"We still get in tons of dried eggs, dry milk, and other stuff. . .mostly because it's easier to use in big batches." The others nod.

"Shoes?"

"The factory opened today, the slippers are being started after the Harvest Festival." The others nod in satisfaction.

"The new library?

"They're clearing the ground this year for the buildings and the pavers will start to be sold. We've got another year of work before they're all done."

Back at the dorm Josette starts making tacos, adding seasoning from the large canisters to taste. Like the cooking schools, dining halls,restaurants, and communal kitchen she gets a lot of things in the industrial size since it doesn't make sense to use individual packets.

The others begin dragging in as they finish their lessons, either taking hard taco shells from the stasis unit or grabbing tortillas as they fix their tacos.

"Did CJ ever start his doctorate?"

"Oh yes, Clark and Thomas were just giving him looks until he caved. he's two semesters into it this year, and like the rest of you finishing his bachelors next year." The others snigger.

"Have you heard about your doctorate?"

"No, but it's just a formality, I'll sign up when I finish the classes this summer and expect Dr. Stark to tell me I'm in this fall."

"Are they printing the same number of books for the 100th anniversary . . .?"

"37,500. It's a smaller run since there's less people interested in it."

"Yeah."

"If we run out we'll print more. I saw Granda giving the printing building a look?"

"Jane and the others are nudging him about a book on their school since I did one on the history of ours." The others snigger.

"Yeah, so he's not happy. They're talking about two books, one for theirs and one for when they took over our school since we have pictures and everything."

Sooner than they'd thought it would happen, Josette, the boys, and Susan head to Archimedes for their tests.

"Josette, you're in for your doctorate." Dr. Cross says when she sits down. She looks around. "Nathan is talking with Thomas about bringing out his Wayne Industries and Drake Corporation, and maybe the Daytons. Either here or Haven."

"Thomas had been talking about it."

"Five years?"

"Yeah, we'll be on the same time period then, seven and we expect to have continents gone."

"Are they going to let them go back to nature?"

"Africa for certain, the whole continent needs a lot of time to recover. The others we'll see on a case by case basis."

"How are the cities coming along?"

"Done, the one for Earth was settling in in one of the lost countries when we left."

"Do you see Thomas and the others needing a growing area?"

"No, they've got the one in the compound, that's just as big as ours in the dorm."

"Then they have plenty."

"Yep."

"The 10th planet?"

"They've been making plans, Buckaroo and his Institute coming out means they're enlarging theirs. Not that most of them don't have a growing area of their own in their buildings." Nods from the others as Susan comes over, the boys following her a few minutes later.

"How are you coming on your dissertation?"

"Josette's got the right idea, start the damn thing before you start the classes and you're ahead of the game. If there's something to add, it's not that hard to go back and move things around."

"Offworld harvests?"

"I'm off on one right now."

Vincent puts plates down in front of everybody and they talk about what new foods Josette plans on growing. Each items gets nods of satisfaction from the two doctors and Vincent.

"You've already planted them haven't you?"

"I was planning on doing it while I was out today with the drying tables." She looks at Alexander. "We gotta check ours before we plant." He thinks a second and nods. "It's been a few years."

"Aging building?"

"Finished, ready for everything this summer."

"Mushroom building?"

"We'll start growing come spring."

Back at the dorm they find David sacked out in the living room with a couple cats laying on top of him. Josette takes the picture and heads upstairs to the pie factory to see how everything is coming along. She knows that it won't be ready until this summer but that gives her time to work on recipes, do an inventory, and make plans.

Her workroom is next, where she finds a couple of her other selves working on various stages of quilts. Another is in a corner knitting on one of the projects from the kits. Her last step is the growing area, moving some of the larger plants from the greenhouse to either the planting area or the aquaponics section and checks on the green tomatoes, they should be ready for picking by midterms.

Josette merges with her other selves before dinner.

"Has anybody checked the growing area?" Alan asks in the dining hall.

"Yeah, this afternoon. I moved some of the bigger stuff from the greenhouses, we've got to start more seeds."

"That's what I thought, it's been a few weeks since we planted."

That weekend finds Josette grilling peppers and eggplants from the aquaponics unit, eating some then putting the rest in stasis to use in other meals. A batch of jerky is drying in the unit while another is marinating in the refrigerator. Checking her list, she starts making other foods in the vat unit, mostly different types of lunch meat for sandwiches. A half-dozen loaves of bread are rising on the counter when she breaks for lunch.

After lunch Josette heads upstairs to the containers, bringing out containers of dry products and putting them in the kitchens.

"Is that everything?" Susan asks.

"Yep, Sugar, Salt, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices. . .this should last us for a couple months."

"Pepper?"

"I'm growing peppercorn again this year. And mustard seeds."

"Maple syrup?"

"Tapping the trees this year, last year was so fucking nasty we couldn't."

"It didn't warm up enough during the day for the sap to run but cool down at night."

"Yep, it turned cold after Thanksgiving and stayed cold."

"Not as bad as it was on Earth." David says, coming up behind them.

"Yeah, we didn't get the storms dumping on us like Boston did."

"No freezing pipes bursting."

"No having to find space to put all the snow."

Josette heads to Calvin's school the next morning after breakfast, delivering the mail and picking up what they'd been holding for them.

Jane and the secretary wave her over and she whistles as she reads the news on the computer.

"Can you see many people doing it?"

"Not at first, most people can't handle not having a nearby store where they can buy stuff. But it's a start."

Josette leans between Principal Madison and Professor Druid at lunch.

"Earth is opening up a dimension for colonizing, there's going to be information coming out in the databursts."

"I can't see people on Earth not having a store to go to to buy everything they need."

"That's what Maria said at the school. If every store on Earth vanished tomorrow there'd be mass panic, hysteria, then rioting in the street."

"They'll have to start slow, showing people how to cook basic stuff."

Josette nods before she goes into the back room.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, they're opening a dimension for colonizing on Earth, they've got a lot of work ahead of themselves."

"But this is the first step." David agrees. "What are your plans for the afternoon?"

"I've got to start more paper for my shows. Whose turn is it to brush off the solar panels?"

"Mine, it's a lot easier to use the push broom on them then the snowblower. I'm always afraid I'll break them." Michael says.

"When do I need to move stuff to the ship?"

"Couple of weeks. Without that woman buying ten of everything, the orders have calmed down a little."

Midterms Josette brings back empty shipping containers and the recycling. Picking up supplies for the school and for their orders before heading to the school and dropping off the mail and socks.

"How long are you here for?"

"At least a week, I saw the recycling areas are getting full."

The woman at the drop-off center sighs when she sees a familiar face arrive at the yard and start filling bags, dragging them to the machines and starting to run them through.

A couple weeks later Josette checks the new balance on her account and heads back to Haven.

"Pick up glass and stuff?"

"Yeah, I'll sort through everything later." Josette yawns and drops onto the couch, closing her eyes for a power nap. David chuckles but everybody's been napping this winter.

"Another month and we'll be able to open the windows for ten, fifteen minutes. . .Maybe it will wake everybody up." Alan says as he walks past.

"Doubt it." Anna says, walking past with an apple. "This has been a long winter for all it's been a quiet winter. Even with the offworld harvests coming in."

"First planet harvests?"

"I'm going out in a couple days to harvest the green picked stuff. The mushrooms will start coming on strong too."

Josette brings out bushel baskets to the cafes on the 8th and 9th planets, she and Vincent haggling over the tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms before he feeds her.

"Get everything delivered?" Michael asks when Josette slides into her seat.

"Yeah, the rest is in stasis. I spent a couple weeks sorting out some of the clothes and other stuff I brought back."

"Move the books to the ships?"

"Yeah, I've got 25,000 on the ship, 5000 each for the two shows, plus about the same for sale on the websites and 5000 for Ellis." David whistles. "Yeah, that cleared out a good chunk of the area for that book."

"Do you ever take out the older books?"

"Oh yeah." Josette scowls. "I gotta do an inventory, I might need to reprint some of them." David sniggers and Josette blows him the raspberry while Doc chuckles, having joined them for lunch so he could talk to Principal Madison afterwards. Once again he thanks whichever gods are listening for deciding to come out personally to the school that day to apologize to Josette and Principal Madison. He can't imagine life without this sawed off squirt granddaughter of his.

It finally stops snowing and everybody's opening windows for a few minutes until the furnace comes on even though it hasn't started melting yet. Bethany comes in from the door to headquarters and chuckles.

She finds Josette looking at a picture of a waterfall with lush foliage on either side.

"Is that somewhere on the planets?"

"Yep, the first planet." She runs the file. "That's magnificent. Are you planting there?"

"Not right now, I'm looking into foliage around falls on the islands and on Earth."

"The water would take care of the need to water."

"Just like they planted on the banks of the river in Egypt." Michael says, walking towards them.

"Exactly, is that the new orders?"

"Yes." He sends the updated file to her PADD and she nods as she looks them over.

"Crops on Haven?"

"I'm heading out in a few weeks."

The crops start going in and they head off to Archimedes for their finals.

"Two more classes." Alexander says as he slides into his seat. "It feels like I'm been going for this degree forever."

"We have been going for this degree forever." Michael snorts as he sits down. Dr. Stark sniggers.

"Not quite that long, but it has been over a decade."

"And we're not done yet." Alexander moans.

"How are the special orders coming in?"

"Good, somebody seems to have finally put a leash on that fool woman."

Back at the woodworking building Josette starts moving everything to the ship. Once they can walk in here they go over the list of what they still have to make.

"First world harvests?"

"Going out tomorrow, I'll pick up the recycling and the second batch of extruded plastic while I'm there."

Vincent smiles as she comes in the next day, bringing out the bushel baskets of peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and potatoes. They haggle over the price and then put everything away as Vincent puts a plate in front of her.

"How's the long aging coming along?"

"Good, I was checking on what I have on the ship and they're looking good."

Josette returns to Haven, sliding into her seat at the dining hall.

"Get everything taken care of?"

"Yeah, good sales on everything and the rest is in stasis. Talked about how the long aging is coming and making plans for what we want to make this summer. Put up the first set out outdoor stuff for the Institute."

"When are they coming out?"

"End of this year, it will be early spring for them and they can plant. I'll have a second set of outbuildings ready for them. They can put the rest up over time because they don't plan on staying out."

"How much stuff are we making this year?"

"Tons."

"Do we have enough room?"

"Yeah, they figured enough room for a large manufacturer, then doubled that, then doubled it again." the others snigger.

David open the tesseract on Earth a few days later, Josette delivering the orders and dropping off empty shipping containers and the recycling before she takes the socks into the school. Calvin had been waiting for her and they count the socks before the payment goes off and they head to the house.

"Pat and Bethany came out?"

"They wanted to visit Ellis' place."

"Can you handle an increase in the sock order?"

"How big an increase?"

"Doubling it over the space of a few years."

"Easily, we're not using most of the machines even with both buildings in operation. I'll have to talk to the others of course but I don't see a problem."

A few weeks later the students walk through the tesseract on Haven, heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked as Josette joins with her other self that had been to Doc's world.

"Anything new?"

Josette sends them a file. "The government wants to increase the sock order. I told Granda I'd have to talk to you before I said anything but we have plenty of machines for all that we've got both buildings going."

