Josette brings out the boxes at Ellis's after she's toured the buildings and made her purchases. Ellis smiles as he looks through both Josette's book and a special signed copy of Agatha's book she'd brought out for him.

"Thank you Josette, these will go in my bookcase of special authors. Along with your fiction."

Josette snaps her fingers and brings out a box. "Sneak previews of the books from Haven for the 100th anniversary. They won't be available for sale until after the show."

"Thank you."

"Problems?" Josette asks Madison when she meets her at the school.

"Stupid fuckers who are currently rotting in the high security dimension. That old fool Anderson was talking to an undercover officer about shooting you because you didn't turn your quilting books over to him." Josette calls him something scathing in Ancient.

"Exactly, and a fool of a 'religious' person in Iowa added your name to the list of people he threatens because you don't write the books he wants. They finally put that fucker away for life. His butt buddies who were protecting the little shit citing freedom of speech and freedom of religion are facing their own charges for aiding and abetting. They tried getting him off saying he was 'troubled' and the judge called them lying fools. The original judge over the case would have thrown the case against them out, but he got his ass handed to him by the ethics board for demanding another author stop writing fantasy. It's not illegal, unethical, immoral, and it doesn't make him fat so why try to make him stop something he enjoys that makes him a living? He was blubbering about how it wasn't fair they were punishing him, don't they know he's special. His Daddy's got money."

"I am so glad people aren't accepting that as an excuse for bad behavior anymore unless somebody really is cuckoo for cocoa puffs." Madison sniggers.

"Book?"

Josette pulls out a thumb drive. "Completed, edited by both Professor Parker, Professor Fletcher, and Lois and Lana."

"Bless you for having sense." She heads off to her office. She reads over everything, sniggering at some scenes and sends it off to be printed. She'd given Josette the advance check a couple weeks ago when she'd talked to her.

"Damn, no wonder that old fool wanted your money." She says a few nights later at the show, seeing the boxes of books being opened and the line of people out the door with their books to be signed. And it's not just the new book that is being signed.

"Well if the old fool had done his job instead of sitting on his useless ass telling others how to run their lives he might have made money." One of her fellow agents says as they wander the gallery. "I've never been to one of these though I have purchased some of their furniture, including one of the doll houses for my daughter."

"Josette makes those."

"Really? My ex and his mother had a fit, trying to claim I was turning her against them because they don't like dolls, toys, or children being children. They took me to court and the judge told them to grow the fuck up. When they saw the dollhouse they agreed that it might be an investment in her future so they guessed it was okay, the judge rolled his eyes and called them a bunch of drama queens. They're the type that want children to be little robots instead of kids. Not the first time they took me to court, fucking fools tried declaring me an unfit mother so they could get custody and got their asses handed to them by the social workers, they sued to stop the child support and got their asses handed to them. . ."

"Your ex and his family need a good swift kick."

"Amen."

Josette sighs and stretches after the show is over, grabbing her shoes as she joins the others walking through the tesseract to the mansion. The next morning Marcus and Madison do a good imitation of a Mexican standoff before they grin and start talking.

"Josette, more information on the books being printed in other languages, other countries, and coming out on audio." They go over the paperwork.

"Books?" She looks over at Marcus.

"4800 of the newest one sold, 8275 signed. Here's the checks. And are you interested in possibly printing them in other languages? There's been some interest on the website. I know about five people who can translate the books into eight languages. Yes, I know you speak and read fifteen languages but. . ."

"Let somebody who knows what they're doing do it, there's a difference between reading in a language and being able to write in it. That's why there was so many problems as brands were translated into other languages." The others laugh and nod. The boys get drug in and they talk to Marcus.

Back on Haven the second crops start coming in and Josette attends a signing party at the Albatross Nest before heading off to the other dimensions to deliver supplies, pick up the new employees, and drop off more containers of belongings for the graduating students and returning employees. That takes three days and Josette sighs when she drops into her seat.

"All the new employees in?"

"Yep."

"Doc's world?"

"Still having power outages because the power companies are digging in their heels about having to build new plants and not being able to gouge anybody over the prices. The government is going in and inspecting plants and people are howling because they've been cutting corners on maintenance and are being charged."

"Sounds familiar. Pick up more supplies?"

"Yeah, I just got done delivering everything to the factories."

"Books?"

"Working on the cookbooks. Then the rest of my books."

Calvin and the others start coming out with a guest that stands in the middle of the street and looks around, then up. Madison snickers as she comes over. "That old fool Anderson is blubbering about how everybody's being mean to him making him work and the judge asked him if he wanted to go to prison for the rest of his worthless life instead. He shut right up. The brass wants to talk to you about another printing of your book since the second book is rocketing up the charts. If the demand is still good they'll reprint the second one and double the print run for the third book. The new book will be out by the time you come back after Thanksgiving and I need to talk to you about the press tour for the third book."

Ellis looks over and grins. "Books?"

"We're working on the cookbooks right now then the rest of mine. We figure five years will have them all done."

"100th Anniversary Show?"

"After the Harvest Festival next year. Over the winter the historians are setting up the exhibits in the new library building, then next winter we'll be putting everything away and moving books into the new building. We've needed the extra room for a while and this way we don't have an empty building going to waste."

"Albatross?"

"They're hoping to have their new buildings open by the Lights Festival. They're going to be adding all the new materials and shelving after the Harvest Festival. It will take a few months since they're working on the new historical society building the same time." Madison nods as they walk through the school.

"Is that a dorm?" the visitor asks.

"Yeah, 75 floors with either 40 or 60 two student rooms per floor. Every two rooms shares a bathroom. Each floor also has storerooms where two student rooms and their bathroom would have been for supplies."

"I haven't seen apartment buildings that high."

"Dining halls?"

"Eight buildings each four floors with two rooms per floor. All but one of them is open to the students. That last room belongs to Josette and her family, we eat there when we come out and any friends that come out over meals eats there too. There's two more buildings that have restaurants, one a burger place...not fast food but the thick burgers that you get in restaurants that you have to hold with both hands that are held together with a toothpick and comes with fries or onion rings and a pickle spear on the side. One's a chicken place that has a different speciality a night, and the other is a pizzeria that is on two floors in the other building. It used to be just take-out since the school didn't want to compete with the two pizza parlors in Town or the one in Albatross, but they needed the help with take-out orders. After a few months the pizza parlors in town told them to open it up to sit down traffic."

"Do they get a lot of business?"

"Oh yes. Especially the pizza parlors during the week before midterms and finals."

"I heard rumors that the students are taking university classes in their spare time?"

"Yes, a good quarter to third of our students are enrolled in dual enrollment and can finish a bachelors by the time they've graduated. A good percentage of those students are enrolled at Cambridge or Oxford on the fourth planet." He moans. "Those students who aren't enrolled in the program will still start university as a junior."

"Josette, new cooking teachers?"

"Two more years." Calvin says. "I've got a tentative list and a few people want to do 'reality' shows. Nobody like Gordon Ramsey."

"Good, because I'd yell right back at him and if he threw something I'd be throwing it right back at him."

"I don't know why people sign up for those types of shows."

"For the publicity, like all so-called 'reality' shows."

"But. . .but. . .but there's no such thing as bad publicity." Josette mock-blubbers. Snorts from everybody in earshot. "Yeah, that's why there was so many lawsuits that people were 'mean', they should be allowed to do whatever stupid shit they wanted, who cares about the little person. They should be honored I'm lowering myself to acknowledge their existence." Josette strikes a stupid-model pose.

The next couple of days has their guest exploring everything, plastering himself against the window when Josette takes him on a tour of the system. After the Harvest Festival they head back to Earth and he blinks as he sees only a few minutes has passed.

"That is very convenient. I hope the settlers in the other dimension are able to settle in as easily as they did."

"They've had years of experience."

Josette starts bringing the new students out over the next few weeks, looking over at Albatross to find people bustling as they move boxes from the shipping containers to the library and historical society building.

"Is this everybody?" Professor Ziegler asks one day at the pizza parlor.

"Yep."

"Full?"

"Until the graduating students and returning employees leave." Josette leans backward over her chair. Frances and President Bartlett chuckle as they come over and an employee puts down food in front of Josette.

"How is everything coming in Albatross?"

"Good, they're moving boxes from the shipping containers. I'll take the empty ones back midterms the way they're moving stuff."

"Josette, detergent?"

"The factory is opening next year, be about two years as the make various types, then after that we should be running low on toothpaste."

"Clothing?"

"Wrapping up before the Lights Festival. I've been delivering orders from the paper factory the last few days." Everybody nods as Josette takes a bite of pizza.

"Any chance of you printing your fiction?"

"Not until after the last of the quilt books. Once they're down to only a couple books I'll put up a poll to see if there's interest."

"See if there's interest she says." President Bartlett rolls her eyes. "The sample chapters you put up on the server of your latest is evil young lady."

"No evil is the damn muse that woke me up in the middle of the night howling, demanding I write the sequel right now." Josette snorts.

"Classes?"

"I'm picking up semesters of older degrees online instead of picking up new ones. As it is, I'm a semester from finishing four degrees, two semesters from finishing three more, and halfway through the doctorate this semester."

"Are they going to have any power in the other dimension?"

"Limited, probably one building that's going to have the supplies. They can have solar panels on their houses but . . ." Josette shrugs.

"Most modern conveniences would drain them rather quickly and adding the wiring would be a problem." Professor Ziegler says. Josette holds up a hand and pulls up a file on her PADD, handing it over.

"Something I was working on, adding the panels for wiring and how much electricity common appliances would need. We make more power because we've got the two suns. And not many people go hogwild on energy draining appliances."

"There won't be tv or radio stations in the beginning, they might need a refrigerator but it's easier to dig a root cellar or use an icehouse."

"Washing machines are going to be hand cranked and there's no dryers. Stoves will be wood and will need to be both heat and cooking. Especially during the winter."

"No electric lights."

"I can't see many people popping for the solar panels right away, it's both more stuff to add to the house as you're building it and there's nothing that runs on electricity, at least at first."

The others nod. "They're going to be busy settling in and putting in a garden, planting crops to make money for more supplies. . ." Nods from the others again.

"And the solar panels and wiring panels would add to the cost of the house. It's not like our world where they had jobs waiting on them they could start making money with to start paying off their debts as soon as they arrived and had a place to stay waiting on them." President Bartlett says.

The others nod.

The next week Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center.

"How many bachelors does this make?"

"248, I'm still not counting the multiple degree curriculum until they're all done." The others shake their heads.

"Josette, are the characters DC picked up and the independent publishers DC took over two separate sets of degrees?" Alexander asks, coming over and looking at something on his PADD.

"Yes, though it doesn't seem like it should be." Josette says, rolling her eyes. "I was looking into that myself and wondering. ..didn't I already take these? Another example of degrees that come at the same topic from different directions."

"Are you going to have a full shipment of stuff to take back next month."

"Ohhhh yeah, Joyce already asked me to move stuff to the ship and it was already beginning to pile back up again. Everybody realizes midterms is it, anything else you gotta heft and carry yourself."

"Are the students and employees leaving going to be able to buy the books and video of the show?"

"Yeah, the information will go up on the website the school set up for ours. I'll either take out books for them to ship or as they're ordered bring them out."

"DVDS?"

"Once the material is compiled, they'll be replicated."

"Good grief." Josette says as she pulls on a sweater when they return to Haven.

"Yes, they're already predicting a cold fall and bad winter."

"We had to expect it, we've been lucky the last few years."

"How are we on clothes for the patchwork quilts?" Josette asks the next morning.

"Good, most everybody has a good stock of quilts on hand from previous bad years so they're not making a dent in them like they have been. How is Buckaroo getting ready for their first winter on the 10th planet?"

"They're getting in supplies, they were there for a few weeks when they arrived but that's different than . . ."

