workforce at fourteen thousand—slightly more than half the estimated total population—with seven thousand assigned to farms and ranches. This left another seven thousand to work on reconstruction and industrial development.
The agricultural operation would be headed by such senior farming and animal husbandry people as had survived, and would have the services of several professors and students from the Department of Horticultural Science of the Pietermaritzburg Campus of the University of Natal. The Engineering Village group also contained a number of prominent agricultural engineers who could be helpful. There were plenty of experienced workers, both from the large plantations and ranches, as well as from small family farms. Reports from the hill country contained good news about the number of fields and orchards that had survived. Also, the calendar was the survivors’ friend: it was January, the middle of the summer in South Africa. Crops were ripening, and thousands of cattle and sheep grazed nearby.
Next, the subcommittee agreed that the leaders of the agricultural enterprise should reassign some of their workers, as soon as feasible, from tilling the fields to secondary food-related operations.
The vast field of technology known as “food processing” was taken for granted by many Westerners used to living in a high-tech culture and buying food in a supermarket. But these vital activities include milling grain, salting meat, cooking and canning, brewing and refining, pressing oil from olives or peanuts or soybeans, pickling, cheesemaking, baking, pasteurizing, packaging and storing, obtaining and preparing salt and spices, and so forth.
Also, at the earliest possible time, some of the agricultural workers were to be assigned to producing and applying fertilizer. This was another job not properly understood or appreciated by city folks, even many engineers. Each new crop takes chemicals from the earth—primarily, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—and these chemicals must be replaced if a healthy soil is to be maintained. Nitrogen is plentiful in the air we breathe and can be captured by combining it with hydrogen to form ammonia. But, pending the development of a primitive chemical industry, the survivors would have to obtain their nitrogen from animal manure, slaughterhouse wastes, or recycled garbage. Phosphorus can be acquired from phosphate rock or bones or as a byproduct from slag when smelting phosphatic iron ore. Potassium is most readily obtained by mining potash deposits. If such deposits are not available, it is possible to burn vegetable wastes, such as palm leaves and banana peels, then boil the ashes in a pot and evaporate the solution. Hence the word “potash.” This substance is also useful in the manufacture of soap, lye, glass, and many other products.
As for livestock, the tending, slaughtering, and butchering of animals would have to be supplemented by shearing, tanning of hides, and harvesting of other useful animal products.
Some of the engineers shifted restlessly during this “meat and potatoes” discussion, as one electronic wizard referred to it. But the members of the Joint Planning Subcommittee were agreed that everything begins in the fields. A secure food supply is the sine qua non of a vigorous civilization.
One of the Ulundi delegation observed that a small fishing enterprise had been established, using the
“So much for food,” Alf Richards said, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction. “What’s next?”
“Not so fast, please,” Harish Kahar interjected. “In the absence of a free market, who will decide which crops are selected for cultivation? There are questions of nourishment and individual taste, perhaps even some religious considerations.”
“Please, Harish,” Richards said, trying not to show his impatience. “If we try to micromanage every operation, we’ll never get anything done. Let’s leave that to the specialists, unless they have disputes that they can’t settle among themselves. As for me, I’ll be happy to eat whatever the hell pops out of the ground or the sea.”
Kahar did not look pleased, but he acquiesced. “All right then,” he said. “The logical next topic is water.”
By all indications, there was throughout the Ulundi Circle an ample supply of good water—rivers, lakes, and subsurface aquifers, plus, so far, adequate rain. But distribution was something else again. Immediately after the Event, members of each community had no choice but to carry water from the nearest fresh source—lake or river or well—in primitive containers. For the ship’s survivors, the dining-room workers had handled this chore with efficiency and dispatch. The next step in this process would be to repair such networks of reservoirs, aqueducts, and pipes as had existed, and to plan and build new ones. Irrigation for agriculture was also an important consideration.
Along with the water supply, there came the question of sanitation. It would be some time before outhouses could be replaced with indoor plumbing; but for some impatient people, this was a priority of no small moment. In the interim, cleanliness and hygiene had to be monitored.
So the Planning Subcommittee established a Water Department consisting of one hundred persons. This department was directed to begin with studies, surveys, inspections, and designs. Construction projects would be undertaken as they could be scheduled within an overall development plan.
It had been a long day, and a lot had been accomplished. Alf Richards looked at his watch, and was about to suggest a break for dinner. But before he had a chance to do this, Millie Fox was on her feet and vigorously asking to be recognized.
“I’ve heard a lot of sensible proposals,” she said. “But we’re forgetting one very important matter. For anything we do, from planting corn to digging a ditch, we’re going to need tools. I know we’ll get around to figuring out how to make these tools; but we can’t wait for that. I suggest that we send out a band of, say, one hundred workers—I would call them ‘the Scavengers’—to find such tools as have survived the inferno. These Scavengers should be instructed to bring back every useful implement that is not already in the hands of a hardworking farmer.”
In addition, Millie suggested, the Scavengers should be told to keep an eye out for any pieces of metal—say, steel beams in partly destroyed buildings—that might later be salvaged for recycling.
“A very good point,” