The next several weeks are busy with Josette and the others taking care of recycling and picking up stuff they wanted beyond the orders coming in that Josette's putting on Hidalgo. The students who'd been spending break with family or friends to get their books or have their uniforms altered and pick up supplies for the next few months head back to the ship and they fly back to Haven where the floor monitors start inspecting bags as they round up their students and Josette starts delivering containers to various places. Their next stop is the other dimension and Josette delivers more special orders, all three of them talking to Dexter for a couple hours before heading to the rooms.

"Is everything delivered?" David asks at dinner when they've returned to Haven several weeks later for them.

"Everything but the offworld stuff, I'll do that tomorrow when I pick up the recycling." Josette leans back in her chair.

"Are you making jerky?" David can see the containers of spices on the counter.

"Yeah, I planned on starting it marinating after dinner then starting it drying tomorrow morning before I head."

"Albatross Nest?"

"Day after tomorrow. Everybody's been working on quilts since this is going to be a cold winter." The others nod. "Maintenance has been checking the buildings and we brought out another supply of blankets for the dorms."

"And for ourselves and for sale at the store." David says as they walk out into the hallway, getting their outside clothes on with the kids before they walk to the dining hall for dinner.

"Is the dairy prepared for winter?"

"Yeah, I brought out the last of the extra supplies to last them the winter. They've got a growing building started and are making plans for next spring."

"Our growing area?"

"Everything will be in by this weekend when we head off to the first planet." Josette says.

"Did you and the ships ever settle on a small experimental garden to see how other crops handle the heat?"

"Yeah, I'm setting up the area while we're there."

"Cherry wine?"

"I'm picking them in a few days to squeeze, I'm going to bottle this crop. If the wine turns out and the demand is good we'll plant more trees. Even if the demand isn't good for the wine, we'll probably plant more trees." The others nod, including a couple people in the front room.

"I heard something about a two harvest year?" One of the new teachers asks quietly.

"You've noticed that every year the harvests are coming in earlier?" Nods. "With how our years are, there's going to be one where we could harvest offworld twice. The second harvest we plant cover crops of rye and barley, the robots that harvest the other offworld crops will handle them and Josette will pick them up and deliver them to various places." Nods of understanding.

"Are there going to be any problems with the switch out next year?"

"No, everybody is arriving for the Harvest Festival so that they're settled in and over the third semester we'll be packing up our personal belongings just like the students are and returning to the other dimension then. We'll be talking about how the switchover went and the lottery for the jobs here will go up again in a couple years."

The next day Josette puts the meat in the dehydrators as another one of her other selves lifts off to pick up the recycling from the other planets. Taking the last of her art history Oxford books from the desk shelves she puts the container on her shoulder and heads upstairs, shelving her books and heading to the workroom to start putting the binding on her latest quilt. The weather's still nice but it should start snowing by that weekend and this time it would stay.

The next day Josette fills her plate at the Albatross Nest, taking her usual spot against the wall and starting to eat as the others settle at the tables. After even Josette has eaten her fill and the cookies passed around the kits are handed out and they talk about the plans for the next couple of years before everybody starts washing dishes and sorting out who brought what. The leftovers are pushed on Josette before everybody starts heading home. Back at the dorm she shakes off the light snow on her cloak and hangs it up, taking off her boots and putting on indoor shoes before checking the dehydrators and putting everything away before checking on how David and the other boys are getting along planting crops.

"You two starting Oxford when you finish the comic book degrees next year?" Josette asks at dinner that night.

"Yes, the others are insisting." Michael says, sighing. Alexander chuckles. They look at Susan. "Are you starting a history masters?"

"If I am it's going to be at least a year. I'm getting too old to finish one degree and start another." Snorts of laughter greet that outrageous statement.

"You three?"

"Possibly." Abby says. Alan and Anna nod. "I know the others wanted to talk to us over the Lights Festival about doing the same thing Josette and David are, taking classes on more than one system."

"Are they going to be talking about the cooking classes when they come up?" Susan asks.

"Yes, they're bringing out another apartment unit by Assyrian now that the new buildings will be completed by next year. Once the buildings are done they're settling down with the other planets to set up times for their classes so they're not missing classes since it's the middle of their harvests." Nods from the others. "And there's still the possibility of additional setups on the other planets." More nods.

"CJ finish this year?"

"Next. He's going to wait a couple years before he starts another one."

That weekend they head off to the first planet, returning the following first morning before breakfast noticeably darker to those who know what they're doing. Josette leans between Principal Madison and Professor Druid, sending them a file.

"The robots started work on the first permanent house on the first planet. Solar panels, a windmill to augment those and we can tap into the alternate energy source of the building. A summer kitchen for canning, a good sized root cellar and pantry, plus two more good sized kitchens."

"Did you plant the trees you wanted?"

"Yeah, though it will be a couple years before they're ready to produce. If the demand is good for the cherry wine we'll plant here." Nods from the others at the front table. "They won't go to waste, what we don't eat or sell at the festival will be dried or made into pies and other baked goods."

The next couple of weeks pass quickly, Josette picking up the books for hers and David's teacher classes from GD and coming back to find the others arriving. Josette hands David his boxes of books and supplies and he nods, taking them into his room.

"Did you two get your books yet for next year's classes?"

"Yeah, I got them yesterday while Josette was upstairs transplanting stuff." David says. "Do we got the list of stuff to start next?"

"Yep, between the gardens on the islands and upstairs, we'll have stuff coming in until it's nearly time to harvest next spring."

"You hear from Doc and Chip?"

"Yeah, they've finished the lighting and are started on an arctic growing area of their own. They're looking into areas of being self-sufficient in case anything like what happened in our dimensions happens there." Nods from the others.

A couple days before the Lights Festival Josette looks out into the first floor hallway. "We were just talking about you." She says when she sees the visitors. Leading the way out into the front of the dorm, she gets everybody loaded up with bedding and towels and headed up to the third floor, putting them in the remaining rooms. "We're going to have a full floor with you guys for the Lights Festival."

"Lights Festival?" Beau asks. He'd been looking up through the glass to the two suns in the sky.

