"Anything else coming out?"

"Yes, the rug yarn manufacturer, but not until before the Harvest Festival when Dad's got a crew free to work on everything. I've got a list of others to bring out over the next few years as needed." The others nod.

After lunch Josette heads to the yarn store, grabbing a cart.

"Really?" Marilyn asks as Josette grabs gift bags and tosses skeins of yarn into the cart.

"Yep, all four of us but only one baby. Clark and Thomas have one in the gestation chamber and I think Pat and Bethany will probably get pregnant this year if they're not already."

"Did CJ go on for a doctorate?"

"Yes, he's starting his first classes today."

"The others?"

"Are all starting classes, it's been a while since all of us were doing that. Three classes a semester for everybody but David, Alexander, and Michael since they're going for their doctorates."

"You?"

"Finished the chem last year and I'm finishing the Masters for herbal medicine this year, I'll start the doctorate next year if I'm approved." Marilyn makes a rude snorting sound. "Hey, I gotta present it in person since it's Oxford, I don't get the free pass I normally do."

"Art history?"

"A semester left after this one. I'm signing up for pre-admittance this summer and finishing it this fall."

"Sun painting?"

"Also done this year along with two comic book degrees and the Masters."

"We're going to have to offer weaving classes now that the buildings going up."

"Yep, we're going to announce them at the Harvest Festival."

"Is this a double crop year?"

"Yes, the offworld harvests will start coming in while there's still snow and I'll pick up cover crops this fall."

"Quilts?"

"I'm quilting my second one next week and I'll send the file to the others when I'm done and bring them out to the meeting after Thanksgiving. I should have another one or two done by then." She sighs. "Then start buying the supplies for the others."

"Thread?"

"They're starting production next year."

Stopping at Sue's Josette grabs some more supplies and gets a bag of snacks from the bakery as she walks to the dorm, finding the other girls checking the supplies in the nursery while Maria and Elena grin.

"How are we on baby clothes?"'

"Good, as well as the other supplies. We'll let the diaper service know our second testing week so they can bring out supplies to us our third testing week."

"Dr. Blake will come out with a proctor for our tests then and our finals." Susan says, the others nod. "Your thesis?"

"I'll call for an appointment after our finals, that will leave me four classes. If I'm not up to it, one of my other selves will head over. And I'll sign up for the doctorate then too. Did you send out the announcement?"

"Yep, not that the family wasn't expecting it since we said we'd be having more children when the school closed and it's been three years. And the boys finished the apartment orders."

"Do we see anybody coming over from the other dimension?"

"If the war ends without a grand 'I may be over but I'm taking you bastards with me' gesture on either asshole's part and the schools can't reopen."

"What's the population?"

"Hovering around the four billion mark, we expect it to be under that by the end of this year. We wouldn't be keeping them if we did get orphans."

"No, they'd be needed to rebuild their own world. Not that there might be children to raise since the birthrate's got to be low with everybody fighting or working long hours in the factories."

"Especially with how long this war has been lasting." The others nod.

The next few weeks pass and Josette looks around at the tables as everybody but David has headed to Eureka for their first testing week.

"Feel a little strange to get back in the grind after being off for a few years?" Dr. Cross asks.

"A little." Susan says with a smile. "Josette, did you ever get to look through everything Bronwen was talking about before the Harvest Festival?"

"Yeah, I spent a few months on Brigadoon and my TARDISES taking an inventory then sorting everything."

"Complexes?" Dr. McNider asks.

"The thread complex is starting work next year, the one for the rug yarn is going out after the Harvest Festival when Dad has a crew free."

"No factories to bring out this year?"

"No thankfully."

"Candy?"

"I'm putting up the poll Harvest Festival and they'll start next year."

"Toilet paper?"

Josette sends a message to David to check it. "David will look, probably not for a couple years, we've got the glass factory already running making colored glass for the stained glass workers."

"Were the ships ever able to duplicate those colors you were talking about?"

"Yes, we're working on duplicating it in glass and paint now."

"Josette, you've been talking about crystal?"

"Yeah, for chandeliers, goblets, and whatnot. The mirror building can cut and grind them." The others nod. "The glassblowers can make goblets, bowls . ."

"Do we really need that kind of stuff?" Susan snorts.

"No, but it will fly at the shows." Alexander and Michael snort but nod. "Where's your first show?"

"Portsmouth, that way I can stay at Dr. Cross's instead of having to deal with a hotel."

"Will maintenance be finished replacing the floors that needed it this winter?"

"Should." Josette says. "They stopped early last year to get an early start on the other pizzeria rooms before they opened for inside dining, this year they won't need to and should be able to keep working until everything's done."

"Painting?"

"After the dining halls are done."

Everybody heads home after lunch, looking at the dark skies that's threatening to dump snow on them and heading to their rooms until dinner. After dinner Josette starts working on her latest quilt, making notes as she starts cutting out pieces for the first block. By the time of her second testing week they're all wearing maternity clothes and Dr. Blake makes plans to come out for the girls their third testing week along with Mom and Mom, Leland and Asa staying home with their Dads to keep them from destroying the houses while their wives are gone.

"Is the interior work done?"'

"Yeah, I'm going to be bringing out the chemicals and equipment. That should take a couple weeks. And bring out some of the glass finals when I take in wheat and rice for flour and pick up the recycling."

The next few weeks pass and Josette looks up from her knitting to see Mom and Mom leaning in the doorway. "We wondered if you were alive up here."

"Offworld harvests coming in, classes including the cooking and sunpainting hands-on stuff, working on stuff for my new show, including dollhouses and stained glass lamps, experimenting with cute stuff and crystal, and moving the chemicals and equipment to the glass cutting building. I just needed some mindless knitting."

"I scrub the bathroom for that, it's something I don't have to think about."

"I vacuum." Mom Sanders says. "So boy or girl?"

