"Dissertation?"

"She approved it the minute she got my note." Josette preens as the others smirk. "And if I plant in zero-gee again, she wants an invitation. I'm trying to figure out a raised bed planting area in zero-gee now."

"Plastic covering the soil?"

"Yeah, with slits for the plants. Drip irrigation." Josette makes a few notes on her PADD, she'll send the plans to the botanist and . . .she looks up. . .yep, there's Professor Druid giving her the 'yes, I'm coming too' look. "We'll talk when I have everything figured out." she nods.

"When will the gym be finished?"

"Should be by this fall, Dad's coming back out to talk to us about what needs to be done at the dorm in a few weeks, then talk to Principal Madison to see if the rest of the school needs anything."

"Shouldn't, maintenance is good at keeping ahead of repairs and we checked everything while the school was shut down last time. But the buildings are getting old."

"James coming out to talk to us about the school?"

"Seeing what needs to be done if anything when he comes out to talk to the kids about the dorm."

"We'd been talking about doing some work when the school shuts down again. Josette wants to expand the library." On the screen Josette nods. "Frances and Elaine want to expand the textiles buildings." They nod.

"Josette, sewing machine factory?" Frances asks.

"Tentatively on the schedule to come out sometime in the future along with the threadmaking and yarnmaking factories beyond what I have in my dorm or the satellites." The two women nod.

Principal Madison looks over at the fine arts teachers. "What about you?"

"We've been talking with the potters and other artisans. We might be adding on, we're still talking. "

"It won't be for another fifteen years or so so you'll have plenty of time to make plans. Katrina?"

"Possibly adding onto the greenhouses, growing building, and hydroponics. They haven't been updated for years." Principal Madison nods. "Going through the school buildings, including the administration building. Painting if nothing else. Possibly new carpeting." Principal Madison sighs and nods. In the back room the others snigger.

"Desk chairs?"

"Thousands in stasis on the ships plus more in the replicator. Yes, I know I need a new one." David sniggers and nods. "I just got this one broke in comfortable."

"Like Pat said so many years ago about your shoes, it's not broke in its worn out." Abby says dryly.

"I'll fix it, just like I fix the recliner." Josette waves a hand, doing just that back at the dorm.

"That thing has got to be over a hundred years old."

"And still as comfortable as it was the day I got it. Even after being reupholstered about ten times."

After dinner Josette heads back upstairs, laying out the fabric for the strips around the picture and taking pictures to show the others before putting everything aside to work on another project for a few hours.

"Are you going to have quilts for next year's kits?" David asks a couple days later.

"Yeah, I'm nearly finished with all of them. I've got to start putting the layers together, quilting, and binding them. We've got a good supply of projects ahead so if I don't get them finished by the Harvest Festival, they'll go in the list for the next couple of years."

"Is quilting staying steady?"

"Yep. We'll have to eventually bring out a factory to make sheets and stuff but not for a while." David nods. "Dad here?"

"Walking the dorm with one of my other selves talking about what needs to be done and what I want to add in the future."

"I had no idea you did some of that Josette." James shakes his head a couple hours later in her first floor room.

"I've been adding over the years." Josette shrugs. "Checking the records it looks like the alternate power source has grown a millionth of a percent over the decades."

"Not bad. You usually have the turbine spinning during winter storms so we have uninterrupted power in case of emergencies." Josette nods. "And during harvests when we've got tons of stuff to prepare and have something on every burner in the kitchens."

Nods from the others.

"Have you figured out how to plant the winter crops in zero-gee?"

"Yeah, I'm talking to Professor Druid and our advisor in a couple of months."

"Second offworld harvest?"

"Looks like a few more years."

The next few weeks pass and soon the crops start coming in. Josette heads to the sorting planet to bring in an order of canning jars that's delivered to various places and the new crops start going in. The yearly crops start coming in and Josette heads off to the first planet, sending pictures to the botanist and Professor Druid of the new trees and measurements of how much they've grown.

"Josette, what are you looking at?" Doc asks at the government meeting.

"A non-electric way of pressing the oil, a grinding wheel to turn the olives into paste, then putting them in what looks like woven flat baskets that stack together with somebody pressing a weight on top to press out the oil."

"And why were we looking into it?" Principal Madison asks.

"One, we got everything for this sort of setup in limbo and I could use something like this one the first planet when the trees start producing. It's 'artesianal' or whatever fancy ass title they wanted to give it on Earth." The others snigger. "When we were in the other Earth I saw a setup like this at a farm where they were picking and pressing olive oil for customers on demand."

"Josette, with so many vanished in the other dimension, were there many cities?"

"No, there was only one or two major cities for each state in the US, the rest were small towns, farmland, or open area. Many of the people who lived in the cities used the trains to go to nearby open areas on weekends."

"Were there replicators?"

"Yes, both food, clothing, and other stuff. My school uniforms were replicated, as were my school books since they were special orders. They had food queues where you could line up and get meals with nearby seating areas but they also had restaurants."

"Fast food versus sit down restaurants."

"Exactly. It was damn convenient being able to go shopping without having to go outside, especially during a bad winter but Christ that would be claustrophobic after a while."

"Road traffic?"

"Mostly foot traffic, most of the major traveling was done by maglev or smaller local trains. Germany and Japan faced heavy sanctions after WWII, communism got its ass kicked during the Cold War when they nearly destroyed the world."

"Small rural villages?"

"Yep, no importing of goods and very limited exporting. No morons going to tour communist places since they opened them up to make more money." Principal Madison rolls his eyes.

"They'd lost so many people and they still caused trouble."

"Well yeah, you know assholes like that. If they can strike while they think people are weak. . ."

"Then they whine when they get their asses handed to them."

"Exactly. The leaders were sentenced to death in the world court and the countries were put under even more extreme sanctions, including doming them. That leaves the infrastructure so any innocents wouldn't be harmed too badly by their government's psychotic shit. It took Germany, Japan, and Italy decades to recover from far tougher sanctions than they had in our universe."

"What's the growth rate?"

"Slow, very slow. Maybe one birth for every five deaths. They had already lost so many people to the wars, even more than we did especially when the world courts went in and took out so many remaining Nazi party members and sympathizers with extreme prejudice. Japan and Italy faced similar harsh punishments, they wanted to make sure that both those who were behind the war atrocities were punished and the countries would never be able to raise another army. Even to this day, those people born after the war hate their countrymen who were involved in it. No ceremonies or shrines to the 'honorable' war dead in Japan anymore. The world population is somewhere around 225 million. They were stunned that the other Earth was nearly eight billion in less than a century."