"Being there for your first full winter. Something the settlers will learn in time in the other dimension."

"Yes, the extruded plastic will mean good thick walls to keep in the heat but they'll have to chink the gaps just like they did in the old days."

"Chamber pots."

"Yep, during the winter when you don't want to or can't run to the outhouse. Lye to dump down the hole to keep down the smell. If they have VR I'd say get together a good training package and put the settlers in there so they know what they're doing before they head off."

Josette grabs her PADD and sends off a message to go in the next databurst. "Now. .. how is everything coming along in Albatross?"

"Good. Empty containers."

"I was going to see if you had any empty already you wanted me to grab, otherwise I'd be picking them up at the end of the semester when I got the others."

"Yeah, we'll have them empty by then even if we have boxes everywhere."

Josette nods. "There's something about not seeing them outside that means you're done. Even if you've got rooms filled of boxes as high as you can pile them."

"Exactly."

"I do like this idea, that way the settlers have a heads up on what they have to do. And we can weed out the ones that wouldn't be able to handle it." A government official says as he looks over the message Calvin had passed along from Josette. "Did they do this on their world?"

"No, they were able to bring their homes up with them. But they did use this on the people who attacked the power plants, they didn't like technology and figured with the loss of electricity everything would go back to the good old days when people were better off."

"The good old days weren't." Somebody snorts.

"Exactly, they saw the sanitized version in the Little House books and forgot all about the epidemics, illnesses from lack of clean water and sanitation, accidents, the women that had a dozen children and maybe only two lived to adulthood if they were lucky. . ." Nods from everybody in the room.

"Crops coming along okay on the first planet?" Alan asks when she comes back to the dorm.

"Yep, I'll green-pick some stuff after midterms."

"We'll have snow early."

"Yep, I figure at least once before we harvest."

Josette sends out more chapters for the second book to Madison in the next databurst, getting more complaints and another stop to meet people when she comes out after Thanksgiving. Josette smirks.

"Will the second book be done by then?"

"Yeah, but not edited. But it will give Madison the time to come up with a contract."

The next month passes quickly and Jane moans at the seemingly never-ending piles of boxes.

"Yeah, that's why I doubled the order for supplies." Calvin says from the door of his office. "Madison wants to beat you for including her in your latest. You have her down perfectly, the others in her office cackled when they read that scene." Josette cackles and starts bringing out the socks.

"Should I find a shield to put in front of me?" A voice asks around the door of Madison's office.

"Get in here Josette, you rotten horrible person you and look over this list of signing spots. I was expecting you yesterday."

"Had to be in court, some fucking fool woman is trying to shove her opinion down everybody's throats and doesn't like the fence around our pool, said it was gaudy and bringing down the neighborhood property values. Since we own the entire neighborhood the judge told her to go blow in the wind and she walked off pouting. She's tried this shit with other people in the past the scuttlebutt is and next time she's getting her ass handed to her."

"Still not a crime to be too stupid to live. And I didn't know you had a pool."

"Yeah, you can't see it from the road so the judge asked her how she found out about the fence. She tried saying she could see it but we had video proof you can't see it from the road or the driveway. She finally admitted she used a drone to take pictures then complained when our security system destroyed it."

"The nerve of you. Protecting your own home and property. How dare you." Madison says sarcastically.

"Yeah, the judge blasted her with both barrels and she was boo hoo hooing about how mean everybody was to her. I made a dramatic showing of taking a picture of her and saying I was setting the security system to shoot her if we found her anywhere near the land. She ran off crying, nearly leaving a trail behind her. The judge gave me the 'I've got to chide you for being mean but I'm rolling on the floor laughing my ass off on the inside' look."

"Book? And we will be cutting that scene, right?"

"Nope, that's a lead in to something major at the end of the book. That might even bring out another book the way the muse is blinking up at me." She slides a thumb drive across to her. "Another few chapters of the book and a few more things that I didn't show Bronwen. The book will be done by the time I'm back to deliver the graduating students and returning employees and might even be edited by somebody, all depends on how soon I can get the ending done and if they're all busy with wrapping up their classes and finals."

"Thank you. Are you in long?"

"Few days. I was off delivering the last of the stuff the returning employees and students are sending back so they don't have as much to carry onto the ship when they come home in a couple months, picking up supplies for the rest of the school term, dropping off another load of scrap, and dropping off the regular recycling."

They talk over the list for the book tour, Madison adding a couple more stops in a couple cities since she knows those type of people will love the new book and then goes over the sales records and what clothes Josette will need. A few days of working on the recycling and Josette heads back to Haven.

Josette starts delivering the containers to various spots and slides into her seat at the dining hall after filling a tray and a bowl for salad.

"Get everything done you needed?"

"Yeah, all the belongings are now at the school, anything else and they'll have to shuffle it home themselves. Delivered the supplies for the school just now, dropped off more scrap as well as the regular recycling. Had to deal with some stupid woman who didn't like the fence around our pool at the mansion, said it was tacky and bringing down the value of the neighborhood. Since we are the neighborhood and the fence can't be seen from the road or driveway the judge let her have it. Remember that security blip a few months ago?" David nods. "That was her using a drone to look over our property. She complained our security destroyed it."

"How dare we protect our own property." Anna huffs. "Jackass."

Mom is there and looks like she wants to chide her for the language but is secretly agreeing with her. Ma and Ma are openly laughing.

"Yeah, I made a huge production of taking a picture of her and saying I was setting the security system to shoot her next time. She nearly left a trail behind her as she scurried off. She's done this before and the court is getting fed up with her Bertha better than you self." The others shake their heads, remembering people like that.

"Talk to Madison?"

"Yep, she did not like me putting her in my second book, asked me if I was going to remove that scene because everybody at work recognized her then moaned when I said it was a lead up to something major at the end of the book that might turn into another one. We talked about the book tour and she added a couple more places for the other book."

"How long?"

"Six weeks, fifteen cities, and 28 stops. I've got a couple of expos and writing conventions here and there in there." In the front room Professor Fletcher nods. "I remember those days very well."

"Did you take out more books for Madison?"

"Yeah, some I hadn't even shown Bronwen yet."

The next afternoon Josette delivers bushels of green picked peppers and tomatoes various places, sitting down at the cafe and getting a plate put in front of her.

"How are the cookbooks coming?"

"Due to be finished year after next Harvest Festival. How's the pool of new recipes coming along?"

"Good. Everybody's got time over the winter to experiment if they have growing areas of their own."

"And we've got the new cooking teachers coming out in a couple of years, they'll add new recipes."

Josette sighs as she returns to the dorm.

"Get everything delivered?"

"Yep and the rest is in stasis. How are we on the clams, geoducks, mussels, oysters, and fish?"

"Fish is still good, but the other stuff we'll have to harvest next week."

"I thought we had to be getting close."

The next month passes slowly, Josette, David, and Alexander harvest everything, putting most of it in stasis.

"No cookout this year."

"Nope, won't be warm enough even if it's not snowing." David looks out the window at the light fluffy stuff falling from the sky. "Everybody's getting in extra supplies since we know this is going to be a bad winter."

"And the factories are ahead on the orders so if they're shut down for any length of time we're not too far behind."

"Nope, we can add more hours if needed."

"Oh wow." More than one person says when they detour past the moonbase and find the second module up.

David opens the tesseract to the school, the returning employees and graduating students heading one way while everybody else who'd come out for supplies and whatnot heading the other. Josette starts dropping off items at various places and joins the others at the mansion.

Josette tosses the thumb drive to Madison the next morning, taking the contracts and looking them over. She holds up a hand and points at a box in the corner, Josette brings it over and opens it at her look, cooing at the different versions of her book.

"Mine?" Madison nods and Josette flips the box into subspace before turning her attention to the contracts.

"And Marcus wants to talk to you about the quilting books in other languages."

"I'm seeing him tomorrow, he was out when we delivered the special orders yesterday."

Madison brings up a file she'd saved, sending it to Josette's PADD. "Was that the woman who had sued when you were here last time?"

"Oh yes, what happened to the fool?"

"Rented a bobcat under the homeowner's name to tear down a gazebo she didn't like, destroyed a decorative garden, tore up a patio, and threw paint on a house, she's in a shitload of trouble. Facing serious prison time on top of time in the medium security dimension to pay for everything. She can't believe she's getting in trouble for that. Nobody else would do it, she had to take care of the examples of bad taste. She'd gone the legal route and the court wouldn't do anything, so she had to get her hands dirty."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer asshole." She turns her attention back to the contracts.

"A second printing already?"

"Oh yes, I told you the interest in the first book, it just got better with the books in the other languages and audio. And there's similar contracts for the second book, the first book in this series, and this one."

Josette sighs as she goes back to reading, signing and writing her initials at the arrows.

"Thank you, here's the receipts for your checks." she hands over the paperwork and Josette checks the balances on her account, nodding. She'll update the money program later. "Now, your tour." She hands over an envelope of tickets and hotel reservations. "If you go overseas you're going to have to fly. You'll need a passport."

"Got one. Airports are the eighth circle of hell though." Josette dryly. "And don't get me started on ticket prices and excessive baggage fees. That's why most of the family flies private planes."

"I can't argue with that. Wait yes I can, you can do the same thing with your luggage so you don't have to worry about baggage fees." Madison snorts. Josette sniggers

"Trains let me see the countryside, they usually have a place to eat nearby if they don't have a dining car."

"They also have the damn fools that run the gates and get hit by the trains. Not to mention the damn tanker fires."

Josette nods.

Bronwen and Mom are looking over her clothes for the tour when she gets back, nodding in satisfaction.

"When do you leave?"

"Two days. I gotta talk to Marcus tomorrow about the quilting books in other languages and I'm heading to Ellis's with Agatha's books."

"Try not to be conspicuously in too many places at the same time." Dad snorts as he walks through. "Since I know you're going out to Portsmouth for a few days while you're here." They'd finally come across two of Josette in one place at the same time and just moaned.

"And visiting Charles and Doc when they come back from the . . .whatever it is they're doing for a couple weeks." Josette waves a hand and Dad snickers.

"Thank you Josette, the interest has been exceptional for having the books in other languages." Marcus says when they meet the next morning. "Did you take the books out to Ellis?"

"Yesterday, after I talked to Madison about the other books."

The others sigh but nod as numerous bags and boxes start appearing in the room set aside for the stuff Josette's sending back on her tour. She finally drags herself back to the mansion and drops into a seat, waving a hand and bringing stuff out of subspace before she falls asleep.

"Hmmm, five hard drives, laptop, camera, clothes that need washing. . ." Alexander grabs the bags and starts sorting them out in the laundry area.

Josette wakes up when David waves a pizza slice under her nose. Grabbing it she eats as she walks to the bathroom, then joining the others at the table which is covered in food.

"Expos?"

"Directly to Macchu Picchu, along with the stuff I got at conventions."

"Hard drives."

"Pictures, tons of pictures. Both at the book signings and when I was playing tourist." She interlaces her fingers and throws her arms over her head, stretching backwards then forwards and side to side.

"Others?"

"One's off with Doc and Charles, the other's in Vegas with the girls." The boys snigger.

"Supplies?"

"My other selves have been picking them up. Including some major orders I put in at the

expo."

"Go through a lot of pens?"

"Thirteen boxes, Marcus told Madison which brand to order for me and made sure we had a supply on hand when they set up everything. The interest for the other book was high at the comic book type stores and I got a lot of stuff there. Some nearly swooned when I said there was a sequel coming out in a few months, one squeaked like he got goosed and I heard a hissed 'behave' from his friend."

"Is Scifi/fantasy picking up with the moonbase and off-dimension colonizing?"

"Possibly, all types of literature have their peaks and valleys."

