Back at the dorm Josette works on her third quilt of the year as she shivers slightly, going to her closet and pulling on a sweater. It's a little early for a cool fall so a storm has to be coming in.
"Josette, the weaving building?" Elaine asks at dinner.
"Exterior work is done, the interior work will be done over the winter and I'll start bringing out the looms Hank's working on next year. I have the time I'm going to be working on some looms of my own."
"Dad starting work on the dorm?"
"Yeah, next week now that a crew's done with the weaving building. I'm going to be working on plans for the dyeing building over the winter."
"Multi-floors?"
"At least three, one workrooms to work on projects, one to store everything, and one to hang everything up to dry. We can expand it as needed."
"Dyes?"
"I brought out a warehouse of them, when that runs out we can bring out a factory." Elaine grins and heads back to the front room.
"Bronwen wants to expand your textiles building workroom, she's stunned you get as much done as you do in there." David says.
"Yeah, she said something about that over the Festival."
"Especially when you're going to be doing it for two dimensions."
Josette heads to bed early after dinner, she's not the only one yawning and nobody's surprised when it's raining the next morning, they just pull on their rainy weather clothes and walk to breakfast.
"Offworld harvests?"
"In a couple weeks, we'll be finished just before Thanksgiving."
"You guys got stuff to take out?"
"Yeah, I was going to put it on one of the ships anyway since we're running out of storage area. Which Dad wants to work on over the winter." David nods. Even expanding by tesseract and keeping the raw materials in the carrying cases they were running out of room working on two different sets of mammoth orders.
"Okay, this is probably a dumb question but. . .
"The wood?" Second growth like we use. They harvest very carefully. Like us they're trying to keep the old growth old growth. People who came in and cut everything whether they wanted it cut or not lost their jobs, their businesses, and went to jail."
"Good, I'm glad some people can learn."
After the first testing week Josette heads off on another offworld harvest, sliding into her seat at the dining hall a couple hours later.
"Coming in hot and heavy?"
"Yep, I'm going to be off at least one a week until Thanksgiving."
"Dad wants to talk to us after lunch." Josette nods. She eeps and disappears, returning a few seconds later. Sighing she eats quickly while sending out some messages and Doc, Clark, CJ, Bruce, and the Time Lord Doc appear in the back room a few minutes later. She tells them something and they head off.
Meanwhile in another dimension a few hours after Josette had left another Doc comes out of the medical unit. Instead of the others cleaning up the debris he'd been expecting he finds his associates settled in chairs in a clean room. He looks at them.
"Josette brought out some of her family and friends to take care of everything. . ." A beeping in the corner has Doc looking that way, finding a man at a computer. "Yeah, I'm getting a signal." He says into an earpiece. "Only data right now."
"Okay, let me keep working." Josette says outside, twenty feet in the air where she's rewiring the antenna tower. CJ and Clark are working on the structural details while she handles the wiring since she's got the smaller hands and a more delicate touch.
Meanwhile inside Doc and Time Lord Doc are working on checking interior rooms, bringing out another batch of debris and dumping it by the replicator Josette had brought out from Hidalgo. They'll be sorting out what can be fixed and what is junk later.
"How is your grandson?"
Doc blinks at seeing another version of himself, let alone two, but quickly recovers.
"Out of surgery and sleeping off the anesthesia. He should be waking up in a few hours."
"Okay Josette, we have video. . .No audio yet but. . .Clark, turn it back, we're getting massive interference. Okay, that just cleared up. We have data, visual, and audio now."
"The tower needs a complete rewiring, I'm bridging the broken areas now and I can do that later. The other direction is the better one according to Hidalgo."
"Okay, turn it back then. Josette, do you have everything you need?"
"Yeah, on the ship or I can replicate it from the debris out here once Doc's gone through everything. Hidalgo can act as the antenna until it's fixed. . ." a squawking sound has Bruce sniggering.
"CJ just tuck her under one arm?" Doc chuckles.
"Yep, they're coming in now." Like Bruce and Doc had said, Josette's being carried under one arm like a football and she's blistering the air with invective. Doc blinks at a third version of him, all three giving Josette indulgent looks.
"You've been up for hours, sleep." CJ says, taking her to the ship as the others talk. Josette swears at him again but it had been fiddling work and she gets a hot bath and goes to bed for several hours.
"Josette?" Doc asks a couple days later.
"This is what I'll need to rewire the antenna." She slides the paper down to this world's Doc and Long Tom, getting nods from both men. "Do we need anything here while we're making the wire?" Long Tom looks at her. "Get with me and we'll talk."
"Do you have a degree in electrical engineering?"
"Through her bachelors, we've been . . ."
"Nagging." Josette grumbles. CJ and Bruce snicker.
"Talking to her about going on for her Masters and doctorate." Clark says firmly. He looks at his sons and they give him innocent looks nobody believes.
"Haven't found a decent project for it yet." Josette shrugs.
They return back to Haven a couple months later for them, promising to stay in touch. Time Lord Doc talks to Josette for a few minutes before he heads off.
The rest of the semester flies by, Josette busy with the offworld harvests, her quilts, working on stuff for the other dimensions, and her classes. The crops start coming in before their finals and everybody's busy for the next two weeks getting the crops and garden in.
After Thanksgiving Josette makes sure they have everything before they head off to the other dimensions. Josette shakes her head and starts filling bags at the recycling drop-off areas, looking over at the others as they come in.
"You know kids, people tried suing to force you to stop doing this." The woman behind the counter smirks when they cash out their slips at the end of the day.
"For cripes sake, why? There's more than enough for everybody."
"Ohhhh, taking care of the recycling was beneath them. And since they didn't want to do it, they didn't want you doing it either. They pouted when the judge called them damn fools and told them to grow the fuck up."
"People might grow old but they never grow up."
"Exactly."
A few days later Josette heads to Vegas with the girls then attends several expos, the ship filled with stuff for her and the school when they return. Josette looks over at Principal Madison who's sitting across from her on another couch.