"The crops?"

"Coming in well, the olive oil and wine will be coming in next. I gotta talk to Vincent if there'd be a demand for cane syrup vinegar and if so how I'd ferment it short of leaving it to sit for a few years like I did the rice wine." The others nod.

"Cream cheese?"

"Tons in stasis, right now the extra cream is going to making butter." Nods from the others.

"Candy factory?"

"The poll for the next type they make is ending in a couple of days and they should be starting in a couple of weeks. I'm starting a batch of skittles this time." They nod.

Josette slides onto a stool at Vincent's a couple days later, looking at him. "Cane syrup vinegar?"

"Oohhhh," he moans.

"I take it you might be interested if I can figure out a way to quick way to ferment it beyond putting it in a cask for a few years?"

"Yes. What brought this on?"

"I got asked about it a while ago. There's so much we lost when we lost the other worlds." Vincent nods. "But we're slowly bringing them back."

"People cooked what they were comfortable with and didn't experiment."

"Did you talk to the botanist?"

"Yeah, I just got back from GD." Josette yawns, rubbing a hand over her head. "With the regular winter crops going zero-gee this year, we're going to be growing a whole new variety of plants."

Vincent chuckles. "More reports."

"Yeah." Josette sighs. Dr. Stark comes in and he's handed a cup of coffee with a little kick in it. "Thank you Vincent, I needed this."

"Problems at GD?" Josette asks as Vincent goes into the back room to look up information for Josette's latest project.

"Those I can handle, it's the whining of that stupid woman that drives me insane. She was refusing to come out of her room or talk to anybody, pretending that she was having a breakdown so she shouldn't be forced to work. Everybody agrees she's not mentally ill, she's just too stupid to live. So she's getting more time added to her sentence. Her useless son is just as bad, he'll never be leaving that prison world. He threatened suicide again, we're monitoring him but nobody got on the computer to stop him. He made this big melodramatic announcement and walked outside to die, he came back a few hours later cold, hungry, and tired. His big 'I'm going to walk out into the sunset to my death, you'll be sorry!' melodramatic attempt didn't even last four hours."

Josette rolls his eyes and calls him something scathing. Dr. Stark nods. "The courts agreed that he's never coming out of prison, the judgment you were awarded was transferred to his mother since she's the only one with a job. Normally parents aren't responsible for their children's actions but this was both willful misconduct and everybody agrees that her 'ohhh, you're too good for their rules, you should be able to do what you want' attitude was part of the problem."

"Has that fool woman ever asked about her daughter Dr. Stark?" Vincent asks as he comes back out, sending files to Josette's PADD and putting plates of food in front of them.

"No, she'd have to both admit she had a child that wasn't as stupid as her useless son and it would take the attention away from her." He sneers.

"And she couldn't have that." Josette drawls sarcastically. "The only good thing that stupid woman ever did was have her daughter."

"Amen."

Josette looks at the file while she eats. "I'm growing next year, I'll keep some back for tests of both." She says finally, putting the PADD on her belt. Dr. Stark looks at her. "Cane syrup vinegar."

"I didn't know you could do that." Dr. Stark says finally.

"Anything that's sweet will turn into vinegar eventually." Vincent says. "The problem is how long it takes."

"I'm growing sugar cane next year and I'll plant extra to experiment with." Dr. Stark looks at her. "Experimenting with different types of sugar, including turbinado."

"Ohhh." Vincent moans. Dr. Stark looks at him. "Also called sugar in the raw, not as refined as the rest of the sugar."

"That's one of the reasons we're growing next year, we've got tons of sugars and molasses in stasis. We're experimenting with the specialty sugars now that we can, introducing things that we lost when we lost earth."

Josette comes back a couple weeks later to deliver wine from Alessandro and her wineries, putting it in the racks.

"How are the new trees coming on the first planet?"

"Good, it will still be a few years before they're ready to harvest. I'm looking into a second pressing operation for the oil for that planet, basically a large stone wheel turning on a second one to make the olives into paste, then putting the paste in baskets under a pressing station for the oil."

"Limited runs?"

"Yeah, under a different name maybe. All depends on how much work that turns out to be."

Vincent snorts. "You thrive on work." Josette grins. "Yeah, I do. Won't be for a few years though before we have enough olives to harvest. I'm already ordering new barrels for them to be stored in."

"Beer?"

"I'm planning on another run next year. Possible vodka and bourbon after that."

"I was going to say that we were going to be running low in a few years."

"I've got a notice on the server that lets me know when certain items reach a certain pre-set limit, when they fall beyond a second limit I get another reminder. I've got a another reminder if they hit another mark, each one depends on how often that item is used and if it needs to sit after it's made before it can be used." Vincent nods. "Since everything's scanned at the store, you know if you're running low on something and the other places can handle their own inventories."

Josette nods, hugging him then stopping at the toilet paper factory on the way back, picking up the Charmin brand tp along with napkins and paper towels. She delivers to various places, getting payments before coming back to Haven and making more deliveries to the store and pizza parlors, getting payments before she comes back to the dorm.

"Get everything delivered?" David asks at dinner?"

"Yep, the wines for Vincent and picked up the TP, napkins, and paper towels. Everything's paid for and delivered." Josette covers her mouth, stretching and yawning before she starts typing on her PADD. "I also delivered supplies to the second planet for the lab Clark and Thomas want to set up." She gets a thank you before putting her PADD away.

"Dad's coming out tomorrow to go over the last details about what you want added to the dorm and start talking to the teachers about what they want for the school. This is just a list of 'I wants' since most of the work won't be done until the school shuts down again unless it's something major that needs to be done sooner."

The others nod.

"Fourteen years, a semester, and a few weeks." Josette says, the others nod.

"And in nearly five years we're only going to have ten kids left at home." Abby shoves him out of his chair. In the front room Principal Madison laughs.

"David teasing the others about more children?" President Bartlett says after swallowing a bite of food.

"Reminding the others in five years they'd only have ten kids left at home."

"In five years they'll be 95 years old except for Josette and Alan." Professor Druid snorts. "Their next batch would be juniors and the babies in third grade. I think they can wait a few more years."