"It grew out of Christmas, with the differences in the years we could have Christmas twice in the same year." Doc nods as they head outside for a tour of town for the others. "We're expecting the students to have two Christmases next year."

"Do you take them home for their Christmas?"

"Yes, with the time difference we're only gone an hour here but we're generally over there about four weeks. That gives the students time to be with their family, do their Christmas shopping, get supplies in for the next few months. We're doing the same thing there and in the other dimensions we visit after Thanksgiving."

"How often do you go out?"

"The school dimension at least four times a year, after our first semester to take in the orders we've been working on for the government or socks for the school, take in special orders the boys and I have been working on, take in recycling. . .which I usually end up taking care of myself but it's good money, and take out the first batch of belongings for the graduating students. Christmas, whichever one of us has the show in that dimension, and after Thanksgiving to deliver another batch of orders for the government, special orders, and take the graduating students home."

"Take the graduating students belongings home?"

"Yeah, because I remember the students scrambling to sort out four years worth of belongings as they realized 'oh shit, we've got to move all this stuff'?" More than one chuckle. "We had drop boxes in the office and library, and the closer to graduation the more often they had to be emptied. Of course back on Earth our students also had dorm fridges, microwaves, tvs, radios. . .all stuff that the school doesn't allow now."

"DVDs, CDs, books?"

Josette nods. "Outgrown clothes. We had sales in the summer when the student body started exploding open to the students. The appliances, DVDS, and music mostly sold, books and outgrown clothes we had on tables at the flea market in town. Anything left after Labor day we donated to a local second hand store. The clothes took a hit the couple weeks before that as parents went back to school shopping."

"How many different orders do you have from the government?" Ham asks.

"About a dozen, the first few were increased as we proved we could handle it and new ones added. It's not quite as bad as Clark's dimension, but then Clark's dimension both had to find new sources of stuff as cheap imports from overseas dried up and they were falling over themselves to give the students a steady job. With our needs we've already know what amount we need to fill the orders for all the planets plus ten percent extra, open the factories to make that amount, then shut them down. It's only with the other orders that people have a steady job as factories work year-round one or two shifts."

"Do the bakeries make all the bread?" Shoshanna had seen people buying loaves of bread both places.

"No, the bread factory on the seventh planet has two shifts working, one handles all the planets and the other is strictly for the school, it started back up again when we started getting offworld students. Most of us make our own bread as well, it's easy enough to make it, let it raise over the day, then bake it. The bakeries make a good selection and the sandwich places make their own."

"Sandwich places?"

"Yes, we've got a sandwich place that split off from the communal kitchen when they needed more room. They have both sandwiches already made and make them to order. The pizza place in Albatross makes them to order. The burger place makes large batches of buns three nights a week, putting them in stasis as needed."

"And the pizza parlors do the same?"

"Yeah, they make large batches of dough, separating it into balls."

"Does anybody still make their own bread?"

"Oh yes, most people still make their own, especially in the outlying areas. I make bread usually on the weekends and not only do we live on the school grounds, I can walk to the bakery. Eventually they plan on making stuff like Pita and other types of bread."

"Indian fry bread." Beau says.

Josette nods. "Stuff like that and tortillas are generally made at home in large batches and froze or stuck in stasis, being brought out a bit at a time." Josette sighs and makes a note on her PADD then puts it back on her belt. Doc looks at her. "possible future Chinese, Indian, and other ethnic cuisines, real cooking instead of fast food, especially now that we're bringing out teachers from the other dimension." More than one nod from the others.

"Chocolate and cheese?" Anton asks.

"Yes, they were in the store but outgrew that area years ago. We specialize in softer cheeses, the original dairy that came up makes hard cheeses. The second dairy is still settling in, in a couple of years they should be producing milk and cheeses."

"Goat and sheep?"

"Humans are somewhat squeamish about drinking those milks, but they don't have problems with the cheeses. We make special batches of soap with the milk too."

"Does everybody recycle?" They see wagons pulled up to the recycling building with bags being brought out.

"Yep. What little garbage that's left is turned into power for the replicator."

"Does everybody have replicators?"

"We do, both personally and in the dining halls. Clark does, I think Thomas had one installed at his Wayne Manor. Bruce has one at his Wayne Manor, Headquarters has them, The Banzai Institute and NIMR have them, but I don't think anybody else does. With the flyers it takes an hour to come to town from anywhere on the planet and that's towing a full wagon."

"You've got to bring out your recycling anyway. . ." Pat says. Josette nods. "And you're stocking up on supplies."

"Is this a farm market?" Monk asks as they look in at a building.

"Yes, as the students started finishing their university degrees they needed jobs. With more people we were able to start growing commercially on the fifth planet, seventh, and eighth planets, before that it had been communal gardens or kitchen gardens. With the differences in seasons there's always something coming in. It normally has it's own building, we brought out the flea market in town for it but the building isn't heated and it would be too much work to renovate it so we just move buildings over the winter. This is the first of the 'jack of all trades' buildings, we outgrew it and had to build a second larger one. They're used to process the food when the offworld harvests come in, they're used to clean fleeces, they're used to make sausages, kimchee, sauerkraut, and pickled baloney, before we built a building just for weaving they were used to dye cotton and wool, and the communal kitchens use them to process the food from their gardens."

"Offworld harvests?" Pat asks.

"Fall into two types, one is a single crop like potatoes, corn, wheat, coffee, rice, or something else that the robots handle. I just pick it up. The second are giant gardens where I take a group of people and we harvest for a good six months but with the time dilation we're back within an hour, I bring it out and the people who are on duty start taking care of it. It's either canned, dried, or otherwise stored and passed out after the last harvest on each world to help out with the food that's been canned for the winter. Yes, the communal gardens are large, but you only get one or two batches since you're feeding so many people. That's why so many people have signed up for spots in the garden plots at the apartments or the gardens outside of town, you can grow your own food for one season to add to what you're getting from the other garden. Of course those living outside of town have large gardens and have fields of staple crops they either use themselves or sell to the government."

"Do you grow every year?"

"Most of the time yes. The difference is so great on the 9th planet that we could harvest twice for them by the time they need it for winter. They only have two offworld growing areas and we harvest every other year for them. With the year difference the crops come in earlier every year and we could harvest twice. Those years we plant cover crops of rye and barley, this year was one of those years, the first offworld harvests were coming in while it was still winter here and I took the drying racks to the first planet until something put outside would dry and not freeze."

"Okay, who wants to go on a little trip . . ." Josette points straight up a couple days later.

"Space?" Beau asks. She grins and nods.

"Is it safe?" Doc asks.

"Oh yes, we're just going to take a trip around the solar system."

"Oh. . ." Shoshanna sighs, looking out at the view Josette had just cleared for them.

"It's different with just the viewscreen showing you where you're going." Josette taps the view back to frosted a few minutes later. She clears it again when they near the suns, polarizing the glass and handing out sunglasses.

"Is that a building?" Anton asks as they near the first planet.

"Yes, it's one of superbuildings from Mom Clarinda and Professor Xavier's dimension."

"What's the day length?"

"Twelve hours, but the permanent growing season offsets that for the crops."

"Is that a permanent home?"

"Yeah, we've been staying in huts when we come to the first planet for vacations, I thought it was time we finally had a permanent home there. I added a windmill for additional power there and in the growing area and the house piggybacks the alternate energy source in the city."

"Huts wouldn't take that much energy. . ." Long Tom says. Josette nods. "But a permanent house would with all the mechanicals." He'd been crawling over the mechanicals with Doc at the dorm and the Brownstone, making notes on what they'd need.

Josette nods. "Oxford is talking about a new Electrical Engineering degree specializing in alternative energy since we don't have power grids anymore, I might end up taking it and using my work on the first planet for my thesis and dissertation."

"How are you coming for this Electrical Engineering degree?"

"Good, I just finished the two years of specialty classes, now I've just got to take the two years of basic classes identical for all degrees."

"I wouldn't be able to handle four years of classes for a Masters." Pam shakes her head. "Two years is bad enough, though I can see why some people need the extra help for their thesis. Though by this time they should be able to work on a paper that's acceptable."

Josette nods "I can understand all the ABDs, most grad students are used as a pool for cheap teaching by their schools. If you're busy teaching you don't have the time you need to concentrate on your dissertation."

"And if you don't have a degree, they don't have to pay you what you really deserve." Johnny says. The others nod.

"The second planet?"

"Eighteen hours, Clark has a growing area there to see how they handle the shorter days. The third and fourth planets are the most like Earth, growing wise. You'd have to start inside to have a full growing season on the third planet though. The fourth is longer in that you could plant right in the ground unless they had a bad storm that either delayed the harvest or delayed planting."

"Those frames with plastic over them?" Chip asks his grandfather.

"Could probably work once the ground was thawed enough to plant. For the larger crops anyway. You said the tenth planet is the furthest one out that actually has seasons?"

"Yes, it's five growing seasons, 72 hour days."

The others head to various places over the next couple of days, checking out different places on Haven and the other planets before they head back to Earth after the Lights Festival. Doc looks over all the information they've brought back and makes plans in case something happens and they have to leave.

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

"The babies getting settled into first grade?"

"Yes, this means they're really getting to be big kids. Pre-school, myeh." Josette snorts. Doc chuckles. "Kindergarten. Same song, second verse. But they've got assignments this year." David lays his head on the table and laughs.

"The others degrees?"

"Alan and the girls finished bachelors last years and are taking a year off. The boys finish their doctorates this year, including CJ."

"I'm going to be two years into my doctorate and a year into the bachelors. I'm going to be working on my dissertation this summer and hope to have it finished and presented next year."

"Josette?"

"I'm starting the second semester for the other dimension Masters and I'm two years into the one from MIT. This is all the basic classes now so I can pick up three a semester."

"Trips to the other dimension?"

"Possibly looking at an extra two or three this year for early Christmas, the employees coming out and the teachers for the cooking classes. Depends on how soon it is to the show. I'm bringing in a last batch of supplies for the new buildings as well as the teachers." The others nod.

"Are we looking at possibly having the dorms full?"

"Not for a while, but we're getting more students every year. We're getting more employees over the next couple years, not just replacing the ones that are switching out." Principal Madison nods. "We've been adding extra classes over the last couple of years."

Josette looks over the boxes of kits back at the dorm after the meeting, finally picking one and copying the instructions before breaking apart the pattern pieces. Marking them she copies them to a new sheet of plastic and lays out the fabric.

"I didn't notice you saying anything about starting new degrees?" David asks at lunch.

"This is another couple years of 'finish what you already have started woman'." David nods. "I've got ten degrees currently started, not counting the bachelors and Masters from the other dimension. I wanna get at least some of them finished or nearly done by the end of next year."

"And with the new employees and cooking teachers coming in this summer you're going to be even busier than normal." Josette nods. "Yeah, I can split off a duplicate to handle the classes but still. . ."

"There's more to life than classes."

"And I'm just doing this for me, nobody else."

The first few weeks fly by and they're digging out from a storm when Josette, Alexander, and Michael head to Eureka for their first testing week.

"Do you think that Doc is going to be coming out permanently?"

"I do, they spend a lot of time at the Fortress, the world's going to hell just like it was in our world. . ." More than one prayer and fervent hope that their world doesn't end up the way Earth did, "and I think that's why he brought the others out. I can see him doing like Clark had planned, coming back and forth as needed. This gives him the time to study and work and still be available at a moment's notice there. And there's the fact that they're slowly getting younger now that Doc's got them on the extract again. Chip and the others you can't really see the difference but the others are getting noticeably younger."

"While Chip and the others could pass it off to good genes, clean living, or even careful plastic surgery for years."

"While here it's 'yeah, they're older than they look. Isn't everybody?" Alexander shrugs.

"Exactly."

"Josette, how are you on your degrees?"

"Working on them, I want to knock down some of the ones I have started this year and next."

"Good, the next graduation ceremony is in three years, not counting this one. You'll be finished with your MIT Masters. David won't be finished with his doctorate but it will be close. The others will have their degrees finished and might be working on another one by then."

Josette, the students, those employees heading home for Christmas, and Principal Madison and Professor Druid walk through the tesseract with the others to Brigadoon.