"This pregnancy has been a breeze, so I'm going to say girl. The boys were all pissing me off even in the womb." The two older women chuckle. "Cute stuff?" Josette brings out a glass insect. "Awww, they're adorable."

"Yep. I'm working on those and painting glass."

"So how are you all getting used to being back in classes after a few years?"

"It's like pulling on a pair of old shoes, they just fit if you know what I mean." Both women nod. A week after the third testing week, Josette splits off a duplicate to start spreading manure on the fields and garden.

/SUNNABICH!/

/BLEEP!/

/WHAT THEY SAID!/

/DITTO/

Josette lays her head down on the spreader's steering wheel and laughs. Back at the dorm the boys are helping the twins and Susan up to the medical unit and Josette disappears with Lord Apollo. They reappear a few seconds later with the baby in a basket on her arm.

"Sophia Anne Covington-Sanders. Eight pounds, 21 inches long." They look over at the door to Headquarters opens and Doc, Pat, and Bethany come into the nursery.

"She's adorable. The others?"

"Upstairs in the medical unit, they all had their water break within a minute of each other." David sends out the message to the diaper service to let them know the babies were there or on the way and gets back a 'I'll deliver four batches of diapers in ten minutes'.

"They'll be out in ten minutes with the diapers." Josette nods. "She's three days old, there's two bottles in my bag and I just fed her." Elena chuckles as Bethany leads Josette off to her first floor room to soak in the tub.

By the end of the next day two more girls and a boy are delivered and pictures are sent off in e-mails to the other dimensions. Josette looks up from nursing Sophia as Susan drops carefully into her chair and gets ready to nurse.

"Garden?"

"I was spreading manure the day our water broke." She nods and takes Summer from Lois who immediately latches on and starts sucking like she was starving.

"Slow down greedy guts, it's not going to disappear on you." She gently strokes her head with one finger. "You know some twit on Earth would complain about the babies being born bald."

"Until they realized that being bald was cool and shaved their babies heads." Abby snorts, coming into the room. She looks down at Ian who's loading a diaper in his sleep by his face. Sighing she waits a couple minutes and changes him, Lois stripping his crib and remaking it before taking the laundry to the laundry.

"So anyway I'll till it under and plant in a couple weeks. That will have everything done at the ranch before our finals."

"Is everything planted now?" David asks a couple weeks later when Mom and Mom have headed off. The girls and babies are coming to meals at the back room and slowly walking around the school to get their strength back and working out in the pool to water aerobic DVDs.

Their finals come and Josette and the girls settle in the first floor lounge as the boys but David head to Eureka. Josette finishes the last test after lunch and sighs, rubbing her eyes as she hands the PADD over to the proctor.

"How is everything?" Dr. Blake asks.

"Asshole to elbow with the offworld harvests coming in so early. They'll be finished by my first testing week." She hisses. "Yeah, the only good thing about being offplanet so often is I'm soaking up a lot of solar energy. The supplies for the glass cutting building are all in and Dad's started work on the weaving building. Everything's just happening at once earlier this year." Dr. Blake nods.

Meanwhile another Josette is walking into Sue's store and moving bolts of fabric to the cutting table as she looks at the notes from the second batch of quilts.

"I'd wondered when you were going to get around to buying for the other quilts." Sue says, coming over to help measure, cut, and double check fabric amounts.

"I can afford them now with the bonuses I'm getting from all the offworld harvests." Josette says, her eyes twinkling with humor. Rude snorts and catcalls greets that outrageous comment. "How are the babies?"

"Getting so big." She sends pictures to Sue's PADD. "Aww, they're adorable. Glass for mirrors?"

"I'm picking it up later this week along with the recycling and dropping off wheat and rice to the manufacturing satellite for flour. Another month and all the offworld harvests will be in, though I'm leaving them on the ships so they don't get mixed up." Sue nods. "Now, are you heading to Agatha's next?"

"Yeah, I gotta get the rest of the stuff." Josette sorts everything into separate bags and checks out, going to Agatha's for everything else and heading back to the dorm.

A couple days later Josette heads offplanet, delivering the wheat and rice to the manufacturing satellite and picking up the glass and recycling, dropping off the metal on the sorting planet before going back to the dorm.

"Get everything taken care of?"

"Yes, until the last of the offworld harvests are in and the first crops are picked."

"How are they coming on the original programming?"

"Editing it and they should start airing next year."

"I've got the glass on my ship." Josette says, leaning around the door of the woodworking building the next morning. "I figured it'd be easier for me to bring it out one or two sheets at a time. Just let me know what sizes you want it cut into before I bring it out. You're not really laid out to handle 20 by 20 sheets."

"Thanks Josette, that will be perfect."

"Gonna finish a degree over the break?"

"No, I will summer semester, then the second break and get the other three in third semester."

"Presenting your thesis?

"My appointment is in a few weeks, my show is a few weeks after that."

"What are you taking?" Josette goes down the list and the others nod. The last of the offworld harvests comes in and Josette heads off to Oxford, talking for several hours about her thesis and arriving back at the dorm a couple days later. Josette absorbs her other self that had been offplanet and grins at them.

"Like there was any doubt?" David snorts.

"Well Yah, I've actually got to present the thesis, unlike most of them that get a wave by Dr. Stark." Josette says, rolling her eyes. She signs up for her doctorate and they head to the dining hall.

"Another one down." Josette leans between Principal Madison and Professor Druid.

"Josette, congratulations. Have you signed up for the doctorate?"

"Just now."

"How many classes?"

"Two more, I'll take them third semester. . ."

"Tables and chairs?" President Bartlett asks.

"I'm picking up the first batch after lunch."

"Do the others know?"

"I'm telling them after I put the furniture in the woodworking building."

Josette taps the door frame of Doc's office, making him look up from what he'd been reading. "Another one down."

"Congratulations Josette, did you sign up for the doctorate?"