Principal Madison checks the records and nods. "Anything on the colonization plans?"

"They're making plans. People can't just pick up and move. They're going to need a large amount of supplies. They're making plans."

"Just like they would when they eventually go into space."

"Exactly. We were very lucky in that our buildings came with us. If you read the Pern books, you'll see the first people on the planet were building for themselves and the others who came out after them."

"But unlike ours they were all there from the beginning but still on the ship."

"And ours we had the first temporary housing units ready for them and they were building for those who came out afterwards."

"And we were able to bring out supplies continuously, they'd have to bring out everything from the beginning."

"They've got the colonization plans from the 9th planet." The others nod.

"Doc's world, you were talking about more orders?"

"Yep, I've got a partial list of what they want, they'll talk to us at the Harvest Festival." She passes that over.

"Nothing we're not making now or can easily add to the factories."

"Exactly."

"How's Albatross coming along?"

"They're cleaning the land right now, the potters are working on the rest of the bricks and pavers for both buildings. We'll start engraving them this fall. Plans are still to start building next spring."

"Josette?" Pat asks when she finds her staring at the wall later that afternoon. She blinks.

"Sorry Pat, I had to go offplanet and harvest a few worlds."

"So you're getting used to humanity again." Pat pats her on the hand. "Did you get anything at Ellis'?"

"Oh yes, I got a shitload and I ordered more, it should be ready by the time I come back out for the boys show."

"Did you ever check the supply of books?" David asks, coming over.

"Yeah, We can't for a while because the other books come first but we'll eventually have to make more of them."

"If you have to you can save a box of each and replicate them." Pat says. Josette nods.

Josette smashes glass for the glassblowers the next morning.

"Thank you Josette, I was going to say it was beginning to pile up." One of the women says when the container of broken glass starts filling inside the building.

"What are you experimenting with now?" Alan asks when he finds her in the candy factory at the dorm.

"The old fashioned hard candies you used to find in the barrels at the stores."

"Hmmmm, we'd have to have some kind of poll to see what kinds and flavors people would buy."

"Yep, we don't want candy just sitting there going to waste. Are you individually wrapping it or like bulk stuff by the bag?"

"Not individually wrapped unless it's something edible like the candy bars. I was thinking bags or maybe paper cones like you saw on the travel shows where they the old type stores." Alan nods "Working on anything else?"

"Yeah, I've got about ten different batches of various candies going."

"Finish your masters?"

"First thing I did. I shelved the books in the library before I started working on this."

"Are you close to finishing any others?"

"I'm one semester from one class and two from another. The second one is a three degree curriculum one from the comic book school. I've got about three of them I'm finishing in this batch of degrees I haven't graduated with yet."

Josette looks up at the long line of people at her show in Mom's dimension a couple weeks later.

"How many books?" David asks after the show when they've returned to the rooms.

"If we didn't sell all the books I brought out for the show, we can't have that many left." Josette rolls her eyes.

"Have you been working on the other books?"

"Yeah, while I was off harvesting the other planets. I brought the files to work on while I was down, along with the chemical engineering dissertation."

Back on Haven several weeks later for them they check on the crops and start putting away everything they'd brought out from the other dimension. She finds both Dr. Crosses looking at the quinoa.

"Do you intend on turning some of it into flour?"

"Just under half, there's already been requests from the cooking school." The others nod. "Congratulations on finishing the Chemical Engineering Masters."

"Finally as Dr. Blake no doubt said." Josette rolls her eyes.

"I wasn't going to say it. How are you coming on the mega degree from Calvin's world?"

"I hope to have the first two years of bookclasses done by this fall, and should have all the projects done by next summer. But I suspect from what the others aren't telling me. . .

"Not a masters but a doctorate?"

"Somewhere around there. The only thing missing is a dissertation. But then I'm not officially in my third year yet so they might be surprising me with that."

"How are the books coming along?"

"They're starting number eleven and twelve, working year-round and having smaller print runs means they're able to be done quicker. I just took the other books to storage."

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" David asks at the drawing on Josette's PADD.

"Poor man's hot tub." She says with a smirk.

He walks off shaking his head.

"Do we wanna know?" Michael asks.

"A fire under a old clawfoot tub."

She heads to the first planet a couple days later, spending a lot of time at the fortress and the satellite.

The yearly crops start coming in and Josette's busy for a couple weeks, looking at everything put up in satisfaction.

"Is this everything until the second crops come in?"

"Yes, I'm working on batches of pavers and bricks with the potters now until the second crops start coming in."

At the farm Ma fills a tin cup with chicken manure to add to the plants in the garden, looking around in satisfaction at her neat patch then looks up when Clark and Kara fly in towing a wagon.

"What's this dear?"

"Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. We dropped the rest off to Alfred and he was already planning desserts."

"Are there still more on the bushes?"

"Oh yes, they'll be coming in after the Harvest Festival. So will the apples." They'd picked multiple bushels of apples yesterday, they were drying for chips on the tables, being made into applesauce, put up for pies, and eaten. And they'd be getting more before the end of the year.

Pa, Thomas, Alex, and Jason come out of the food building where they'd been filling the bin with potatoes from the commercial farm. They'd already filled the other root vegetable bins so this was it for a while. Until Josette comes over, waving a hand and putting the pallets of pasta and flour in place.

"Thank you Josette."

"Good, try this." Josette says when she finds both Vincents at the cafe on the 9th planet obviously up to no good. She waves a plate in front of them.

"What's this?"

"Some of the cheese and sausage I've been aging for a few years on the ship."

"Not bad, how long do you plan on aging it?"

"Between five and ten years. I know somebody on earth was going to release 20 year old cheddar cheese but. . ."

"We don't make enough to age that long."

"Exactly, the hams are different."

"Priscutto is meant to be aged that long."

"How are you coming along on the books for the 100th anniversary?"

"Good, we're already nearly halfway through the 24 books, we're making better progress than we thought."

"So they'll all be ready for the show?"

"Barring another storm that blows us in for a month, yes. Then it's the next batch of cookbooks, then my remaining books from the second batch of books, including Agatha's book on quilting by hand start to finish, then the last batch of books. I don't know if we'll keep the printing operation running two shifts after these are done or not, they're not saying it's too much work but we don't need it running that much either."

Both of them nod.

"Shoes?"

"They figure the orders should start going out after the Harvest Festival. Once the shoes are done, we're going to have the slipper factory running. That will probably run through the end of the next year, making a good selection of sizes and colors."

They head off to Granda's dimension for the boys show, Josette delivering the books to Ellis, picking up the orders, and doing a little shopping.

"How many more books?"

"Nine already printed, about 20 that will be printed as soon as the books for the 100th anniversary of Haven then the cookbooks are printed." Ellis stares at her. "The books, like the quilts, come in bunches."

Hannah sighs when she comes out for the Harvest Festival and finds Josette in a room of pasta drying on lines.

"We make extra, extra, extra, extra-large batches every few years. Once they're dry we'll cut them."

"I think you left out a few dozen extras there." She says looking up and down the room. It's easily as large as both the dining rooms.

"More like we make a couple dozen varieties." Josette says, looking around. "The dried dumplings room is just as large. . .and just as full."

"Josette."

"We all like chicken soup, but we like different types of dumplings and pasta so we all make mega batches and put them up to dry or stick them in stasis."

"So that way when you want a pot of soup, you can make it."

"Yep."

The table with the drill, pavers, and bricks does good business with people buying bricks and engraving them with their names, names of loved ones, special dates, or comments.

"Are we full?" Professor Fletcher asks a couple weeks after the Harvest Festival when she finds Josette sitting at the pizza parlor.

"No, and we've got more students heading home this year."

"They said the students would ebb and flow, we just got socked in for a few years."

"Exactly."

"How many pavers and bricks got sold? Every time I looked over there the line seemed to be just as long." Professor Eppes says, coming over.

"A damn good chunk of them. They're still counting and trying to figure away to mix the unmarked and marked ones in that won't make them stand out."

Josette gets up and fills her bowl of salad again, then filling a plate with pizza.

"How are we coming on the books?"

"They're starting number thirteen and fourteen, I took the others to storage before the festival."

"They're clipping right along."

"Smaller batches than the other books and they've been working year-round."

"Did the others talk about the new orders?"

"Yeah, I picked up the first batches of supplies for the socks, and the supplies for Doc's world should be ready by Thanksgiving."

"Buckaroo's land?"

"I brought out another batch of plastic before the Harvest Festival and delivered more supplies. The last of the supplies and the plastic will be coming out just before they do."

Josette slides into her seat at the government building a couple days later.

"Anything new? Besides Josette's new cooking degree?"

"I talked to the factories, the employees basically said 'Hell yeah, we can do it' when they heard about the increased orders."

"Shoes?"

"I'm delivering to the other planets right now, they'll contact people to either come pick them up or deliver them. Haven orders were sent e-mails and told to come pick them up at the factory."

David nods. "Alan's picking up ours today."

"I see a note about the sweater factory?"

"Yeah, the supply's getting low so we're opening it again next year."

"How are we coming along in the pie factory?" David asks once they're back at the factory.

"Good, we have several hundred pies made up of various types."

"Did you use all the apples?"

"Nope, there's tons down in the basement, at the ranch, and in stasis. Even with the applesauce, apple butters, and apple chips."

"Olives?"

"Most of it went to oil, the rest is in barrels in the basement."

"Black olives?"

"Next year, I've got most of a barrel left."

Josette sighs as she slides into her seat at the pushed together tables.

"How are the others coming in their classes?"

"Good, they'll be finished with their bachelors next year and may or may not go on to masters in their fields or pick up another bachelors. Or even take a couple years off again."

"It's not like they need the degrees."

"Exactly. These are degrees we want to take."

The others come over just before the buzzer sounds to end the morning session.

Back on Haven Josette checks on the sock buildings, bringing out more pallets of yarn and taking the filled pallets and recyclables to the ship. She brings out supplies for the other places in town, and heads to the dining hall, sliding into her seat.

The others look at her. "Moving the finished socks to the ship, bringing out more yarn and other supplies, taking care of the recycling and bringing out supplies for the other places in town since I brought out supplies at the school this morning."

On the screen Principal Madison nods in satisfaction. "Shipping containers?"

"None are empty yet, but they're getting there."

"Josette, if we send out shipping containers on their last legs, can you break them down and return them to Earth in pieces so they can be melted down and recycled?" Calvin asks during her next trip to Earth.

"Yeah." Josette says. "I was doing that before we lost Earth, the containers I delivered to Mars were on their last legs. It was a case of 'it's somebody else's problem now', just like the old machinery that was going to fail they sent off."

"Let them deal with it, they'll have to repair it to keep working." Jane says, rolling her eyes.

"Yep, because it would cost too much for them to repair. . .if they'd done a little maintenance in the first place. . ."

"That makes sense." Maria says behind the desk. "They couldn't do that. It wouldn't be somebody else's problem then."

"Exactly."

Josette leans between President and Mrs. Bartlett at dinner since Principal Madison is talking to somebody.

"Calvin asked if I can start taking apart bad shipping containers for recycling."

"About time, I've seen some pretty awful ones." Mrs. Bartlett says. "Usually by the coast where the salt rusts them just like it did cars."