"Josette, you got a few minutes?" Calvin asks, seeing a familiar figure bent over the sock boxes in the outer office.

"Sure, lemme finish counting these." Josette double-counts everything with Jane then follows Calvin into his office. "What's up, another increase in the orders or more stuff being ordered?"

"They're talking about it but what I want to talk to you about right now is. . ."

"Anything new?" Doc asks as Josette slides into her seat at the government building, she'd been off delivering shipments to the other dimension and taking back the first batch of stuff for the students and employees leaving that year as well as picking up the first batch of recycling for the year.

"Yeah, Granda wants to talk to us about Llamas and Bison."

"The Llamas could be used for wool." President Bartlett says slowly. Josette nods. "And he's talking about a niche market for bison milk soap and cheese. Many small farms did it back on Earth."

"You'd have to talk to the others."

"Balaclava, Assyrian, Edinborough, and the people outside Albatross who have the alpacas." Josette starts ticking off items on her fingers. "Somebody from the animal planet should have some idea about bison."

"If not somebody from the other dimension can come out and give them a crash course before they start coming." Josette nods. "The government is talking about new orders, Granda's going to be talking to us about that later this year. . .I got a e-mail from Doc, he wants me to talk to a government bigwig about doing the same thing for them since they want to back off the contracts with so many third world country sweatshops and cut out some of China's contracts. And they're talking about bringing out the uniforms here so students don't have to wait until breaks to get them altered."

"Making the uniforms or just altering them."

"Just altering them right now, they're talking about bringing out a factory to make more than just our school uniforms." The others nod and make notes on their PADDS. "Ours works for us right now but . . ."

"We'd need a factory dedicated to that depending on the sizes of the orders. Especially if we get orders from the other dimension." President Bartlett says. Josette nods. "Doc's coming out for the Harvest Festival with at least Chip and somebody from the government to look over our setups."

"Do they have a way to leave if the shit hits the fan?"

"Yep, they have the links to bring them to Headquarters or the Fortress then to the third planet in case of an emergency. They're looking to that or the tenth planet for a permanent area."

"Power?"

"Alternate power plus solar at the Fortress. They're got another as backup for Headquarters. Both buildings will be coming out if they have to, though it will be the middle of the night so they're not bringing anybody extra in the Empire State Building." The others nod, that's one of the reasons they'd all moved in the middle of the night, that and everybody should have been asleep at the time."

"And being out here they'd have time to work on the buildings. Unless it's an emergency."

Josette nods. "Then all bets are off. But if they come on schedule they'll have supplies waiting on them. And crops already started."

Nods from the others.

"The cooking teachers?"

"Picking them up in a couple months along with the school employees and taking out a second batch of belongings for the graduating students and employees leaving at the end of the year."

"Teachers and employees coming in before the Harvest Festival."

"Students coming in after the Harvest Festival, plus the offworld harvests."

Josette cocks an eyebrow at the ceiling when she arrives at Assyrian and finds everybody she'd planned on talking to at one table in the dining hall.

"Okay, either this is going to be a wonderful day or this is just lulling me into a sense of false security." she grumbles. The others nearby look at her.

"You planned on seeing all of us and finding us here is either the start of a good day or just the only good thing that happens today." the 'beastmaster' at Assyrian chuckles.

"Yeah, Granda is talking about bringing out bison and Llamas." She grabs a nearby chair and pulls it over.

"I'd wanted to expand to Llamas one day," the head of the cooperative outside Albatross says slowly. The man doing the same job at Edinborough nods, as does the woman doing the job at Balaclava. "The wool would be excellent but bison?"

"Soap and cheese made from the milk?"

"Granda says a niche market, the rich people with more money than brains would flock to buy it since it's expensive and to them rare."

"Do we have people to take care of them?"

"Some of the younger people would jump at the opportunity." the woman from Balaclava says. Edinborough and Assyrian nod.

"Is anybody from Earth coming out?"

"Not permanently but to inspect the grazing areas once we have them set up."

"I don't have to ask about the cheesemakers and soapmakers, they'd jump at the chance to make something new."

"We'd need to find good grazing land and have some type of buildings for the animals." the woman from Balaclava starts a file on her PADD as the others make suggestions. Grinning Josette heads off, landing at the dorm and looking over at the boys as they come from the ranch where they'd been checking on the crops and livestock.

"Talk to the others?"

"Yeah, everybody was at Assyrian so I could talk to everybody together, they were talking about grazing areas and what buildings we'd need to put up when I left."

"Cheese and soap a raree." Michael shakes his head.

"Just like lobster was a luxury on Earth but in the 1800s people ate so much of it they complained if they had to eat it." David says. Josette nods. "But then these are the same people who went gaga over painted sheets."

"Cooking classes?"

"They're coming out for the Harvest Festival, taking the rest of the year to get settled in and set up the classes."

"Yours?"

"I'll be finished with it next year."

"Masters?"

"Starting the thesis this year, I'll be halfway through it end of the year."

"Signing up for the doctorate?"

"Probably, be at least a year though. I gotta present this in person." Sniggering from the others has her idly flipping them off.

"Are you getting more stuff going back?"

"Yeah, with the employees as well as the students heading home. I've got two pickups this year, the teachers for the cooking classes and employees coming out this summer, and the normal pickup for the new students."

"We're getting more students arriving."

"Yep, more attending school and more graduating every year."

"I noticed there's two boxes in the office."

"Yeah, one for outgrown uniforms still good and one for ones that are worn out to be turned into raw materials for cloth or to be made into quilts."

Josette has David open the tesseract directly to the new buildings when the first batch of cooking teacher comes out. Some of the others from Assyrian and Edinborough are there to greet them, taking them on tours as Josette starts delivering containers of supplies and their belongings. Meanwhile the newcomers are staring up at the two suns in the sky.

"You'll get used to it but I strongly suggest hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen every time you go out. And yes, we do it too. It can get too much even for us, especially when we're out harvesting sunup to sundown. And we've been here years. There's maps for you on your PADDS and we'll be showing you around for your first couple of weeks."

"I understand there's two settlements on this planet?"