"Your plants?"
"This afternoon. Tomorrow is the meeting at the Albatross Nest, after that I'll start bringing out the stuff for the school and putting it in various buildings so they can have the containers back when they come out."
"Did you take out stuff?"
"Yes, and got more orders."
"Show where you'll be selling stuff?"
"Next year. Me, then the boys, then me again."
"Josette, I know we asked you this before but nails? Beyond the factory we already brought out?"
"I've got two different factories selected, one that makes them from sheets of metal, those are the spike type nails, the other used steel wire to make the round head nails. Again, something we can make with the replicator and we've got good supplies in the home centers that we haven't brought out." Principal Madison nods.
"We'd also need the machines to make the wire." David says. Josette nods. "And in different gauges for the various sizes of nails."
"Staples and strips of nails for the nailers."
Josette nods. "One reason we've been using the replicator. Too many machines. I need to see if the factory I have in mind has the machinery for making the glue strips."
"Glue strips?" Principal Madison asks.
"Nailers have strips of nails held together with glue, the heat caused by the machine firing melts the glue, setting the nail."
"Do they make different types of nailers?"
"Yep, beyond the big ones for flooring they make several hand-held models for different needs."
"So for the time being, the replicator can handle all our needs."
"Exactly. I've got plans for the future but. . ."
"Dad's looking into ones for the nailers."
"What's the list of supplies that came out this time?" Josette finds it on her PADD and sends it to Principal Madison. He nods. "Stuff for the dorms and the floor monitor rooms."
"I'll start bringing everything out over the next few weeks."
The next day Josette settles in her usual spot in the Albatross Nest with a plate of food and bottle of pop.
"Josette, what's the latest of the rug yarn?"
"They finished work on it a couple weeks ago, people are going to be going through it and they should start operating year after next."
"And the plans for the school?"
"They're bringing out two new dining halls, an apartment complex, and expanding the library along with updating the bookstores. The library in town, our home, and my workshop at the textiles building are also getting an upgrade."
"Kitchen workers?"
"Coming out along with teachers and others. They were talking about turning the floor monitor rooms into full apartments as well as bringing out an apartment building."
"Any problems with their kids being gone for so long?"
"Not when they're going to be graduating with at least two years of a university degree if they can get the degrees acknowledged. They were working on it for my Art History Masters. They'd have to check that option before they enrolled at the school and take the classes in their free time."
"Many schools had students enrolled in dual courses."
"And this is a super prep school, they'd expect the students to be partway through university by the time they graduate. Because they have the kid's whole life planned out for them."
"So they'd have to pre-apply for that option."
"Yes, and talk to their advisors every semester to make sure they can keep up in their classes. Like the students, they'd take their classes on a PADD, but unlike the students they'd have books too. If they finish their degree, they get two diplomas during graduation."
"What about those students who were like the Covingtons and have close families?"
"They'll probably stay in the other dimension. Calvin's going to be charging twice as much for our school as he does his. They don't have phones at their school so they wouldn't have them here, but they'll have letters they can write and e-mail during the databursts."
"Expenses?"
"They're opening accounts at the bank for expenses, either putting money on it monthly or by the semester."
"Breaks?"
"Ours, they're making arrangements for picking up and dropping off beyond me and the ships."
"Laundry?"
"That's a difference, there if it's in the bag it gets washed. Here they'll have to wash their own laundry. I'm sure some of them will be horrified."
"Awwwww, pooooorrrr babies." Agatha smirks. Everybody else cackles.
"Yeah, especially at having to clean up after themselves strip and remake their own beds and throw the sheets and towels down the laundry chute. Any complaints and they're gone, we want students who can live together, not cause troubles. Cause it's not just the girls that are spoiled little monsters." Every parent in the building laughs and nods.
"Some come by it honestly."
"Amen, some people really should take a test before they're allowed to be parents. Or stick with their spoiled lapdogs."
"Josette, quilts?"
"Got another three finished." Josette lays them out on the table.
"Beautiful Josette, as usual. This makes . . .?"
"Eight out of 25 quilts."
Back at the dorm after helping clean the dishes and put everything away in the back room, Josette puts everything away and joins the others in the back room for lunch. After lunch she starts bringing out the containers of supplies from the other dimension, spending the next two weeks moving everything to various buildings while Dad is talking to the others about the work going on at the dorm and they decorate the dorm after coming back from the island for a few days.
"Did you head over to the Legion's dimension?"
"Yeah, split off a duplicate to go there with Clark and CJ while we were in the other dimensions."
"9th planet dimension?"
"I'm still there another couple years Earth time. We set up probes to check on the radiation and everything else before we left.
Josette delivers the empty containers back to the other dimension before the Lights Festival, settling in a couch when she comes back with the others.
"This is probably a dumb question but why don't you expand by adding onto the building instead of doing it all internally by tesseracts?"
"We'd thought of it but we'd lose the view from our windows. There's nothing sadder than looking outside and just seeing another building. On Earth that was okay. . ."
"Even though our view is of another building out the sliding glass door." David sniggers.
"We could do like I saw on Nova that one night, four connected buildings around an inner courtyard."
"Or Buckingham Palace with extensions everywhere?" Alan says walking by. "Can't you do the same thing on the windows you do on the other rooms to switch the view?"
"Could."
They draw up plans over the next few days, attending the Lights Festival then selecting where the new buildings would go on the school property before they head back to their dimensions. Josette's looking out her bank of windows after her shower the night before the new semester starts when David taps on the door and comes inside. Leaning over her shoulder, he shows her the plans they'd drawn up.
"Well, it definitely wouldn't look like a dorm anymore." She chuckles.
"Nope, definitely not."
The next morning Josette and David head to the government building, shaking off the snow and hanging up their coats, dialing up hot chocolate from the drinks machine before they settle in their usual spots.