"Exactly." Josette says. /Let's make sure the kids have jobs when they graduate, the job market is going to be glutted for a few more years. Even with integrating stuff from the other dimension and people retiring./

/I think Professor Druid is trying to lead some of them into settling on their own farms like we'd planned at the beginning./ Alan says. /Because yeah, GD, Stark International, and Wayne isn't going to be able to handle all the graduating students. And there's only so many jobs opening up when people retire./

/Sorting planet?/

/They're only in their late forties to early 50s, they'll be working for years yet. We don't need to bring out more factories. Or another mall./ Nods from the others. /They can make money helping with the offworld harvests or canning, drying, and preserving them./ Nods from the others.

"They can also work at the u-pick farms." Michael says aloud since Principal Madison is giving them a look.

"True, some of the commercial crops could be harvested by hand instead of machine for more jobs. It's be part-time but a few harvests a year could help out."

"Talking about future jobs for the graduates it looks like. Right now they're talking about harvesting some of the commercial crops by hand instead as a way of making extra money."

"That would help." Professor Druid says. "Maybe something like potatoes when we're introducing new varieties." She makes a note on her PADD, Principal Madison doing the same to bring up at a meeting. "Because as she's probably said, there's only so many jobs opening up. Unless we want to bring out more factories?"

"Not really, we're trying to get away from the commercialism of Earth. That's why we took so long to bring out a mall. And why the stores usually only have one person working there at a time."

"And nobody hopping up and chirping 'can I help you?' the second you walk in the building." Josette says, rolling her eyes. "One of the reasons I would never have been able to work retail. That and the stupid chits who spray you with perfume in the higher end stores the minute you come near them even though they're not supposed to because of possible allergies. They said they were going to stop that shit."

"They can say anything." Susan says, rolling her eyes. "Doesn't make it the truth. It was going to take somebody dying of an allergic reaction to get them to stop and they'd have pouted the entire time then."

"Thank god that's something we don't have to worry about, that shit and makeup. Unless somebody replicates some to make themself feel better."

"Anti-aging creams. Botox. Plastic surgery." The others shudder. "Hell and no."

"Josette, are you finished with everything until the crops come in?"

"No, we have two offworld harvests before then. When we're done with them, the crops should start coming in."

"Classes?"

"On track, I'll finish two over the break and the Ph.D next semester. I'll work on the other degrees I'm close to finishing next year. Might not get them all but I'll get at least three of them, including the one on the school computer, the others I'll get the following year when I finish the other degree there."

"What degrees are you starting?"

"Looking into a Masters on Alternative medicine or chemistry. All depends on whether the degree I took from Johns Hopkins qualifies. If not I'll pick up something else." Josette shrugs. "I'll sign up for it in a couple years."

"Somebody's going to be finishing a degree this year too." Alan smirks, looking at David. "Finally as your godmother would say."

"Yeah," Josette smirks. "Only took him eight years."

"Well look how long it took him to start his Ph.D." Susan snorts.

Professor Druid looks at her husband in the front room when he chuckles. "Now they're tormenting David about taking eight years to finish his bachelors on westerns and how long it took him to start his doctorate."

"How is he in his Masters?"

"A year and three classes for each the end of the year, the boys two years in their degrees, and the girls two classes from being three semesters in for theirs. Papers?"

"Principal Madison wants to know about your papers." Josette says, looking at the other girls.

"Starting them next year." Abby says. Anna and Susan nod. "David?"

"Working on mine, doing two papers for such different degrees is hard."

Josette gives him the world's smallest violin and the others laugh.

"The girls are starting their papers next year and David was complaining that doing papers for two different degrees is hard." Principal Madison snickers.

"Did he sign up for another degree?"

"Yes, another comic book bachelors." Professor Druid looks up at the ceiling as she shakes her head. On the screen Josette laughs.

The next couple of weeks pass quickly, Josette canning, drying, or otherwise preserving the u-pick crops that hadn't been picked, putting some in stasis to sell at the harvest festival, then bringing in the next offworld harvest. The second one is in and taken care of as the crops start coming in, Josette being walked into the party after the crops are in. She hugs Jack Harkness who waves a hand at a table of presents. "For all of you from the others. I'm taping this for the others, plus showing them what Town looks like."

Jack arrives back at the rooms a few weeks later for him but only minutes later for the others. "Damn, that takes getting some used to." He holds up a package of disks. "The party is the first one, the school takes up five or six, the converted dorm they live in take up a couple. The Harvest Festival takes up a couple. The planets take up the rest, they're all marked."

"How are they?"

"It's been a few months since they got called, the second of three yearly harvests is in and Josette had brought in a couple of the offworld harvests while I was there to be canned, dried, or otherwise preserved for Haven and the other planets. Maybe next year you can arrange to be off for the day to attend the party and the Harvest Festival. Everybody but David had signed up for their fall classes on the GD continuing education system, David takes his classes on a different system and gets his books at the end of the semester, not before the semester starts. Josette's on the same system for the majority of her classes, but she also takes classes on the first system. The others says she usually averages 32 to 33 classes now, but she's gone as high as 50 classes a semester."

"That's too many, even with her mutation." Professor Xavier shakes his head.

"I know, the others keep trying to get her to slow down but she's going full tilt from the moment she gets up until she goes to bed." Jack laughs, the Doctor chuckles and nods. "We brought back some things, some tea they grow, bottles of the wine Josette or the other vintner on the planet makes, and some plants that we have growing on the TARDIS. Including some alien plants that even the Doc hadn't heard about."

The morning after her party Josette heads to the warehouse with David to go over the plans for what's coming out first. They look around in satisfaction. "When are you starting to bring stuff out to the dorm?"

"Have for a few weeks. It's all being integrated and the robots are checking everything over." David nods as he sees Jack walking around with a camera taking footage for the others. "That's familiar."

"Yeah, the Doctor did the same thing. Where is the Doctor?"

"Which one, the one who arrived yesterday or ours? They're both talking."

"Josette, musical instruments?" Principal Madison asks.

"We have a bunch in storage and Edinborough has a good section on making various instruments."

"Good, I was hoping that knowledge hadn't been lost."

"No, I'm going to be starting the classes in a couple of years. The music teacher has been talking to them because we're going to need that knowledge in the future." Principal Madison nods and walks off. Then stops in his tracks and turns around. "Next offworld harvest?"