"Exactly. They'll let us know when they start sending out the bad ones and where I can drop off the metal."

"Yeah, can't just take that to the drop-off site." Principal Madison chuckles.

"Wellllll, I could," Josette drawls. "But it's a little big to go through the machines."

Professor Druid chuckles as she heads into the back room, filling two plates and a bowl before sitting down.

The next day Josette heads off to the first planet to check on the raised beds and other crops.

The information on the shipping containers arrives a couple weeks later and Josette nods as she delivers empty containers when she picks up the supplies. Jane and Maria are busy when she arrives at the school so she grabs the mail, dropping off the outgoing mail and the boxes for the graduating students. Calvin's door is open and she ducks inside.

"I need supplies for the school." He nods and grabs his keys, opening the closet and bringing out what Josette points at. Maria's done by this time and scans everything, adding it to the list of stuff to re-order.

"Is this the last of the students stuff?"

"Should be, the floor monitors are pretty good at talking to the seniors about packing up early."

Josette drops off the supplies and mail at the office, the woman behind the desk nodding as she puts everything away. The students who will be sorting out the mail to deliver start arriving as Josette heads back to the dorm, joining with her other selves that have been delivering shipping containers to various buildings.

"Are you getting any shipping containers to take apart?"

"Yeah, about twenty in this batch with more arriving shortly. Companies are glad to get rid of the old ones to make way for new ones."

Josette heads off to the other dimension with Thomas and Clark the next day, picking up supplies and picking up the second offworld harvests, delivering to various planets before they return to Haven. Pallets of the rye and barley are sent to various places before Josette heads back to the school.

The next day Josette heads to the first planet, green picking peppers and tomatoes she takes to various places before joining the others.

"Done until the garden comes in?"

"Yeah."

The garden starts coming in several weeks later and everybody's busy getting in the crops or canning, drying, or otherwise storing everything. Josette sniggers as Alexander drops to his knees in the testing center loudly thanking god that it's done.

"Hush woman, yeah we know we're not done but let us enjoy the afterglow." Michael says as Susan looks up from her PADD, chuckles, and goes back to her test.

"Flour and pasta?"

"Picking them up this week, delivering the peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and other stuff we don't normally grow." Vincent nods in thanks.

"Plastic?"

"The last of it's due to be done after Thanksgiving. I'll put it up just before Buckaroo arrives. With all the problems on Earth, they're used to being socked in and it will give them a couple months to get settled in before spring arrives and they start planting. Once they're settled, Granda's bringing up farm animals for them."

Josette looks out the window when they return to the dorm. It's slightly overcast and looks like an early snow.

"Domes will be going up."

"Yep, thankfully everything's nearly in."

It's snowing the next morning when Josette heads to the first planet, laying in the sun when she's not working with the crops. Vincent looks over from his text when she comes into the 9th planet Cafe and he gets to his feet, they haggle cheerfully over everything before she puts it away and he dishes her up a plate of food.

"Done?" Alexander asks when she comes back to the dorm.

"Yes, everything that's left over is in stasis." She looks out the window and sighs.

"It's supposed to stop tomorrow, we'll be delayed a couple days but we'll get everything in before Thanksgiving."

"Not the first time this has happened, we've been spoiled by the good weather and three harvests."

"And we could use a couple days break, thank god we don't have to be out in this trying to save everything we can for the winter."

Josette heads off to pick up the flour, pasta, recycling, and plastic as the others head back to working on the gardens. By the next week everything is in and the shelves are full of canned food. After Thanksgiving Josette starts delivering the orders, empty containers, and the metal that used to be the other containers. A man there whistles at the three piles of metal and waves for the electromagnet to start lifting it into the trucks.

Josette joins the others at the house after everything has been delivered and the supplies for the orders, the school, and what the others are sending out has been moved to the ship.

"Get everything done?" David asks, looking over from checking the oven. Josette nods and settles on a bar stool, taking the vegetables and knife Alan hands her.

"Yep, I'll check and see if there's anything else to go back before we leave but all the supplies are on the ship, the recycling is delivered, the broken apart containers were dropped off where Granda told me to take them, and the last of the orders for the year are at the warehouse."

The next few weeks everybody relaxes, Josette making a last check of everything before they head back to Haven, the students heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked as Josette starts delivering containers to various places.

"How is everything on Haven?" Black Jack asks when they settle on couches and chairs in the rooms in the other dimension.

"Quiet, the last harvest was delayed by snow for a couple days so we're just waiting to see what kind of winter we're going to have. Last year wasn't bad for all that it seemed to drag on forever." The others nod. "We could be outside doing stuff, a difference from the year before that when it was so fucking cold." Susan shivers. "Did you get more bad shipping containers?"

"Yeah, nearly six dozen this time." The others look at her. "Calvin asked me if I could break them apart for recycling rather than have them rotting in yards somewhere. This way the metal can be reused."

"That makes sense." James says. "Have you done it before?"

"Yeah, with the Mars colony. They sent the old, rotten shipping containers there rather than deal with them, just like the sent the 'going to fail, but let's make it somebody else's problem' machinery. If they went down, they'd have to fix them to keep their livelihoods going. I tore apart the bad containers and machines that were going to fail within the year and sold them back to Earth for recycling."

"Out of sight, out of mind."

"Exactly."

"Why don't they just do it themselves?"

"If they went in and cut up the containers with arc welders or saws it would take too long, if they used a dozer like they knock down buildings, it's too much to clean up. Or that's their reasoning. Just like why they used to send all those old big boats to that other country in our world and let the natives tear them apart."

"Who cares if they get sick from whatever's in the boats, injured, or even dead, it's not our concern."

"Exactly. They had stuff from the boats up and down the streets of the . . .I think it was an island country but nobody ever bought it. I know when I harvested Earth we brought up tons of stuff from ships."

"And being outside all the time it can't have been much good."

"Exactly."

A couple months later they return to Haven, Josette joining with her other selves that had been on Thomas, Doc's, and the 9th planet's earths.

Calvin pulls Josette, Doc, and Principal Madison aside when he comes out for the Lights Festival.

"Josette, have you heard how ships are taken apart?"

"In dockyards like they're built or like the cheapskates used to on our Earth and had them towed to a country where the natives tore everything apart by brute force and had shit from the ships everywhere. Because 1, it was cheaper, and 2, that made it somebody else's problem?"

"The second I'm afraid."

"Lemme guess, can I grab rusting hulks and tear them apart, converting everything into usable raw material?"

"Please."

They head off to the other dimension, returning six weeks later for them.

"That's. . .how you managed to save everything that was in danger from the volcanoes on Doc's world."

"Basically. Since they were self-contained it was easy to grab them and put them somewhere until I can get to them. The ships are looking over everything. The other stuff I just beamed and chucked in rooms until I can deal with it."

"Thank you Josette, that will allow the other countries to see how badly off they are and how they can help . . .if they can help. A lot of the population is hurting from exposure to who knows what was in all the ships, in accidents taking the ships apart, or killed taking the ships apart."

"Josette, how is your degree on shipwrecks coming?"

"I start the last year next year, I'll pick up an extra class a semester to finish them by the end of the year."

Josette's waiting on the 10th planet when the buildings begin coming out, Buckaroo motioning her inside when she walks over. They go over what she'd put up for him in the way of outbuildings and what was in the supplies.

Rawhide finally pulls himself away from the window, finding the boss and what looks like a young girl until you look in her eyes in his office. "Rawhide, Josette Takahawa, she's the one that's been bringing out the supplies for us. Is everybody finally dragging themselves away from the windows?"

"Yep, and raring to get outside."

"Oh good, here's a list of what we need to bring out first and where they are in the shipping containers outside.

"I'll set out a roster, that way everybody gets a chance to be outside working and playing." Rawhide says. "Oh my . . .that can't be. . ." He says as a figure from his boyhood dreams walks down the hall.

"Josette?" A familiar voice calls.

"In here Doc. Anyway, I put a note on your PADDS about the Lights Festival in a few days. I'm sure your people will need the break from unpacking supplies and replace the 'omg, I'm on another planet' with seeing what you can do outside on during the winter. . . on another planet." Buckaroo chuckles and nods. Doc comes in. Rawhide blinks.

"Oh god, please tell me. . ." he burbles when they've left.

"The real Doc Savage? Oh yes. We met several years ago. That was the one from our Earth, there's one on the 9th planet and two on the sixth planet plus three that visit regularly. He's Josette's grandfather."

Rawhide takes a deep breath. "There's a difference between talking about the theory of alternate dimensions and. . ."

"Seeing the proof firsthand." Buckaroo nods.

Rawhide stands in the middle of the street and tries to take in everything in Town. Buckaroo chuckles and takes a cone of roasted chestnuts to eat.

Josette finds Professor Fletcher at one of the fires and slides a thumb drive in her pocket. "Tell me they're pieces of shit. The frigging bunny jumped at my throat and howled while I was off with Doc and Calvin. I spent months out of time writing just to shut the fucker up."

"Which didn't work." Professor Fletcher says. "The more you wrote the louder he got."

"Yep, there's two different versions of about five fics on there, both the original short story and expanded into a novel."

"Are these the only ones?" Professor Fletcher asks.

"Hell no, I got dozens of them written and a list of story outlines for future stories a mile long." Hannah and Lady Simone look at her, along with Clark Kent. Sighing she hands them thumb drives.

"Josette, your new quilting books?"

"Hannah and the others are editing them. If everything's good, they'll be going on the server at the printers."

"How are the anniversary show books coming along?"

"They're starting numbers fifteen and sixteen after the Festival."

"They'll be done by the Harvest Festival next year then."

"Yep, they're talking about still keeping two shifts and working all year until they get all the books finished. Even doing that it will still be five years for everything."

"Nothing we need earlier and it's a good source of money."

"Josette, did we get more orders?"

"Yes, I might be bringing out another factory, like the sweater one but on a larger scale."

Pat nods as she comes over. "Yes, it will be busy with our orders and it's meant more for a cottage industry, not large orders."

"Sweater factory?" Doc, Buckaroo, and Thomas ask. They walk over there.

"This was one of the first factories we brought out, it makes sweaters, hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves." Pat waves at the yarn on cones moving across the ceiling to machines.

"That's what Granda says the government wants, to sell various places, for supplies at various shelters and other places, and to stock up on supplies for colonizing the other dimension."

"How are they handling shelter?"

"Covered wagons like the old pioneers with loads of plastic extruded material for homes. One room log cabins with outhouses. Because they'll have to put them up themselves." Sniggers from the others. "Maybe panel type houses in the future if they have a way to put them together." Josette sighs and grabs her PADD, sending off messages. The others look at her. "Factories for candles and soap beyond our buildings since they won't have electricity right away?"

"And our candlemaking building is running year-round to handle all the needs for us and those places that don't have electricity on the other planets."

"And there's still places on our world that are dealing with power problems."

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt in the closet to prove it." Josette sighs. "At least your power problems didn't come from a fucking group of morons who didn't 'wike' that evil technology and attacked power plants all over the country because if they get rid of power all that would go buh-bye and everything would be better off. Because people were happier back in the pioneer days, weren't they?"

Buckaroo and Rawhide sigh. "They just saw the glamorous side, not . . ."

"The accidents, the illnesses, women maybe having a dozen children but only two or three living to adulthood, the hard work to clear your own land, raise your own food, hunt your own meat. . ."

"The good old days weren't."

"Exactly. The council stuck them in VR and made them live without technology, they ended up killing themselves over and over and over until they were begging for a nice jail cell. With so many power plants affected even with the factories running constantly it took a year to get all the machinery replaced. And large chunks of the country without power."

"At least thank god people had been investing in solar panels and having their homes insulated. And it wasn't winter so they were able to get in supplies before winter."

Josette hands her PADD over David's shoulder. "What's this?" He asks when she comes back from the bathroom.

"Three factories I've tentatively decided to bring out. One for the knitting stuff, one for candles, and one for soap. Because even with a 2nd shift constantly going, they couldn't make the amount of stuff I can see being ordered. Our buildings are meant more for a cottage industry, not the amounts you'd need to settle a new dimension." Calvin looks over the factories and nods. "They wouldn't have electricity or the means to make these type of stuff at first."

"They'll be busy settling down on their land, digging a well, bringing out the supplies for their home, planting crops, building a barn and outhouse, and putting up at least a small one room cabin for winter."

"The smaller the easier to keep warm from the cookstove."

"Can't be too small, they have to have a place to keep their supplies."

Alexander is busy sketching, by the time the Lights festival is over he's got seven or eight housing plans laid out. Calvin passes them along with the information on what kind of supplies they'd need for the proposed orders when they return to their dimension.

"Good, you're here." Hannah says, looking around a doorway. "I need you to look at these books."

"Why?"

"You know I travel out of the dimension. I have three authors I want you to talk with. They're all established in their dimensions and I'm thinking of bringing their books out here." She hands off a thumb drive. She looks up the next morning when the woman she'd talked with comes into her office.

"Tell me about them."

"Clark Kent, a former newspaper reporter. He's written about three books. Josette Takahawa, she's actually a textiles artist who's wrote a couple dozen quilting books. Eight of them are available here self-published with nine more that have been published in their dimension and another seven waiting to be published since their printers are busy with a big order of books for a hundredth anniversary celebration. Jessica Fletcher, a woman who started writing after retiring from teaching English. Who ended up teaching again and writing. She was the most established author of the three."

"Josette writes quilting books?"

"And one history of the school she attended. She says the damn muses jumped on her throat and started howling until she wrote." The agent nods, she's heard her authors complain about that more than once.

"Are the other two still writing?"

"Yes."

"Have they done book tours?"

"Jessica has, I'm not sure about Clark. Josette. . .no. She gets her publicity from interviews before the show. She and her partners see it as a necessary evil. . .okay, this is done for another year."

"Authors?"

"Artists, Michael works with metal while Alexander handles wood. You might have heard of them, Madison, Jalex, and Jakahawa."

Josette drops off a double load of supplies for the students graduating that year and the school employees that will be leaving, Joyce nodding as she gets the contents of the containers.

"Get the supplies for the returning students and employees?" David asks when she slides into her seat in the government building the next morning.

"Yeah, a double batch. We'll see how much is needed and if they have to order a double batch next year."

"When are the new cooking teachers coming out?"

"Three more years, not counting this one."

"Are the requests to come out to the schools slowing down?"

"Nope. Granda says there's interest in a reality show coming up at the cooking school." The others roll their eyes. "Yeah, that was my thought."

"Talk to Dad about the orders?" Principal Madison asks.

"Yes, the government is putting together the orders right now, I'm with Dad bringing out the factories since if they don't use them Doc's world will." Nods from everybody in the room.

Josette shakes off her cloak and takes off her boots, sliding on house shoes as she walks down the hall.

"Finishing another degree this year? Beyond the Naval Academy?" Alan asks when they come out for lunch.

"Probably. I'm one semester from finishing a three degree set from the comic book school after this semester. I'm a year from three more degrees but they're the first degrees in those megahuge sets."

"What was the demand for the new wine?"

"About the same for whenever we bring out something new." Josette checks her records. "A tiny bit over since it was a blend of grapes."

"The ships?"

"Slowly tearing everything apart, I'll have a batch of metal and other stuff to deliver finals."

"Why the rush to get rid of them. . .not that I'm complaining."

"I think it's part of the plans for colonizing the other dimension. Or they're finally making people clean up their own messes. A lot of the companies were in court for one reason or other."

"Good." Alan says. The others nod.

"How is Buckaroo settling in on the 10th planet?"

"Good, I'm going out to till up the land for them next week."

"But why can't I have a mansion?" A stupid debutante whines, whimpers, and hiccups on Earth.

"Because that's not one of the houses we offer. You have to put it up yourself. A mansion would take years, we want people to be under shelter by winter. . .not still out in the covered wagons. Because in addition to putting up a house and barn they'll be digging wells and a pit for the outhouse."

"That. . .that's inhumane."

"That's what happens when you settle on a new world."

"Bu . . .bu . . .but . ..but. . .but. . .where's the cities? The malls? The grocery stores?" Not that she buys her own groceries, she has a cook for that. She walks off in a huff.

"Stupid twit. Do they fucking expect to walk through a portal and have everything the way it was on Earth?"

"Unfortunately yes, hopefully they don't breed so their stupidity isn't passed on."

"We're going to need classes."

"How to cook on a woodstove or over a fire." Somebody says with a nod. "How to grow enough food for the winter and still eat."

"How to can." Somebody else says. Nods from the others.

"How to make bread and other stuff from scratch."

"Did your family and the others do that Calvin?"

"Yes, the new settlers were getting classes in when they weren't working. When the orphans from the other Earth came out, they had the same classes."

"And they'll need the classes if we ever move off-planet."

"Exactly."

"They've got to realize it's going to be a lot of hard work, people who expect to live like they did on Earth are going to be sorely mistaken."

"And they're going to be alone. They're going to have to learn to depend on themselves for everything."

"No doctors, no dentists, no entertainment beyond books, musical instruments. . ."

"Having to wash and mend their clothes by hand."

"We'll have to have some type of store in a central location."

"Open wells with pails you lift out or the ones you pump?"

"An open well would need covered so a pipe and pump would be better. But then you have the problem of the pipe freezing unless you have it covered somehow. I know some places had buildings like wellhouses."

"Yes, they also used them to keep items cool during the summer."

"Icehouses."

Nods from the others.

"But people can't live like that." More than one person wails over the next few months.

"People used to live like that just fine before WWI. It was only after WWII that people started moving to the cities."

"But . . ."

"What the hell do you think will happen when we colonize another planet? They won't have power there for years. . .if ever."

"Solar panels?"

"Only half the houses and buildings in the other dimension have them. The cost to add them is enormous. Hopefully with more solar the price will start going down."

"Plus you'd have to wire all the houses. Now with buildings made of panels you might be able to but. .."

"And you'd be stuck with the supplies you brought out. It's going to take millions to set up housekeeping in the other dimension, it will be even more money for another planet."

"I can't believe people expect to be able to step from one planet to another and have life go on as usual."

"I can." Calvin sighs. "Josette told me stories about people suing because they needed this, this, this, this, and that on the new planet before they came up. One woman sued to have all the buildings on Haven torn down because they hadn't been built with feng shui in mind so they bothered her." Rolling eyes from the others in the room. "She told the judge she'd hold her breath until she turned blue if they didn't do it, the judge told her to go right ahead."

"Yes, I know people that damn stupid here on Earth."

"Do we have lists of supplies?"

"Yes, what went to Haven and the other worlds, what went to the Mars Colony in their dimension. . .which was mostly what big business wanted, and what went to the colonies in the other dimension. Since that was planning from the ground up, that's the one we're using with some alterations."

"Candles?"

"They're bringing out a large factory to make them, the outfit they have now handles their needs. Same with the soapmaking building and the factory that makes sweaters, hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves."

"How much work do we need on the factories?" President Bartlett asks at a meeting the night before Josette, the boys, and Susan are due to head to Archimedes for their third testing week.

"Not much, even with bringing out three of them."

"Are we seeing a great need for the candles from Doc's world?"

"Yeah, they're seeing more power outages as plants have to shut down for maintenance or repairs. Ideally they should build new ones but . . ."

"That takes time and money."

"Exactly, and it's not just the US that needs to replace power plants. The whole power grid really needs a major upgrading but ..." Josette shrugs. "Between those that were damaged in the flooding and those that are just old, there's a lot that's going to need replacing."

"And while solar power could handle all the world's needs, there's no way in hell the world will ever switch while other forms of energy are cheaper. Until it's too late."

"It was nearly too late this time." Josette says. "They have to shut down the coal fired plants, they don't need any more pollution in the air. Same with oil, not to mention all the fucking accidents on the rails. Nuclear plants are going up whether people complain or not, if people actually make sure they're well-maintained. . ."

"Too many horror stories about accidents from people cutting corners." David says. "Though nobody could have expected Dai-ichi. Changing the subject, how are you on your megadegree from the other dimension?"

"Good, I still hope to have the last of the projects in by the Harvest Festival but if not. . ." Josette shrugs. "I'm still ahead of the game, I just started the third year classes."

"Orders?"

"I've got a rough draft of what they want and I'm going to be picking up more supplies next month in both dimensions when I drop off the orders. The new orders will be finalized by the Harvest Festival."

"Okay, even with the time difference. . ."

"isn't this getting the supplies in quick? Yeah. But a lot of this stuff has been sitting in warehouses on Doc's world since factories made so much of it before they were lost. They've been going through the stockpiles they had and are running low now. Or didn't have a need for this until now. And this will get others back in business." President Bartlett nods.

"And this way Dad's world can stock up on supplies for colonizing the other dimension or other planets eventually. Shipments of metals and other recycled stuff from the ships?"

"I'm taking a batch back next month when the students head home for a few weeks."

"Shows?"

"Me Granda's world, the boys Mom's. Mine first. I gotta move stuff next month."

"How long do you see before they start moving out?"

"Five to ten years, their time. They're going to have to have a central location for the mill, the store. . .a one room schoolhouse, a doctor office. . ." The others nod. "People are going to have to learn how to do things without electricity."

"And they're going to have to have money set aside for their land, their supplies, livestock. . ."

"I can see people putting up the barn first and maybe having to pull their wagon in for the winter so they have some sort of protection if they can't put up shelter." Shudders from the others. "Yeah, not the kind of life I'd want either but . . ."

"The first year is going to be rough." The others nod. "We were damn lucky in bringing out our homes, in having crops planted before we came out, and in having a longer growing season."

"Books?"

"They just finished fifteen and sixteen. I took out more rolls of paper. I'll probably have more ends to pick up."

"Probably."

After finals Josette starts delivering everything to various places, picking up shipping containers from just as many places before she takes socks and the boxes to the school.

"Josette, did you deliver metal? Beyond the normal recycling?" Calvin asks from the door of his office.

"Yeah, both the ships and shipping containers."

Four weeks later after Josette's visited the agent Hannah drags her, Professor Fletcher, and Clark to with a grin they return to Haven.

"Supplies?"

"Two and a half shitloads." David sniggers.

"Doc and Thomas's worlds?"

"I was there while we were gone."

James shakes his head when he finds Josette putting supplies away in the storage areas for the new factories.

"How long until the factories are open?" President Bartlett asks at the meeting after dinner that night.