A couple weeks later they land on Haven and Josette starts delivering stuff as David opens the tesseract for the returning students and employees who are busy putting on warmer clothes they'd left on the ship for the walk to the auditorium to have their bags checked. The supplies are offloaded to the school and factories before they lift off again, heading to the other dimension. Several weeks later they return to Haven, Josette moving everything to the dorm before joining the others, merging with her other selves that had been off to Doc and Thomas's dimension."

"Are they looking at building a city on Earth?"

"Yeah, right now they're looking at a good space to start building it. Earth doesn't have big empty spaces like the Moon and the other dimension."

"A desert?"

"Probably would be the best bet."

"Do they have plans for spaceships?"

"Yeah, but they'd need a satellite in orbit for people to live in while they build them in space. Unless they're meant to land. Then they'd have to have a helluva place to take off from."

"The same desert?"

"Possibly, they'd have the necessary machinery to put everything together."

Josette leans back in the couch, one leg coming up to rest on the couch while the other leg goes over it. "Who's got the plans?"

"Me, I figured we'd talk about it after dinner. Now first planet?"

"This weekend." Josette looks out the window at the snow falling outside.

"How are you coming on your classes?"

"One semester for four degrees but they're the megadegrees and a year on three others. Halfway through my doctorate." Josette looks at the time, stretches, yawns, and floats up to her feet. The others snigger but get on their outside clothes to walk to the dining hall for lunch.

After lunch Josette and David join Doc, President Bartlett and Principal Madison for a meeting.

"How are they coming on Earth?"

"The second module of the moonbase is up and rumors are that they're going to be a semi-permanent colony with revolving people."

"They'll have to have a module devoted to growing stuff." Josette shakes her head. "I sent Granda the idea we had about building one of the cities and future spaceships in one of the deserts if they built ones that could take off and land."

"Instead of like Pern leaving them in orbit around the planet?"

"I can understand either way, they've got the fuel to stay in orbit but that's a waste of materials that could be used on the new planet."

"They wouldn't rot in orbit." President Bartlett says.

"And they can be used as satellites to link computers and stuff."

"Orders?"

"Took the last of them in, we've got some in reserve for when we have to shut down the factories for storms. Which is going to be in a couple of days. Bad one." Josette says, the others sigh and start grabbing their PADDS to send out alerts.

"At least everybody was getting in supplies early since they knew this winter was going to be rough."

"And with over a day's warning they can get the animals inside and settled in before it gets bad. How long?"

"Two weeks snow, give it two to dig out. The Lights Festival will go on as planned. We'll be dug out by then." She sighs.

"Get it out of its system early so we can get around the rest of the year. The factories are planning extra shifts nights and weekends to make up the time they'll be missing since they knew this would be a bad year and we'd get at least one storm."

In their home Calvin looks over at Simone. "Huh, that makes sense." She looks at him.

"Josette, saying that we could use a desert to build a city like they have in the other dimensions."

"We have been looking for a large enough place, and it's better to build it in one place than have items shipped from other places and finding out it's not going to fit because a supplier cut corners."

"Josette says they can also use deserts for building spaceships if we decide on the type that can lift off and land on planets."

"They've been arguing which way to go, that would mean you wouldn't need shuttles to deliver to a planet."

Calvin nods. "That's why we've been looking at the cities, they can take off and land as well as travel through space. And not having shuttles would be extra room for supplies."

"That's why we've been looking towards the cities after we colonize the dimension."

"And if we build spaceships in orbit, we need ships to bring up supplies, a satellite for the workers to live, and shuttles on the ship to take everything down to a planet surface when they find a suitable world."

"Plus ships to bring everybody down, fuel for the spacesuits. . ."

"Something they definitely need to talk about before we colonize other planets."

"It won't be for decades, if not a century or more."

Calvin nods. "We need to find habitable worlds and make sure there's no sentient life or stuff like you see in science fiction. That will take years."

Josette shakes her head as it begins to turn dark the next day on Haven in the middle of the afternoon.

"Everything locked down until the storm's over?"

"Yep."

"Turbine?"

"I'll check it after dinner and start it spinning if one of the others hasn't." Josette says. They nod as the others come down from working in the growing area. "Everything planted now?"

"Yes, and we can head off to the first planet in a few days if it gets too bad in here, be back in an hour."

"So how was the book tour?"

Josette spends the next hour talking about where she'd gone and showing off the pictures.

"Any chance of an international signing?"

"They're talking about it after the third book drops if the sales are good." The others look at her. "The brass's words, not mine. They didn't like the idea of sending me on this one until they saw how many books I've already sold. They haven't quite figured out yet you need publicity and you have to spend money to make money."

"Other language quilting books?"

"Contracts are like my other books, I own the books and if the demand is good after this printing, they contract with me again."

The others nod as they check the clock, yell for the kids, and head to the front of the dorm to take the tunnels to the dining hall.

By bedtime it's starting to really come down and everybody settles in for a long two weeks. The next morning they can't even see outside and push open doors to keep them from totally being blocked before they walk to breakfast.

Two weeks later Josette flies to the roof and is busy blowing the solar panels clean while she splits off duplicates to handle the houses on the other continent, the buildings at the school, and the major buildings in town before joining the others walking to the dining hall for breakfast. Her other selves join with her after breakfast and they dig out the snowblowers to start digging out at the ranch and clear the paths around the dorm.

More than one person is looking out the window to see the suns after so long and students are leaning against doors looking outside. A few brave souls head out and the dam bursts with students heading outside even if they have to wade through the snow.

"They're enjoying themselves."

"Yep."

The databurst has Josette sniggering. "Good news?"

"The twit that didn't like me going on a book tour is trying to claim credit for the increased sales and got her ass handed to her by the bosses. The pre-release buzz for the second book is good, they're going to offer pre-orders in a couple weeks."

"Hey, maybe you'll have people lining up at midnight to buy the book like Harry Potter."

Josette makes gagging sounds. The others snigger.

After they dig out everything gets back to normal, the factories picking up extra shifts after the Lights Festival to get back on track because they want to.

"Degrees?" Doc asks at the meeting the first day of the new school semester.

"I'll have at least one finished this year but since it's one of the mega ones?" Josette shrugs. "I'm starting a new degree from the history school on Italians during World War II, the rise of Mussolini, how Italians in the US reacted to fascism, how they reacted to the war, and how the US treated them here in the states. You heard all about how they treated the Japanese during the war but the Italians didn't get the same treatment. Which wasn't fair."

"No, but that was the mentality of the time, and they didn't have a Pearl Harbor." Doc sighs. "But we were at war and . . ."

"Humanity is still a beast." Josette says. Everybody nods.

"Okay, factories?"

"Detergent started last week, the others have been picking up extra shifts . . .'because we want to damn it'." the others chuckle and nod. "We have loyal employees."

"Yep. The stuff for the show is going up in the new library building in a couple months and we're still on track to open it after the Harvest Festival. Everybody's settling in well after the storm, the fact we all 'yeah, this happens . . .we'll dig out when it's over' helped a lot."

"Yeah, nobody was panicking about the storm of the century like you might have seen on Earth. Here it was 'meh' and the conversation turned to something else. Once everybody realized we weren't worried, they calmed down."

Josette knocks the snow off her boots and shakes off her outside clothes, hanging them up and putting on indoor shoes before walking into the dorm.

"Factories back up and running?"

"Yep, the cookbooks might be a little late but that's okay and the others are already talking about adding extra shifts . . .because we want to dammit." The others snigger and head various directions.

A couple weeks later Josette is looking over the messages from Marcus and Madison in the databurst.

"Good sales?" Alan asks over her shoulder.

"Yeah, the news that the quilting books are being released in other languages is on the website and they're getting a lot of interest in pre-orders."

"I'm sure that old fool you were complaining about would be howling at the injustice."

"Yep." Josette smirks. She looks out the window at the falling snow.

"Sooo," Alan leans over the couch back, his arms going around her neck. "You made one of those houses in the colony plans and seen if you could survive a winter by yourself."

"I fucking hate you." Josette sighs. "I've been telling myself not to do it." He sniggers. "I can't see myself cooking with dried crap."

"Yeah, it would give the soup the 'exotic' flavoring you don't want." He laughs as he walks off.

"The huts are nearly a home in the colony dimension." David says.

Josette nods. "Cooking outside or in a cookstove, a garden. . .the only we don't have there is farm animals and having to dig our own well and outhouse. No having to deal with winter and we can easily come home when we need to."

"Any word on the VR?"

"They loved the idea of putting people in so they can weed out the ones who would have problems or are only in it for the 'omg' factor." David sniggers and nods. "I can see some people having to pull their covered wagons into the barn for the first winter though since they didn't have time to get everything together."

"Unless they put up a barn and house on their land first, then come out with the farm animals and start a garden the following year?"

"'Where's the mall, where's the phone? Whaddaya mean there's no tv?'" Michael says in a fake teenage whine. The others snigger.

"Going to have to get used to those if they colonize other planets." Josette shrugs. The others nod.

Josette goes out the next morning to pick up the mail. She drops it off at the school and flies out to Albatross, tapping on the door of the library and getting waved in when they see who it is.

"How's everything coming?"

"Good. We were delayed by the storm but . . ."

"You're not on a deadline, open when you open."

"Exactly. Now tell me about the plans for the colony in the other dimension." Josette sits down and starts talking about the plans, sending out pictures of the cities on the other world and the moonbase.

Back at the dorm Josette makes a list of what she wants from the vat meat, bringing out the large slicer and slicing it into stuff for sandwiches that she puts in marked bags and splits between stasis and her refrigerator.

Susan's in the basement kitchen with her PADD checking the supply of casseroles they've made up ahead and frozen or put in stasis. "We've got to make some more up." She looks over her shoulder at her as she shuts the oven door and turns it on.

"Yeah, and make bread." The others nod as they come upstairs.

"Susan, your dissertation?" President Bartlett asks at lunch.

"I've been talking to the historians. I'm nowhere near ready to upload it."

"Josette, your dissertation?"

"Working on it on and off and figure on uploading it next summer when I'm a 'semester' from finishing the degree."

"Did you finish one of your sosh school classes."

"Yeah. Feels almost wrong* to be starting out with just one finished degree again." The teachers at the front table snicker.

"Hey Josette, if 31 was old to be starting a doctorate what is starting one in your hundred and thirties?"

Josette looks at David, who just smirks. "I heard the Ghostbusters are going for more degrees."

"Yeah, they were talking about it the last time I was out. I'm taking them out with me when we go out to Thomas's world, they want to see if there's any spectral energy from all the deaths there and in the 9th planet's dimension." The others say a silent prayer then Josette smirks and pulls up a scene, handing the PADD to Alexander. He reads it and snorts. "Harvey will kick open the gates of heaven to come down and beat you, Sarah will be grabbing the pom poms and cheering him on, while Jason would be pissing himself he was cackling so hard." He passes the PADD on to the others who read, laugh, and nod.

"What are you making?" David asks, finding a half-dozen Josettes in the kitchen working on stuff.

"Making dumplings." She nods at the pot simmering on the back of the stove then the steamer baskets waiting to be filled. He nods and heads back to his room. "Oh, meant to ask you. Degree from the other dimension?" She gives him a sour look. "Ahhh, Doctorate after all."

"Yep. I'm talking to my advisor about the paper when I go out for midterms."

"Scrap?"

"Should have everything but the bad shipping containers done by the end of next year, and those seem to be slowing down. Either I'm coming to the end of them. . ." David sniggers. "Or they realize that dumping them is going to hurt them In the long run and they're going to have to wait.”

David walks off sniggering.

"When does your new book go on sale?"

"Just after midterms. The third book is due to come out about three months after that."

"Movie deal."

"Fuck no, they're never as good as the books."

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

"Books?"

"The second gym in space book comes out after midterms, the third book in the original series comes out three months after that. And I gave Madison some more books while I was out picking up supplies and taking in the last of the employee and student belongings last fall."