"Yes, Town. . .and yes, that is its name. Or First Town actually. And Albatross."

"There's how many eating areas?"

"Each of the four universities on Haven has their own cafeteria. The school Josette works at has several dining halls, each are four floors with two dining rooms and a kitchen on each floor. There's also a burger place, a pizza place, and a chicken place in other former dining halls there. There's a sandwich place, a pizza parlor, a communal kitchen, and two bakeries in Town. Albatross has a pizza parlor. That's just the places that cook professionally. Most everybody cooks, the list of people interested in your classes is three pages long on the server, and that's just the people here on Haven. There's the eighth and ninth planets who are also interested in your classes plus whoever might sign up from the other three planets."

Josette slumps into her seat at the dining hall a couple weeks later. It had been a busy few weeks, bringing out the cooking teachers, going out for the shows and delivering the special orders they'd been working on, then bringing out the new school employees.

"Is this everything until the Harvest Festival now?" Alexander asks.

"Yeah. I'll be able to relax until I start bringing in the new students then the offworld harvests start coming in." Josette sighs and takes the spoon Abby's waving in front of her. "This year is nuts with the turnaround in school employees and the new cooking instructors coming out."

"And the offworld harvests coming in late."

"That too. It's making for a long year."

The government official Doc had invited along with Chip is looking at the factories in stunned disbelief. "They can bring out any they need?"

"Yes but what the others have said it usually takes them about a year to check the machines and get them converted to work on the alternative power sources." Doc says. They're walking down the street when they hear the sound of breaking glass, following the sound to a large container. Doc taps on the door and it opens, Josette peeking around the door. "Hi Doc, I was just smashing the recyclable glass for the glassblowers, it was beginning to pile up."

"Ahhh good, I'm glad it's reused. I know a lot of recyclers won't even accept it."

Josette nods. "They didn't on our world either, too much work to make it usable again. But it's not that hard for us, what the glassblowers don't take the glass factories on the sorting planet does. Once's it's broken down."

"Do you recycle everything?"

"Everything we can, what we can't is tossed in the replicator's recycling bin and broke down for energy. Once you get rid of the extra packaging you had on earth, there's very little that you can't reuse. Even at the school, the most garbage generated is by the female students and David or I disintegrate their garbage once a semester." Chip chuckles and his grandfather looks at him. "Hair stuff, makeup, and that time of the month." The government official, who has three teenage daughters, laughs and nods.

After the Harvest Festival Doc, Chip, and the man they'd brought with them head back to their dimension.

"Do you expect them to have orders?" President Bartlett asks at the first meeting after the festival.

"I do, Doc passed along the information on what happened to our dimension and the JSA's dimension, they really don't want it to happen in their dimension, if cutting China, Russia, and North Korea off at the knees keeps another war from happening, they'll be doing it. If that knocks the wind from the sail of terrorist groups, so much the better."

"Do you see them going into space?"

"Not until something major happens. Which I think might still happen. So does Doc, that's why they were looking at the third planet and planning what supplies they'll need."

"Now, the new employees?"

"Settled in well and working with the others to get comfortable in their jobs." Principal Madison says. "The floor monitors are introducing themselves to the students on their floors, both the ones graduating this year and the ones still in school."

"Did you talk to Granda?"

"Yes, since somebody was busy with other stuff." Principal Madison smirks. Josette twirls a finger in midair.

"To quote my inner valley girl 'whatevah'."

"Somebody's coming out next summer to look over the grazing areas the others are choosing, to make sure we can handle them, and to look at the areas we've already got set up here or on the animal planet. Dad's got a list of new orders for us, we might be bringing out three more factories. . ." he sends them a file. "And we're looking at an area for a shop to alter the uniforms as needed. Students would have to make an appointment with the office so somebody is there."

"Not a lack of people in town or Albatross who can't handle a needle. And from what I've seen, the pants and skirts are meant to be let out as the students grow."

Principal Madison nods. "Dad's got a list of what we'd need to make the uniforms, the factory should be able to handle it. And he's got a list of other uniforms we can make."

"If we do it that way we'd have to make a second permanent shift or even bring out another factory just for the uniforms." President Bartlett says. The others nod. "Once we get a good idea of the numbers we can decide which way to go. Josette, the other orders?"

"Doc said he'd have the information for us probably by the Lights Festival. The government guy was taking video and seeing what kind of orders we've filled in the past." President Bartlett nods.

The students start coming in and getting settled in their dorm rooms over the course of a week, then the offworld harvests start coming in. The new cooking teachers stare at the people working then start pitching in.

"Do you do this every year?"

"Oh yes, and this is just the first of seventeen this year. The next one should be coming in by the end of the week."

"Seventeen of these?" one of them stares at her.

"Yep, three each for the fourth through eighth planet with two for the ninth. They don't have three offworld harvests because they don't have as many people as the other planets and they have four growing cycles plus a couple extra months, if they plant during their fourth cycle they can get in a fifth before the first hard frost. This is passed out before winter to supplement what you've been able to can from the other harvests and what the growing areas plant over the winter."

"No trucks to bring in food from somewhere else." One of the teachers says. The others nod. "With the difference in years between the areas the crops come in earlier every year, last year they were all coming in while snow was still on the ground and we could have harvested twice. This year they're coming in late."

Josette slumps into her seat their third testing week.

"Is everything in now?"

"Yes, they're working on the last right now. Then they've got a week and a bit before the communal gardens start coming in."

"Lot less food to take care of then." David smirks. Josette nods. "Everything's done coming in bing, bang, boom this year. Even with the extra Christmas after Thanksgiving, but that's when we'd be going out anyway." Alexander nods. "Did you move everything to Hidalgo?"

"Everything we had finished, I'm sure we'll have one or two more things to take out when we're ready to leave."

The crops are coming in when Alexander, Michael, and Josette head off for their finals. They're sitting at the table when the buzzer sounds.

"Are you nearly finished with the harvests?"

"Yeah, a few more days will have everything in and everything tilled under for the winter." Alexander says. "Josette, you're taking wheat and rice to the satellite for flour right?"