"In a couple of days."

"Your degrees?"

"I'll finish the two over the break and my doctorate when the next semester starts." He nods and walks off again to check on the plans for the Harvest Festival. A couple days later Josette heads off with people to harvest, Jack shaking his head at what starts coming out.

"There's more still on the ship to be delivered." David says dryly. "Whatever doesn't need to be prepared, just stored in stasis or not."

"How long was she gone?"

"Six months. That's why everybody who's up for an offworld harvest gets a good bonus for picking from sunup to sundown, moving from one crop to another until everything's in."

Jack shakes his head. "Another group will be working on canning, drying, or otherwise preserving everything else over the next week until it's done. If it's one of ours it will be put away until after the last harvest then passed out, the other planets harvests are delivered and we're paid for harvesting and taking care of it. The fourth planet is the closest to Earth with only one growing season. The animal planet, sorting planet, and Archimedes are all home gardens or communal gardens since they don't have the time or manpower to take care of the crops like we do even if Archimedes does have four growing cycles."

"I grew up on a farming colony, yeah . . .I know how much work goes into raising crops. Gotta be even rougher when you have more growing cycles."

"Yeah, but that means we can grow different things every time, introducing new foods that people might not be familiar with. So many people only ate what they were familiar with, we're slowly changing that by having new dishes at the dining halls in the school and the communal kitchen. And special days that feature an ethnic cuisine. We put reminders and information on the server in the days before it happens so nobody sits down and goes 'ewww, what's that? I'm not eating it'." Jack chuckles and the Doctor laughs.

"Josette, are you getting things ready on your ship for the winter crops?" Professor Druid asks when they're back at the dining hall.

"Yeah, I gotta check and make sure everything's ready before we plant in a few months."

"Ship?"

"Thomas, Clark, and CJ's world had less alien interaction than we had, just like your world had more. They had found a couple of alien ships, huge suckers. I have one and Clark has the other, they were used when we were in touch with the other dimension and when they were moving supplies out for their homes here. It's got a good sized botany section including a section that doesn't have gravity. I used it for the work for my botany doctorate. The botanist who's my advisor wanted the chance to see the plants in person rather than video footage so we're using it again to give the dorm's growing areas a year off."

"You always plant over the winter?"

"Doc, what would you rather have, replicated fruits and veggies, canned or frozen fruit and veggies, or fresh picked ripe off the vine?" Jack chuckles. "We travel enough that we can pick up fresh at the bazaars and markets but. . ." The Doctor nods.

The Harvest Festival comes and Jack and the Doctor head off a couple weeks afterward. The new semester starts and Josette dances in her room a couple weeks later. "And another one down, and another one down, and another one bites the dust."

"Finished?" David asks from the doorway.

"Yes, your bachelors?"

"Yep, finished it this morning."

"Only took eight years." Josette snorts as they walk down the hall to where the others are waiting. "Just finished my doctorate."

"Good, I hope this means you're done for a couple years."

"Yeah, no masters or doctorates for a couple of years, I'll look into the alternative medicine masters next year. . .probably. All depends on whether the degree I already took qualifies. If it doesn't, I'll take the beginning degree in a few years." Josette shrugs. She detours to the front table, leaning between Principal Madison and Professor Druid. "I just finished my doctorate not ten minutes ago."

"Congratulations Josette." They hug her. The teachers at the front table congratulate her also. Then Professor Druid smirks. "You realize of course this means David's going to try to talk you all into more kids since the babies are starting pre-school next year."

"Nope, we agreed to wait a few more years, the girls are not quite three semesters into their Masters and doctorates, they're going to be busy next year starting their papers and David's working on his two. Another four years will have the twins nearly finished with their Ph.Ds and Susan four classes from being three years in for her Masters with David lacking 3 classes for lacking three semesters for both of his." In the back room David nods, obviously repeating the conversation.

"Are the girls going to have enough for their dissertations?"

"Yes, they planned on expanding on what they wrote for their theses. After these are finished they'll be busy as the majority of the students will be finishing or starting high school." The other teachers nod.

"Josette, factories?"

"The first one is going in in a few weeks, that will give them the winter to go over everything before they start adding the others."

"Sugarcane next year?"

"Yes, we're experimenting with different sugars. That and saving the juice for cane syrup vinegar is the only reason we're growing it next year."

"Tapping trees?"

"Probably not for a few years since we've got maple sugar and maple syrup in stasis."

"Candy factory?"

"Working on their first batch of bulk candies, in this case skittles. They should be delivering bags of the candies in a few months." Josette heads into the back room.

A couple weeks later Josette slides into her seat at the pushed together tables after finishing her first set of tests."

"I'd normally say you wouldn't have to come back for the third testing week but. . ." Dr. Stark says.

"Not with the first two weeks of the semester finishing my botany Ph.D." Josette nods. "Even with only taking eight classes on this system I won't be finishing until after the second testing week."

"200 graduating this year?"

"218 with our 14. Small year. None next year, the year after that will be about fifteen, sixteen hundred. That many every year or so after that until it's just our kids in ten years."

"Fourteen years plus this semester until your school is closed." Dr. Cross says.

Josette nods. "The last four years will be back to somewhat normal for us, following the same class for all four years. And I can't believe that the school's been open eight years already. Or that it's been ten years since the first batch of orphanages started coming up. Nearly four years since the other Earth was lost." She says a quick prayer for the dead and a longer prayer for the death gods who have to deal with all the lost souls. She looks at Dr. Stark. "My alternative medicine degree, will it qualify for the Masters."

"It should," he says slowly. "But some schools were so tetchy about things like that. I'll look into it but it will be a while."

"Hadn't planned on it for a couple years anyway."

"What are you starting next year?"

"The dust bowl from the sosh school, I'll take a break from the military school and start a class from the naval academy on famous shipwrecks. We also have the plans for some sailing ships and a ship on Salem that we want to bring out."

"History school?"

"Two more years. I'm finishing a degree from the comic book school next year." The others nod. "I'm also looking into the degrees on building and repairing instruments from Edinborough."

"Music and other entertainment will always be an essential part of life, if you don't have leisure activities, you're little better than a human robot." Josette nods. The others come over when the buzzer sounds.

The semester flies by with Josette busy bringing in and delivering the last of the offworld harvests. Theirs is stored until after the lasts harvests are in and Josette and David fly off on Salem one day, a copy of the city coming out on the first planet. They check the new trees before delivering another batch of supplies to the site of Clark's future lab on the second planet.

"How many more deliveries?"

"I think three more, it shouldn't the three of us more than a week to put it up, even with the shorter days. GD is talking to Doc about experiments, just like they've been doing some of the arctic experiments." David nods. They land on Haven and Josette flies them back to the dorm.

"Crops should be coming in soon. It's supposed to be a hard winter."

"Yeah, the domes are ready to come up if it gets too cold but we should fingers, toes, and eyes crossed, have everything in before that happens."

"Ship planting?"

"I'm starting after Thanksgiving." David nods as they head separate directions. Josette checks the supply of blankets in the front storeroom as David checks the robots maintenance logs to make sure everything's ready for the winter. Once she's finished with that Josette checks how the robots are coming along with the new additions to the dorm then absorbs the Josettes who'd been out and about that day before they go to dinner.

"Storm?" Alexander asks, looking out the front of the dorm.

"Yeah, we'll have rain by night. Thunder and lightning too." Josette sends out that announcement to the server and they grab foul weather gear in case its raining by the time they're finished with dinner, checking the computer to see what windows are open and closing them.

"We need to wash windows."

"Yeah, we can do that this weekend. Probably be the last time before winter."

It's raining by the time they finish dinner and they duck their heads as they walk back to the dorm, hanging up everything to drip before shutting the dorm up for the night.

"I hope this isn't going to last long."

"Shouldn't, I just hope it doesn't damage the crops. Or suddenly turn cold and we get freezing rain."

"Yeah, that would be the cream on the crapsicle sundae. We've got another hay crop to bring in before winter. The animals will need extra feed with a bad winter." Nods from the others. "Will the domes come up for freezing rain?"

"Yeah, but by then the damage might already have been done." Josette sighs. "And the crops might be coming in late since they'll be too wet to harvest if we get a lot of rain."

"And this is going to be a bad winter."

"Yeah."

The harvest starts a few days late when the ground dries out and they're busy bringing everything in and canning, drying, or otherwise storing everything over two weeks.

"How are you on your degrees?" Doc asks at Thanksgiving.

"Josette's finished her 13th doctorate, I finished my bachelors on Westerns, the boys are two years into their lit and comic book degrees, and the girls are two classes from being three semesters in for their Ph.Ds and Masters." The others nod. "We're starting our papers next year." Susan says. "Unlike some of us who start the papers before they start the degree." Josette sniggers.

"I did the same thing." CJ sighs. "I just got better be prepared than putting it off looks like some people from the Dads." Everybody looks at Bruce who just chuckles. Then they look at David. "I started my papers last summer."

"I believe they were thinking about where it took your 30 years to start your doctorate." Principal Madison says calmly, "As Dr. Blake complained about repeatedly." Sniggers from the others.

"Josette, last hay?"

"Harvesting in a couple of days, we're expecting snow that sticks by next week. But once everything's in, we can head off to the other dimension for a bit."

The next day David opens a tesseract to Atlantis for the botanist and Professor Druid with the supplies for planting on the ship. The botanist spends most of the trip staring at the viewscreen, then staring at the ship as they approach it before entering the planet's atmosphere.

"Oh wow Josette, I know you said the ship was big but . . ."

"There's a difference between knowing and knowing." Josette nods as they land.

"Are we close enough to check the trees?"

"No, but I can tap the video from the robots to check on them."

"Raised beds?"

"Next year or the year after, I gotta check the store of peppers when we get home. That would let me plant another variety of heirloom tomatoes. Beyond what I'm going to do on the ship."

They go up to the ship, the botanist looking around. "How big is the ship?"

"Big, the botany section is bigger than the school and it's just a portion of the ship."

"Where's Clark's?"

"Behind one of the moons."

"Did you use them when. . ."

"Yeah, the cities were moving stuff to the ships before we started filling them." They say a silent prayer before Josette starts bringing the supplies out of subspace and starting to work.

"We'll come out so you can see everything in growth." she promises the botanist when they've finished planting in the various areas.

"Peppers?"

"I grow hot peppers on the planet, with the constant temperatures the heat is more concentrated than they are on the other planets. I also grow tomatoes and herbs that handle the heat well, reservoirs of water dripping into the soil handle the moisture needs."

"How often?"

"Two crops every other year or so, the constant growing cycle could allow for more but we don't need them." The other two women nod. "I usually try to grow one new pepper every other year or so, plus whatever I'm running low on of the others. I have standing orders with GD, Vincent, and Dr. Kane on the fourth planet for whatever peppers I grow."

"I can understand Vincent but GD?"

"Alternative medicine."

Josette nods. "Dr. Kane uses them in cold remedies."

"Yes, one of your hot peppers would certainly clear your sinuses." Professor Druid says when they're back on the planet. It's getting dark and they head back to Atlantis, Josette showing off video from the robots on the trip back.

"How long?"

"We should be ready to transplant from the greenhouses to the raised bed and hydroponics after the Lights Festival. It'd be longer at the dorm but the ship has those large mirrors and solar collectors to concentrate the light on the growing areas."

The botanist and Professor Druid nod. "You can't get the same growing conditions inside, that's why plants grown outside are bigger or produce earlier." David opens the tesseract for them at Josette's call and they come out at the dorm, the botanist looking at where they'd normally be planting this time of year inside then taking the switching station to Archimedes.

"We're going to have snow by dinner." Josette says, looking out the front of the dorm as Professor Druid heads off.

"Yes, the others are checking on supplies for the livestock in case it turns into a storm." David says as they shut the pocket doors. Josette closes her eyes and concentrates a second. "No, not this time, just cold and dumping buckets of snow on us. Nothing that will keep us from leaving for an hour tomorrow morning."

They return the next morning before lunch, slumping into seats.

"Is there anything that we need to take care of?"

"No, Graduation's done and we did laundry a couple days ago. Everything can stay on Hanover until we get ready to start bringing it out."

"Then I'm napping for an hour or so before lunch." the others nod and head to their rooms until lunch.

"It was weird not to see Las Vegas as built up as it was." Susan says at lunch.

"The mob started the town, with so many losses after the war then the idiot communists nearly destroying the world the city didn't grow as big as it had in our world or Clark's." Josette nods and looks down at her PADD when it beeps. David looks at her after she types in a response. "Meeting on the vampire planet tomorrow morning about what we've been integrating."

"You or me?"

"Me. You've got a meeting with Dad and Principal Madison to go over the first factory now that it's done, what we're adding next, and going over a preliminary list of what the teachers want done in fifteen years when we're shut down."

"We might even have another batch or two of kids by then." David says. This time Alan shoves him out of his chair. "Let the students graduate and get settled into some kind of job first. We want holders, not the beggars in the Igen caves to quote another Pernism."

"Are we going to be growing enough when the first batch of students move out of the dorms next year?"

"Yeah, the commercial farm has been making plans. They're going to be expanding next year and the year after that when the students are in their new apartments. That should be enough for them and the next batch that graduated."

The others nod. "I've got to take up wheat for flour to the manufacturing satellite in a couple of weeks, we're going to be running low on pasta in a few months."

"Are we introducing new types of pasta?"

"Yeah, every other batch or so to replace one that isn't selling as quickly. With the ethnic recipes being introduced, we're getting interest in more varieties."

The Lights Festival comes a few weeks later, Josette coming back from picking up books and supplies for the classes she and David had taken last semester then taking the botanist and Professor Druid on another trip to the first planet, this time stopping at the planetary growing areas first to let them explore before going up to the ship. They work on transferring the plants, looking in satisfaction at the three growing areas when they're done.

"A little more work than just going upstairs but once they're planted. . ." the others nod. "And it gives me an excuse to soak up a few hours of sun."

"Excellent excuse with how cold and snowy this winter is turning out." Professor Druid says. They soak up warmth and sun for a few minutes on the walk back to Brigadoon, shaking their heads at the difference between the two worlds when they they arrive back on Haven.

"How many classes are you taking in a couple weeks?" Professor Druid asks when they're back on Haven.

"Only 26, this year I want to finish at least three or four more degrees. I'm starting a degree from the naval academy about WWII ship losses, I'm starting a degree on the dust bowl from the sosh school and I've got a degree from MIT on electrical engineering and a degree from Johns Hopkins on chemistry on the list but I don't plan on getting in classes from them yet."

"There's no need right now."

"Exactly. There's no need for the dust bowl or naval academy degrees either but those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. The historians are gaga over the books that I got from the other dimension."

"I heard rumors that the boys were practicing their art over there?"

"Yeah, there was a gallery in the building that handled their stuff." Josette says. "It was linked to other galleries and stores by the internet so they were getting orders for their stuff from all over the world."

"Awww."

"Yeah, Jack took pictures of some of my stuff and I got 'encouraged' to work on pottery and glass stuff while I was there." Professor Druid sniggers. "Yeah, I know. World's smallest violin, Sucks to be me, all that shit."

"Exactly." Katrina pats her on the shoulder and heads off. "And quit worrying about the job situation, everything will work out. We've hit rough patches before. Some of the students who plan on farming will be helping out with enlarging the commercial crops as they finish their university classes. We're going to be bringing out the power production building from by the road, people will have jobs charging batteries. If we plant on the other planets, we can have an enclosed farm market with whatever fresh fruit and vegetables are coming in for delivery. . ."

"Adding a second shift to the laundry or even bringing out another copy." Susan says coming out of her room. "When the students start doing theirs in town." Josette starts making notes on her PADD for the next government meeting.

"An extra shift or two at the power production facilities for the offworld batteries." Alexander calls down the hall. "Right now they're dropping them off when they do their laundry, other shopping, or charge them themselves by pedal power."

"We'll need more people doing that." Josette says, nodding.

"See, plenty new jobs. Add in harvesting and it will be fine until the factory jobs open."

"Barber shop?"

"Do we have anybody to run it? And cut hair?"

"Pat has people at the spa that handle men's hair, I'm sure Albatross, Smallville, or Cabot Cove have people too."

"And some of the students can move there. Smallville and Cabot Cove will both need new blood." Anna says, coming down the hall and dropping her laundry down the chute before walking out front to get another set of sheets. "New factory building?"

"We have the first one in and we'll bring out the second one come spring. We won't need them for a while but we'll have them ready when we do." Nods from the others.

"Josette, do we have the patterns and fabric for thermal underwear? The supplies are running low."

"Yeah, we're going to be making them starting tomorrow. Easy enough to wear them under your clothes for an extra layer of warmth, that's why they wore flannels under their dresses in Little House."

The couple days passes quickly, Josette bringing up the others ideas for new jobs at the government meeting the day the new school year starts and adding a few more to the list as the others throw out ideas.

"So the power production facility by the road and a second laundry this summer?" President Bartlett asks. The others nod. "They'd both be ready for operation when the students finish university classes this year and next."

"Commercial growing on the other planets will be nice, that will mean having offseason fruits and veggies coming in."

"And we can introduce more new produce." Nods from the others. "Have an area set aside just for that, that way if we don't get that big of an interest we don't add it to the regular crop cycle."

"Something different every time will keep the ground from losing nutrients and we can let the area lay fallow once a year or so." The others nod.

"Now factories?"

"The zipper factory is up, the button making factory is coming up in a couple of months. I've got to go through all the machines in the one at the dorm and we had to add a storage area for the extra forms to make different kinds as well as the regular supplies." The others nod. "I'll have to look through the others as we add them to see if the others need extra storage. We knew the button making operation would since there's so many different types of buttons."

"Toothpaste?"

"We should be making a new batch year after next." Josette looks at the remaining stock on the server. "Yeah, we have enough for eighteen months left in this batch. By the time this new batch is ready we should be running low." Nods from the others. "Josette, pasta?"

"Yes, I figured we'd be running low there too. That's why I took bags of wheat to the manufacturing satellite. They're going to be starting a new variety this time."

"Excellent. Your hot peppers?"

"Next year, we still have plenty in stasis and dried." The others nod.

"At least one new pepper variety?"

"Yep, and an heirloom tomato."

"Cotton?"

"Next year possibly offworld. We've still got a good supply. I'm growing oats instead."

"How many batteries do the apartments have?"

"Two, one in use or charging and a second for it to switch to automatically. They can buy racks for up to five extra batteries when they buy the apartments or later. We have five racks of ten batteries each at the dorm, plus triple that number of extras."

"I'm bringing out the power production building by the road to the dorm this summer to charge the extras instead of popping them in the racks to charge before a storm." Josette says. "I know you're talking about adding a facility to headquarters and Clark plans on doing something similar."

Doc nods. Josette sighs and starts typing on the PADD after looking out the window.

"Another storm?"

"Yep, should be coming in by tomorrow morning, figure on being socked in for another week or so before the storm passes and we can start digging out."

/No, make it four weeks just in case, we'd just barely dug out from the one after Thanksgiving in time for the Lights Festival./ Josette passes that information along in e-mails and out loud for the others as the boys head off to get the animals in the barns and start bringing in food. The automatic feeders and barn cleaners can take care of everything if they can't make it out.

"This will give everybody today to get in supplies."

"Thankfully we have a few hours advance warning. And this early in the winter it won't delay the spring planting." The others nod. "All non-essential businesses shut down and the rest on emergency status."

Nods from the others. "We knew that it would be a rough winter so the candle-making building has been doubling batches to have some to hold back. They're going to be out or nearly out by this spring though. Even with making batches over the winter."

"Not the first time people just decided to lay in bed and stay warm instead of lighting a candle." David says. The others nod. "The kids will be life as usual at the school until it passes, then everybody will be outside playing in the snow once they're out of classes." Nods and smiles from Principal Madison and Professor Bartlett.

"Do we need to break early?"

"No, the boys are taking care of everything at the ranch and the others have everything well in hand everywhere else." Doc nods.

"Okay then, next order of business. When will we need another apartment complex?"

"Not for a few years. . .and then it might not be coming up here on Haven." Nods from the others. "Depends on how many of the graduating students head off to the other planets." Nods from the others.

"Second batch of Amish children?" Doc asks.

"In a couple of years. Next year they'll be attending the intro classes at the education center about the two Earths and be introduced to the others that will be graduating with them." Principal Madison says.

Back at the dorm after a late lunch Josette looks at the racks of batteries.

"When are you setting the turbine running?"

"After dinner, that will give a solid week of electricity before the generator comes on. We might be on the generator for a few days but. . ."

"Can't be helped, this has been a bad winter and we've got nearly four months yet to go." Alan says. "Productive meeting?"

"Yeah, we've got the power production facility by the road and another laundry coming out this summer, by the time they're ready to start operating the students graduating university this year will be out of the dorms and ready to work. I'm adding the power production facility to the dorm too so we can charge extra batteries that way during storms. The button factory is coming out this year, we've got to have a couple storage areas, one for the extra machinery to change out the buttons for different types and one for supplies."

"Candy?"

"Picking up the next batch when I pick up the flour for the pasta factory."

"Toothpaste?" Susan asks. She'd come home when the government building/law office had shut down early for the storm.

"Starting a new batch next year, by the time it's finished the other batch should be running out."

It's dark and nasty out when they get up the next morning, taking the tunnels to the dining hall for breakfast. Josette opens doors a few times the next couple weeks, blinking awake one day to see a clear sky outside the window.

"Is it over?" Anna asks at breakfast.

"Yeah, I've got a half-dozen duplicates cleaning the school, town's, and the others solar panels. Everything should be dug out by the end of the week with everything opening back up by next week." David nods.

"Are you finishing a degree this semester?"

"Yeah, and I'll get a second in over the break. I might get in another class this semester depending on how soon I finish these ones and how busy I am with the winter crops being on the first planet. I'll either start a new degree or get in a semester for one of the two that I'm a full year in from. Next year I'll have everything I'm close to finishing finished."

"Is GD offering a graduation ceremony for the students?" Anna asks.

"Yeah, year after next so the two years that graduated back to back can do it together. Then one every few years as the students finish their degrees until everybody's walked." David says.

"That's nice of them. Us?"

"A separate one in a few years, one of the years the kids aren't doing theirs." Josette says. "Dr. Stark wanted to talk to us about it when he comes out in a few weeks. They'll start replicating caps, gowns, and honors collars after third semester."

Everybody at the front table nods when Principal Madison repeats what they're saying. "Here?"

"Yes, that's something else Dr. Stark wanted to talk to you about. Ours is going to be at GD in the auditorium as usual. Josette might even have one of her degrees from the naval academy finished and have something else to quick change into on the stage."

Josette calls him something rude and the others laugh. The others look at Principal Madison in the front room. "Theirs is at GD as usual and David just tormented Josette by saying she might have a degree finished from her new school so she has another quick change on stage." Professor Druid snickers.

"You might have another bachelors or even your masters finished." Josette snorts. "It'll take another thirty years before you get in a doctorate though."

"Probably." David sniggers. "I don't know about anybody else, but I gotta open a window or crack the doors open a few minutes when we get home."

"Yes, the dorms got that 'lived in' smell going." Josette says. "I'll crack the doors before I take care of the doggy doo-doo area."

"I'll check the batteries and generator. How long were we on it?"

"About a week. This storm stayed a while." The others nod. "I gotta head to the first planet tomorrow to check the crops. Next week is our first testing week already."

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like it with the storm coming in so soon after the school year started. We've been busy with our classes instead of moaning about the weather."

After breakfast Josette absorbs her other selves that had been outside, cracking doors open as she heads upstairs and cleans out the puppy poop area, dropping the bag in the replicator's recycling unit and washing her hands after shutting the doors.

"Everybody getting dug out?" Abby asks at lunch.

"Yeah, it's going to be a while, that's why I suggested everybody make sure the animals had enough food and water for four weeks in the automatic feeders. It will be a few days before everybody can get out to the barns."

"Yeah, Michael and Alexander figure they'll only be able to blow an hour or so at a time, it's wet heavy snow. Even the heavy duty machines maintenance uses it will take a while. And shoveling by hand will take even longer. Crews of people in town are clearing the main streets right now so the stores can open next week."

Josette nods, then sighs. "Damn it, keep the evil imp in your own head whoever gave it to me."

"What?" Susan smirks, this should be good.

"The little towns where people say they rolled the sidewalks up at six? I just saw that happening in town. The old board sidewalks being rolled up and put at one side of the town, the other going the other direction."

"No, we keep things open later and everything's open Sundays." Susan snorts. "Not even Albatross, Killingmesoftly, or Kickinthepants was that small. Though I'm sure Mom and Ma could tell us stories about when that didn't happen."

"Or Agatha."

The stores are open the next week and people begin stocking back up on what they'd run out of during the storm. After their tests Josette heads into town, stopping at the bakery for some doughnuts and then walking to Agatha's store, finding it filled with the gang from Albatross sitting and talking. Josette grins and pours herself a cup of coffee.

"Did you get dug out?"

"Finally, we left the doors open so the animals could get some air since their pastures are full of snow."

"So are the ones in Albatross." Marilyn says. "What brings you out besides like the rest of us and you just needed some fresh air? Or to get away from family before you throttled them?" The others snigger.

"Exactly. This is going to sound strange, but does anybody remember the old saying rolling up the sidewalks at six?"

"Oh yes, a one horse town where they rolled up the sidewalks at six." Agatha chuckles. "I remember when it was really like that though, stores closed at five and nothing was open Sundays. Back then it was like it is now and life was simpler, but we do stay open later than five."

"Josette, this is probably a stupid question, but do we have any reclaimed wood?"

"Tons, from old barns and other buildings. It's all on the ships to be remade into other things. We have pictures of the old buildings too."

"That's nice."

"I thought the woodworkers would want it for decorative stuff. You can't get the new stuff to look like it, a coat of clear to protect it."

"Exactly, just like nothing beats an old kitchen table that's seen generations of use."

They talk a couple years about things, the others asking Josette a few questions and nodding as they hear about the second laundry and new power production facility coming in this summer. The tentative plans for offworld growing areas and an enclosed farm market where fresh fruit and veggies are available probably year-round is met with excitement.

"The growing areas help during the winter but..."

"There's a difference between something grown outside in the sun and something grown inside under lights. I know, Professor Druid, the botanist from GD who's our advisor for our degrees, and I were talking about that after we were planting after Thanksgiving. And growing on other planets we can introduce new foods. If demand is good we can grow more if it tanks we take it off the list of stuff to grow for a while."

"Chickpeas."

Josette nods. "I grew them commercially once but the demand wasn't that great. I might grow them offplanet with the corn, but more likely I'll grow them for myself when I grow blue corn for tortillas."

"Are you tapping trees this year?"

"No, not until next year since we have it in stasis. I am growing sugarcane this year, but that's because we're going to be experimenting with different types of sugar than we normally make. Including Turbinado sugar. And cane syrup vinegar."

"Josette, the factories?"

"The zipper factory is out and ready to run when needed. The button factory is going in in afew months, it needs more work in two storage areas. One for the other presses for other types of buttons and the second for general supplies." Nods from the others. "After that will be elastic or shoelaces with factories going in every year or so."

"The factories on the sorting planet that shut down."

"We're checking the store of underwear and bras, hoping to open that back up again in a couple years. We're looking into adding combs and brushes to the plastics factory if they have the molds. Like toothbrushes, they'd need the machine to insert the bristles, but they might be able to make the bristles there. If not we'll look into making them at the toothbrush factory, they can insert the bristles there too."

"If they can't?"

"Replicators, there's no use bringing out a factory for just one item." The others nod. "Josette, any chance of a chicken restaurant? That's not KFC?"

"I'll bring it up at a meeting, we'll probably put a poll up on the server. And look into recipes beyond what's on the food replicators." Everybody makes faces.

"Yeah, I agree but we can add recipes to the replicator, and look into other cooking styles."

"Jerk chicken."

Josette nods. "Unless we had specialty nights I can't see the demand for a non fast-food chicken place. Pizza is nearly a fast food, the crust and sauce are basic, it's just a matter of different toppings. Very rarely do you have a different crust or different sauce." The others nod. "And those only take a few minutes to prepare unless you're throwing the pizza crust, some chicken preparations can take a while."

"Any chance of a sub place or the pizza places adding grinders? Beyond the one at the mall. Because there's a difference between fast food and good grinders."

"Possible. The fast food places made their own bread though."

"Point. Maybe when you have to add another pizza place it can be one of the chains."

Josette grabs her PADD. "They had a list of what they wanted in the way of restaurants when they asked for this new one a couple years ago. . ." She looks at the information and then the others, nodding. "Yep, the chain has grinders, they said they selected it for that reason."

"Good. We want it."

"Talk to Dad Sanders about bringing Albatross out a copy." Josette sends out an e-mail to him then talking to David for a minute. "David says to figure out where you want it and they'll come out to talk to you. And you can ask him about other improvements you want to make to Albatross."

"Thank you, we don't want the factories but another power production building and a second food growing building would be nice. It's not that hard to commute if we want to pick up extra shifts at the shops or factories. Oh Josette, thermal underwear?"

"We're working on it right now. Candy is coming out in a couple of months when I pick up the flour from the manufacturing satellite for the pasta and we're starting a new batch of toothpaste next year, the poll should be up on the server by the Harvest Festival. And. . ." Josette looks at them. "I don't know why you guys don't have a commercial farm or two in Albatross."

"We've been talking about it." Marilyn says slowly. The others nod. "We can sell shares to everybody in town and sell the leftovers or sell to the government like you do."

"Hell, you even do both if you wanted." Josette says, then looks at the clock. "Thanks for the coffee and talk ladies."

"How are you on your classes?"

"Good, I'm looking at finishing four or five degrees this year and the rest I'm close to finishing next year. I'm signed up for more degrees, including one of the dust bowl from my sosh school and a degree on shipwrecks during world war 2 from the naval academy."

"The Lusitania?"

"Yep, they'll touch briefly on it in that degree then expand further on the topics from this degree in others. This is just an intro history class."

"Another cap, gown, and collar for the quick change." Agatha chuckles.

"That's what David said." Josette rolls her eyes. The others snigger.

"Josette, how much longer is the school going to be open?"

"Fourteen years including this one. That will get the Amish kids, the kids from the sorting and animal planets, and our hellions through high school. Any kids after that will either take their classes on the computer or be home schooled."

"There's not many births except for your kids but we don't need them."

Josette nods.

"Josette, sweetened condensed milk?"

"We don't produce enough milk for that or dry milk but we have tons of both in stasis and can use the replicators when they run out. Same with the cream cheese, hopefully in the future we'll be able to make them but for now use what we have or replicate it." The others nod.

"Are you going on for degrees from Assyrian and Edinborough?"

"Yep, they have cooking degrees from Assyrian I wanna take and musical instrument classes at Edinborough."