The next month passes slow, a storm has everybody inside for over a week, but it's not the wet heavy snow that fell earlier so they get paths cleared within a few hours thanks to the snowblowers.

Josette knocks on Madison's door.

"Good you're here, here's the promotional copies for your new books. . ." She brings out a few boxes that she puts in front of Josette.

"We're going to have to have the printing machinery cleaned and inspected when we finish my books." Josette says at the government meeting when she comes back. "Especially if we're going to be printing my fiction up here." The others nod. "We forget how long the machines have been in operation with your books, everything for the show, then the new cookbooks and your latest."

"It's steady money for the employees."

"Book selling well?" Alexander leans over her shoulder as she reads a databurst a few days later.

"Yes, Madison says it started out in the middle of the charts and is climbing. It seems the arrest of the shit stain who was threatening people for writing what he didn't like made people start looking at other forms of literature to see if he had a real cause or was just an idiot."

"People are stupid."

"Yep, somebody was claiming that the returning employees and graduating students would need extensive counseling after being in a 'wilderness' for so many years so the school should be shut down. And Calvin's for sending young, impressionable students away. Since the kids of the judge they'd approached went to the school they were sent away with a foot up their asses. They walked off pouting. Of course their school would be willing to open it's arms to the poor traumatized darlings. For a lot of money, they'd have to hire a lot of people. . .to help the students of course."

"Oh of course." David drawls, rolling his eyes. "And somebody dropped a dime so the story got told to the media and now everybody knows what sort of manipulative people are in charge of that school and families that had been looking at their school is going somewhere else."

"They'd hoped the judge was as big a moron as they were?" Susan snorts.

"But we need those students, we can't compete." Anna whines.

"Basically, yeah." Josette leans back in the couch and sighs. "Growing area? I gotta pick the green tomatoes, if nothing else."

"Yeah, we're going to have to start harvesting stuff this weekend." Michael looks out the window and shaking his head at the darkening sky.

"Yep, another open up and dump a couple feet on us storm."

"Did you pick up supplies for the graduating students?"

"Yeah, just a normal shipment since we had returning employees and graduating students last year."

"How is everything coming in the libraries?"

"Good, there was some complaints about something had to be in the wrong order but they were soon shot down by people who had brains and checked the list." Sniggering from the others.

Josette comes out a couple weeks later with Professor Fletcher and Clark Kent, finding somebody walking off whining. "Wannabe author?"

"No, fucking fool who came over with their hands out for a donation to their cause and got sent off with a foot to their pants because we'd offered to hold an event but we were just trying to make ourselves feel better."

"Twits."

"Yeah, their little rant got them a lot of bad press and the event went on anyway with somebody else getting the money. Now they're scrambling trying to get people to donate to them again."

"'But we said we were sorry.'" Professor Fletcher says in a sing-song voice.

"Exactly." Madison rolls her eyes. "Now, let's talk about your sales."

Josette and the others return a few hours later for them.

"Third book?"

"Couple more months, Madison's releasing a chapter for one of the side books to the original trilogy to gauge interest in printing them. She moaned when she asked if I had any more books in that universe and I just smirked."

"Quilting books?"

"They're taking pre-orders now, the books are due to be delivered in a few weeks. Marcus is hiring more people to fill the orders."

"How many?"

"First four right now, if the demand is good, they'll translate and print more."

"Ten bucks the looky-lous grab them even if they can't read the language."

"Sucker bet." Josette snorts.

"Talk to your advisor?"

"Yeah, I talked over my old papers and we decided on a dissertation I wrote on the ship while I was coming back from picking up supplies.

The others snigger as they walk to the dining hall for lunch.

"Shows?" Principal Madison asks, waving her to the front table. "Me Granda's before midterms next semester. . .as a lead up to the third book debuting, the boys Mom's just before the Harvest Festival."

"As in you'll still be there when they're heading here?"

"Exactly."

"Books?"

"Eight more left to debut of the ones already out here."

The next day Josette walks out onto the 9th planet, sitting out in the sun.

"Getting a little tired of winter?" Billy chuckles as he settles beside her on the cliff edge.

"A little, we knew this was going to be a bad winter and we can get out when it's not storming but. . ."

"Sometimes you just have to get away from it."

"I've been in and out of the dorm all year, going to Earth to pick up the mail, pick up supplies, talk to my advisor on that damn megadegree that turned out to be a doctorate." Muffled snickering behind the pair, "And talking to Madison about the books but. . ."

"Sometimes you just need to sit outside, breathe fresh air, and relax."

"Unwind and remind yourself that this too will pass. Now, have you heard anything about a city on Earth?" Charles says behind them.

"They've got the plans, they're working on finding a spot to build them. And debating building ships in space that will stay in space once they find habitable planets or building ships that can take off and land on planets."

"Like the city you'd have your settlement with you instead of taking shuttles down to the planet to build for the others still on the ships." Dr. Cross says, coming up behind them.

"Yes, each has their pros and cons. Unless you got a huge place to build, you can't build a city as large as mine. While they could in space but moving supplies up to space is a consideration, so is making sure that the pieces made on Earth will fit together because I know there will be at least one company that will shave something off the specs here and there to try to save money."

"And in space that could be deadly. On Earth it's easier to ship in supplies and get people onto the ship." The others nod. "In space everything's got to be shipped up, a place for the workers to live has to be built, and they'll have to come back down after the ship is off unless they build a second one. Even then they'd have to rotate out the employees because we're looking at years to build spaceships, even in space with everything being brought up in large panels."

"Yes, making the pieces to put together will take a while before the ships themselves can be built. In space they wouldn't need security guards to keep out the looky lous and make sure the supplies aren't stolen before the settlers and livestock get on the ship."

"And they still need to figure out how they're handling the voyage."

"And nothing can happen until they find habitable worlds. That don't have life of their own."

"Until then they can work out the bugs colonizing the other dimension. They can't really use us as a blueprint for settling a new planet, we had it easy being able to bring everything with us."

Josette slides into her seat at the testing center the third testing week.

"Winter's last hurrah before it starts turning warmer?" They'd said it was storming on Haven.

"I hope so. I know it really hasn't, but it seems like winter has been here forever since it was a cold fall with a couple early storms. Any more storms and we're going to have to seriously consider whether or not we can plant a third harvest before real winter again."

"You've still got a couple weeks before you have to decide."

"Yes, and people should remember that other bad year and when we tell them to plant full communal gardens, they plant the whole thing."

"Did you plant on time?" Jane asks when Josette comes out with the students after their finals.

"No, we were delayed by about a week by the last storm." Josette says, straightening up from counting the socks going into the boxes at the office. "Not as bad as it could have been and we're hoping to make up the time this year." Maria nods. "Crops don't come in on a schedule."

Josette peeks around Madison's door, finding her on the phone. She waves a hand at a seat then points at the coffeemaker. Josette grabs her mug, fills it, and adds a packet of equal before putting it in front of her. She's waved to a seat and she grabs an industry magazine to read as she listens to a lecture

Madison finally gets off the phone and tosses a throw pillow Josette's direction, making her look up and pause the recording.

"Music?"

"History lecture from the Smithsonian, one of the dozen or so they have available for download monthly if you have a membership. I'm using the school's. They've also got a good bit of lectures about space travel and astronomy, especially since the moonbase went up."

The others knock at the door and they have a lunch Madison can expense before Josette heads back to the mansion. The next day she's talking with Marcus and looking over the books.

"How's the pre-orders?"

"Good, I've got three people starting next week to start processing the orders and mailing them out." Josette nods in satisfaction.

"People are stupid." Josette sighs as she reads a story about somebody suing to have the plans to colonize the other dimension and eventually other planets stopped because it's against her religion in the paper while she's waiting for Calvin to get out of a meeting. If man was meant to live on another planet they'd have been born on one. "How do you know you weren't born on another planet Lady?"

"Amen." Calvin sighs. "I've been asked to pass along requests from various governments for you to build official government buildings and residences because they feel using a boardroom in a law office and living in your own homes is beneath the dignity of a government."

"Fuck no."

"That's what I told them. Some tried blustering they wouldn't officially recognize you then and were told to shove off by the world government. They walked off pouting. Of course these are the same countries that had conniptions about a five person government that met once a month for a hour or two not being proper."

"Morons. Okay, textbooks?"

"Yes, ignoring the books that were reprinted just to make money there's been a few that are actually changed and new ones coming out."

Several weeks later after trips to suppliers beyond Ellis they return to Haven, David opening the tesseract for the students and returning employees as Josette starts delivering containers to various places.

"Did the employees get caught up on their orders?"

"Getting there, they're adding a couple shifts a week to replace what I had in storage that was set aside for times like this." The others nod.

"Books for the show?"

"I'll start bringing boxes over to the library after midterms. Right now they're taping the exhibits and working on the cutting the footage down into a DVD. This way it's all done before the show starts. If they have to they'll make it a set."

The others nod and head separate directions as Josette joins with her other selves that had been in the other dimensions.

"Are you nearly in the same time period?"

"Yeah, if we're not by the time we head out before the Harvest Festival it won't be that long. End of the year definitely but it will be too soon to harvest again. Not that I would love not to have a reason to be harvesting." Nods from the others.

"Plans for the summer?"

"I gotta send out the outline and some of my thesis to have it approved this summer. Finishing another degree from the sosh school. Got more books from the cooking degree. . ."

"Are the cooking classes going on the server to be passed along?"

"Yeah, they're going out to 9th planet Earth and Thomas's Earth, so are the information on crop growing. . . " the others nod. "Everything they'll need to be able to survive."

"Cookbooks?"

"Figure to be done by the end of next year now."

"Not that they'll be needed before then."

"No, we're not on a deadline now that the show books are done. And we printed Agatha's book first to make her bitch and moan." the others laugh and nod. "And my other books are. . .ehhh whenever. Not like I don't have eight books to debut in the other dimensions anyway, let alone the other 18."

"You're going to have to release more than one at a time."

"Or every year instead of every other year. Otherwise we're looking at 52 years, our time."

"Anybody stop to think . . ."

"How long it's been we've been actually going over to the other dimensions?" The others nod. "Before we lost the other Earth."

"And it wasn't that long afterwards we met Granda and the others. The boys were six months old when we were brought out and they're turning 41 now. Fuck. . .Harvey was two when Grandpa Charles and the others started coming out. They're finishing university and moving out in two more years."

"With family not aging you don't stop to think how long it's been." Alan says. Josette nods. "I'll e-mail Marcus and Dexter and see if they could handle debuting two books at a time. Ellis just has to set up a place for them in his books and magazines building." She sends off e-mails to all three and puts up her PADD.

"Cisterns?"

"I'm checking them this weekend. It's too early to need to fill or clean them but . . ."

"Yeah, the septic units."

"Emptied and cleaned them last month. Checked the filters on the water system too."

"Good, then we're good on all the spring maintenance for the dorm. Barn?"

"The bird manure is in the containers aging, I bagged the other since it was getting full. The other manure is out in the piles aging."

"How is Buckaroo dealing with his first full winter on the 10th planet?"

"Good, they're getting in some stuff they hadn't been able to do during the rest of the year while they were busy getting in crops and making plans for the crops in the growing area. And like the rest of us, they can go to another world when they need a break. He's been poring over everything from the two GDs, Waynes, and Stark. So's Doc."

After lunch Josette starts sorting through her clothes and linens again. She really doesn't have any that are getting bad beyond underwear and bras but she knows getting ahead on stuff will keep from having to replace everything in a few years.

"What is Hank and the others working on?"

"One of those old-fashioned giant steam organs. Like they used to have in the huge halls before the advent of modern speakers." The others shudder, either in dread or from desire.

"I got ideas for various pipe organs, from small ones for churches to that big mack-daddy."

The new semester starts and Josette settles into work, going out one day to talk to her advisors. She'd brought out all her papers to prove to a flaming jackass that she hadn't passed off another paper as her work and he's glared at by everybody on the board who'd had to read all those papers to prove they were in the same writing style.

"I'm sorry Ms. Takahawa for the baseless accusations made against you by a soon to be former board member."

"Everything taken care of?" Principal Madison asks at dinner.

"Yes, after reading all my papers." Sniggering from some of the nearby teachers. "They agreed that they're all in the same style and they apologized for the accusations of the soon to be former board member."

"Lemme guess, but she's got to be cheating us somehow. She's just a kid." Professor Eppes sighs.

"More along the lines of 'If I dig in my heels, she's grease the wheels to make us go away."

"And didn't know that the first rule of Takahawa is 'piss me off and I'll destroy you." President Bartlett snorts.

"Ohhhh yeah." Josette says in a sing-song voice.

"How are you coming on your degrees?"

"Finishing another one this summer and I'm going to be a semester from finishing the second of three degrees from Montague Thanksgiving."

"How are they coming on taping the exhibits?"

"Done, they're editing them right now. They figure a three DVD, two cd set with all the taped commentary."

"Was I nuts or was more of the plastic getting picked up."

"You're not nuts. It's going for buildings and other stuff in the colony and future plans for the ships. Even stuff like food containers and the wrap on electronics."

"About damn time that stuff finally got used."

"Nobody thought of it until now."

"Are people complaining about using extruded plastic?"

"Yes but since they couldn't tell the difference between the plastic, wood, or metal once it was done people realized they were bitching morons and ignored them."

"Scrap?"

"I should have the last of it done by Thanksgiving. Correction. . .I'll have it done by Thanksgiving even if I have to be out of time on the ships. They want it done just as much as I do."

"Have you been taking care of the bad shipping containers on Thomas's world?"

"Yeah, that gets them taken care of and gives them a good supply of raw material ready to reuse when it's needed. The still good ones are filled with supplies they'll need. . .on the moon, mars, or Earth."

"Homes?"

"They're already making plans. Solar panels or boxes to pick up the alternate power since they're not starting out from scratch. Either putting in linking areas or moving them to a central location and building other houses. Putting up a laundry and communal kitchen like ours when they're working in the fields getting in a harvest. They'll have better sources of heat than the ceramic heaters though." The others laugh.

"And there's the city."

"Yeah. Depending on where they settle they might be in the houses for the growing season then on the city over the winter. Especially considering how some of them had been." Nods from the others. "But the loss of so many people is helping the greenhouse effect. Any industries in the future will be totally clean like ours."

At the compound Alex looks up from the wax he has melting on the heat, each pot has a small bottle of color in front of it.

"Alex?"

"Yeah Dad?" He looks over his shoulder.

"Candles?"

"Yeah, making some containers. Some scented, some just pretty colors. The melted wax was piling up again. Tara's making some for rituals in the other room." Thomas nods.

"Have you talked to Josette recently about the library?"

"Yeah, we were in there for several days here and there over the winter when it was so bad out we couldn't do anything. Or should I say we didn't want to do anything. Josette's also been going through the others." The wax is melting and he's beginning to add the colors, stirring and adding more until he gets them the colors he wants and adding the scent when he's pouring.

"Degrees?"

"I've been looking into Oxford and Montague's got some interesting degrees." His father looks at him. "Yes, even masters and doctorates." He nods in satisfaction.

Josette pours the last of the soap into a bar mold, putting the last of the pots up to wash in a couple days and looks around tables covered with molds and lengths of PVC pipe with liners stuck in various containers in satisfaction. Looking at the time she joins the others downstairs.

"Making soap, my shelves were getting bare." She says at their questioning looks.

"Figured that or paper."

"Yeah, I gotta make some more for my show in a couple days. And start more soaking."

"This for your show?"

"No, I've got that already on the ship with the books and special orders going back. It will give me a good supply on hand for the next few shows."

"You have how many books yet to debut?" Marcus asks a couple days before the show when they've gone out. Josette had gone out with Professor Fletcher and Clark Kent a few days before when the last book in the trilogy had been released.

"Eight that are out on our world, and other eighteen that will be printed after the cookbooks are finished." Marcus blinks at her. Josette rolls her eyes. "Like the quilts, the damn things come in bunches. And probably another half-dozen that can be second and third books in a set from some of these."

He shakes his head. "The new books won't be printed for a couple years yet, right now the printers are working two shifts on the cookbooks. The third and fourth books are supposed to be done in a few days, they were delayed by the bad winter we had. Since there's not a deadline for them nobody's worried about them being a few weeks late."

"And if it's before the end of the year, they can take that time to check the machinery before they start the others all the better."

"It's got to be done, they've been running for years. So do some of the other factories."

The others nod as Marcus talks sales for the translated books as he assistants send out messages about the furniture and other special orders. The show is well attended, some people bringing out Josette's fiction books to be signed too.

"You're doing an international signing tour." Madison says the morning after the show. "The whiners at the office finally figured out you're pretty famous as an artist."

"Other books?"

"Due to be printed in a few months, I've got the contracts and the latest information for the third book here." The go over the details and Josette nods as she drinks a mug of coffee David pushes in front of her along with a full plate, doing the same for Madison and Marcus when he arrives.

"We'll try debuting two books at next year's show."

Josette nods around a mouthful of oatmeal. "Ellis said he's got no problem now that he's enlarged the books and magazines area into its own building. Like most of us he thought he had enough space for a while. . .until he didn't." Nods from the others.

"Now, I know you speak a number of languages and we have interpreters going along." Madison looks at the list of stops again.

"Doc's got a good selection for the languages I don't already speak. And I should brush up on the ones I already know."

"Good clothes, we'll be giving you an allowance for laundry." They hammer out the details and Josette heads to Headquarters, looking through the tapes in Doc's library. He stands in the door and looks at her. "International book signing tour in a couple weeks. I gotta brush up on my languages." He nods and goes back into his lab as Josette sets the tapes up in the sleep-learning machine and lays down, the helmet coming down as she drops into a trance. The next thing she's aware of is Charles lifting the helmet off her.

"Mary says nice excuse, but you've still got to get some good clothes for the signings. She and Bronwen will see you in the morning."

"Shit." Charles laughs as he helps her sit up.

Josette brings out her bag of supplies to keep her occupied during the flight before she boards the flight for the first leg of her tour. Several weeks later she drops onto a couch in the mansion, bringing everything out of subspace before she takes a nap. The others chuckle and start looking over everything.

"Tons of pictures?"

"She brought several hard drives for all the photos she planned on taking."

Josette grabs a couple pieces of pizza when she comes into the kitchen a couple hours later.

"Interesting tour?"

"Yeah, some of those fans are nuts." Sniggers from the others. "I talked to the other authors at a 'meet and greet' before the first signing, they come from all walks of life. I got a few blinks at being multi-lingual but when I said I live and work at a boarding school that gets a lot of students from other countries. . ." The others chuckles.

They return to Haven a month later after Josette's had the chance to talk to Madison about the tour and signed the contracts for the other books. The first crops are starting to come in and everybody's busy for a couple of weeks canning, drying, or otherwise storing the crops, adding compost or manure to the fields and garden, tilling it under, then planting the second crops after the rain.

Josette's busy making scrapbooks from both the book signing tours and puts them up in a new library that had been added to the dorm when her books started selling.

"This is . . ." President Bartlett looks around at the sneak preview of the show before it opens.

"Reminds you of how much time its been since we came up and how we've grown." Josette says. "That's why we took pictures of the dorm before and after each round of renovations."

"Any news on the colony?"

"They're starting to plan the 'town' and bringing out the shipping containers of supplies. Stupid woman tried suing again to stop the colony because of course this time they have to say yes and was told to fuck off. They're planning a greenhouse for the moon in the next module that's going to be up by the time we take the returning students back."

"The moonbase is settling into a real colony."

"Yeah, they're already planning for ten years beyond the original five. Right now they're looking at five year shifts on the moon with it going to ten eventually. We can't see somebody living there permanently for a while yet."

Nods from the others.

"Hell, I know they're busy building everything, otherwise I don't know how they could handle a five year shift on the moon."

"Explorers are a different breed of man." President Bartlett says. "Some could say the same about you and your trips on the ships, being on your satellite, or even being on the first planet out of time."

Midterms Josette takes out the recycling and belongings for the returning students. Jane is checking the packages against the list Josette had sent over. Calvin looks on from the door of his office.

"Not as bad as it has been the last two years. Did Josette say anything about scrap?"

"Bringing out more when she brings out the orders and she should have everything but the bad shipping containers she's getting when they come out again after Thanksgiving. She's off talking to Madison about her sales."

Josette sighs as she comes back to the school, nudging Alexander. "Puzzles, either with pictures, scenes, or just solid colors for the harder ones?" He moans as he sees the possibilities. "Something to experiment with for the future. Wooden toys too." Nods from the others.

"More durable than the ones for sale now." David says. "How to package them?"

"We'll think of something. Maybe the surprise factor. Put them in plain boxes or bags and see what you get when you get home?"

"Something to think about."

The yearly crops start coming in and everybody's busy canning, drying, and making batches of stuff up until the second crops start coming in. Josette and the others head off during the 'piss pouring from a boot' rain, finding the others waiting for them at the rooms.

"How is everything on Haven?"

"The factories replaced the supplies I'd set aside for times like this, when we had a bad winter that shut them down for a few weeks so we wouldn't be late with the orders. The books are getting caught up, the last of the cookbooks will be ready by the Lights Festival next year instead of the Harvest Festival but that will allow the printers to shut down for a few days to inspect the machinery before the rest of my quilting books. I know they do it during the night shift when the machines aren't running but still they've been running for years."

"And your other books?" Professor Xavier asks dryly.

"Went on an international book signing tour with other authors after the third book had come out in the original trilogy to see if there would be enough interest in printing the side books . . .then they found out there was later ones." Josette smirks at the hoots from the others. "Clark and Professor Fletcher are making good sales, it's just that fantasy fans are nuts."

"Hell, knew that from all the people who dressed up like Harry Potter characters when the books would go on sale at midnight." David snorts.

"Talk to Dexter about doubling up on the books?"

"Yeah. We can try it next year like the other dimension and see what the sales are like. The only problem is that would be even more books to sign."

"Be signing all night after the show."

"Probably. At least in the other dimension it's your turn and I can sign during the show. Marcus and Dexter are going to have to double up on the pens though."

"How many boxes did you go through on the international tour?"

"Three cases, I popped them in subspace and brought out a box or two at a time. The empty pens went into the replicator to be refilled."

"Something else they're going to have to get used in the colony. Ink pots and fountain pens."

"Slates. Easy enough with wood and the chalkboard paint." Josette makes a note of that on her PADD before they go out to dinner to a fancy restaurant. Afterwards the kids head to a movie and then shopping while the adults have to attend another meeting.

They return to Haven an hour later, bringing out boxes to various rooms before heading to the dining hall for lunch. After the ground is dried enough they plant and soon the others start arriving for the Harvest Festival.

Jane and the others are also there since the school is closed for break and they look around and sigh in pleasure.

After the Festival people start pouring into the new library building going over the exhibits.

"Damn, I didn't realize how much smaller everything was back in the beginning." More than one person says.

"Yep, we could walk one side of town to the other in five minutes, which made the people on Earth who wanted a subway complain." Rolled eyes from people in earshot.

"Is that your dorm?"

"Yep, before the others started adding onto it. We'd held off on adding more buildings on the outside to keep the view we had."

"Yeah, looking out your window to see another building is depressing even if it's still your home."

Josette nods. "They charmed the windows so we get a clear view."

"Decent."

The books start flying off the tables and Josette brings out more books before the show closes two weeks later. They'd replicated a large batch of the DVD and CD sets and still ran out twice.