"So how many billion degrees are you finishing this year?" Doc asks with a chuckle.
"Only three for sure, the dyeing degree from Assyrian, the degree on German U-Boats, the degree from Cambridge, and possibly the first degree on humor comic books."
The others look at David. "Yes, I'm finishing the mechanical engineering this year. I'm starting the doctorate on the comic books next year, I can already hearing Grammy Allie sighing at me being an annoying brat."
"You realize the twins and triplets are finishing twelfth grade this year?" Josette asks.
"Yep, seems like yesterday they were trying to decide if they were mad about not getting to go to the education center like the rest of their siblings or proud because unlike their siblings, they were going to be the first ones home schooled."
Doc chuckles. "The kids felt the same way about attending high school with their cousins when the school opened again."
"Supplies you've been bringing out?"
"In various buildings, this year they're bringing out stuff for the bookstores, expanding the library and administration building, turn the floor monitor rooms into full apartments, and bring out an apartment building and two new dining halls."
"Plus link them all to the tunnels."
"These aren't going to be permanent homes?" President Bartlett asks.
"No, everybody knows this is temporary housing. They've all got homes back on Earth. For the school, the school was our home." Principal Madison nods. "Right now they're talking about five year shifts at the school, so people are rotating in and out."
"How are they handling the dining halls?"
"Hiring new people and training them under their current kitchen crew. They needed to anyway since some of theirs are reaching retirement age."
"Their homes?"
"Giving up apartments if they live alone or have roommates. If it's a condo they own the school's making sure it's in good condition and removing roommates if they cause trouble with their mortgage or dues being auto drafted from their checks. If they have families their pay will be auto drafted to pay rent or mortgages. I can see single people coming out more than I can those in a strong relationship." The others nod. "Unless they both worked here." More nods from the others.
"Josette, any factories coming out this year?"
"No, we're good on everything for a few more years."
"First planet?"
"Peppers, tomatoes, and herbs."
After the meeting Josette heads to the bakery before walking back to the school, heading up to her glassblowing workroom to work on projects until lunch.
"Working on something new?"
"Yeah, glass fusing. And painting glass."
"More degrees?" David chuckles.
"Maybe."
The next few weeks pass and soon it's the first testing week. Josette and the others head to Eureka. settling in chairs with the PADDS once they're unlocked.
"So is David going to piss Allison off and start his comic book doctorate next year?" Dr. Cross asks, his eyes twinkling as Dr. Stark sighs.
"It is a doctorate." Josette says with a grin.
"Your degrees?"
"I'll get four classes for my German U-Boats degree over the break and get in the last five next semester. I'll finish Cambridge over the second break and the dyeing degree third degree."
"Only the three?"
"I'm a year from another degree but it's the first of a multiple from the comic book school." The others nod.
Back at the dorm Josette shakes her head at the dark skies, looking over when David comes through from the ranch with a half-dozen of her other selves.
"Yeah, we're expecting a storm. The alert went out and things are already beginning to shut down."
"Everything in?"
"Yeah,"
"How long?"
"Two weeks of snow and freezing temperatures, another week to dig out afterwards."
Josette heads up to add a couple extra quilts to her bed after pulling on warmer clothes, the others doing the same. The next few weeks pass slowly, Josette working on her classes and stuff for the show and pushing the doors open a couple times a day so the snow doesn't build up there.
Two weeks later Josette looks out to clear skies and she sighs in relief, pushing open the doors again and letting the dogs out before breakfast. She stands at the door breathing in fresh air and lets the dogs back inside before they walk to breakfast. Afterwards Josette splits off a half-dozen duplicates to clear off solar panels at the school and in town before heading off to the other continent and getting them there.
"Get all the solar panels cleared?" David asks when she comes back into the dorm. He can hear the snowblowers outside as the boys clear the paths to the sidewalks as maintenance works on the main sidewalks.
"Yeah, Abby was up there brushing off the solar panels when I came in." Ten minutes later Abby comes down, hanging up her outside clothes and the push broom.
"Oh these are gorgeous." one of the glassblowers says when Josette brings what she'd been experimenting with to the building a couple days into her second testing week. The glassworking teachers from Assyrian and Edinborough nod.
The snow finally melts and Josette's busy spreading manure on the fields and garden, tilling it under several days later then planting. After her finals she heads offplanet to pick up recycling then sliding into her seat at the dining hall.
"Everything in now?"
"Yeah, is Dad shooing us to the ranch again?"
David nods. "For two weeks at least. I know he talked to you about working ahead on your stuff."
"What are we going to do with ourselves for two . . .ATT don't even think it." David smirks at the finger Josette waves under his nose.
"A two week vacation at home." David smirks. "Working on anything beyond the four classes for the German U-Boat degree?"
"A few batches of sheets."
David makes a buzzing sound. "Nope. Granda and the others are supposed to be coming out tomorrow to start working on buildings. Bronwen really wants to work on your workroom there."
"I can work on some stuff on the ships." Josette stretches and goes to fill her tray again.
The next morning everybody begins arriving and shooing them off to the ranch house.
Bronwen blinks as she walks into a huge building. Principal Madison chuckles. "Josette's studio."
James sighs as he looks around. "I think I recognize this place. Or rather somebody who would have had something like this."
"She inherited it from somebody in Eureka when they died and nobody else was a crafter on the same scale Josette was."
"Jessica Anderson?"
Principal Madison sends off a message to Josette. "That was her. Josette says it's 75 floors tall, she thought it was only 15 at first until Dr. Blake went looking for the control panel and realized the sliding door was stuck." A second message comes through. "And she thinks she still hasn't found everything."
James looks at him. "When Josette was off work the first time Dr. Blake talked her into making the socks for Eureka since she already made them for sale at the school, the flea market, and online. That morphed into a federal contract for socks, that's the two sock machine buildings on the school grounds and in town."
"I'd wondered why you had so many." Professor Druid's mother Hannah asks.
"It was 750 machines and 2500 pallets of yarn. They went up on the fifth floor of the library since it wasn't in use yet and we had 12 students working four five hour shifts six days a week either taking care of the machines or filling boxes and putting them on pallets for Josette to move to a portable building Sundays when she brought out more pallets of yarn and moved the empties to a second building."
"Woolease?"
"Yes, the big 2 pound skeins, 30 in a box and 25 boxes to a pallet. About a year later they asked me if Josette could double her order so that became 1500 machines and 4500 pallets of yarn every six months with the socks picked up every other month. We were already planning on putting up a building for the machines, the machines and yarn orders grew as the government brought more and more."
"What were they doing with them?"
"Kids in orphanages and foster homes, adult foster care homes, and for sale at prison canteens. As things started getting worse, they wanted a stockpile of them for emergency supplies. Then there was our orders, when the kids couldn't take classes for a semester thanks to the dumbasses of education I asked Josette if she could make a different style sock and . . ." he leads them down the hall to the two sock rooms. "One thing led to another. The room on the right is the sock machines Josette brought for the school, the other room is the machines from Eureka."
"Oh good Lord." Hannah stares at the tables filled with sock machines.
"Yeah, Josette went to the Albatross Nest and brought an advanced machine and enough skeins of yarn to make nine examples. I had her order five more machines initially, when they sold well at the flea market she brought four more machines so one machine was making one sock. Over the years woolease brought our more sock yarns, which meant more machines. I'd ask Josette for more sock samples, which also meant more machines. The yarn orders went up too until it was 1000 boxes every other month of the basic sock yarn and 750 each for the white and natural woolease and the new sock yarn, but that was every four months and the manager over Josette's accounts staggered the orders in so we had two orders coming in every other month. Before we left Earth we arranged for them every six months like the other yarn shipments and after we moved to Haven they increased to 2500 boxes for the original and 2000 for the others. We went down to Earth twice a year, for Christmas plus the seniors graduation and the new students arriving so we were on Earth when they arrived."
"And everything that was delivered came back with you."
Principal Madison nods. "And most of our construction work happened on Earth and was incorporated into the school when we moved."
"That would have been handy."
"Yes, we could have whatever we needed done and weren't bothered by the construction noise or debris. We had pouting students the few days it took for the dorms to be moved off propane before the move to Haven. As Josette put it once, they might be mutants but they're also hormonal, bitchy, whiny, moody teenagers. And those were just the boys." Every parent in the room cackles, nodding vigorously.
"What does Josette have here?"
"List is on the computer." He opens the door to the computer station behind the stairs.
"What's all that?" Hannah points to the neat piles of large 30 gallon bags that are stacked floor to ceiling and look at least three bags thick.
"Bags of sheets, towels, and worn out clothes that Josette picked up from the resale stores in Killingmesoftly back on Earth. The other stores sent stuff too. It couldn't be sold but Josette could use the sheets and towels for her art and the clothes were turned into patchwork quilts. She picked up stuff whenever she went down, either with the school or when she was picking up supplies. This isn't everything, she's got more on the ships. She also shared with Albatross. Not counting the stuff she brought out from Clark's dimension or yours."
Hannah nods.
"Ahhh, I knew she had to have a long-arm machine as many quilts as she makes." Bronwen says from the computer station
"Yep, Josette quilted her first one by hand and swore up, down, and sideways never again." Principal Madison chuckles.
"I take it she didn't keep that promise?"
"Nope, she's hand quilted three after that, one for a class that was all hand-sewing." Bronwen shakes her head. "I wouldn't have the patience."
"They reminded them during the class was that they could work on blocks sitting while listening to the radio."
"Just like Grandma had a basket of mending sitting by her chair or they made rag rugs."
"Yep."
"Three sewing machines?"
"Josette was reminded a few years ago that her machine's over eighty years old and has been in nearly constant use all that time. We take care of our machinery but. . ."
"It's eventually going to wear out." James sighs. Principal Madison nods. "That's when we brought out the factories to make sewing and knitting machines."
Josette's waved up to the front table at lunch. "Josette, rugs?"
"The manufacturer will be making rug yarn starting next year, we can start the factory up after the Harvest Festival if it's needed. It shouldn't be, we've still got a good supply on the ships."
"Do you have the factories selected for the flooring?"
"Yeah, we shouldn't need to bring them out for a few years."
"Is there anything you need in the dorm?"
"Expanding my library again?"
"Already on the list."
"When we're done crawling over your kids homes, yes we're going over the ranch house too we'll start on the other buildings."
"Josette, dyeing building?" Frances asks.
"Started going up a few weeks ago, the outside stuff will be done by Thanksgiving with the special stuff we need done over the winter and into next year."
"We won't need it before then anyway. The towel factory dyes their own cotton when you grow offworld and nobody grows large enough crops of cotton on Haven to need a larger area."
"No, most of what we do is specialty dyeing. That's why a good portion of the new building is going to be workrooms."
"How is the 9th planet Eureka handling their schooling?"
"As students finish years, they're adjusting them to start at the first of their year like the others are. They're looking at having three thirty week semesters with 22 weeks left over when everything's said and done. The others are 'we're working on a year's worth of this, then taking a couple weeks break and starting on another subject. And taking breaks when the crops are coming in, the youngest are either handing stuff to their parents or otherwise helping to bring in the food."
"Other dimension?"
"Settling in well, they're taking their classes on the computer part of the day and working in the growing areas or interning at the various places that are coming out. Like us at the beginning, they're harvesting asteroids for ores and have a couple offworld growing areas."
"Any news?" Principal Madison asks at the government meeting the first day of the summer semester. The kids are back in classes a few hours a day though they're still living at the ranch house for another couple of weeks. Josette had gone back to work on her sheets around Bronwen's work on her textiles building workroom.
"We have three announced pregnancies among the former students. Our population growth is small but we . . ."