"I did. I won't officially hear anything until this fall when I finish the last two classes but Oxford told me I'm in, I just had to sign up."

"Art history?" Pat asks, hugging her from behind.

"Finishing it over the next break. One degree this semester, one the break, and the other three this fall."

"Show?"

"In a few weeks, I'm moving everything I'm taking over to Hidalgo."

"How long are you staying?"

"Probably a week. Principal Madison and Professor Druid are coming along for the trip since the others want to talk to them about a few things."

"Like turning the school into another of his father's?" Doc says dryly. In addition to crawling over the school and checking their curriculum while they were out, they'd talked to them about the homeschooling curriculum they used.

Josette nods. "I've seen it too, we'd need more school buildings, dorms, and dining halls since some of ours are restaurants now and they took in younger children. Opening the bookstores back up. More floor monitors. They'd have databursts from the other dimension."

"The years are longer." Long Tom says, coming up to them.

"That wouldn't bother them since they'd be entering their third year of university when they graduated or could even have a degree finished by the time they graduated. They're one of the best prep schools in the country, with long waiting lists, opening up our school to other students would help."

"The government wouldn't pay most of the tuition." Ham says dryly.

Josette snorts. "This is a super exclusive prep school, they wouldn't turn a hair at the costs we charge, hell we could double our prices and they'd still line up to pay. The movers and shakers of the business, industry, and political worlds come there."

"With students changing out yearly you'd be able to get new trades coming in."

Josette nods. "That's what I was thinking."

Back at the dorm Josette nurses Sophia and heads to the pool with the others to work out to a water aerobics class then soak in the hot tub.

"Good lord children, the babies can't be three months old yet." Lady Simone says when they arrive.

"Yeah, Josette always lost the baby weight fast." David says.

"Well yeah, I only gain about 20 pounds and eight of that was the baby. I only gained 40 pounds with the quintuplets." Josette snorts. The doctors in the extended family shake their heads.

"How much have you lost?"

"Fifteen pounds according to our last checkup. That's the only time we bother to weigh ourselves." They pass out the baby pictures.

Josette sighs at a high-pitched squeal and high speed babble as another debutante finds something they 'just gotta have'. They're filling out order forms and passing along partial payments for the dollhouses and furniture.

"And the boys are artists too?" An older gentleman asks.

"Oh yes, the brunette Michael works with metal with Alexander works with wood. All three work on the custom furniture and the boys help out with the dollhouses while they're not working on their own projects.

"Is Josette always working on new stuff?"

"Oh yes, she's working with the glassblowers in town on crystal for bowls, platters, and stemware." More than one woman nearby shudders and marks that on the list.

/Silver?/ Josette smirks to Michael. He mentally groans. /With custom boxes by Alexander./

/We'll talk about it./

"Hey." Michael says a couple days later, looking in on a workshop.

"How can I help you kid?" The older man there grins.

"The evil genius had the brilliant idea of adding sterling silver to what we already make since she's planning on crystal bowls, platters, and stemware."

"And you need to know what you're going to have to do." Josette nods from the doorway and he walks them through what they'd need to have to make and polish them.

They arrive back on Haven a week later for them, Michael looking up the factories on his PADD as the girls check on the babies and Josette and Alexander look at the list of items they have orders for.

"Do you have supplies?" David asks.

"Yes, that's part of what Alan I was moving the last two days. I'll start bringing it out over the next few days." Michael reaches over her shoulder with his PADD and they talk quietly about everything, nodding. "I'll bring it out after I bring out other supplies."

The next few days has Josette moving supplies and working on more orders in various rooms of the dorm. The yearly crops start coming in and Josette heads to the first planet, taking care of everything there before coming back. The second batch of crops start coming in and the others arrive early for the Harvest Festival, cooing at the babies in real life.

"Awww, you finally got some hair." Summer blinks up at everybody from Mommy's shoulder and waves a hand.

"Did you get the flooring finished in the school buildings?" Calvin asks his son.

"Yes, we're planning on painting inside and out over the next couple of years when the dining halls are finished.

"How are you on that?"

"We've got three buildings finished and partway through ours, they should be working on our rooms before Thanksgiving."

"Josette, rug yarn?" Bronwen asks.

"I'm bringing it out tomorrow now that there's a free crew to work on it."

The next day Bronwen and Josette take a flyer to the location, the other woman blinking as the complex shimmers into existence on Haven. "That is neat. Now, did you find a place for the silver you wanted to make?"

"Yes, I added it to the dorm a couple days after we came back. David's been working on it with his Dad and we should be able to start in there by Thanksgiving."

"The crystal?"

"They're experimenting with the different formulas right now to see what's the best for what we want. The first glass factory has the forms for the platters and bowls, while we can make the stemware at the glassblowers."

"I heard glass painting?"

"Yeah, I'm going to be experimenting with it. Assyrian and Edinborough picked up on it and they're talking about hands-on degree."

"Did the boys have a show in the other dimension?"

"Yeah, a couple weeks before we came out for mine."

Bronwen blinks as she looks in Josette's workroom after dinner, finding her pinning a binding onto a quilt. "How many?" She waves a hand at the piles of fabrics on a shelf with plastic separators between them.

"25. The psycho bunny jumped me after the last festival with 13 quilts, the next day I had barely got back from buying supplies for them when he got me with the remaining twelve. I brought that stuff after the babies were born. This is the fourth one."

"Are they going to be kits?"

"They're going in the pool of future kits. I send Agatha the pattern, pictures, and notes after each quilt is finished. Sue and Agatha try to keep three years worth of projects in there, plus whatever old stuff they're introducing to the newbies."

The next night is Josette's party and then the Harvest Festival, Josette sighing as she settles into a steaming hot tub and closes her eyes.

"Don't fall asleep in there." Anna chuckles. "Long day?"

"Finicky fiddling stuff." Anna nods and Abby comes into the bathroom, circling the firepit and settling on a padded bench with her feet in the water. "Oohhh, feels nice."

"There's room for all of us." the girls strip and slide into the water. "Needed something?"

"Am I nuts or is Principal Madison's father. . ."

"Looking to annex the school to his? Yes, I've got that feeling too, so has Doc, Principal Madison, and Professor Druid. Probably not the younger kids since they could board as early as 4th grade but the high school kids. If they can get the schools there to accept the degrees from our schools, they could even get a degree in while they were gone since the years are so different."

"What would we need?"

"We're good on dorms, we'd probably need more school buildings, and we'd need at least one more dining hall, possibly two depending on how many students we get."

"Is that why he got you into the textbooks expo?"

"And why Principal Madison took over at his school for six weeks when he had a perfectly competent second in command."

"Not right away."

"No, he's taking the long in a few years viewpoint. I'm sure that soon there will be mentions at our shows about our school, how they're associated with theirs. . .which is one of the best prep schools in the country with admission tests and a waiting list, even students from other countries attend. Pictures of the school buildings and dorms, lists of classes we offer. . ."

"Get your degrees finished?"

"Yeah, a comic book one this summer and the art history over the break."

"No more boring ass shit degree." Abby's lips twitch

"Fuck no, I start the masters next year and that will be even worse. The boys were looking over my books to see if I was overreacting."

"And they found out it was worse?" Anna sniggers. "The music appreciation degree is worse."

"Music appreciation?"

"Symphonies, operas, all that shit. None of the schools that came out, one of the schools on the server."

"How many classes are you taking this fall?"

"I'm looking at twelve since I'm finishing three. If I get them in early, I'll pick up another semester somewhere."

"Or use the extra time to work on the stuff for the others." Anna sniggers.

"Eyeah." Josette does a good impression of Dr. Hazlitt.

The next few weeks pass and Josette and the others head off to Eureka for their first testing week. looking at the box on her belt when it beeps.

"Josette?" Dr. Stark asks.

"That's the emergency signal for the 9th planet."

"Go, your tests can wait."

Josette heads to the switching station, the others looking that direction before Dr. Blake has them go back to their tests.

"Josette?" Dr. Cross says as she comes through the switching station and not on one of the ships.

"I was on Archimedes for our first testing week. What happened?"

"A missed databurst from our dimension. It's not something we'd normally worry about but with Russia getting more and more desperate as Luthor keeps nibbling away at the borders. . ."

Josette grabs her link to the ships, sending off a quick message and soon Hanover hovers over them.

"We're going with you." Drs. Cross and McNider say.

"Okay, then stand next to me." The lifting ray brings them into the ship and they hurry to the control room as the ship is already underway. They arrive in the other dimension twenty minutes later, already sending out messages and getting a response from the moon.

"It happened, didn't it?" Dr. McNider sighs. On the screen the woman nods, wiping away a tear. "Yes, Russia launched nuclear bombs when it was certain that Luthor was going to take over the country, sending them at the US. They retaliated, the other countries attacked since they feared they'd be next and the world's in a world of hurt. We knew it was coming and saved everybody and everything we could." Josette nods. She can see domes of stuff on the moon and Mars as people bustle around.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes, it's . . ."

"different knowing it's going to happen and it actually happening." Josette sighs. "Is the entire world involved?"

"No, but the Earth is under a nuclear winter that the computers say will last at least a hundred years."

"The ones the radiation didn't kill, either right away or slow lingering deaths the winter will. Earth isn't prepared for that kind of climate change."

A man comes up behind the woman and nods. "Temperatures have dropped at least twenty degrees in the temperate areas and are still falling."

"Josette. . .I . . .I hate to ask but . . ."

"I can bring out what was saved and bring it out to Mars, the moon, or the 9th planet when we're home, we did it when we lost Earth and it expanded our homes and other buildings. And," Josette sighs. "We can stay until. . ."

"Thank you Josette." Hanover settles on the Moon and Josette heads to botany to plant crops.

"It happened." 9th planet Dr. Stark says when they return five years later for them.

"Yeah, Russia's president knew he was in trouble and sent out nuclear weapons, Luthor retaliated. The other countries that had bombs sent them out and the world went to hell in a handbasket in less than a day. The world's population started falling as people died immediately from the radiation, slowly from the radiation, or during the nuclear winter when they ran out of food or fuel."

"We they able to save anybody?"

"Yes, they saved everybody and everything they could, they had domes of stuff on Mars and the moon. We brought out the original buildings to add to what we have here, we've got experience in it after we lost our Earth." Josette closes her eyes and a hand pats her on the shoulder.

"Thank you for . . .taking care of the dead."

"Something I've unfortunately had practice doing." Josette says a silent prayer for the dead. "Okay, this is what will happen when we add the buildings I brought up to the ones that came out. . ." The conversation lasts for a couple hours.

"Are you okay?" Doc pats her shoulder.

"There's a difference between coming back and finding everybody on Earth dead and watching the world's population falling every time Hanover scanned the Earth."

"Can Earth recover?"

"It will be centuries, there's no life left there now. Chernobyl and Japan's exclusion zones, the animals took them over but . . . The water, soil, and air is radioactive thanks to all the bombs going off."

The news is send out and there's memorial services for those left on Earth.

"Josette?" She returns to Archimedes and slides into her seat at the pushed together tables.

"It happened, didn't it?"

"Yeah, Russia attacked the US with nuclear weapons, Luthor retaliated, and every other country that had nukes launched them because they were afraid they'd be next. Everybody knew the Russian President was psychotic. Luthor shouldn't be taking over the world, He should."

"Shit."

"The announcement will be going out in a couple hours."

"How long were you gone?"

"Five years. Earth was lifeless in less than six months, either from the radiation or dying when they ran out of supplies or fuel during the nuclear winter Earth was in when we arrived. We stayed to help those they were able to save settle on the moon or Mars and bring out what they'd shielded."

The others come over when the buzzer sounds and they talk about what the 9th planet will be going through over the next few months."

"Knowing you're going to lose Earth and it actually happening is two different things."

"How long were you on the 9th planet?"

"A few months, they were beginning to incorporate what I salvaged on Earth while we were there."

The news comes in while Josette's getting ready to finish her tests, the others staying with her instead of heading home, then heading back to the dorm afterwards. David and the others are waiting for them, obviously having heard the news.

"You okay?" Doc asks.

"It's different coming back to Earth and finding everybody dead and watching the lifesigns keep going down and down every time you checked it and knowing that was people dying. It's like somebody you love having a terminal illness, you know it's going to happen but it still hurts when it does. Nearly four billion people dead thanks to two men's greed and stupidity."

"How long were you there?"

"Five years. We were burying the dead and helping the others settle on the moon and Mars."

The next few days Josette's quiet, going out with David to look at the oysters, clams, and mussels they're farming, spending a couple days harvesting everything. Sending out the call the orders start coming in and Josette is busy dropping off containers to the various communal kitchens and restaurants.

"Oh god, they're marvelous." Vincent looks everything over before putting it in the back and dishing Josette something up. "Who else brought?"

"9th planet, both the other cafe and a handful of people who know how to prepare them. The cafeterias at both GDs, Cabot Cove has been growing their own for years, that's why they were placed where they were. . ." Dr. Stark, who'd come into the building, nods. "The communal kitchen will start offering chowders when the weather starts turning cooler."

The second testing week comes and life begins to get back to normal. Josette brings out the bags of cover crops, finding various visitors from the other dimension on the 9th planet when she delivers there, checking out how they're settling in and spreading out. A green bird that had been flying around turns into a young man and Josette chuckles.

Dr. Cross looks at her when she comes out of the foods building.

"Cover crops of rye and barley." She sends him the updated inventory.

"Thank you Josette. How is everybody taking the news on Haven?"

"A lot of realizing for all that humanity has progressed, they're still not crawled out of the mud when it comes to war. A lot of prayer services. The memorial garden and fountain have a lot of people, it's a good place to sit and think."

"We knew it was only a matter of time with the Russian President getting his ass handed to him for his attacks against the US and losing more and more ground to Luthor as Communism died a slow death. And he couldn't have that."

The rest of the semester passes quickly and Josette starts bringing in the crops with the others, splitting off duplicates to handle the garden while everybody but David heads to Archimedes for their finals.

"So did you get the extra semester in?" Anna asks at dinner after the recycling had been picked up on the other planets.

"No, I only took the fifteen classes I had planned." Josette sighs. "If . . ."

Everybody nods. "Are you starting work on the crystal next year?"

"That and the silver. We'll make about five different types, if they want them personalized it's more money."

"Dollhouses?"

"Working more on them and the furniture over the winter now that the dining rooms are finished. Along with the other stuff for my show." Josette stretches and yawns before standing up to fill her tray again.

After Thanksgiving and the oldest kids moving to the fourth planet for their internships Josette and the others head to the other dimensions, dropping off what they'd been working on and bringing back more supplies as well as other stuff. Josette is busy working on the recycling, tearing apart old appliances running metal, plastic, and glass through the machines into large dumpsters that are moved to trucks.

"Josette, this is probably . . ."

"No, I wasn't able to salvage anything, the radiation was too high. That and the others had already taken everything they could save before it happened. I only take when there's nobody left or like the other dimension when I had the permission from Clark, Thomas, and CJ. I did drain off some of the radiation into energy crystals for power, the others were doing the same to supplement their solar panels and other power sources."

"That much radiation could power them for life."

The next day the girls head to Las Vegas for a few days then Josette heads to Calvin's school with Principal Madison and Professor Druid to talk about their school with the teachers while she's also working on recycling with the others in the new area.

Josette slumps into her seat in the living room when they return from the other dimensions. Pat looks around the door and comes in.

"What were you sniggering about?" Susan looks at Josette.

"I found over five thousand dollars in cash in purses and clothes that had been put out for recycling. I found credit cards that were shredded, jewelry. . .including some good stuff, makeup, condoms, tampons. . .you name it I found it."

"New York?" David snickers.

"And Hollywood, and Los Angeles."

"Do you bring back all the clothes?" Bethany asks.

"Hell no, I took armfuls to every consignment place I could find, the fancy places and it flew off the shelves. The big designers whined about their clothes going in the recycling centers or being sold second-hand and tried suing to stop it, the courts handed them their asses."

"Well, I'm going to pick up my marbles and go home." David says in a mock sniffling tone. "Yep. Closed up shop for about three months and got a lot of bad publicity because they had to pay for orders they had coming in from their vendors."

"But don't you know I'm not selling to anybody because people are reselling what I make..." Anna says in a 'big business huffy asshole' voice that has Pat nodding and Bethany giggling.

"Anyway they finally had to open back up when the courts found they had to pay for their orders, they had to pay their employees the time they'd been without a job because 'well, we're not in business but we don't want you working for anybody else, you might tell them something', and they had big announcements in the papers but they planned on doing the soup nazi bit and only selling to who they wanted."

"No clothes for you."

"Basically yeah, then walked off pouting when nobody begged them to sell to them." Bethany sniggers.

"First planet?"

"Tomorrow, we're going to plant in the dorm this afternoon."

"Do you bring clothes back?"

"Stuff that's still serviceable we'll actually wear and clothes that can be used in quilts."

"Did you take stuff over to the other dimensions?"

"Yes. we'll take more out for our shows. I've got one in mom's dimension next year while the boys have their intro show in the other dimension."

Josette wriggles into the sand on the beach the next day, soaking up the solar energy after swimming and playing in the water with the others. They come back six weeks later for them, kissing the babies and heading to their rooms. Josette finishes sorting out the textbooks for the degrees she finished this year and takes them upstairs to shelve before they walk to lunch.

The next day is the meeting at the Albatross Nest in Albatross, Josette filling her plate and opening a bottle of pop before settling against the wall. The cookies and kits are passed out after everybody has eaten and they talk.

"Josette?" She waves a hand and the quilts appear on the table.

"Oh these are even better in real life." Agatha says. "How many?"

"I'm starting the sixth one after the first of the year, right now I'm working on stuff for the shows and Dad's coming out in a couple of days to talk about plans for expanding the dorm again."

"Crystal?"

"Yeah, if something doesn't work I can bust it and start over." The others nod. She looks at Sue. "How are we on clothes for quilts?"

"We'll need some next year."

"I'll bring some out second month then after my first testing week."

"Thread?"

"They're starting operation next year."

"Rug yarn manufacturer?"

"I brought it out before the Harvest Festival, I figure another year before people start crawling over it."

"Cotton?"

"I've got supplies of raw cotton, yarn for socks, and cloth for underwear I'll bring out as it's needed."

The Lights Festival is well attended a couple weeks later, visitors from the other dimension who'd come out to see how the 9th planet was settling in and teachers from Principal Madison's father's school who stare up at the two suns in the sky, blink, then walk into the larger auditorium so they can meet the teachers.

"How many houses could you put up over the next couple of years?" Principal Madison asks in the back room of the dining hall as the teachers are touring the school.

"A dozen a year, but I think they'd be more comfortable in apartments. Yes, there's no thermostats, but there's heat when it's needed and they could turn on the heaters or burn wood for extra warmth during storms."

"We can handle that, putting up apartments for them similar to the apartments you have on the school grounds and linking them to the other buildings like you have them, the same with the new dining halls and school buildings. That way like the other buildings on the school grounds they'd have unlimited power and walk to their classes like the teachers who already live at the school do."

"Floor monitors?"

Calvin sighs. "Or we could enlarge their rooms into regular apartments."

"Kitchen workers? Most of ours headed off to other jobs as the dining halls emptied." Calvin sighs and makes another note on the paper in front of him.

"Accounts at the bank for the students to purchase stuff."

"Can your registers take cards?"

"Yes."

"Your students wear uniforms. . ."

"They'd be picking them up on Earth while they were over for Christmas or breaks. They'd be stocking up on snacks too."

Josette nods. "Our students did before we lost Earth, when we came down for breaks they'd head to the warehouse store or the mall or take the shuttle into Boston for the other malls."

"Do you do this every year?"

"Yes, since our year was different than Earth's we could have Christmas twice a year."

The next week passes and Josette slides into her seat at the government building. "You spent more time with the teachers, how were they handling the school?"

"At turns excited, nervous, and disbelieving."

"Know that feeling quite well." Josette sighs. The others laugh and nod. "Congratulations on getting five degrees in last year, how are you on the others?"

"I'll be a year for Cambridge with this semester, I'm partway through three other degrees, including the baking degree from Assyrian."

"Starting the dyeing degree back up?"

"Yeah."

"How is it on the 9th planet?"

"Quiet, they're getting ready for their winter and dealing with the loss of Earth, just like we did. I know they planned on staying but. . ."

"Even if it's not your home anymore, it still hurts to lose it." President Bartlett says. Josette nods. "Did your Dad get in contact with you about adding onto the dorm?"

"Yes. We're putting in that linking area for what Josette has brought out. . .maybe we'll finally find out everything Josette brought out. . ." Josette blows David a raspberry.

"Are you going to the 9th planet before the finals?"

"Yes, I'm going out in a few days to take wheat and rice to the flour factory for them."

Josette breathes in the beginning to cool air on the 9th planet, looking at the visitors milling around in Eureka as she stops there too for wheat and rice. Moving everything to the ships Josette heads to the pizza parlor.

Superman, dressed in civilian clothes, waves a hand at her.

"Josette was picking up wheat and rice to deliver to the seventh planet for us to be made into flour. She generally comes out twice a year for us."

"The seventh planet?"

"Yes, they have a large factory to make flour there, generally for the bread and cracker factories they also have. They deliver bread to the other planets once a week beyond what they make themselves. Part of the flour will be made into pasta and rice noodles at a pasta factory on the planet, while the wheat from the pizza parlor's garden will be turned into flour for them."

"How is everybody settling in after the loss?"

"A lot of prayer services, we knew that the situation was going to go to hell but everybody hoped that somebody would be able to take out Luthor and the Russian President before it came to this."

"You and everybody else on Earth who hated that damn war, but everybody knew if they took out Luthor Russia would take over the world when everybody was trying to recover."

"They were both power-hungry assholes. They're probably trying to take over Hell."

"Nobody who wants to be in control should be in control." Vincent says as he walks past.

"Exactly Josette's in 'charge' of Haven along with Doc, her husband David, Principal Madison who's also her foster father, and President Bartlett. They devote three whole hours a month to it, more if they're bringing out new factories or something else is happening. Everybody on Haven knows them and if something needs brought up it's 'Josette, we need . ..'"

Josette taps Ma on the shoulder since she's at a table. "Do you need more old clothes for patchwork quilts? I gotta bring out some to Haven next month."

"No, we're good Josette. Come join us."

"I was just going to hit the pizza bar."

"You can still join us." Nora says as Mary laughs. Josette chuckles, pays and fills a plate with pizza and gets a drink before coming back to the table.

"What was going on at the Lights Festival? I recognized James and Katrina's families but. .." The whole story comes out and the others shake their head. "You'll be able to bring in new trades with the school open continuously."

"That was something we'd been thinking of."

"Josette, shoes and boots?"

"We're opening the factory again in a couple years, unless you've got an offsize and place a special order it's going to be the sizes most people wear." The others nod.

"Josette, rugs?" Mary asks.

"I brought out the factory to make them year before last. Last year I was a little busy." the two mothers chuckle and nod. "How old are the kids?"

"Kinsey and her crew are turning sixteen and started the eleventh grade today, Gods it seems like yesterday that they were pouting about not starting pre-school at the education center like their older brothers and sisters then excited because they were going to be home-schooled and that was something the others hadn't. The triplets will be turning eleven and they're starting the sixth grade today. And the babies will be turning one."

"Did you bring out the rug yarn complex?"

"Yeah, before the Harvest Festival, they should be finished with everything that needs to be done by the end of this year, then they'll start having people going over everything before it starts operation."

"The loom building?"

"The interior work will be finished later this year and Hank's working on looms, right now the small portable ones since that was the greatest interest. Assyrian and Edinborough already offer degrees on looming and they're working with the school to offer looming classes."

"Do you have looms?"

"Yes, Dr. Cross and Billy found me working at a loom since it relaxes me. I don't have all the looms that are available, I'm going to be having Hank and the boys make some more for me when this latest batch of additions and renovations. I might get a couple and put one in my workroom here."

Josette slides into her seat at the dining room for lunch.

"Get the rice and wheat delivered?"

"Yes and talked to Ma, Nora, and Mary when I stopped at the pizza parlor for something to eat."

"Are they looking at the births we did after we lost Earth?"

"Probably, Mary had the 'just getting over the morning sickness' look. In about three more years their bodies should be adapting to the longer years. And they don't want the kids to be only kids, even if they're not." The others laugh but nod.

"They've all got to be in classes."

"Yep, the youngest two are in kindergarten I think. GD and Tesla have been adjusting their school and class lengths over the last few years."

After her first testing week Josette brings out old clothes to Sue's store, everybody there grabbing seam rippers and starting to work removing zippers and buttons. They cackle when Josette tells them about selling 'oh, these are last year's clothes, let them be recycled because I'm a selfish shit and too good to donate them' and the designers trying shit and not getting everybody running back bowing and scraping like they wanted.

"Do we need me to bring out more thread before the first batches start coming in?"

"No, we're good. We've already been talking to the threads complex and have orders in. Buttons?"

"We're deciding what type we're starting first this year with the factory to start operation next year. I'm going to be checking the warehouse and stores to see if we're low on anything in particular, if we are that will be the first batch. And let me know if you guys want something in particular too."

"Perfect."

Josette works on her own worn out clothes for quilts bags in the studio over the next couple of days during a storm that shuts everything down for three weeks. She'd brought out similar containers to sort the clothes into and once she's got a good supply of cloth in starts working on sorting out buttons and zippers, putting them up to be reused. The storm finally passes through and Josette clears off the solar panels for the school buildings, the big buildings in town and the houses on the other continent before lunch while maintenance and the boys are busy digging out at the school and the ranch.

"Has the 9th planet had storms like this?"

"Yes, like us they have enough advance warning to get in supplies and make sure the animals are inside and the feeders have enough supplies. Then they can start digging out after the storms. That gives them time to work on projects if they have labs at home or bunker down at GD unless they send them home."

"How are you coming on the stuff for the shows?"

"Good, I've been experimenting with the crystal and we're going to have a sampler for the silver at the boys show in the grandparents dimension and showing them at my show in the other."

The next week everybody David heads off to Eureka for their second testing week.

"Are you done with your online classes?" David asks at dinner a couple days later when everybody's finished their tests.

"Yeah, I don't have to go back until our finals."

"What classes are you taking beyond the Masters, Doctorate, and cooking classes?"

"Working on projects for the dyeing degree, finishing the third year from Cambridge for the boys lit and starting the third year of humor comic degree."

"Finishing anything this year?"

"Probably not. This summer will be the crops coming in and this fall will be the offworld harvests."

"Plus your stuff, whatever work the others want to do on the school, plus the work we're having done on the dorm."

"The boys have a show in one dimension, I have a show in the other." David nods. "Papers."

"Yep, three to work on over the next few years. I'm going to be finishing the Naval Academy and dyeing degrees next year anyway so I'll get Cambridge in then too."

Josette grins one night as she walks into the back room. "Twin girls for Bethany and a boy for Pat. Both are saying up, down, and sideways they're never doing this again." The others snigger.

"New pictures from Clark and Thomas?" They'd opened the gestation chamber to welcome James Arthur to the world after the Lights Festival.

"Yep."

The snow starts melting within a month and once the ground is dry enough Josette goes out to spread manure on the fields and garden, tilling it under a week later then planting the first crops before joining everybody but David heading to Eureka for their finals.

A few days later Josette heads offplanet to pick up the recycling, then to the other dimension to pick up the first batch of supplies for the school, sliding into her seat at the dining hall and nodding at Principal Madison's questioning look. Grabbing her PADD, she sends the file to him before starting to eat.

"Supplies for the school bookstores. Next will be the supplies for the dorms, then the classrooms, then the kitchens and dining rooms."

"Anthology comics?"

"Comics that had multiple stories, sometimes one was a series sometimes not.

"Like short story collections."

"Exactly."

The next couple of weeks pass quickly and Josette is busy with classes, checking on the new weaving building and going over plans for a dyeing building, working on everything, and bringing in the first round of crops. After everything is in and the second crops are in, they head off to the other dimensions.

"Josette?"

David snorts and chucks a pillow at her, pointing at Dr. Cross, then her ears. Josette holds up a finger and removes earplugs she puts in a container she flips over her shoulder into subspace. James and Mary start sniggering.

"Haven't figured out how to turn down my hearing like that tv show and all the squealing was getting on my nerves. You'd think there was a boy band nearby the way some of them were carrying on. Christ, I was three rooms down and I could still hear them. And no, not just me. The others who were looking at stuff in the room couldn't believe it was a show for furniture and other stuff making that kind of noise. Good thing my glass wasn't there, I think some of those squeals would have shattered it."

"How many requests did you get for the silver and crystal?"

Josette holds her hands about 18 inches apart. "Each. Even at the prices we were asking. You could tell who was buying for the investment and to pass down in the family and who was buying it because they just had to have it. I thought Marcus was going overboard when he ordered five boxes of the order forms copied when we brought everything in. They had to run out for more."

"Website?"

"Went live with this show."

"How is everybody on the 9th planet dealing with the loss of their Earth?" Mary asks.

"It's hard, there's a difference between knowing that Earth is on a downward spiral and losing it to one stupid man who couldn't believe that he was losing and set off a nuclear holocaust. Yes, Earth was going downhill the longer that damn war lasted but Earth was alive. They didn't plan on going back, but it was there. Once they got the assholes out of office, Earth could rebuild."

"The coalition of governments fell apart thanks to petty arguments and it ended up destroying them.

"They'd have had to take them both out." Dr. Cross says.

"Yep, because Russia would have attacked immediately if they only took out Luthor, because only the fucking Soviets could rule the world, not some upstart businessman." David says. "That's why they went on the attack after Luthor took over China, before that they were 'oh, we don't want any part of this war'."

Josette spends the next few days taking care of the recycling and putting money away before bringing back a new batch of supplies along with another group of teachers and others from the school.

"Ohhh, this is magnificent." The woman who'd found Josette sitting behind her counter says, turning around in the front room of the library, filled with tables for sitting to work at and comfortable chairs to read in. "Is your library the whole building?"

"Yes, first floor is non-fiction, second floor is our research area. The difference between the two is the second floor you have to be escorted up and can't check out anything. It's separated into areas, and has the watching rooms a student can reserve time in to watch the DVDS that aren't available to check out. Third floor is our fiction and the top two floors are more rooms for watching DVDS and study rooms students could reserve."

"Is this all your microfilm?" She sees the two cases behind the counter and looks around for the readers.

"No, the microfilm is down in the basement with the readers, this is music and multiple disk DVDS that don't have locking cases." She takes her down to the basement.

"Ohhh my, are students allowed down here?"

"They have to schedule a time with the readers and whoever's on duty will get them the tape they need. There's three keys for the microfilm vault, I have one, there's one up in the desk for whoever's covering the library, and Professor Druid has one. This is one of the areas that they want to expand when they expand the school library."

"They want to expand the library?" She looks around in disbelief as they come back upstairs. This is three times larger than her library and hers is a good sized school library. Most school libraries are only a single room.

"Yes, there's our books, the books from the other dimension that was lost, then your books and materials that are coming up. I think they want to take care of the library in town while they do it."

"Whoever's covering the library?"

"Yes, except for midterms and finals, there's at least two people here. The teacher covering the library, a student working, and myself depending on what my schedule is that week. The week before midterms and finals the students don't work since they're studying and midterms and finals itself I'm the only one here since the teachers are busy with their tests. The library has shorter hours those days."

"What's your semester?"

"20 weeks, two weeks off between first and second semester and five weeks off between the end of the year and the start of the next. We adjusted our schedule so school years started the first of the year."

"That makes a lot of sense."

"Is this normal?" Professor Druid's mother Hannah asks, looking out the front of the dorm at the pouring piss from a boot rain after the yearly and second round of crops are in.

"Yep. We get three of them a year, they put the crops off to a good start when we plant after this."

"I can see why."

Josette sniggers. "We warn the others when they come out about the rains but they always think we're exaggerating until they live through their first one. We get other storms, but nothing that lasts beyond a day."

"I'd go stir-crazy."

"We're used to them." David shrugs. "Good waterproof clothes for when we have to go outside and we keep them in good condition." He's busy waterproofing his farm boots, putting them up to dry as he checks his winter boots.

After the Harvest Festival everybody heads back to the other dimensions, the teachers shaking their heads when they see it's only been a couple minutes they were gone.

"Are there any problems with their curriculum that you see?"

"No, they're easily on our standards. Adding classes wouldn't be that difficult. They've got a good selection of electives, some of those I'd expect at a sociology university."

"The fine arts and textiles classes aren't anything to sniff at either, and I love that they all had to take a year of home economics, not just the girls."

"Offworld harvests?" David asks when they settle in the government building after the festival.

"Will be coming in hot and heavy next month." Josette sighs. "I'll be going at least once a week after the first testing week until our finals and the crops are in."

"What's the schedule for the school?"

"Three to five more years. I'll bring out one more batch of supplies before they start on the buildings. Then it will be stuff like textbooks and food before the teachers and other employees come out, then the students."

"Wages?"

"They'll be coming out to talk to those employees who are going to be working."

"Your degrees?"

"I'm a semester from finishing my doctorate and uploaded the dissertation this summer before we left for the other dimensions." He looks at Josette.

"I just started my masters and doctorate, but I'll be finishing them the same year."

"Josette, window treatments?"

"Roman blinds, plastic slats, wooden slats, curtains, and the vertical blinds for sliding glass doors?" She asks. President Bartlett nods. "I've got a workshop in mind for them, about eight people could work there and we'd make them as ordered?"

"That sounds perfect."

"I've been looking into it for a couple years. We wash the curtains every spring but the shades and blinds need replacing every so often."

Principal Madison nods, they do the same every spring when they're opening windows and doors to air out the house.

"The weaving building?"

"The exterior work is finished, they're going to be working on the interior over the winter, and we should be bringing out the looms next year. Hank's working on the ones we don't have right now."

"Were there any births on the 9th planet after the loss of their Earth?"

"Yes, five in Eureka, Mary, and Maxine. They both had girls."

"How many children does that make?"

"19 with Kyle's son in the other dimension, though they were talking about more children. They don't want to grow too quickly."

"No they don't."