There, you're good for a few more months." Josette says after she's brushed herself off.

 

"Thank you Josette."

 

"Reminds me I gotta smash mine at home."

 

"Are you still getting glass at the recyclers?"

 

"Yeah, they're using some of it for windows in the new houses in the other dimension but. . ."

 

"Still more than they can use."

 

"And not many people take glass."

 

"And paper."

 

"And paper. Easier when you can dump it in replicators and turn it into raw materials but still . . ."

 

Nods from the others. Josette heads to the printers, moving the boxes of cookbooks various places before she heads to the Albatross Nest.

 

"No more quilts to buy for?" Agatha chuckles.

 

"No, I'm caught up on those and the books for the time being. Of course this means they'll slam me later. . ." Everybody sniggers and nods. "I had to pick up the new books, got asked to take care of the glass, and just had to get away from the dorm."

 

"I know that look, what's up?" Marilyn asks at the quilting frame where they're laying out a project.

 

"Damn evil imp in my head is trying to convince me that the treehouse from Swiss Family Robinson would be the perfect project for a mechanical engineering degree."

 

Agatha cackles despite herself. "Yeah, I punted the little shit and took off running before he could latch onto me again. Not that I'm sure somebody on Earth hasn't tried something equally foolish for their degree and got the 'we let you in our school instead of somebody else?' look."

 

"And it's the student they didn't take that does well and makes the school look foolish."

 

"Own stupidity makes them look foolish. If they'd pay as much attention to a student's grades as what their family can do for them. . ."

 

"And of course the family's going to do whatever they can to keep the kid in school, they've burned all their other bridges with their foolishness."

 

Back at the school Josette snorts as she finds another begging message from Harvard in the databurst.

 

"Still trying to get you to forgive, forget, and fork over the money?" David says.

 

"Yep, and hell no." Josette says. Josette sighs and grabs her PADD, writing down a few things before she joins the others walking to dinner.

 

"Get everything done you wanted today?"

 

"Yeah, picked up the fifth and sixth cookbooks and dropped them off various places, took care of the glass for the blowers. . .and I gotta smash mine, it's picking up again, and talked to the others at the Albatross Nest."

 

Josette tosses a thumb drive on Madison's desk when she ducks into her office, the other woman looks at her then the hard drive. "New books that jumped me, I wrote to get the fucking things out of my head. I'm going to be down for a couple weeks but I'm off to visit a textbook expo in DC with Granda. That's at least four days."

 

"Call me when you're back home then." Madison says, Josette nods and heads off.

 

"That was a very evil first book in a series." Madison says a few nights later, handing over contracts. "I passed the first one along to Jessica and she scared people she was laughing so hard."

 

Josette starts looking over the contracts, handing them over to Calvin without saying a word since they're in his office before they eat dinner. "This is a new one."

 

"Yes, I've gotten interest in animated films for your gym in space books. I'm waiting on a screenplay. . .a good screenplay since so many books and ideas have been butchered in movies and video games.

 

The other two nod and Josette signs the contracts before they go to the dining hall for dinner. Back on Haven she starts delivering shipping containers to various places, boxes appearing in various buildings.

 

"How long were you gone?"

 

"About three weeks, long enough for the expo, talk to Madison and sign contracts for the new books, clear out the dropoffs and attend a 'whatever the fuck that was beyond mindnumbingly boring' event with Doc." The others snigger.

 

"Books?"

 

"Sorted by age level, I copied some for Thomas, Clark, and Doc while I was on the ship." The others nod and start opening the boxes.

 

Meanwhile at various other places the others are doing the same, shaking their heads over some of the books and nodding at others.

 

"How are the plans for adding onto the farm coming?" Thomas as Clark when he comes into Wayne Manor.

 

"Good, Ma's. . ."

 

"Holding her breath waiting for it to all be a dream or reality to come crashing down? All parents do that, whether it's your first child or fifteenth." Thomas says, clapping him on the shoulder. "Jonathon and Martha are already good parents, look at you and Kara."

 

"Thank you Josette, the books you passed along are going to be talked about by the others for a week. Did you. . .?" Principal Madison asks.

 

"Clark and Thomas, Thomas and Alex, us, and Doc. And I know the book you're talking about, they were arguing about it at the school. Not worth the paper it's written on is the most polite thing they said. It was somebody's dissertation from Hah-vahd." She says mockingly. "I think that just put the last nail in their coffin. They're already facing a lot of criticism from their habit of not accepting deserving students because they're oh god the horror, poor. They don't have the famous names we can use as publicity and they can't grease the wheels of the university."

 

"Zombies?" President Bartlett says.

 

"Ahhh yes, the other 'what the fuck were they thinking'?" Josette drawls. "Some teacher of religion at a university came up with that as a class, it goes from the end of days in the bible to popular culture. Thankfully it's only one trash class."

 

"And it gets them in my classroom where we can maybe cause conversations." Professor Eppes says mockingly.

 

"That's exactly what they said on a news report." Josette says before she heads to the back room.

 

"Awww fuck." Josette says when she gets the newest databurst a couple weeks later. "Gotta head."

 

"Something up?"

 

"Yeah, I think I'm that big lottery winner they're looking for." Josette flies to Ulonda as the others stare at each other, then collapse on the floor cackling.