Josette starts bringing out the new students, dropping off boxes of books and the DVD and CD sets at the school along with the socks.

"Is that it for the students?" Amanda asks a few weeks later when she drops into a seat at Josette's table at the pizzeria.

"Yes, thank you god. We're full until the graduating students head home." Josette takes another bite of pizza and then starts eating her salad.

"I can't believe I'm a hundred years older than I was when we came to Haven." Professor Eppes sighs as he sits down.

"Doesn't seem it, does it?"

"No it doesn't." President Bartlett joins the table. "What was the demand among the others?"

"Good, I already took out more books and the box sets. If we have to we'll replicate the books since they're all in the system." Nods from the others. "New library?"

"The same people who were putting it up is taking it down and putting everything in storage in the climate controlled room in the attic. Then the bookcases will start coming in and we'll start adding books to the system over the winter just like the library in Albatross did." The others nod. "The school library?"

"Being enlarged again in a few years."

"What's the status on the colony dimension?"

"Working on the plans for the 'town' and getting in more supplies."

"Are you in the same time at Thomas's dimension?" David asks after dinner.

"Yes, though it's too early to be harvesting again. Thank god."

"No, not when they're already at 4 billion people."

"Gotta stop to think it's been fifteen years our time since those fucking morons set off the virus. So gotta be at least 20, closer to 25 years there. Old age if nothing else." Nods from the others.

Josette slides into her seat at the testing center her first testing week.

"Not finishing another degree?"

"No, I started a degree on jungle adventure books from the sosh school instead."

"Others?"

"I'm a semester now from the three from Montague, like the others I'll pick up one or two a year until I've got all the degrees I can finish finished and start on another batch of new ones."

"Colony dimension?"

"Working on the plan for their community, getting in supplies both for them and for the settlers. Ignoring the whiny fuckers suing to make them change the colony to suit them, and starting to take applications in a couple years."

"Moonbase?"

"Two modules up and they're working on the third that will be a growing area for them. They're already talking ten years after the original five."

"And if they have to leave?"

"Either leaving it as a museum as the first step in off-world colonization or it everything can be brought back to Earth."

"I couldn't handle five years in a tin can." Sheriff Carter says as he comes over. "Allison is on the warpath."

"Awwww." Josette coos. Dr. McNider and Cross chuckle. "Must be something in the water, Ma and Pa, Ma and Pa, Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad, and Lois and Lana all had that look in their eyes at the Harvest Festival. Ma and Pa are going to be wonderful parents, just look at Clark."

"Not you lot?"

"We're trying to remember what a empty nest is." Josette says sourly. The others chuckle. "Two years Harvey and his crew head to the 9th planet, eight years the babies are leaving home."

"Drake, Wayne, and both Daytons?"

"Came out after the Harvest Festival. They're going to be working on the outside as long as they can this year, then start again in the spring. A lot of the work they did before they were brought up."

"Will they handle the winter without anybody there?"

"Yeah, they've got the alternate energy sources to handle the heat and the water is off until somebody's out there all the time. The kids are already interested in working there when they get their degree."

"Lemme guess. . .it's something their brothers and sisters hadn't done yet." Sheriff Carter chuckles.

"Yep."

"Dissertations?"

"Uploading it first semester next year when I'm 'officially' a semester from finishing it. The boys are talking to their advisors next year, so's CJ. He's three years from finishing his so he'll present his year after next when he's a semester from finishing it. Susan was talking to the historians again and figures on uploading hers in about three years, David has another appointment with his advisor when we return after Thanksgiving. Is Buckaroo and the others signing up for degrees?"

"Oh yes. Everybody there's signed up for a degree in various fields."

"People never stop learning."

"New cooking teachers?"

"Coming out next year. That way they're settled in for two years before the others head off. And thank you gods and goddesses we do not have school employees, cooking school teachers,and graduating students heading home at the same time."

"Employees and students heading home at the same time must be bad enough."

"Yeah." Josette says as Alexander comes over. He sends a file to her PADD. "What we were talking about, I got dreaming about them last night."

The others look at her as he walks off to use the bathroom. "I had the idea for wooden puzzles and toys."

"Better quality than the ones available commercially but unless they're small ones. . ."

"Yeah, that's why we've been tossing ideas back and forth."

"When do they plan on starting to make stoves and stuff like that?"

"Year after next when they're starting to plan individual houses in town. Then as new settlers are accepted."

Nods from the others. "No use making up stuff that won't be used. That's half of Earth's problems."

"Yep."

The next day Josette heads to Earth to pick up the mail, hitting a couple expos while she's there and moving stuff to Macchu Picchu since she'd come by ship.

"Josette, the last of the scrap?" Calvin asks since she's at the school eating dinner one night before heading back in a couple days.

"Everything's done, I'll bring it out with the recycling and the last of the students belongings." He nods in satisfaction. "David's dissertation?"

"Appointment when we're here with the graduating students, I stopped to talk to mine about my thesis."

"Books?"

"Talked to Madison and Marcus, attended a couple writer's conventions. Graduated from the new writers field. Passed along some books to a friend of Madison's that made her cuss for a good ten minutes, she's passing along the contracts to Madison."

"You're rotten."

"No, the damn muses are rotten. They jumped me with no less than three books for the gym in space series." Josette sighs.

Josette returns to Haven and slides into her seat.

"Scrap?" David asks.

"Done, I'm taking it in when I take in the last of the student belongings and the recycling midterms."

"Go a few places while you were there?"

"Yeah, expos for myself and a writers convention. Got moved from the new writers group. Madison passed along some of the books to another agent who fell in love with them. Got the idea for three more books in the gym in space series. . ." The others shake their heads.

Josette's looking through the factories they have in limbo, finding the one that she was looking for then the tutorials. She starts adding the factory to the dorm and talks to Alexander about the plans for wooden puzzles. Sighing and looking over everything she's added to the dorm she adds another factory to the dorm and heads to bed.

Midterms Josette waves a hand and brings out the student belongings, sending the file to Maria who's behind the desk.

"Is this it?"

"Should be, the floor monitors are pretty good at reminding the students they need to start sending this stuff home early. The new ones are told by their roommates what to do before they head home."

Back on Haven she starts delivering containers to various places, including the dorm and the libraries.

"Get the scrap dropped off?"

"Yes, and the ships are very grateful to have it gone. Now all that's left is the bad containers and they take up a lot less room. Even the never ending paper ends are better than the ships, those eventually get taken care of." The others snigger.

"Is anybody making cast iron cookware beyond the replicators?"

"Assyrian is experimenting with it, making the sand molds is the hard part. The blacksmiths and Edinborough are working on them too. There's still a good sized failure rate but there's no waste, just make the mold again and melt the iron."

"Something that they'll have to learn to make in the colony or get large supplies in." David nods. "I gotta make bread this weekend."

"Josette, this is a dumb question but potters? Without power."

"They'll have to have somebody turning the wheel by hand and put the products somewhere to dry. I saw them doing it on one of those PBS cooking shows, a woman was making a pot while her granddaughter moved the wheel with one foot while she was kneading the clay."

The others shake their heads. "Something they'll have to think about in the colonies."

"Yep. Because they can't take everything with them. They're going to have to make new stuff."

Josette sighs as she strips her bed that weekend, flipping her laundry to the basement and turning her mattress. "Nope, gotta do it." The mattress and box spring go in subspace as she walks to the supplies, bringing out a new set and making her bed with new bedding she'd also gotten from the storeroom.

"Yeah, I had to replace mine earlier this year. They wear out even turning them." David says, finding Josette shooting her mattress with the replicator gun.

"Something that didn't happen with the old straw ticks, you just emptied out the straw and put in new stuff."

"Yeah, but the damn rustling would keep me up all night. And they didn't give you the best support."

"Itchy, scratchy, and poky."

"Sounds like a new cartoon on the Simpsons." Alexander snorts as he comes in. "Fall chores to get the dorm ready for winter?"

"Yeah, we gotta start them soon. Warehouse store."

"Malls." Josette shudders. The boys snigger. "Wood?"

"We got a good supply here and the ranch for fireplaces and the wood burning stoves. So do the others as backup for the other heating systems."

"Nothing better than a pot of soup slowly cooking on top of a stove on a cold winter's day."

"9th and 10th planets?"

"9th is getting ready for winter, 10th planet is hitting their late winter, it should be turning warmer after the Lights Festival."

Josette starts various meats marinating in the refrigerator for jerky and other dried meats, bringing out some of the aged sausages and putting them in her first floor pantry.

One of the hams is also brought out and sliced before being put in the refrigerator after she comes back from dinner.

On the 9th planet Billy puts the last of double batch of wood in the subway station, looking at the barrels of staples before he goes back upstairs. He's got more wood up here to supplement the furnace in the building that's been renovated over the years into a proper home.

He's got more bags and barrels of supplies up here and checks on the vat meat drying on the drying tables before joining the others at JSA headquarters to talk about their plans for the winter.

"Hank?" Alan nudges the shoulder of the young man next to him.

The former Brainwave blinks. "Sorry, just going over the plans for the colony in the other dimension again. I don't think I could handle having to build my own home, dig a well and outhouse, and all that though I know people used to whenever they moved from one place to another. Unless they were buying a place that already had a house or some other shelter already in place."

"They did it though, packed everything in a covered wagon and headed out. By the time we were born they were all settled."

Back on Haven Josette dices one of the ham steaks she'd made and adds it to a salad as the bread dough rises. She'd gone to the yarn store earlier.

"Really?" Marilyn had purred when Josette grabbed a cart.

"Nu-uh, we're still hoping to find the mythical 'empty nest' everybody keeps talking about but everybody else is looking like they're having empty arms. All except Dr. Blake, she wasn't happy with Dr. Stark when I went out last month." A familiar figure goes past and Josette sighs and grabs more yarn. "And Momma just came through with the 'I'm going to gut my husband' look." Marilyn laughs as she rings her up. "And there goes Dad behind her with the 'I am the man' look."

Marilyn's laughing when she walks into the Albatross Nest. "Josette just stopped at the yarn store."

"Really?" Agatha purrs.

"As she said Nu-uh, they're still hoping to find the mythical empty nest everybody keeps talking about. But the others are getting empty arms again, Allison's not happy with Dr. Stark and Clarinda just came through town with the 'I'm going to gut my husband' look."

"Clarinda can't complain about having too many children compared to Josette."

"And they spread them out a lot more than Josette and her group does."

"Yeah but there's four of them too. Not to mention the Covington multiples. . . thing." Sue waves a hand across the room where they've got a quilting frame set up and a half-dozen women sewing.

"Did you talk to Clarinda? She called earlier." David asks from the door.

"No, but I saw her going through town with the 'I'm going to gut my husband' face so I have a good idea what she wanted to talk about. A few steps behind her was Dad with the 'I am the man' look he quickly wiped off his face whenever she looked back at him."

David leans on the wall cackling. "Thought that was probably why she called, she'd just come over otherwise. Watcha working on?"

"Plans for a satellite for the workers if they work on the ships in space."

Josette sends the file to Calvin when she goes out for mail a couple days later.

"Thank you Josette, I'll pass this along to the others. With the information on both types of ship building, we can make plans."

"And you'd need support services."

"Food, lodging, entertainment. . ."

"How long did it take them to build the cities in the other dimensions?"

"About three years but they also had the means to speed that up, the green lanterns used their rings to put together larger sections, Superman was able to build a lot of stuff and put it together, stuff like that. I went through the figures with the ships, they're in there."

"And we'd have to have the sections already made on Earth and shipped up."

"Yeah, and you don't have the number of spacecraft to send up supplies or workers that they had in science fiction."

"We'd have to build before we could start either way." Calvin says. Josette brings out more socks, nodding.

"Talking to Marcus and Madison?"