"Yeah, when I pick up the recycling. Most of it's going to be going to the pasta factory and replacing the flour the outlying areas purchased for the winter." The three older men nod.

"How are you coming on your degrees? You said earlier this year you were concentrating on trying to get some of them finished." Dr. Cross asks.

"I'm one semester from having two finished and I'm nine classes from having the cooking degree done. I'll finish those two over the first semester break and work on the others. I won't get them done but I'll get them knocked down so I can probably finish them year after next."

The three men nod in satisfaction.

"Other dimension?"

"Working on my thesis, I'll present it next year and should be done soon after that."

"Masters?"

"I'm three classes from finishing my third year, I'll get in nine more next year and finish it the year after next."

By the end of the week the crops are all in and Josette heads off to deliver the wheat and rice and pick up the recycling.

"Everything in now?"

"Yeah." Josette says. "I gotta shred paper for pulp, both here and at the mill. It's piling up." David nods. He was going to say something. After Thanksgiving the graduating students, returning school employees, and the others head over to the other dimension.

Calvin calls a meeting a few days after everybody's returned to give them a chance to get settled back in.

"Okay, were there any complaints about living offplanet?"

"No, the few things that the students thought they needed they quickly realized they didn't. Same with us. The databursts kept us updated on everything happening here. We came out often enough that if we really needed something we could get it."

"The box set DVDS, magazines, and books coming out to the library kept us entertained." Somebody else says. Nods from the others. "Life was simpler, it's going to take a few days to get used to the hustle, bustle, and noise. But it's no different than living in a big city after being raised in a small town." Nods from the others.

"Any problems from the students misbehaving?"

"No, the usual 'my daddy's wich so you gotta do what I want, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta' students never make it that far."

"I refused to allow them in my school, so did James." Calvin says with a smile. "You're students on the basis of your grades, not who you know." Nods from the others. "Those type never go very far, they usually turn to drugs when real life doesn't go their way and end up dead, in jail, or going through multiple rehabs."

After Christmas Josette brings back deliveries, dropping off Professor Druid and Principal Madison at the school before they head to the other dimension, dropping off the special orders and heading to the rooms.

"Hard year?" Clarinda asks when she sits down next to Josette who's laying back against the pillows on the couch.

"Long year." David says, Josette nods without opening her eyes. "We had two Christmases for the other dimension, teachers and school employees either leaving or coming in, the teachers for the new cooking classes coming out, and the offworld harvests all coming in late this year. Josette was offworld a lot this year, and with the students it was multiple trips."

"And I'm concentrating on getting degrees either finished or nearly finished this year and next." Josette finally opens her eyes. "But we learned from this year and next year will be a lot smoother when the next batch of employees heads home." The others nod.

"That's how it works, learn from your mistakes and everything will be smoother next time." Professor Xavier says. Everybody nods. "Did Calvin talk to you about his plans?"

"Yes, we're expecting people from the Llama and bison places next year, we've got a list of people who can alter the school uniforms if nobody comes out when we bring out their store and he's in talks with other schools to make their uniforms too if we bring out a factory. Or having a second shift in one of the ones we already have if they don't need to make a second shift for the larger contracts that might be coming from the government. We're also looking at contracts with Doc's dimension, they're trying to get away from the third-world sweatshop horror stories that had been on the news and not giving China, Russia, and North Korea the economic power that would allow them to start what happened to us and the JSA." Nods from the others.

The next several weeks pass quickly and they head back home, getting in supplies and heading to the island to plant and relax in the sun for the weekend. They return early first morning, settling in chairs and on couches in the living room.

"Next year the boys will be talking to 9th planet Eureka about their internships, looking at the intern housing, and making plans for what they'll need when they move there after they finish university. And that will turn into what they'll need when they set up permanent housing of their own."

"Cooking classes?"

"Start the first of the year, there's three different classes right now, times are set up for each planet so they're mostly scheduled during the winter when we're not asshole to elbow bringing in the crops. Four ten hour sessions for fifteen weeks. No real degrees but we'll all have certificates when we're done with each block of classes. Right now they're working on what they want to grow beyond the major crops in the growing areas and talking with the communal kitchens so they don't duplicate what the others might be growing." The others nod.

Josette rubs a hand over the back of her head and yawns. "Storm coming in."

The others nod. "First official storm of the season, we'll have a good foot by the time it's over."

"Fishery?"

"We figured on selling to the kitchens and store next summer, they should be running low." The others nod. "I'm growing jalapenos for chipilotes, and I'll be talking with Benton about cheeses." She comes up to the cheesemaker that night at dinner.

"I'm smoking next summer." He nods and makes a note to go over what he'll want.

"Smoking?" one of the newcomers asks.

"Smokehouse, we use it for fish, soft cheeses, and chipilotes." President Bartlett says. "I think Josette will probably have sausages out there too next summer." On the screen Josette is nodding firmly. "I gotta see how they're coming along on supplies on the 8th and 9th planets."

"Do you see them putting up their own smokehouses?"

"It wouldn't be used enough to make it worthwhile, not when we've got one they can use." The others nod.

Josette ducks into the JSA headquarters, the scanners had told her that most of them were in . . .ahh, going over the winter clothes since the last crops are in for the year.

"Josette, needed somebody?" Ma asks with a grin as she peeks around the door.

"We're going to be opening the smokehouse next year, make a list of what you want."

"Ahhh good, I was going to ask if you were planning on it. Talked to Vincent?"

"That's my next stop, then talking to Archimedes Vincent."

"Sausages?"

"Planned on making them then since we'd probably have the smokehouse going a couple months with the fish, the cheese, the chipilotes. . ." The others nod and Josette taps on Vincent's closed door ten minutes later.

"Josette?" Vincent asks, opening the door.

"Not staying long, I know you're busy." She can see some of the new cooking teachers at the tables. "We're going to be opening the smokehouse next summer, make a list of what you want."

"Ahhh, thank you. I was going to ask you about it since we're running low."

Josette slides onto a stool at Vincent's, getting a mug of hot chocolate put in front of her. "Thankee. Smokehouse is being opened up next year, make a list of what you want. I figure it's gonna be in use at least three months." Vincent nods. "I'll let the fish farm here know in case they want to smoke any of theirs."

Josette comes out of the switching station, waving a hand towards David and having boxes appear in front of him. He nods thanks and starts opening them to put away. Josette takes care of hers in her room and joins them walking to the dining hall for lunch.

"Talk to the others?" Principal Madison asks, waving her to the front table.

"Just got back from the 8th and 9th planets, they'll get back to me in a few weeks with a list of what we're going to be smoking."

"Do we have any offworld harvests before the festival?"

"No, they're all third semester again next year. Maybe the year after that we'll have a couple before the festival. Neither building will be in use so we can make big batches of everything." Professor Druid nods in satisfaction.

"Trees on the first planet?"

"Might be ready to pick the end of next year, I'll have to check and see when I'm taking care of the first world harvests and the olives. I don't expect a full harvest until year after next. Did Granda get to you about contracts?"

"No, I expect him to talk to us at the Lights Festival, same with Doc." Josette nods and heads into the back room, taking off her coat and hanging it up before filling a tray and sitting down.

"How are the cooks going to be handling their classes?"

"Those people who are working are splitting their classes so they're not taking the full ten hour block, they might have to take classes more days but they'll be getting the same classes anybody else is." One of the cooks nods in the kitchen.

The next day Josette settles in her usual spot in the Albatross Nest, a bottle of pop in her hand and a plate on her knee.

"We're opening the smokehouse next year, pass the news to anybody in Albatross."

"Sausages?"

"Yes, we're running low and with all the offworld harvests coming in the fall we'll have the buildings free for sausages, pickled baloney, sauerkraut, kimchee, anything else we want to make big batches of that will last for several years." the others nod in satisfaction, grabbing their PADDs to send messages to people not there.

The cookies are passed around along with the kits.

"Josette, we're going to need more old clothes for the store." Sue says.

"I'll bring it out my first testing week unless you need them earlier."

"No, we're good. We're getting hints that next year is going to be a cold one and we're expecting the stocks to take a hit as people make extra quilts for their beds." Marilyn says. Josette nods. "I'll bring them out then then, that will give us several days to get everything in the boxes." The others nod. Josette suddenly swears and 'brings' out a notepad, her fingers flying over the pages as she writes down the details on the quilts doing a conga line in her subconscious.

"These are going to be beautiful." Agatha looks at the papers as Josette stops writing. "And a good bit of work."

"I'd wondered how long the spastic muse in my head was going to let me be after the last megabatch." Josette takes the pad after it's been passed around and pops it into subspace. "I'll start them after the first of the year."

The Lights Festival finds Josette in the warehouses picking up supplies for the stores. She's waved into the government building after the festival ends and they talk about the contracts from both dimensions for a couple days, hammering out the details for everything and talking about which additional factories would be needed.

"How is it there?"

"China's sulking because they lost a lot of contracts over the last couple years. They've had to let a lot of people go so their economy took a hit. They're trying to get business from the other communist countries but they're in the same boat. The economy's bad everywhere so they can't really pick a contract and say 'because of this, our country is in trouble. You have to make them buy from us again'. Not that anybody would, the contracts weren't broken. . .they just chose not to renew them. They'd been puffing out their chests and threatening not to renew on their end but they never expected the others to say 'piss on you, we don't need them . . .or you.'"

"And the sweatshops?"

"Closed, it started when there was a massive earthquake and the news that American companies were among those that had work done there made the news. Those few that remained had to improve working conditions."

"Just like the US had to after the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire and unionization." Principal Madison says. Doc nods.

Doc and the other man head back after the contracts are all haggled over. "Ladies, Gentlemen, we have an answer from them and revised contracts." The contracts are passed out and looked over.

The first day of the new school year starts and Josette slides into her seat at the government building.

"How are you on your degrees?" Principal Madison asks.

"I'm finishing two this semester, they're part of multiple degree curriculum so I'm not really finished but. . ." The others nod. "I'm finishing my cooking degree this year and I'm at the new cooking school for the first day of classes. Next year I'll have one of the online degrees I'm taking and my masters. That's half of the degrees I have started."

They look at David. "I'm going to be eight classes from my doctorate. I'm working on my dissertation this year and plan on uploading it next summer."

"Are you two the only ones taking classes?"

"Right now, this gives the boys more time to work on special orders and stuff for their shows."

"Your other dimension degrees?"

"I'm three semesters into my masters this year, I'm going to be heading offworld to present it next year." Doc nods in satisfaction. "And speaking of degrees?" She purrs at Principal Madison.

"Yes Dad nagged me into signing up for a degree." Josette sniggers at his hangdog look. "Katrina's in the same boat." David lays his head down on the table and cackles.

"Factories?"

"Two on the list to bring out, plus a second shift on two others." Josette says, looking at her notes. "This doesn't include uniforms." Nods from the others as the information is sent to their PADDs and the main list.

"Once we get the confirmation on the orders Dad will bring out the factories."

"Do we have an area for supplies?"

Josette nods, putting up a picture and pointing to a couple of areas. They make notes on everything to bring up when the contracts are finalized.

Afterwards Josette heads to Sue's store, nodding at Marian and grabbing a cart and the notes she'd made for her quilts, cutting the fabric and handing it over to be scanned and put in bags. She shakes her head at the price of everything but puts the bags in subspace and heads off to Agatha's to get the rest of the supplies. Back at the dorm she puts the bags on the shelves to work on in the future and joins the others walking to lunch.

After lunch she joins the boys in their workrooms, working on stuff for her shows and their special orders. The weeks pass quickly and Josette shakes her head as she heads off to Eureka.

"Been a while since you were the only one here." Dr. McNider says at lunch. Josette nods. "But this lets the boys concentrate on stuff for their shows and the special orders. Yes, they've worked and taken classes for years but. . ." the three men nod.

"Your other degrees?"

"I'm starting my third semester for the Masters, I'm going to working on my dissertation again this summer and presenting it next year."

"This Masters?"

"Again, finished with it next year. I'm finishing my third year this semester so I'll have it done next summer." Dr. Stark nods in satisfaction. "I'm finishing two degrees this semester, the cooking degree this fall, and at least two degrees next year. That's five out of ten degrees I currently have started and I'll get the others down or done by the time you have the graduation ceremony."