"Harvest Festival definitely."

"Are we doing one or two shifts?"

"I was thinking two but . . ."

"Have to see how it works out." Josette nods.

"When do we need to start delivering?"

"Not until finals first semester, this will give us extra in case of storms." Nods from the others.

"Start with one shift after Thanksgiving, if we need a second they can start after the Lights Festival." Nods from the others.

"Slippers?"

"Closing at the end of the year when we've got the supply back up again."

"Our sweater factory?"

"Running well, we'll have a good stock of everything again by the end of the year. And it's not like the knitters don't make all that anyway." Nods from the others again. "The only difference is the factory we don't wash by hand and lay out flat to dry."

"Yes, most places won't have that option."

Josette sniggers. "Yes, I know they're going to have to get used to washing by hand in the other dimension unless they have the washing machines you agitate by hand then run through the wringer."

Josette nods. "We've got one in the huts for our laundry, the water goes on the crops. It's a good bit of exercise, but it beats scrubbing them on a washboard."

"Are they going to be using biodegradable detergents?"

"Yeah, they've already got the formulas and will start making batches for the supplies a couple years before people start going out."

"Speaking of laundry?"

"I gotta check the supplies, we might be making more in a couple years."

"We can replicate if we run out."

"Are they going to have cities?"

"I say more small towns like town with a general store, the school, doctor. . ."

"Like Little house."

"Exactly. Maybe some people putting up buildings to live in over the winter. I can't see many people being able to handle a winter by themselves. Hell, the outlying areas here we have them coming out during the winter for their recycling or just to get the hell out of the house."

"Josette, are we getting more supplies in for the new orders?"

"Yeah, I figure at least three shipments of supplies per factory per year. That doesn't count the supplies to pack everything."

"At least teaching everybody to run the machines shouldn't take that long."

"No, It's not that different than the crayons, fill the molds and scrape off the excess for the pillars and candlesticks. I can't see them buying the glass jars for colony supplies."

"Neither can I, unless they had a dropoff where they could take the glass after the jars were empty."

"Doc's world?"

"Yeah, I can see them maybe buying candles in jars, that cleans up the mess of melting wax. And they'd be able to recycle the glass."

"A container for the wax to be reused in new candles. Either by the settlers or sold to a place in town that does it." Nods from the others, every home that uses candles has a container of wax from melted candles. More than one in cases of the scented or colored candles.

"Are the boxes to go back to the other dimension picking up?"

"Yep, I just picked up another roomful earlier."

"Are we getting more students this year?"

"Yeah, we had a couple slack years but it's picking up again."

"Which may be why they're talking colonizing again."

"Yep."

"Moonbase?"

"Scuttlebutt is they're sending up rockets filled with supplies for one this year, I'll have to look when we go out after Thanksgiving."

"Are they still trying to locate habitable worlds?"

"Yeah, that's going to be one of the missions of the moonbase."

"Classes?"

"I'm picking up four for my Naval Academy degree and getting in another for the doctorate, anything else this summer is just gravy."

"Finished degrees?"

"Naval and the last comic book this fall."

"That it until you finish the doctorate?"

"Yeah, Dr. Stark is probably going to start thinking of a graduation ceremony in a couple years."

"Yes I am since Alex and the others are all finished with at least one degree." Dr. Stark says from the communications screen. "Josette, toilet paper?"

"They planned on putting up the poll Harvest Festival and starting running after Lights."

"Good." He ends the call.

"Towels."

President Bartlett checks the list of supplies. "We're good on them right now."

"Good, with the three new factories opening, I'd rather not overwhelm everybody." Nods from the others as the meeting breaks up.

"Cistern?" David asks when they come into the dorm.

"The kids were checking them today. Another month and we'll probably need to fill them."

A couple weeks later they head to the ship, delivering special orders and stuff for the show to Marcus. Josette rolls her eyes as she gets gussied up for the show, Madison and Hannah watching the interview before the show on the website.

"She's good on the interview but . . ."

"There's a difference between interviews about her art and plugging a book. The quilting books she just announced they were coming out and people flocked to buy them since they were already familiar with her as an artist."

The next morning after breakfast Alexander and Michael head to Oxford to talk to their advisor about their dissertations. Josette goes upstairs and looks over the remaining quilt ideas in the notepad she hasn't purchased yet and the getting bare shelves. Shrugging she heads into town.

"We were wondering if you'd be buying stuff." Marilyn says dryly from where she's opening one of the fifteen or twenty boxes that had been brought in from the shipping container.

"I looked at my getting empty shelves and the partial notebook of quilts yet to make and bit the bullet."

"Josette, how are the printers coming on the books?"

"They started seventeen and eighteen a couple weeks ago. They're clipping right along and figure on having Agatha's book ready for sale at next year's Harvest Festival." Josette checks her notes and starts cutting lengths of fabric that go in piles, remnants being measured by Sue and put in the bin while new bolts are brought out of the back. The receipt for both stores takes ten pages and Josette sighs then shrugs. Putting the bags away at home she puts the notebook on the shelf and joins the others walking to the dining hall for lunch.

"Do you have scrap to take back?"

"Yeah, I've got more shipping containers took apart and nearly half a ship. Plus the regular recycling."

The crops and garden start coming in and everybody's busy canning, drying, or otherwise storing food. The second crops are planted after the rain and Josette, Dad, and David tour the factories. The jobs go up on the server and the soapmakers and candlemakers tour the buildings. The classes to run the machinery go up and nobody's surprised Josette's there along with the others.

Josette drops off the empty shipping containers, cut apart containers, and part of a ship at the drop-off sites as she starts picking up supplies.

Jane and Maria mark off boxes on the lists Josette sends them as she counts and puts away socks in the containers.

"These are Josette's quilting books?" Madison asks after she's stared a couple minutes at the two suns in the sky.

"And two other books, one on t-shirts she decorated with crayons, crystals, and glitter and her hand-painted socks."

"Oh good Josette, there you are." Hannah says when Josette comes into the library one afternoon. Madison is with her and Clark and Professor Fletcher are sitting at a table.

"Josette, the yearly crops?" Clark asks.

"The commercial farm will start selling next week, the bushes and tree crops should start coming in after that." She pours herself a mug of coffee and joins them at the table.

"How are the classes coming?"

"Good, it's all stuff we've done before. Just on a larger scale."

Madison meets with each of her authors individually over the next week and comes back with the signed papers. She puts everything in the files she's created for her new authors and goes over plans for putting out interest in their books.

Clark and Kara deliver wagons of food from the commercial farms to the food building, the farms, Wayne Manor, and the compound over the next week. Meanwhile Josette and the others are doing the same at the dorm and ranch, filling multiple bins and drying or freezing berries as the yearly crops start coming in. Then their second crops start coming in and everybody looks at the full shelves and bins.

Josette brings the new school employees out before the Harvest Festival along with the supplies for the school and factories, delivering those and the new employee's belongings before joining the others at the dining hall for lunch.

"Is this everybody?"

"Nope, one more trip."

"Have you been checking the moon?"

"Yeah. They're not there yet.

Josette's looking over the pictures of the dimension after lunch.

"Empty." Susan says over her shoulder. "Though the same can be said of Haven and the other planets by people used to the hustle and bustle of Earth."

"Yeah."

"How are they going to be paying for land and supplies? They can't do it like we did, there's no jobs."

"Yeah, they're going to have to have the money upfront, they're not going to be colonizing it for at least seven years our time but. . ."

"That will give them time to lay out plans for a small town."

"And a place to put the supplies they'll have to have. Once they're there, it's sink or swim on your own."

"Classes."

"Granda says they'll be offering them in a few years."

The next day Josette picks up another batch of new school employees and their belongings. David opens the tesseract and they walk out, looking up at the two suns in the sky, then around at the school where they'll be working for five years before following an employee to the auditorium. Josette starts delivering their belongings, maintenance checking off names and taking them to their new homes.

"Is this all the new employees?"

"Yep."

"Deliver orders to both worlds?"

"Yep, and picked up the supplies. Everything is ready for the factories to open in a few days."

"Get your projects finished?"

"Yes, I took the last of them in yesterday."

"Classes?"

"Eight classes into the third year."

"Josette, books?"

"Seventeen and eighteen just went into storage, they'll start the others after the festival.

The new school employees are busy looking around during the Harvest Festival.

Josette checks in on the new factories after the festival, finding everybody settling into work. Then she starts heading over to the other dimension to pick up the new students.

"They're starting to deliver the supplies to the moon." Josette says, leaning around President Bartlett at dinner.

"Really?" He says, taking her PADD and seeing the rockets on the moon. "A good first step."

"Yeah, something they'll need to do if they plan on colonizing other planets." Mrs. Bartlett nods and Josette shows the pictures to Principal Madison and Professor Druid before going into the back room. Three weeks later Josette starts moving boxes from the new factories, putting them on the ship after the students walk through the tesseract and are led to the auditorium.

"Is this it for the students?" David asks at dinner.

"Two more trips."

"Are we full?"

"Nearly. This year, next, and possibly the year after that."

"Ebb and flow."

"Yep, some years less, some more."

Josette slides into her usual spot at the pizzeria a couple days later, a bottle of pop, plate of pizza, and a bowl of salad going in front of her a few minutes later.

"Did you talk to Madison?" Professor Fletcher asks.

"Yes, our first books are being printed right now, we'll have to go out in a couple of weeks for interviews. Sample chapters have been released to gain interest in the books."

"How many books are we signed to?"

"Three each."

"Not bad, we've all got those finished."

"Yep, if there is any more interest they'll redo contracts, that way we're not stuck with books for them and they're not stuck with books for us. This way I can still self-publish my quilting books."

"And different publishers tend to specialize. No matter what type of book they offer."

Josette nods around a mouthful of pizza.

A couple weeks later Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center.

"Get the Naval Academy degree finished?" Dr. Cross asks.

"Yeah, and I'm partway into the anthropology comics degree, that's another multiple degree curricula down."

"Nathan's talking another graduation ceremony." Dr. McNider says.

"Yeah, he said so a few months ago. I've been slacking, I've only got 19 bachelors, a masters, and a doctorate finished."

"Well if you'd stick to one degree and concentrate . . ." Dr. Stark says in a tsk-tsk manner as he comes over to the tables. "Instead of flitting around like a butterfly. You'll never make anything of yourself this way." Everybody laughs.

"How are the others coming on their classes?"

"They're partway through their second class, they'll be done well before the crops start coming in."

"How is Buckaroo and the others settling on the 10th planet?"

"Good, they're making plans for their third crops. They're in contact with their Earth and at least Buckaroo is coming out with Doc and I after Thanksgiving when I take out the orders and pick up supplies for them.

"How are the new factories coming along?"

"Good, I've already moved some of the stuff to the ship. And it's only going to be worse come next year when we have two shifts running."

"Matches."

"We've still got plenty in our stocks, but yes eventually we'll have to make more. They've got factories in Doc's world and they'll either have to get in a supply for the other dimension or people will have to learn how to make fire without them."

"I don't remember them using them in the little house books."

Back home Josette finds David working on the plans for the growing area, leaning over his shoulder to add a few items. He nods. "Maybe we should grow on the satellite too?"

"Yeah, it's been a few years."