"Don't want to repeat the problems of Earth. Have your children when you can afford them."
"Exactly."
"Crystal?"
"Been working on it." Josette says. She checks her notes. "I'll have a good selection to take to my show."
"Basket weaving?"
"Starting next year when I finish the dyeing degree this fall."
Hannah comes into the room and nabs Josette, talking to her for a moment. Josette says something else and the other woman nods before heading off.
"Calvin wants a similar setup that I had with the school to offer socks."
"I'd been thinking of it, we still live in ours come winter." Principal Madison says.
Josette nods. "And while they're not as warm as pure wool, they don't have to be washed by hand and laid out to dry in a shared bathroom. Calvin's setting up an order for me when they return. And they might be talking to the government about selling the socks too."
"Be more jobs." Principal Madison says. The others nod. Making a note of it in her PADD Josette turns her attention back to the here and now instead of what might be.
"How many classes are you getting in this summer?"
"27, I'll be taking less this fall since I'll have all the offworld harvests coming in."
"German U-Boats?"
"Got in four over the break and I'll finish the last five this semester. I'll get in the degree from Cambridge over the second break."
"Supplies?"
"Bringing them out when I head off for my show." Josette laces her fingers together and throws her arms over her heads, stretching backwards until her back pops. "Then again when we head out after Thanksgiving."
"Green peppers?"
"Yeah, I'm heading off in another week to pick about half of them green."
The next several days pass quickly, Josette heading off to the first planet and picking green peppers, selling them to Dr. Kane, Dr. Cross, and the two cafes before splitting the rest between stasis and running a line through them to dry.
"That's a hot one." Calvin says, waving a hand to his mouth.
"Yeah, the constant heat and dry conditions makes the peppers hotter than they'd be if they were grown here. Dr. Kane on the fourth planet uses them in his herbal medicine for colds. So does 9th planet Dr. Cross."
"You wouldn't have a cold left." Dr. Cross says. "You wouldn't have a head left."
"There's hotter, GD has had me plant two peppers they'd been working on. The ones I planted on the first planet were off the Scoville scale."
Josette looks over as a new apartment building appears on the school grounds, yesterday had been two new dining halls and before that the school's bookstores had been worked on. Taking to the air, she flies to an area by the beach, looking around before she starts looking at a file on her PADD. Double checking everything, she starts the process of bringing out a number of buildings.
Josette sighs as she takes off her shoes at the hotel after the show finally ends. The others had ordered from room service and the food arrives when she comes out of the bedroom in sleep pants, a t-shirt, and the hotel robe.
"Get many orders?"
"Oh yes, and the 'backstory' fliers for the school were snapped up. Especially since Granda was nearby and talking to me. The rumors that the schools were associated were already spreading since everybody knew him."
"The show was sponsored by the school." David says, smirking. Josette hiccups/belches from drinking too fast and everybody laughs.
"Boys show is next, you won't have to make nice with the idiots who want publicity." Alan smirks. Josette idly flips him off as she heads to the bathroom.
"We're going to have to find our own place." Anna's saying when she comes back.
"Yep."
Josette brings up a file on her PADD and passes it around. "Good sized plot of land and the others are already demanding the right to build a house once we've settled on the land."
David nods. "There's a difference between working with what we already have and starting from scratch. Even if the dorm does have two new additions on either side with plans for more in the future."
"And the medical unit is a hospital now."
After a couple weeks in the other dimension where they arrange for the purchase of the land, spend a few days working on the recycling in various cities, and bring the supplies to Aztec Josette and the others arrive back on Haven, Josette moving the containers to various places before they head back to the dorm. Alexander, Michael, and Josette head to their newly enlarged woodworking buildings and studios after she puts the new orders on the server, settling in to work on stuff for the boys show in a few weeks and the requests from the website. At dinner Josette hands Principal Madison a thumb drive.
"School catalog, tentative admission form, school pictures from the show, the brochure that was put out at the show, and a tentative agreement for the socks. Both for the school and for a government contract. I've got my own copies."
"We'll look them over after dinner." Josette nods and heads to the back room, filling her tray and sitting down. "Did you look at the crops?"
"Yeah, we'll have stuff ripening in the garden in the next couple days. First planet?"
"I'll be harvesting there too in a few days."
After dinner Josette joins Principal Madison and Professor Druid in the administration building, bringing out their PADDS and looking at the files.
"Good lord." James shakes his head as he watches people fawning over his father.
"Yeah, you'd think he was a rock star and not the principal of a school. Yeah, it's one of the top schools in the world but. . ."
"Who would really recognize a school principal?" Katrina snorts.
"Exactly. It's not like he was . . .well Doc."
"These are decent contracts, I was afraid. . ."
"That the government would try lowballing me? So did Granda, that's why he insisted on handling them."
"I hadn't thought of some of this."
"Neither had I."
"Josette, what's this?" David asks a few weeks later when she has him bring everybody out to the beach.
"A block of New York brownstones that had been turned into boarding houses, the bare bones are good. I need to do a bit of work but it's going to be magnificent when I'm done."
"Are you doing most of the work?"
"With the help of Sanders. It'll take a while but we'll have the time. I'll do most of the demo once we get plans set up."
"Exterior needs some work?" Alan asks.
"Yep, all new windows and I plan on spraying the exterior to clean up the bricks. The paint's probably three layers thick and we need to check the joints."
"Solar panels?
"Along with alternate energy, I want to put some sitting and growing areas up on the roof."
They wander through the buildings, shaking their heads but like Josette had said the bones were good and they'd needed a place to stay when they're going to be on the sailing ship, farming the clams, mussels, and oysters, or having a cookout on the beach, or just needed to get away from everything for a few days. Especially with students descending on the school again in a few years.
"What's the insulation in the roof?"
"That's the first thing they'll going to be doing after they check the roof. Or should I say roofs. If they need to be replaced no use insulating." David nods.
"Yeah, you need to clean the bricks up." David says, looking at them.
Josette nods. "I'll so that in a couple days. This will be the project for my electrical engineering thesis. And dissertation." Everybody nods in satisfaction before they head back to the dorm. The front of the dorm had been changed, with iron fretwork in front of glass panels that could be opened for air and a mudroom. They'd kept the line in the front of the dorm, after the rain the previous year they'd realized why the kids had put up a clothesline out there. Putting on slippers, Josette sits down on a couch and puts up her feet.
"What brought that on anyway?"
"One of those home improvement shows that are on in the other dimension. They were redoing a brownstone and I thought 'hey, that would look interesting on the hill by the beach. And we needed a place to stay anyway out there. The ships are out there, the shellfish farms are out there, and that's where we have our cookouts."
"Easier to hike up a hill late at night than head to various homes."
"Contracts?"
"Good, I'm going to be delivering a couple times a year. Both the socks for the government contract and the ones for the school. I pick up the first batch of yarn when we go out for Thanksgiving, that will give us a good supply of socks on hand when the school opens. They're going to be setting up areas for me to pick up the pallets of yarn and drop the boxes off. The government will be coming out yearly to pick them up."
"Are you going to be supplying their school too?"
"Yeah, they liked the idea of having the containers in a room and handing a couple pair out as part of the 'new student package'."
"Both buildings?"
"Yeah, all the machines won't be in use, the government is planning on starting slow and if they like the socks buying more." David nods. "And the others are as needed."
The yearly crops start coming in and Josette's busy with the crops on the first planet and on Haven, bottling olive oil and wine and starting the new grapes aging in barrels as she makes a batch of non-alcoholic beer and spirits for cooking with for the communal kitchens and the cafes. Then the second crops start coming in and everybody is busy in the fields or gardens and they drop into seats in the living room one night.
"Are you going to be working on the Brownstones?"
"Yeah, after the Harvest Festival and through the winter when I'm not busy with everything else."
The next day the others arrive and after Josette's party and the Harvest Festival Josette heads off to the first planet to plant the second batch of herbs, peppers, and tomatoes before sliding into her seat at the government building.
"Did you talk to Dad about the contracts?"
"Yeah, I'm going to pick up the first batch of supplies after Thanksgiving.
"How was the boys show?"
"The usual. We don't have the 'OMG, they're new artists, I gotta have a dozen of everything' we have in the other dimension." President Bartlett laughs and nods.
"Did you get your Cambridge degree finished?"
"Yeah."
"Starting your last year for the baking degree?"
"Yeah, and got another shitload and a half of books and other supplies." The others chuckle. "I'm only taking sixteen classes this semester since I've got the offworld harvests starting soon, the baking classes are ramping up since this is the last year, and I'm finishing the dyeing degree plus I have the stuff for the shows."
"And you're going to be halfway through your masters and doctorate."
"Yep. I gotta start working on getting the papers wrapped up next year. And starting the papers for the electrical engineering degree and art history dissertation."
"Good, I was going to talk to you again about that degree." Doc says. Josette and David exchange a grin and Doc and Principal Madison sigh. The kids are up to something.
After the meeting Josette runs into the bakery, coming out with a bag of stuff about ten minutes later before she walks up to the house, going upstairs to her once again expanded workroom and picking out another knitting project as one of her other selves works at one of the sewing machines.
Over the next few weeks Josette starts gutting the interiors of the Brownstones, tossing the debris in a commercial replicator then using a sander on the floors once linoleum or other flooring is pulled up.
"Did you gut them all?" David asks, coming into one building where she's taking out the doors to fix and refinish.
"Nearly."
"The roof?"
"Passed inspection. We added insulation where it was needed there and in the window bays when we replaced the windows. Cleaned three layers of paint off the bricks with the paste and a water blaster. That was all ran through one of the three big mack daddy sanitation units set up for the bathrooms and kitchens."
"Repointing?"
"Spot repointing in a few places, right now I'm running through painting choices. I don't want them all the same color, I'd never know where one stopped and the other one started." Someone moans on the floor under them and Josette walks over to the stairs, looking down and seeing Ham looking around.
"Yeah Ham?"
"Doc says to beat you." he calls from the stairs.
Josette cackles and goes back to pulling off the molding around the door, writing numbers and location on tape. "We needed a place to stay when we're on the sailing ship, harvesting the oysters, clams, and mussels, or cooking out on the beach." Ham comes up, busy taping everything for Doc.
"Electrical?"
"Gutting the whole thing and making sure they can all run on one alternate power source, that's going to be my thesis and project. How wiring has evolved over the years will be my dissertation."
"Plumbing?"
"That too, these were transformed into boarding houses and they cut it in wherever they could."
"Growing areas?"
"Planters on the roofs along with sitting areas. Stuff that can come in over the winter. Nobody's going to be living here over the winter so we won't need anything more permanent."
"Furniture?"
"We're working on it over the winter when we're not working on our other stuff."
Josette heads off to Eureka the next day for her first testing week with the others. "Josette." Dr. Cross shakes his head when Josette slides into her seat. "A row of Brownstones?"
"We needed a place to stay when we stay after cookouts instead of sleeping in the sand or heading home dragging our asses." Josette snorts. "I'm using the rewiring for my Masters Project."
"Good." Dr. Stark says. "Now, how is Hank coming on the looms?"
"Good, we should have everything in the building by the Lights Festival. That includes the looms he's making for my places and the schools."
"Including the 9th planet."
"Yep. Once the building's done, the classes will start."
"How many classes are you taking this semester?"
"Only sixteen, this fall is asshole to elbow with the offworld harvests coming in, the stuff for two shows, the last year of the cooking degree starting and the last semester for the dyeing degree."
"Contracts?"
"Picking up the supplies after Thanksgiving and opening the jobs the first of the year." The three men nod in satisfaction.
"Are they coming out next year to complete the renovations to the school?"
"Yeah, we expect to start seeing students year after next. They'll be arriving third semester, that will give them time to settle in and talk to their advisors before they start classes the following year."
"You're getting a mixture of grades?"
"Yeah, just like in any school."
"How many students do you expect?"
"That's something they're going to be working on before we start bringing them out."
"Personal mail?"
"Weekly databursts and me blipping over at the same time to pick up the mail that's been held for them. Just like we did before we lost Earth."
"Are you going to be having student workers?"
"Yes, both in the kitchen, in the laundry handling sheets, and handling the mail. Any sneering from the other students and they get a polite lecture from the teachers about how they're going to have to have jobs once they leave school and looking down at their fellow students who are already planning for their future isn't making them brownie points. By the end of a twenty week semester, we should know if a student isn't going to be a good fit and ship their ass home at the end of the semester."
"Trying to bring in stuff that's not allowed?"
"Their bags will be examined at the school and contraband taken away with a demerit given. No 'I'm so spe-shul your rules don't apply to me' bullshit allowed right from the beginning."
"There's always going to be one who thinks Mommy or Daddy's money is going to make the school roll over on those pesky rules."
"Yep, and they're going to be stunned when they're laughed at and told to grow up."
Josette heads off to her first offworld harvest the next day, returning an hour later and delivering food to the people waiting then heading to the government meeting.
"9th planet?"
"Yeah, with the harvests coming in so late they're getting them this year and possibly next year."
"Cotton?"
"Our stock is beginning to dip, next year I'll plant offworld again."
"Are you going to be showing the students doing the sheets and towels the ropes if they sign up for that job?"
"Of course. I'll work with them at least a month to make sure they're not overwhelmed before I let them fly on their own. They can teach the younger students who will be taking over their jobs." Josette makes a note on her PADD to check they have supplies of single use detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and other stuff for the school's laundry for the students.
"Are you using the laundry in town?"
"I'd planned on it." Josette says slowly. "We're going to need to anyway when the dorms are full, especially if nobody wants that job and former students get hired for it."
"How is work on the Brownstones coming."
"The floors are tore up and they're working on the plaster now. The rooms that were tore up to make individual places are being put to right. We're also putting in roof access for the sitting areas and the container gardens. Everything that can be moved inside come the winter."
"You won't need anything more permanent with nobody living there over the winter." Principal Madison says. Josette nods. "The botanists have been experimenting with container gardening so I'll know what works and what doesn't."
"Green Peppers from the first planet?"
"Going out our second testing week." Josette says. The next day she moves the looms and other stuff she'd planned on taking to the 9th planet to Hidalgo and flies off, landing near her home there and moving everything to the rooms set aside for them, looking up to see Dr. Cross, Dr. McNider, Doc, and Charles looking at her when she finishes putting together a loom.
"Is this new?"
"Yes, some of Hank's work. It's meant to make wide, not long, fabric lengths. Designers use it for fabric they drape on walls as part of their designs." Josette straightens up, her back cracking before she stretches.
"Are you staying a while?"
"Yeah, I needed a break from the offworld harvests coming in and wanted to see what kind of crops I can get in from the rooftop garden."
"What are these?" Doc motions to the wall of tiny round objects.
"The robots that plant and pick the offworld harvests I just pick up, we don't use them on Haven because we want everybody to be self-sufficient." Everybody nods. "They'd prepare the harvest and either can or freeze it on the ships since they have the machinery and a place to keep it. In the offworld growing areas they bundle up the cotton in large bales or bag everything else."
"Speaking of cotton?"
"I've got various warehouses in mind for the raw cotton, cotton for socks, or cotton for underwear to bring out if and/or when it's needed and I'm growing it again next year offplanet since we're going to be running low."
"The towels factory?"
"They've got a good supply of cotton in for regular orders now that the apartments are furnished." Josette sighs and grabs her PADD, making a note to check the stock of toilet paper.
"The school?"
"Our family is coming out again next year to finish the stuff they wanted to do to the school, I'm going to be bringing out more supplies probably every few months like I did with you guys until the students start coming out year after next for us. We plan on bringing them out over the course of several days and letting them get used to the school before classes start. If the first batch of students settle in well, they'll open the school to more students the second year."
"Different grades?"
"Yep. We're looking at three years before the first batch of students graduates."
Several weeks later on the 9th planet but only an hour on Haven Josette returns to the dorm, pulling out another pile of fabrics and notes for another quilt, looking up as the Josette who'd been offplanet for another offworld harvest comes into the room.
After coming back from the second testing week Josette heads to the first planet to pick green peppers, selling them to various places before splitting the rest between stasis and drying. The rest of the semester flies by and Josette's busy with the crops, the garden, and the first planet plants before and after her finals.
"Is everything in now?"
"Yes, the tomatoes, herbs, and peppers were sold and what's left is either in stasis or drying on lines, the recycling is all taken care of and we need to make another batch of paper this winter." David nods.
"Offworld harvests delivered?"
"Yep. I'm vegging tonight and concentrating on the stuff we're taking to the other dimensions until Thanksgiving."
"Do you have a list of what you're going to be bringing out?"
"Not until we return. I figure year after next when the students start coming out I'll be heading over more often to pick up supplies." The others nod and head to bed early.
The next week passes and Josette looks at everything she'd moved to Hanover for the trip before joining the others walking to the dining hall for Thanksgiving.
"Josette, did you. . . ?" Hannah smiles as Josette sends a list of what she'd brought out over. "Oh good, I was telling Marcus that you'd be arriving soon."
"Yeah, we talked to him when we delivered stuff. He said he'd have the remaining payments on what we brought out and the new list of requests in about a week." When Josette's not busy moving supplies to Hanover she's working in the recycling drop-off areas in various cities, part of the money going for stuff they want while the rest goes into their bank accounts. Josette and the girls head to Vegas and they deposit the other checks before heading back home. Josette starts moving the supply containers to various buildings for maintenance to move stuff before they head off to the other dimension, Josette delivering the other three rooms of stuff to Dexter who starts checking the order numbers and sending out messages as they head to their building and start wandering the malls and museums since they'd got the message the others would be busy until later that night.
Six weeks later for them they return to the school with supplies that go to various rooms while the Josette who'd been off in the Legion's dimension arrives back home.
"Josette?" Principal Madison asks at dinner. Josette holds up a finger and sends off a file. "What I or maintenance will be moving over the next few weeks. I'll put the sock jobs up on the server before the Lights Festival."
Josette settles into her usual spot at the Albatross Nest in Albatross, a plate on her lap as she opens a bottle of pop. They talk about the changes to the school and everything that's coming out, the fact that Sue and Agatha have children in the gestation chambers.
"How are we on old clothes for patchwork quilts?"
"Pretty good, we might need some in a couple years, but not next year." Josette nods and they start passing out the kits. They talk about the various kits for a couple hours until Josette brings out the three quilts she'd finished that year, putting everything back in subspace before heading back to the dorm and putting everything away.
The next couple of days Josette is busy moving the pallets of sock yarn to various buildings on the school grounds and in town.
"Been a while since this was full." David says, walking into room 204 and looks at the pallets of yarn.
"Yeah." Josette puts three pallets in the left-hand room of the studio before they go downstairs to bring up the decorations. They'd been getting decorations from the other dimensions and it takes a few days to get all the rooms decorated they'd wanted to decorate and they stand outside after the suns have set looking at the lights in the windows.
Josette sorts through the containers in her closet, taking the books for her finished degrees upstairs and shelving them in various rooms. The next day they head to the island for a week, swimming in the lagoon and having sex in the sand for hours.
Josette looks at the townspeople and former students who'd applied for the sockmaking job after the Lights Festival.
"Hello everyone, welcome to. . ." Josette says.
"Ms. Takahawa, is this a permanent job?"
"Semi-permanent depending on how the first batch of socks goes over. We might be shutting down for a few months but when we reopen, these are your jobs unless we're hiring more people if the order increases or you choose to step down." Josette goes over everything they'd be doing as part of their jobs for a couple of hours.
"When are you going to be taking in the orders?"
"After we plant the first time, before the Harvest Festival, and after Thanksgiving. At least until I find out if the order is going to increase, if it does I'll be delivering more often."
"Are they settling in with the socks?" President Bartlett asks
"Yes, it's only six hours three times a week but that's all we need right away."
"And your socks?"
"I'm working on filling containers that I'll take over when I take the socks over. I'll take stuff for our orders then too." Principal Madison nods. "When I'm not working on them I'll get a good sock. . .err stockpile in before the students start arriving next year." The others chuckle.
"Are the offworld harvests going to be coming in before the Harvest Festival this year?"
"Nope, they're starting just after it. Earlier and I won't be having two offworld harvests in a week but still third semester."
"Are we possibly expecting an announcement?" Principal Madison asks.
Josette grumbles and pushes David out of his chair at his smug look. "Yes, we're all pregnant, yes it's all multiples. Twins for me, triplets for the twins, while Susan's swearing about quads again. Lord Apollo confirmed it this morning." She looks over at Doc whose lips are twitching. "Bethany already told us when we called to let them know."
"Really?"
"Yes, and we're pretty sure it's multiples as well since Lady Hera was sighing and Lady Aphrodite giggling. And speaking of babies, are the 9th planet pregnancies changing?"
"Yes, Billy became pregnant last year and his pregnancy was shorter. He gave birth to twin boys while I was there last year. Dr. Cross and McNider were keeping careful track of the pregnancy since they figured the pregnancies would start changing by now."
"Awwww."
"The kids are starting university this year."
"Yep, they're already talking to Archimedes GD about their internships."
"The three pregnancies among the former students?"
"Two boys and a girl, there's sixteen babies in the gestation chambers from the sorting planet and another dozen each from the fourth and fifth planets."
"Oh really" Marilyn says when Josette grabs a cart and start tossing yarn over her shoulder into it then heads over to the other supplies.
"Yes, I'm pregnant, we all are. And this time it's multiples for all of us but this time I'm having the least."
"Twins?"
"Yuppers, triplets for the twins and Susan swore a good ten minutes about having quadruplets again. Pat and Bethany are pregnant too and are not happy with Doc right now since the babies will just be turning two when these are born. And Doc says it's probably multiples for them too." Agatha lays her head down on the counter and cackles. "There's sixteen babies in the gestation chambers on the sorting planet, a dozen each on the fourth and fifth planets, and Billy had a pair of twins on the 9th planet last fall. They're in the 'our bodies are adapting to the new year length' time and his pregnancy was shorter than they had been but not settled into their new lengths stage of settlement."
Josette stops to the bakery and heads back to the dorm, setting up the gift bags before joining the others heading to the dining hall. Principal Madison's lips are twitching at the disgusted looks the girls are giving the boys.
"Oh really." Professor Druid says.
"Yeah, Josette announced the pregnancies at the meeting. She's having twins, the twins are having triplets, and Susan's having quadruplets. Doc says Pat and Bethany are pregnant too and they think it's multiples for them also."
Professor Druid moves her tray away as she lays her head down on the table and cackles.
"Yeah. And Pat and Bethany's babies are going to be turning two when they deliver."
"Any other news?"
"The 9th planet pregnancies are in the 'getting shorter but not settled yet' stage, Josette says Billy had twin boys while she was there six weeks last fall. There's 16 babies in the gestation chambers from the sorting planet and a dozen each from the fourth and fifth planets."
"I'm sure they're happy about that as long as their days are." Professor Ziegler says. Everybody nods, whether they'd been pregnant themselves or used gestation chambers.
"How long do you think it will be before their bodies are totally adapted?"
"I'd say another two years just to make sure, they've been settled fifteen years by the Harvest Festival and their years are not quite 2 to one to ours."