"The triplets are starting their third year of university."

"Yep, and they're visiting the 9th planet Eureka this summer to look over the intern housing to see what they need to bring with them. And making plans for permanent housing when they're done."

"Do you see an apartment complex going up on the 9th planet?"

"Not for years, they didn't have two large jumps in population like we did." The two men nod.

"How is it over there? I know you went over before the Lights Festival."

"They were investigating the underground bunkers the US had to protect the president and other important people in the possibility of a nuclear war."

"Those were meant for people to live out the blasts, not for something like the nuclear winter they're in now." Dr. Cross says.

Josette nods. "They wouldn't have survived even if they'd had been able to get to them, the radiation was too great. They're settling in well on the moon and Mars, and terraforming some of the smaller moons for industry or research."

"They had planned on it. I know they'd hoped to be able to return to Earth but. . ."

"It will be centuries if they can. Even then they wouldn't be able to do much, all the buildings would be destroyed after the long winter, the water, ground, and air would be affected. . ."

Josette nods. "We've got probes recording everything to see if Earth can ever be habitable beyond domed cities that produces everything they need." The others nod.

"Orders?"

"Going to be increased over the next couple of years, once we get the final information we'll start bringing out the factories."

"Uniforms?"

"The place to alter them is coming out next year, there's not any lack of people who can lower hems, sew on buttons, replace zippers, etc. Most of the uniforms are brought a little big so they can be worn more than one year." The men nod and Josette thanks Vincent as he puts another plate of food down in front of her. "Granda's talking to other schools to make a factory for the uniforms more feasible. The factory that makes them now is getting away from uniforms."

"Ahhh, I'd wondered why Calvin was talking to you about them."

"It's not cost effective for them anymore, even though there's tons of schools that wear uniforms. They want to get into the big leagues."

"Shooting themselves in the foot."

"Exactly, instead of keeping the orders they do have they're trying to make more money and are going to end up regretting it."

"But they're small orders, we want the big ones." Vincent mock-whines. "They will keep the doors open, but they won't make us rich."

Josette nods. "They think that since they were big fish in a small pond it will translate into instant orders when they hit the big league. When it doesn't magically happen they'll pout and complain because their old customers have found somebody else."

"It's usually the new generation who are taking over a well-run business their parents spent decades building." Dr. Cross says. Vincent nods this time. "If they're lucky they can recover from their stupidity and realize 'Mom and Dad did know what they were doing'."

The next day Josette starts bringing out some of the old clothes from the ships, everybody grabbing seam rippers and starting to remove buttons and zippers, sorting them into containers that go upstairs to the boxes. Within a couple days the boxes are filled and there's extra set aside to refill the boxes when they get low. Even with a bad winter it should last years.

"Boxes filled?" David asks the next first day as Josette slides into her seat at the dining hall for lunch.

"Yeah, they're set for a few years."

Over the next few weeks they're heading to the island to harvest the three gardens, enjoying the warmth of the sun and talking about the garden plans, their shows, trips to the other dimensions, the new orders, and how old they're feeling.

"Three more years and we're going to be celebrating a hundredth anniversary." Josette shoves David into the water when he starts to smirk. "Yes, yes, you want us to have four more babies by then." She rolls her eyes as the boys snigger.

"We don't stop and think about time until something happens to pull us up." Alexander says. "The school's been open again for six years, It's been twenty years since we met Calvin and the others, it's been ten years since the 9th planet Earth was lost, it's been twenty-two years since they came out." Sighs and nods. "It's been 32 years since the loss of the other Earth, 38 years since Clark, Thomas, and CJ moved permanently to Haven, and sixty years since we lost Earth."

"Twenty-one more years and we've been on Haven a hundred years."

Josette and Alan bring out the bags of food, setting up assembly lines to wash and can, dry, or otherwise store everything. By the time all the crops are in on the islands and they're tilled under it's time to spread manure on the fields and garden, tilling it in a few days later and planting before Josette heads off to Eureka for her finals.

"Do you plan on doing anything when you've been on Archimedes a century?" She asks at lunch. Dr. Stark blinks, then starts thinking. "It is getting near our 75th anniversary." He says slowly.

"Yeah, I was just thinking while we were harvesting on the islands. In three years we're going to have a hundredth wedding anniversary, eighteen years after that is our hundredth year on Haven. It's not the official founding of Haven since there were settlers on Haven a year or so before we came up but. . . "

"You don't stop and think about how much time has gone by . . .until something happens." Vincent says. "And it's not really a hundred years since you changed the calendars since the loss of Earth."

"True. If we kept the old calendar it's probably been a hundred years already. That really would make us feel old." Chuckles from the others.

Later that week Josette checks she has everything and heads off to the other dimension, dropping off the special orders with Marcus, dropping off the government orders in the warehouse and sending them and Calvin a note saying they were there, then bringing out the socks at the office and counting them with Jane. Calvin waves Josette into his office when they're done.

"Information on the alterations place Granda's bringing up this summer, what we can expect in orders, and sizes." Josette sends the file to Principal Madison and President Bartlett. "He wants to look over the factory before we bring it out." They nod on the screen as she sends the file to David and Doc.

"The other factories?"

"Dad brought them out and he's got a crew working on them right now."

"Good, 'cause Doc sent out the message saying we got the contracts."

"I saw, I'm off on Brigadoon right now talking with them." Josette stands up to refill her tray again, getting another plate of salad at the bar. "I'll probably be bringing in supplies by the Harvest Festival."

Josette is checking the hydroponics and growing sections in the dorm when her other self comes back from Earth, nodding as she lets the memories slot into place.

"Get your two degrees finished?" David asks at dinner.

"Yeah, I already took the books up to the library."

"How are you coming on your other degree. You said you'd be done with the one next year."

"I'm two years into it this summer. I'll have it finished year after next in time for the ceremony." David nods. "Masters?"

"Both of them next year, I'm working on both papers this summer and will have to present the other one in person." Everybody makes a world's smallest violin motion and Josette snickers.