After dinner Josette heads up to the bakery and starts mixing dough for treats, making large batches of a couple dozen different treats. The next morning after breakfast she joins Professor Fletcher and Clark Kent going to the school then meeting Madison for a series of interviews.

"Ohhhh, I've forgotten how damn tiring that can be." Professor Fletcher sighs as they come back to Haven. They settle in the living room with mugs of coffee, tea, or other beverages.

"I never knew how annoying it is to have somebody coming back constantly on the same topic, like changing your question slightly is going to make a difference." Clark sighs.

"Entertainment reporters are like sharks, trying to scent blood in the water and going for the kill." Josette says. Professor Fletcher snorts but nods.

The next month passes quickly and Josette brings out the last of the belongings to the school.

"This everything?"

"Yeah, if there's anything else they'll have to bring it back on the ship."

Josette checks on the hams and cheeses aging on the ship on the trip back to Haven, dropping off the mail at the office as her other selves deliver the supplies.

"Take out the recycling?" President Bartlett asks from a door down the hall.

"Yeah, and another batch of the scrap."

"What's this?" Michael asks when Josette hands her PADD over his shoulder.

"What I'm going to be planting on the satellite." He nods as he reads then hands it back.

"Flour?"

"I'm taking out wheat after finals and bringing back flour and pasta. Alan pick up our stuff from the mill?"

"Yeah, part of it's in the basement, he's taking the rest to the ranch right now." Susan says as she walks down the hall.

"Are we set on cornmeal, grits, and polenta for the winter?" David asks at dinner.

"Yeah." Abby checks the list on her PADD. "Josette, are you making more masa?"

"Yeah, I'm running low. I gotta get some more cactus paddles too so I can make tortillas this winter."

After dinner Josette puts a couple extra quilts on her bed and gets a hot soak. Michael comes in and sits on the toilet seat.

"Anything else on the moonbase?"

"According to Granda, they hope on having the first module on the moon by finals first semester. They plan on seven to about ten modules with the ability to add more."

"Are you going out to 9th planet's Earth?"

"Yeah, to see how they're getting along on the Moon and Mars, drain some more of the radiation, and let the others see how everybody's doing in both dimensions."

"Is the city on Earth?"

"Yeah, in one of the tropical areas."

"You know. . ." David says from the doorway.

"A city would be a good stepping place in colonizing a world. Yeah, I was thinking that myself. Hell, not only could it travel in space, it could land on the planet."

"Ooooohhhhh, an underwater city."

"Like in the old comics, with tunnels leading from the surface to the city? Like in space, they'd have to make sure the shields didn't fail."

The twins grin when the finish the final for their last class a couple weeks later.

"Done?" Josette asks from the doorway.

"Yep." Anna starts putting the books in the container and Abby floats them up to the library to shelve.

"Masa?"

"Making it this weekend, the last batch of blue corn has dried enough. This one I'll use whole in the tortillas."

Josette puts the five barrels of masa in the basement. The next day she heads to Archimedes for their third testing week.

"I can . . .see your reasoning." Dr. McNider says slowly. "Learning how to start a fire without matches is going to have to be part of their classes."

"Ovens. Being so far from town they're going to have to bake their own breads."

"Clay ovens built into fireplaces? Learn to bake at lower temperatures or have something in the oven while you're cooking on the stove."

"Something else they're going to have to learn to do before they go out. A bank in town?"

"Yeah, they're going to *have* to have some sort of currency. To buy what they can't make themselves."

"And no matter how much supplies they bring out they're going to have to do that."

"And the psychologists, anthropologists, and other 'ologists are going to be looking over everything with a fine tooth comb to see how they react to being dumped in a life like that in preparation for colonizing other worlds."

"Yep."

Alexander comes over a couple minutes later, using the bathroom then settling in his usual space. He drops his face on his crossed arms and moans dramatically. Josette sniggers and pats him on the shoulder. "Only five more years."

"Only five more years she says." Michael says, coming over.

"Hey, I've got three more on mine. Susan's got four more years."

"It's just the degree is so damn boring."

"How are you on the books?"

"We should have nineteen and twenty done by Thanksgiving. And they plan on having Agatha's book for sale at the Harvest Festival even with the larger order. Then start working on the cookbooks and the remaining books."

"How many?"

"Eighteen, the remaining six from the second batch plus a dozen from the third. Some of these are the first of two or even three books of that type. I'll write those later." Dr. Cross chuckles. "And your other books."

Josette rolls her eyes. "They're supposed to be on sale by the time we take the returning employees and students home, the three of us are going to be doing some book signings while we're there and maybe a book tour depending on sales."

After lunch Josette replicates a meal and eats a few of the snacks she'd made in the bakery as she goes over what she plans on growing on the satellite. A good portion of its going to be food they don't normally grow on Haven and Josette sends a message to the other planets to see if there's special requests before she joins the others walking to dinner.

The next day Josette heads to the factories again, checking on how they're doing and bringing out more supplies. Empty containers are moved back to the ship and Josette stops to the bakery before she returns to the dorm.

"Take care of the empty containers?" David asks at lunch.

"Yeah, and got a list of others that will be empty by the time we head back. Moved supplies to places that were running low, I gotta check again before Thanksgiving to make sure everybody's stocked up on supplies for winter since it's going to be a bitch getting into the containers in the middle of winter."

The crops start coming in a couple weeks later and everybody's busy canning, drying, or otherwise storing everything. Josette, the boys, and Susan head to Archimedes one day for their finals, Josette dropping off wheat and picking up recycling and orders for the other dimensions.

After Thanksgiving they head to the other dimension, David opening the tesseract as Josette starts delivering the recycling, orders, and scrap metal. She joins the others at the house a few hours later.

"Get everything delivered?"

"Yep. They leapt on the metal. I see the plastic supply has been taking a hit too, probably getting ready for the houses and whatnot." The others nod. "Same with the metal."

"Tubs, pails, stoves, troughs, pipe for pumps if they go that way. Everything you'd have seen in the Little House books or the Wild, Wild West."

"Exactly."

A couple days later Josette has her signing for her first fiction book, returning back to the house that evening and joining with her other selves that had been out and about all day.

A few weeks later Josette starts delivering containers to various places back on Haven, including the dorm. David opens the tesseracts for the returning students and employees before they head off to the other dimension. They return a couple months later their time and start putting away more supplies as Josette joins with her other selves that have been to the other dimensions.

"First planet?"

"Tomorrow, we can spend a week or so there and I'll go to the satellite."

"Then we'll plant here when we get back."

"Yep." David looks at Josette. "Is there any news about bringing out Wayne, Dayton, and Drake?"

"Yeah, we're bringing the buildings out in a couple years. They're sharing everything they're working on and saving it for. . .the end."

"I don't know which is worse, a slow death or a fast one."

"No death." Josette snorts. "But mankind hasn't dragged themselves out of the muck yet." The others sigh and nod.

The others get in supplies and the next morning after breakfast they head off to the first planet, changing out of their clothes and laying in the sun.

"Have they figured out a place for the companies?"

"Yeah, about seventy-five miles from Town, there will be tesseract links to the companies for the employees instead of a permanent link like the Albatross Nests."

"Working on the buildings."

"Yep, once they come out it will take about a year before the renovations are done. Right now the library and historical society comes first." Nods from the others.

"Have we figured out a fire system for the planet?"

"Yeah. . ." Josette grabs her PADD and brings up the file, sending it to the others. "Expands in air, a good sized ball should put out a fire though two or even three might be needed for something like a wildfire. Like the foam if there's no fire it becomes inert. The probes have been programmed to send alerts if the temperature rises in an area."

"Good, after seeing the footage of the California fires. . ."

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I wanted a way to nip them in the bud. They were experimenting with the formula on Earth when we left."

One afternoon Josette heads off, returning a year later her time with the food in stasis. A few days later they take off, Josette delivering food to various places before they head back to Haven. Josette puts everything in stasis and they head upstairs to start planting after breakfast while Victoria and her age group head to GD on the 9th planet to talk about their degrees and internship.

Josette settles in her usual spot at the Albatross Nest, a bottle of pop in her hand and a plate on her knees. The conversation flits from the books for the anniversary to Agatha's book, the cookbooks, Josette's other books, and Josette's fiction to the new library and historical society, the new factories and whether this winter would be assbiting cold with a few good storms since it had turned cool early or warm but snow nearly every day. A couple hours later she puts the kits, cookies, and leftovers away at the dorm.

"Others talk to you three yet about another bachelors or going on for a masters?" She leans over Alan's shoulder.

"Not yet, maybe they'll let us be for a year." Josette sniggers and walks off.

"Yeah, that was our thought."

"Any interest in the other dimension?" David asks when the others start coming out.

"A lot, but most people walk off pouting when they realize they gotta do everything themselves."

"Awww, no manis, pedis, facials, massages. . . How can people live like that?"

"Exactly."

"Too long getting everything handed to them on a silver platter and not having to work for it."

"They haven't lived through the natural disaster or hardship that makes people pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get on with life. Be it a world war, an earthquake or other natural disaster, the loss of power. . ."

"Epidemics. . ." Alexander says, coming down the hall. "Laundry." They sort out their laundry and put everything away.

Madison looks around the transformed town during the Lights Festival. She takes pictures of everything then talks to her authors. She goes over sales and talks to Josette about a possible book tour after the second book is out to gauge the response for the third book and any future ones.

"Josette, your quilting books?"

"I'm debuting another one at the boys show in about five months our time."

"Do you know how many books you. . .?" Josette pulls up the file and hands it over. "That's just how many books I have in storage, that doesn't include any that's with Ellis, Marcus, or Dexter for the websites."

"Dexter?"

"Our agent in Mom Clarinda's dimension."

"Is there any interest in the older books?"

"Yeah, there's always a few dozen people who have the older books for me to sign at the shows. I usually bring out some of the older books whenever I debut a new one."

"Are you planning a new printing?"

"If the demand is good yes. It won't be until the other books are done, that will be about five years? We've got Agatha's book, ten more cookbooks, then the rest of the books I have written."

"Do you have any more fiction. . .?" Alexander sniggers as he walks behind Josette, goosing her. "Yeah, several dozen more."

"Not that many." Josette grumbles.

"How?"

"I'm a lot older than I look and we routinely spend weeks, months, even years out of time on the ships."

"Why?"

"Most of it is traveling on the ships, some of it is when we harvest the offworld crops. We have huge gardens on other planets that even with 200 people harvesting sunup to sundown still takes six months. Each inhabited planet but the 9th and 10th have three of these offworld harvests that are canned, dried, or otherwise stored for their winters. The 9th and 10th planets share three harvests, that's 18 trips a year. The others might be on two or three if they want to make some extra money, I'm on every trip. I'm out there out of time working on the recycling I pick up from the other dimensions they can't handle like the paper ends."

Madison nods. "I can't see many recyclers being able to handle those."

"Neither can I, I routinely visit drop-off sites whenever we go over to the other dimension. I know what gets used and what doesn't. Though with the plans for colonizing another dimension, the plastic and glass is getting used there more often. But I routinely bring back tons of paper, plastic, glass, clothes. . ."

After the Lights Festival Madison heads back with the others, sighing at the message on her desk. "Politely sir, go fuck yourself. We don't own the rights to Ms. Takahawa's quilting books and can't force her to stop publishing them." She says in a phone call twenty minutes later.