"Yeah, I'm heading off to talk to Madison when I'm done here."

"Oh good, I figured you'd be coming in soon." She calls somebody and they arrive a few minutes later.

"Jessica James, my pain in the bupkiss author Josette Takahawa."

"You call me the nicest things." Josette coos, then laughs.

"Now. . .more professional clothes?" Jessica says a half-hour later. Josette brings up photos of her shows and her signing tours. "I can dress up when I have to, most of the time I don't need to."

"Interviews?"

"Before my shows, but talking about my art is different than talking about my books."

"I had her signed up for an interview but the reporter felt a new author was beneath her so the interview fell through. Of course when the books started taking off and she realized Josette wasn't just a flash in the pan she was all ready to do an interview."

"And we had interviews during the signing tours." Madison nods.

"Talk to Madison?" Principal Madison asks at dinner.

"And Jessica, I've got another book signing tour lined up for when we return after Thanksgiving. Passed along the plans for building in space to Calvin who is going to pass them along to the others. The plans for colonizing the other dimension is moving right along, next year they'll be opening it to settlers. Though it will be two or three years after that before they start moving out. They'll have to spend some time in VR and get training on some stuff."

The others nod in satisfaction.

"If it were me, I'd. . ."

"Have them go out first to put up the house and barn? Yeah, I had that thought too. I know they're going to be busy. And they'll need different sections of the barn for the machinery and the livestock."

"And they're only going to be traveling as fast as a cow can be led on the back of a wagon."

"Or a dog can travel."

"I hope they settle where they buy the land, I know Pa Ingalls always had the hankering to get up and wander whenever they were settled in a place because he was feeling boxed in."

"The books were meant for kids, beyond Mary losing her sight to Scarlet Fever they didn't really get into how hard life really was for the pioneers."

"It was sanitized, that's why the morons on Earth thought life would be sooooo much better without technology."

"Can you imagine plowing the fields without the tractors?"

"I can, either one of those old heavy plows you pushed by hand, hooked to a team of horses or oxen, or in the poorer places, a person."

"They'll have to get in a lot of supplies."

"Yes, they'll need to be able to eat those and what they can grow in the garden before they can grow crops to sell."

"Potatoes, wheat. . ."

"Yeah, in the Farmer Boy book they had the people who'd come out and buy the crops. But then they had trains to take them to other markets, in the colony you're stuck with what you can get in a wagon. Which is really what you're stuck with here too."

Nods from the others.

The last testing week comes quicker than expected.

"Are you harvesting?"

"Yes, we were able to make up most of the time over the year so we're only a couple days behind." Alexander says, coming back from the bathroom. Josette nods, not looking up from the PADD in her hands where she's reading something in the latest databurst from the other dimension.

"Books doing okay?"

"Latest details on my new book signing tour. Some stupid woman trying to pass a law making nudity illegal even in your own home because her useless son was caught peeping and got his ass beaten. 'But if they hadn't been naked, my son wouldn't have been looking.'" Josette says in a snide tone. "Stupid bitch didn't even want them nude getting a bath, everybody should be wearing modesty clothes that you take one piece off, wash, put it back on, take off another piece, and so on. She's stunned nobody is taking her side."

"Christ, what a useless woman."

"Well yeah, her son's got to be the victim." Josette rolls her eyes. "Little shit got sent to the minimum security dimension once he got out of the hospital and did the same damn thing. Where he got his ass kicked again. He got hard time after that."

"Little bastard needs to be beaten to death. And his fucking mother for letting him get that bad. He's going to end up in worse trouble."

The others nod. "You hear stories about how one thing escalates into something else in personalities like that, they think they're above the law and the rest of the world should bend to suit them."

Josette starts delivering the orders to various places as David opens the tesseract for the returning students. She joins the others at the mansion a couple hours later.

"Everything delivered?"

"And the supplies are on Aberdeen."

"Are you in the other dimensions?"

"Clark, Thomas, and I are on Quetzatlan in their dimension. The others didn't go to the 9th dimension Earth this year, they only go every few years since the others can come out." Nods from the others. "Are the others coming out?"

"Yeah, they're talking about building homes on the 9th planet." The others snigger.

"Signing tour?"

"Couple of days, Jessica and Madison are coming out tomorrow to look over my clothes." The others snigger again.

"Oh my. . ." Jessica looks at the house that sprawls out on either side of the circle in front.

"Yeah, it's a beauty isn't it. They didn't go for the megamansion approach, it doesn't look like they're flaunting their money like some places." She goes to knock at the door, finding it opening.

"Hello Madison."

"Hello Abby, this is Jessica James, she handles Josette's other books."

"She's in the kitchen with Marcus going over the sales for the quilting books in other languages and making plans on translating some of the others."

"How many books did he do?"

"The first four, there's five more that have debuted over here and eight more that are available on Haven. That includes the books on her socks and her t-shirts so they're arguing back and forth on including them, Josette doesn't think there's an interest since they're not quilting books and Marcus swears up, down, and sideways that they will."

Madison whistles despite herself. "We're talking about debuting two a year to get them caught up before the new books go to print. At the rate we're currently debuting them here, it would be 52 years to get them all, not counting any new ones."

The others shake their heads.

"That's one of the reasons we're releasing books yearly." Madison says. "Josette's got a backlog with us also. How do you handle the books on your world?"

"Yearly parties at Agatha's store for whatever books are completed at that time. We've had the printers running for a number of years between Josette's earlier books, the books for the show, Agatha's books, now the cookbooks, then finally Josette's other books."

Madison and Jessica go through the closets in Josette's room, choosing clothes for each signing and other events as Josette packs her computer, hard drives, camera and extra cards, boxes of pens, and other stuff she'll need.

"Okay. . .How are we doing this?"

"I've got Hidalgo here too, the me that's doing the book tour will be heading to Doc's dimension afterwards to deliver the orders and pick up supplies, both for the factories and for Doc and Buckaroo."

"They should be getting pretty near spring?"

"Yeah, about a month for them, they're busy planning for the spring. I'm sure more than one person will be opening windows to air out buildings. Even with air scrubbers. . ."

"It's bad in the dorm after a winter, gotta be worse there."

A couple days later Josette gets on the train. She spends the trip on the internet, checking the national news. She shakes her head and sighs at the news of a country that had been blocked off for terrorism, left to destroy themselves.

'Good riddance to bad rubbish.' Josette thinks quietly as she turns to more enjoyable news. She's not vain enough to check the rankings of her books but she's glad to see Clark's and Professor Fletcher's are going up the charts and Madison wanted to talk to Lois, Lana, and Professor Parker when she comes out for the Lights Festival.

Josette checks in at the hotel and checks the brochures she'd grabbed from the rack by the desk, finding a few places to visit while she's there.

She looks over at the man who'd been talking to her for several minutes trying to get a donation in Boston one night.

"You have got to be kidding. I had a perfect 4.0 grade point average but I wasn't good enough for you when I applied to Harvard, but now I'm good enough for you to come around asking me for a donation?"

Several weeks later, Josette returns to the mansion, washing her clothes and putting them away in her closet before heading off to Hidalgo and Doc's dimension, delivering the orders and picking up supplies. She flies to the 10th planet, finding Doc and Buckaroo talking at Headquarters.

"How is it there?"

"Bad, roving blackouts at some plants because they desperately need work that the managers had been putting off for years. They're trying to say the customers own the plants and jack up their bills but the government is slapping hands telling them they have to pay for the repairs. They're whining to anybody who will listen but since everybody knows it's their fault they're not getting any sympathy."

"Power plants only have a limited lifespan."

"If they're properly maintained."

"The solar companies have waiting lists but it takes a while to make the panels and batteries."

They talk on and off about this and that over several days before Josette heads to Haven, flying to the dorm and starting to sort through the stuff she'd brought on the tour. The stuff that had come from Thomas's world starts arriving and she starts kneading dough in the bakery for cinnamon buns and other treats, looking over her shoulder when she's done and merging with her other self that had been in the other dimensions with the others.

"How was the book signing?"

"Good, had a flaming moron from Harvard in Boston who was hinting at a donation, I told him I wasn't good enough to attend the school but I was good enough to give them money?" The others laugh and nod.

"Harvard, like many other schools, was looking for the big names that would make them rich." Principal Madison says from the doorway. "It's not 'what can our school do for you, it's what can you do for our school?'"

"Exactly. I got asked about it at a later interview and showed off both the e-mail blowing me off and my acceptance to a dozen other schools, including Oxford. Scuttlebutt is there's some finger pointing at Harvard and wails of 'why couldn't we have had her as a student, she would have . . .this, that, and who shot the cat for the school'."

"That's usually how it goes. Doesn't stop it from happening again though." Principal Madison says dryly.

"Oh of course not. Now if I'd mentioned Doc was my grandfather I'd have been in like Flynn." Nods from the others.

"Josette, did you and Dad talk about textbooks?"

"Yeah, earlier this year. Discounting the ones that were updated just to make more money there was several that had new information and some new ones coming out. The expo is in a couple months, I should be attending it while I'm out our first testing week. If not I'll make a special trip out." The others nod.

"Anything else? Thomas's world?"

"Seems to have hit a lull period, which isn't a bad thing."

"No its not. Doc's?"

"Roving blackouts from power plants that are having trouble. They're still trying to put up new ones but that takes time and money. The solar companies are doing good business, even with the waiting period it takes new panels and batteries to be"

"Sewage and water?"

"Still working on it, but. . ."

"This is the worst before it gets better."

"Exactly. We went through the same thing on Earth except for the flooding."

"Yes, thank goodness it wasn't as bad as that. We'd have had more deaths if we'd had the flooding, volcanic activity, and Earthquakes they had."

Josette links the hard drives with the pictures to the screen, showing off the pictures she took on the book signing tour.

"How many boxes of pens did you go through?"

"Two cases beyond the rest of the one from the previous tour, I chucked them all in the replicator to be refilled when I went home after the tour. Did that, my laundry, and put everything away before I flew to Aztec and went to Doc's dimension."

They come back from the first planet a couple weeks later their time a couple days later, going over the plans for the growing area they start planting that afternoon.

Josette settles in her usual spot at the Albatross Nest, a plate of food on her knee and a bottle of pop next to her.

"Josette, books?" Sue asks after everybody's eaten.

"The fifth and sixth books are due in a few weeks. The others will be done next year and we'll be closing the printers down to inspect the machinery and make sure everything's running okay before my books start."

"How was your signing tour?"

"Long." The others snigger. "Somebody from Harvard came up to the book signing trying to get a donation out of me, the 'if I wasn't good enough to attend your school, why should I be good enough now' conversation got the media's attention and people are pointing fingers at each other about why somebody with my grades didn't get a spot."

"Because they're snobs and you didn't come from a famous family so they could tout you around as as one of theirs for the money."

"Yep, and if I'd have let it drop that Doc's my grandfather . . ."

"You'd have been welcomed with open arms by the school."

"Anyway, apart from that it was good. Went through two cases of pens plus the rest of the case from my previous tour, they went into the replicator at the mansion to be filled with ink again."

"The quilting books?"

"We're looking at debuting two a year now because otherwise it will be 52 years our time to debut them all, not counting any other books I write in that time." Nods from the others.

"Other language books?"

"Good, they're translating three more, that will leave two already out there but since I'm debuting two more. . ."

Nods from the others. "They can do those four together, then four or so at a time."

Josette puts the cookies, kits, and leftovers away back at the dorm.

The others start coming out for the Lights Festival a couple weeks later. Clarinda looks at Momma Clarinda knowingly as she sips raspberry tea. Grandpa Charles Clarinda laughs and nods.

"Is Allison here?"

"On Archimedes, she's too far along to travel."

"Awwwwww."

"And the others are talking to GD about the gestation chambers again."

Josette brushes off snow from hanging up the last of the outside lights around the windows, nodding in satisfaction after dark when they go outside to look over the decorations at the school and in Town before the festival.

Josette slides into her usual seat at the government building the second week of the new year. "Sorry I'm late. . ." She puts up a picture on the screen, Dr. Stark holding their new daughter.

"Awwww."

"Toothpaste?"

"The factory opened last week, I'll be delivering after the Harvest Festival."

"Books?"

"Number five and six should be finished in a couple weeks, they're hoping to have all of them finished by the Harvest Festival but . . ." Josette shrugs. "We can have them on sale at the Harvest Festival anyway, even if they're still working, then we'll be shutting down, cleaning, and inspecting the machines before my books start."

"Shows?"

"The boys Granda's, me Mom's. I go first."

"Books?"

"Two debuting this year to cut down the time it will take to release them all." The others nod in satisfaction.

"Did Madison talk to the others?"

"Yeah."

After the meeting Josette stops at the bakery then heads to the dorm, shaking off her cloak and putting her boots up on the grate before putting indoor shoes on. In her workroom she walks into her TARDISES, coming out a few minutes later to the outside world.

"Dissertation?"

"Uploading it over first break."

"Your Ph.D?"

"I'm just over five years in, next year I'll present it when I've finished the classes. The others nag about a degree?"

"Yeah, we're picking up lit degrees like we get at the sosh school or Montague." Alan says, the twins nod. "Degrees?"

"David and Susan are gonna be two years into their doctorates, the boys are sixteen classes into theirs, and CJ's gonna be two years from finishing his. He's hoping this will keep Doc and Thomas from dropping more hints for a couple years."

The others snigger.

"Yeah. Okay, plans for the week beyond starting classes?" David asks. Josette's reading the databurst from the other dimension and suddenly guffaws.

"Do we wanna know?" Alexander snorts.

"How can they live without bottled water? It's it's inhumane" Josette says in a fake quavering falsetto voice.

"Here or there?"

"Here."

Rolled eyes and muttered complaints about intelligence. . .or lack of intelligence.

"Please God don't let the morons breed." Susan snorts. "They'd be horrified at drinking well water, let alone cleaned water from the sanitation units."

"First planet?"

"Yeah, I'm heading out tomorrow to plant."

Clark leans around the frame of the pocket doors.

"You letting CJ have a couple years after he finishes this degree?" Josette asks, her lips twitching.

"We let him have a couple years before he started his doctorate." He says, his face serious before his lips start twitching. Josette sniggers.

"I'm turning one of the lower levels into a library."

"Are you doing any structural work?"

"I'll have to, a lot of the lower floors are broken up into various corporations. If they were any bigger. . ."

"You could use them for individual areas."

"Any plans for future expansion? Josette's living proof that what you think is too much room isn't." Josette rolls her eyes then looks at the time and whistles for the kids. They talk over the plans over lunch and afterwards, Clark returning to Headquarters before dinner with a few good suggestions. Thomas looks over from a book he's reading when Clark returns. "Josette and the others had several suggestions for the library, including eventually making it more than one floor. Because as Josette proved, what you think is more than enough room isn't."

"I can see that in the future." CJ says, looking over from where he's on the computer. Typing for ten more minutes, he saves what he's been doing before shutting it down for the night.

The next morning Josette head to the other dimension for mail after breakfast, nodding at Jane as she brings out the mail, piling everything that needs extra postage in a corner.

"Did you see the story about how you don't drink bottled water?" Maria asks once she's off the phone.

"Yes, people like that only do it for the glamour." Josette rolls her eyes. "They think drinking bottled water or expensive beers makes them look cool. It just makes them sound like fools when they try to make everybody else do what they do and people say no."

"Are people looking into buying land?"

"Yeah, then when they realize they'll have to show some signs of settling the land and making a go at it instead of buying land as a status symbol they go skulking away."

"Awwwww, no megamansions to prove you've arrived." Josette coos. "With beautifully manicured lawns taken care of by the servants ala Downton Abbey."

"What? You're not going to have propane or natural gas? Homes will be heated by a stove or fireplace?" Maria says in a fake falsetto voice. "And you expect us to cook our own food?" Calvin's sniggering from the door of his office. "Wait until they found out there was no indoor plumbing."

"Muck stalls and clean out barns."

Josette puts the mail in subspace and heads back to Haven, sorting out their mail and dropping the rest off at the office. She joins with her other self that had been on the first planet planting and starts putting containers of mail in front of the others.

Josette shakes her head as she opens a letter from Harvard once they've sorted out their mail. Josette's got a number of trade journals and other magazines in addition to the letters.

"Blubbering apology about how they're sorry they didn't take you as a student?"

"Yeah, they hope their failure to welcome such a successful young woman as a student to their school won't stop me from supporting their school in the future."

"Yeah, we screwed up but still give us money." Michael snorts. "Notice they didn't say 'come and give us a chance to make up for our stupidity."

"Of course not. They want your money, not you as a student." Alan snorts. "Soooo, anything else?"

"People were looking to buy land for status in the other dimension, then walked off pouting when they realized they'd have to show an effort to work the land, no megamansions with acres of carefully sculpted lawn taken care of by the little people."

Hoots of derision from the others as they gather the kids for lunch. "Beyond fireplaces in every room which would mean people cleaning them, how'd you heat something that large?"

"What, you're not going to have natural gas or propane so all you have to do is turn up a dial? You're using stoves or fireplaces that you'll be cooking on?"

"I wonder how they'd react to no running water and an outhouse?"

"Oh gods, you know somebody would be in hysterics. But if they can't handle this how are they going to handle colonizing another planet?"

"By the time that happens, science will have advanced enough to give us everything we need." Susan says in a huffy tone. "Besides it won't be me doing it."

"Exactly. Of course when we were in school I don't think any of us even dreamed about any of the stuff we've seen or done."

In the dining hall Josette fills her tray and sits down. "Do the factories need supplies?"

"I'd planned on checking on them in a few days. And moving the orders to the ships."

"Books?"

"Should be done the end of the month or early next." Josette says.

"Textbooks?" Principal Madison asks in the front room.

"We've been talking about them and plan on visiting an expo midterms. Beyond the 'reprinted because we need the money' books, there's some that have been updated and a few new ones. Mostly dealing with the plans for colonies in the other dimension and moonbase. Including grad and pre-grad. Big honking expo. I'll be bringing back copies of everything."

President Bartlett nods in satisfaction.

After lunch Josette goes up to her workroom, patting her TARDISES as she goes eeny meeny string bikini with the bags of quilt projects, grabbing one and starting to turn her notes into a proper pattern.

"Josette, we need you to handle the glass." One of the glassworkers says a couple weeks later when Josette comes through town.

"I'll get it right now." Josette says, heading to the shipping container where the glass is stacking up. Shutting the door enough so the glass doesn't fly out and hit anybody but she still has light coming in she starts throwing it at the wall. The container inside starts filling and one of the glassworkers calls a thank you.

"There, you're good for a few more months." Josette says after she's brushed herself off.

"Thank you Josette."

"Reminds me I gotta smash mine at home."

"Are you still getting glass at the recyclers?"

"Yeah, they're using some of it for windows in the new houses in the other dimension but. . ."

"Still more than they can use."

"And not many people take glass."

"And paper."

"And paper. Easier when you can dump it in replicators and turn it into raw materials but still . . ."

Nods from the others. Josette heads to the printers, moving the boxes of cookbooks various places before she heads to the Albatross Nest.

"No more quilts to buy for?" Agatha chuckles.

"No, I'm caught up on those and the books for the time being. Of course this means they'll slam me later. . ." Everybody sniggers and nods. "I had to pick up the new books, got asked to take care of the glass, and just had to get away from the dorm."

"I know that look, what's up?" Marilyn asks at the quilting frame where they're laying out a project.

"Damn evil imp in my head is trying to convince me that the treehouse from Swiss Family Robinson would be the perfect project for a mechanical engineering degree."

Agatha cackles despite herself. "Yeah, I punted the little shit and took off running before he could latch onto me again. Not that I'm sure somebody on Earth hasn't tried something equally foolish for their degree and got the 'we let you in our school instead of somebody else?' look."

"And it's the student they didn't take that does well and makes the school look foolish."

"Own stupidity makes them look foolish. If they'd pay as much attention to a student's grades as what their family can do for them. . ."

"And of course the family's going to do whatever they can to keep the kid in school, they've burned all their other bridges with their foolishness."

Back at the school Josette snorts as she finds another begging message from Harvard in the databurst.

"Still trying to get you to forgive, forget, and fork over the money?" David says.

"Yep, and hell no." Josette says. Josette sighs and grabs her PADD, writing down a few things before she joins the others walking to dinner.

"Get everything done you wanted today?"

"Yeah, picked up the fifth and sixth cookbooks and dropped them off various places, took care of the glass for the blowers. . .and I gotta smash mine, it's picking up again, and talked to the others at the Albatross Nest."

Josette tosses a thumb drive on Madison's desk when she ducks into her office, the other woman looks at her then the hard drive. "New books that jumped me, I wrote to get the fucking things out of my head. I'm going to be down for a couple weeks but I'm off to visit a textbook expo in DC with Granda. That's at least four days."

"Call me when you're back home then." Madison says, Josette nods and heads off.

"That was a very evil first book in a series." Madison says a few nights later, handing over contracts. "I passed the first one along to Jessica and she scared people she was laughing so hard."

Josette starts looking over the contracts, handing them over to Calvin without saying a word since they're in his office before they eat dinner. "This is a new one."

"Yes, I've gotten interest in animated films for your gym in space books. I'm waiting on a screenplay. . .a good screenplay since so many books and ideas have been butchered in movies and video games.

The other two nod and Josette signs the contracts before they go to the dining hall for dinner. Back on Haven she starts delivering shipping containers to various places, boxes appearing in various buildings.

"How long were you gone?"

"About three weeks, long enough for the expo, talk to Madison and sign contracts for the new books, clear out the dropoffs and attend a 'whatever the fuck that was beyond mindnumbingly boring' event with Doc." The others snigger.

"Books?"

"Sorted by age level, I copied some for Thomas, Clark, and Doc while I was on the ship." The others nod and start opening the boxes.

Meanwhile at various other places the others are doing the same, shaking their heads over some of the books and nodding at others.

"How are the plans for adding onto the farm coming?" Thomas as Clark when he comes into Wayne Manor.

"Good, Ma's. . ."

"Holding her breath waiting for it to all be a dream or reality to come crashing down? All parents do that, whether it's your first child or fifteenth." Thomas says, clapping him on the shoulder. "Jonathon and Martha are already good parents, look at you and Kara."

"Thank you Josette, the books you passed along are going to be talked about by the others for a week. Did you. . .?" Principal Madison asks.

"Clark and Thomas, Thomas and Alex, us, and Doc. And I know the book you're talking about, they were arguing about it at the school. Not worth the paper it's written on is the most polite thing they said. It was somebody's dissertation from Hah-vahd." She says mockingly. "I think that just put the last nail in their coffin. They're already facing a lot of criticism from their habit of not accepting deserving students because they're oh god the horror, poor. They don't have the famous names we can use as publicity and they can't grease the wheels of the university."

"Zombies?" President Bartlett says.

"Ahhh yes, the other 'what the fuck were they thinking'?" Josette drawls. "Some teacher of religion at a university came up with that as a class, it goes from the end of days in the bible to popular culture. Thankfully it's only one trash class."

"And it gets them in my classroom where we can maybe cause conversations." Professor Eppes says mockingly.

"That's exactly what they said on a news report." Josette says before she heads to the back room.

"Awww fuck." Josette says when she gets the newest databurst a couple weeks later. "Gotta head."

"Something up?"

"Yeah, I think I'm that big lottery winner they're looking for." Josette flies to Ulonda as the others stare at each other, then collapse on the floor cackling.