"But they're not making us any money." the man on the other end whines. "What about her contract here? You've got to have slipped a non-interference clause in there we can use to shut her down."

"For three books, she keeps the right to them herself, if we want to print them again we have to enter into another contract with her."

"Noooooooo." he wails as he ends the call.

"Damn drama queen." Madison mutters as she checks the sales records for Josette and the others. She whistles. "No wonder the old fool wants to control her books."

"Anderson again?" Another agent says from her doorway.

"Yeah, one of my writers self-publishes quilting books, since she's an artist the looky-lous buy them by droves."

"And he wants her to stop or turn them over to him so he can make the money." She snorts. "Lemme guess, you had to slip in a non-interference clause in her contract because he would have, even though the courts ruled them illegal."

"Yep. And she's only got a three book contract with us, and retains the rights to her books so she can turn around and publish them herself after we run out of our print run."

"Ahhhhh, and the old fool is howling at the injustice of the person who's doing all the work being able to reap the benefits."

"Yep."

"Wanna go to lunch?"

"I can eat."

The second week of the new year Josette slides into her seat at the government building.

"Sorry I'm late, I was checking on the factories."

"The second shifts start?"

"Yeah, we'll have a good chunk of orders for both dimensions."

"Slippers?"

"Good supply in in various sizes at the store."

"Sweater factory?"

"Going to be open another year."

"Toilet paper?"

"Started operations last week, they figure on being done next year since they've got more than the toilet paper." The others nod.

"First planet?"

"I'm heading off in a couple of days to plant."

Josette stops at the bakery on the way home, taking off her boots and shaking off her cloak. Hanging it up she joins the others in the living room.

"So how many classes are you going for this semester?" David asks.

"Only sixteen, I'm picking up a semester first and third semester online for a couple of my degrees instead of starting a new one this year. Might do it next year too, I'll see when I look over my classes this fall."

"How are they coming on the books?"

"Going like gangbusters, they'll have the last four books done for the 100th anniversary and Agatha's book for sale at the Harvest Festival, even with it being a normal sized order. I'll let it slip at the show that it's going to be available if there's any interest." The others snort, remembering the books flying off tables at the shows.

The next few weeks pass slowly, a storm coming in that dumps a couple feet of snow on them over a few days. They get dug out and Josette spends a couple of days making up batches of seasonings to replace what they're running low on. Josette knows the others are doing the same, all real cooks prefer to make their own spice blends.

Dr. Stark nods at her reasoning when she, Susan, Alexander, and Michael head to Archimedes for their first testing week. "No use signing up for new degrees when you have others you can finish."

"Yep."

"I know the boys talked to their advisor last year about their dissertations. Susan, David, and CJ?"

"CJ's going to be two years into his doctorate next year, he's been working on his dissertation and talking to his advisor at Cambridge. David and Susan are going to be talking to people next year about their dissertations.

"Your dissertation?"

"Ahhh, I'll upload the paper for a couple people to look over next year and formally upload it the year after that."

"I heard rumors that they're using more of their plastic in the other dimension?"

"Yeah, they're stockpiling it for extruded plastic homes when they finally start moving out to the other dimension. I'm still picking up paper, clothes, and glass though. ..at least until they need to start making canning jars and glass windows."

Nods from the three men as Alexander comes over.

"Who's got where this year?"

"The boys Granda's, me Mom's. Mine comes first."

"Got the books on the ship?"

"Moving them when I move the special orders."

"How are you coming on tearing apart the ships?"

"Pretty good, I've been averaging about half a ship whenever I deliver the recycling, I've got nearly an entire ship torn apart now."

"Did you get more bad shipping containers?"

"Yep, some with supplies. . .some empty. I think they're just dumping them now."

"Probably." Dr. Stark sighs. "How are the orders coming?"

"Good, I've got to move stuff to the ship tomorrow."

Josette slides into her seat at the government building the next morning.

"Get the stuff moved to the ship?"

"Yeah, and got the totals updated in my list."

"The power grid on Thomas's world?"

"We're seeing it beginning to fail as more people are lost, I've been inspecting them with the Justice League, shutting down the plants that are still good in the lost countries and taking out the ones that are bad."

"And there's more bad than good?"

"Unfortunately. A lot of it went right in the replicator for raw materials."

"They won't need power plants for decades after everybody's . ..gone."

"Yeah, the ships supply power to people who live on them, there's the alternate power, and solar power for the houses on Earth."

"No megamansions for people to rattle around in anymore." Dr. McNider laughs.

"Hey, we resemble that remark." Dr. Cross nods around his mug of coffee.

The next morning Josette heads to the other dimension after breakfast, picking up the mail and dropping off the socks. Calvin waves her into his office after her and Jane count the socks.

"What's the news on the moonbase?"

"The first module is on track to be going up around the time you come out after your finals. They hope to have a second up by the time we come up for the Lights Festival. Now, is Agatha's book going to be available by the show?"

"No, but Marcus is going to put up an announcement to see if there's interest. If there is we'll bring them out when I'm either picking up the students or midterms. And Ellis is already demanding copies to sell." Calvin nods in satisfaction.

Josette drops off the mail at the office and brings theirs back to the dorm, grabbing a package of toilet paper from the supplies and splitting it between her two bathrooms. She thinks somebody on Earth would be no doubt up in arms over the fact that their toilet paper doesn't have cardboard rolls as she joins the others sorting through the boxes.

"Moonbase?"

"The first module is due to go up just before we come out after finals, I'm sure it's all going to be broadcast six ways to Sunday and they'll send us the footage in the databurst. I'll detour past the moon so everybody can see too."

"Please god let their moonbase go better than the Mars Colony."

"Your mouth to their ears, but NASA has learned from the mistakes of the Mars Colony. Better shielding, they made damn sure they were in a protected location. . ., doing everything they can."

"How long is the base supposed to be open?"

"At least five years, one of the modules that comes up is going to have to be a greenhouse."

"Yeah, they couldn't expect Earth to supply all their food, for all that the space station does."

"Especially if the moonbase lasts beyond five years."

"Yep. We were damn lucky both in having habitable worlds waiting for us, having Atlantis and the other ships to bring up supplies, and being able to bring our homes with us."

The next month passes quickly, Josette heading off to Earth again after her midterms to pick up the orders. Ulonda takes pictures of the activity on the moon and she shows them to the others when she returns to the school. Josette delivers mail and the list of supplies in the container to Joyce in the office, handing over the boxes of stamps she'd picked up at the school.

"Looking good." Alexander says when she brings out their mail at the dorm.

"Yep."

Josette puts her feet up on the coffee table, getting a lapful of cats. "Did you get books and magazines?"

"Yeah, for the school library, the town library, the stores, and the dorm. Later this year I'll start bringing out books for the Albatross Library."

"No use bringing it out until they're nearly done."

"Yep."

"Get more empty containers?"

"Yeah, like I said last testing week, I think they're just dumping them now."

"Not the first time big business had decided out of sight, out of mind."

"First planet?"

"Tomorrow. I'm picking green tomatoes and peppers and doing the mushrooms while I'm there. I also gotta get some more ocean water for salt."

"Oh wwwwoooowwww." Somebody says as Josette turns off the lights and clears the windows so they can see the moonbase.

"Are we taping this?"

"Yeah, I think people would like to see the moonbase on the moon."

Josette starts dropping off the empty containers when they go out after their finals, the scrap metal dropped off to two different places as David opens the tesseract for the students.

"Oh my god. . .where. . .how?" One of the major newscasters in America asks when Calvin passes along the footage.

"The other dimension went into space years ago. When they brought back the students and employees after finals to stock up on snacks, get new clothes, and spend some time with their families they flew past the moonbase so they could see it in place, we'd sent them pictures of the launch but . . ."

"There wasn't pictures of it on the moon until now."

"Would they be willing to be interviewed about colonizing their planet?"

"Planets, plural. There's six planets with permanent settlers out of sixteen in their solar system. But there's not really much to tell about how they settled their worlds, they have the technology that they were able to bring up their homes and even small towns, it was just a matter of going to bed on Earth one night and waking up on their new planet their next morning. There were groups of settlers who came up on the ships on the sixth planet and built temporary housing to live in as they repaid the costs of coming to the planet but for the most part that's how they arrived. Now, they are planning an anniversary show on how everything's changed since they first settled on Haven. And books."

"Temporary housing?"

"Dorm type housing with two people to a room for single people and small houses for families. They were meant to be temporary, the settlers would be putting money away to pay for land, supplies, and putting up housing on their land. After they lost Earth most people elected to stay in Town so apartment buildings were brought out while a number of the temporary houses have been renovated over the years."

Josette, Clark Kent, and Professor Fletcher meet with Madison, talking about how their books are selling while they're there.

"How are your books selling?" David asks at dinner that night.

"Good, the interest in the second book is growing, as is the interest in printing the books in other languages and audio."

They have a few other meetings before they head back to Haven.

"Being printed in other countries and languages?"

"Yep, we came up with another contract for that and audio books, the old fool who wanted me to stop selling my quilting books bitched, moaned, and whined about how it wasn't fair that I didn't turn my books over to him but the big brass finally had enough of his stupidity and told him shove off. People were investigating his department and found out he didn't do a damn thing to publicize his authors so he was given the ax. Finally as the others who had to deal with him whining about how they took care of their authors said."

"Lemme guess, the old boy network? The same reason we got the headcases at the school before Jackie?" Principal Madison snorts.

"Yep. Blubbering about how they didn't know he was that bad while they were ignoring the complaints from the other agents about his bullshit. And his whining when they wouldn't cave and told the brass where to shove his complaints."

"Jackie?" His father asks.

"Hastings, our school social worker. She first came to the school when Josette was a sophomore when our previous social worker demanded a dorm inspection because of her clients had been caught doing drugs and was being expelled."

"And if she could find somebody else breaking the rules she could get him off?" Hannah sighs.

"Yep. She was a nasty woman who took an instant dislike to Josette because she didn't bow down and kiss her ass. She hated that Josette had Samhein, that Josette had a bigger room than the others, Josette had to be hiding contraband, emptied the vacuum cleaner bag and dumped out all her underwear then demanded what to know what was in the urn on the top shelf if it wasn't contraband, then went 'oh' when told is was Josette's mother ashes. I made her clean up her mess by folding everything she'd thrown on the bed instead of dumping it back in the drawers like she would have done and vacuum back up the mess she'd made of Josette's floor. She hated the twins too, made one sit on the bed and the other at the table so she could make sure they weren't switching places on her even though not only do Anna and Abby wear different clothes they had different hairstyles even back then. She hated the fact that the twins could have Alan in their room, accused them of incest."

"Stupid woman." Calvin sighs.

"Yep, I put in a complaint with her supervisors. She wanted Josette expelled because she didn't respect her authority." Sniggers from everybody who remembers South Park. "One of the reasons she didn't want her client expelled was because until they graduated, the state was on the hook for their school costs. If they graduated, they had to pay them but if they were expelled they had to pay the whole thing in 30 days or be in default. When she saw how big a bill Josette had back then her hurt feewings weren't hurt that much."

Sniggers from the others. "I was having her escorted off the premises when she saw Josette heading to the laundry and accused her of going off to meet a boy. Josette turned away after saying she was going to work and the stupid woman attacked her. Josette handed her her ass and I had her arrested for assault. She tried blaming Josette but the video showed Josette walking away before the attack. She was out a couple of weeks due to deep bruises on her shoulder." The others hiss. "Yeah, with that proof she pled no contest to keep from facing some real jail time but had to attend counseling and pay for Josette's medical bills and the time she missed work, plus pain and suffering. Jackie came to the school the next day with two of her clients who had been kicked out of their foster home by their parents because they were lesbians. Stupid fools called the police to have the girls removed from their home and didn't realize that having warrants out for their arrest would get them taken in. They'd been defrauding people for years, had a record as long as my arm but. . ."

"Slipped through the cracks." Dr. Cross sighs.

"Yep. They stole the girls allowance from their scholarship loans and had been running up their cards, the girls didn't even know they had cards or allowances. Jackie brought the girls to the school and Anna and Josette got them settled into the dorm. Jackie found out from Josette the state didn't pay everything to keep the students in school, the social worker wouldn't help out the other wards of the state, she was only there to get her clients settled into their first year of school and screw the others, the students had to schedule their own doctor, dental, and optometry appointments and take the shuttle to them, and that none of us knew about a fund that would pay for wards of the states dental and vision since the state plan didn't cover it."

Moaning and shaking of heads. "I contacted the office and asked for her as the new social worker for the school. She accepted the job and started kicking over anthills right and left, it took her and four people from her office three weeks to go through all the records to make sure the wards of the state were getting everything they could. Josette and the others not only started getting food benefits since they had a way to prepare food in the dorm, she also got signed up for the fund that paid for the dental and vision, she got a good portion back of what she'd paid for her glasses, Jackie took her to the phone store along with the other wards of the state at the school and got them phones so their workers could contact them. Josette's worker had told her that leaving a message at the office wasn't enough for her, so she'd brought herself a tracfone and paid for the minutes out of her pay."

"And we hated that piece of crap. And you could have gotten a better one after two years since you were still in school."

"I'm cheap, if I'd gone for a more expensive phone I'd have had a larger bill to pay after I graduated or a huge disconnect fee. I had that 'piece of crap' as you call it for nearly four years."

"Until the damn thing finally died when Bruce was using it." David smirks. "And he brought you a good phone. You had that one nearly ten years before we brought new ones again. And we had those until we left Earth." The others start sniggering.

"Story?" Charles asks.

"Oh yes, as with most big business on Earth they couldn't believe we weren't taking everything with us to Haven. They were 'here's the models we have available' expecting a huge sale and were told that we weren't having cell phones on Haven."

"How can you live like that?" Bronwen says in a mock-trembling voice.

"We'll show you, we're not going to sell to you, you'll come begging us to buy our phones." Richard says in the 'no soup for you' soup nazi voice.

Josette's cackling, her head frantically nodding.

"Indeed, when they found out we weren't buying cell phones they sued and lost."

"Post office." Abby snorts.

"Oh yes, of course we'd want to bring up a post office, they'd need this this this, that that that. . . They were stunned when we said we had no intentions of bringing up a post office, then sued to try to stop us from using the school's mailboxes store to handle our mail. And lost." David rolls his eyes.

"People are stupid." Principal Madison snorts. "We had some fool who went to court to have the school shut down so he could build a golf course nearby. He felt having a school nearby would send the wrong message to people. The judge told him to go away."

"Huh, I wonder if that was the same guy who wanted the first golf course in space?" The others look at her. "Of course they'd need restaurants, bars, hotels, golf carts. . . Our little people could have jobs at the businesses. . .not high ranking ones of course, but they could work. The judge told him to go blow in the wind, but more politely. He walked off pouting"

"Oh of course what the world needs is another fucking golf course." Abby says, rolling her eyes. Josette moans and grabs her PADD, making several notes before she puts it away. Bronwen looks at her. "Zero gravity sports complex. . . bowling, golf, tennis. . ."

"Pilates in space?" Alan says dryly.

"Lifting yourself right off the bike during spin class?"

"Pool tables in space?"

Josette starts delivering containers to various places when they return to Haven, joining with her other selves that had been in the other dimensions.

"How is it in Thomas's world?"

"We're getting close to being in the same time period, couple more years and we'll be harvesting again. By the time Victoria and the others head off for their internships we'll have at least one continent gone."

"City on Earth?"

"Yeah, they were settling in when we went out."

"How is Doc's world?"

"They were in the middle of a pretty bad power outage when we were there."

"And it was going to be worse before it got better."

"Yep." Josette sighs.

"How are you coming on the ships?"

"Going at it like gangbusters. I'll have it all broke down and delivered back to Earth in a couple years."

"Get more empty containers?"

"Yeah, they're not even pretending not to be dumping them anymore."

"That's big business for you." David rolls his eyes. "Let them be somebody else's problem."

"If they find them dumping, they go to the end of the line for new ones. Which cuts into their business. They tried whining to the courts and got told to grow up, if they didn't want to lose business they should have waited."

"So what are you taking this semester? Beyond the classes for your mega degree for the other dimension?"

"Finishing the third year for one of my Montague degrees, I'll be a semester from finishing the first year of the mega degree curricula from the sosh school, I'm finishing the third semester for the cooking degree, and I'll be halfway through the doctorate this fall."

Madison moans at the outline of the new book, passing the sample chapters along to a few of the other authors who can be heard sniggering in their offices.

"I think I've been behind this woman in my classes." One of them laughs.

"Graduation?" Alex asks, tapping on the door frame of the pocket doors a couple days after the announcement has gone out.

"GD on Archimedes holds them once a decade or so, this allows everybody who's finished a degree since the last one to get their diplomas. The schools up here will send somebody for their schools, Dr. Stark handles the schools that didn't come up. You should be getting the cap, gown, and collar if you went for a masters or doctorate. Josette does a quick change on the stage since she gets degrees from so many schools."

"How many has she finished?" Thomas asks behind his son.

"Nineteen bachelors but she's not graduating with all of them, a masters, and a doctorate." Thomas shakes his head. Susan shrugs. "We all have at least one degree to walk for, Josette just goes for multiple degrees at the same time."

"How many degrees does Josette have?"

"At least 230 bachelors, she's got the 19 she hasn't gotten her diplomas for yet but at least two of them are multiple degree curriculum that she doesn't count until she gets the last degree done. If you added all those she'd have at least 250 with the cooking, shipwrecks from the naval academy, comic book, and degrees from Montague degrees. 22 masters with this one and 17 doctorates with this one. Even if she was old when she started her first doctorate at 31." Sniggers from the others. "Old joke, she was complaining that most people don't start their first doctorates that late in life. We reminded her that most people didn't already have fifteen bachelors and three masters and most of them went for a doctorate for their job, not because they could."

"How many degrees does Josette have started right now?"

"About 9? She's got about seven that she rotates through, four of them she's got one semester in before she's done but they're the first of huge multiple degree curriculum so she's not counting them, she's two or three semesters from three others but they're the 2nd of a three degree set so she's not counting them either, the cooking degree. . .which I think is number seven and her doctorate. Plus whatever she's taking from the other dimension."

The next few weeks pass quickly as the field crops start coming in. Josette puts the last of the bags in various buildings. Her newest book is coming along and Josette sends more out to Madison, getting a swear back that makes her grin. She meets with her again when she goes out to pick up the supplies midterms the summer semester and find out how many students they can be expecting this fall, detouring past the moonbase to see the activity.

The interest for the second book has been growing thanks to the first book being printed in other languages and the audio book coming out. Now, your new book?"

"I have all but the last chapter finished. I'm trying to keep it from going to another book but the damn muse is fighting me." Madison looks at her. "The muse wants to end the book with the words 'uh oh. What do you mean uh-oh?'."

Madison sniggers despite herself. "Either way it leaves it open. You could either end the book there or leave it open for a second. Now other books?"

"The last two books for the 100th anniversary are going to be finished in a couple months and available for sale next year after the show. Agatha's book will be available for sale at the Harvest Festival this year."

"Are you offering it at the show?"

"Won't be available yet, just my ninth book here. Marcus is going to be putting the information up on the website to see if there's interest and Ellis has already demanded copies to sell. I'll bring them out when the returning employees and graduating students come home."

"Josette, do you use the hand operated washing machines?" Jane asks, looking at the schematics.

"Yeah, we have one on the first planet for when we're on vacation and need to do a little laundry."

"That's going to be a bit of work."

Josette nods. "Drawing the water, warming it, and then dumping it in the machine. But nothing they didn't have to do back in the old days. And no scrubbing by hand. Not that people are going to have the types of wardrobes you see now."

Maria nods. "Technology has made things easier, but we've become spoiled."

Josette starts delivering containers various places when she returns to Haven.

"Drop off more scrap?"

"Yeah, and the regular recycling. Took care of a good bit of it at the drop off areas too. Brought back a lot of cloth, paper, and glass. Though I expect some of that to taper off when they start getting more supplies in for the colony."

"Clothing at least, they'll be putting a lot of the worn out stuff in the replicator to use for raw material."

"And glass if they reuse the glass for the canning jars. Though they'll have to make the ones with the wire and glass lids since they can't bring in umpteen tons of lids and rings."

A couple weeks later they head off for an hour to the other dimension, dropping off the books and special orders with Dexter before they head to the rooms to drop off their bags.

In another building Black Jack checks the monitors. "The kids." He snorts. "Josette just waved at the camera." Clarinda sniggers.

"Whose show?"

"Josette, and she's debuting a new book. Did. . .Yes, I see Dexter or one of his assistants is already updating the website with Agatha's book."

Josette heads off to get gussied up for her show, meeting the others at fancy restaurant for dinner afterwards in a megascraper in another city. After dinner is the interview and then the show, staying afterwards to talk about Agatha's book and sign copies before going to the hotel.

"Any interest in Agatha's book?"

"Yeah." Josette blinks and David sniggers as the twins get her undressed and shoved into a bed.

"Gah, I hate these late signings, I always crash afterwards."

"Josette, this is probably a dumb question but cars in the other dimension?"

"Do they get recycled? Yeah, they've got setups similar to the factories that built them that tears them apart on a 'disassembly line' for recycling. Those that are involved in accidents and totaled or stuff from cars that can't be reused get taken out with a disintegrating gun and turned into energy. It's just stuff like ships and shipping containers that I got tapped into taking care of, one because there's so much stuff and the other because they're so big and it would take a lot of people with torches to cut them into manageable pieces if they didn't use a dozer to knock them down like they do houses."

"And then they'd have the pieces to move somewhere else. You doing it can deliver it right where it needs to be to be made into something new. Even the 'factories' have to sort everything out and send it off. Just like the drop off centers."

Nearly two months later their time they return to Haven, delivering the small boxes that can literally hold tons being moved to various rooms. The yearly crops start coming in and Josette and the others head off again to the other dimension.

"Damn, they're coming right along." Katrina says. "Any word on plans for greenhouses."

"They're talking it, right now they're relying on supplies they brought up and small growing areas in their modules."

"Anywhere you can fit a box or a couple plants?"

"Exactly. They were really happy to read my dissertation on zero-gravity growing."

"They'll need it if they ever intend to go out into space."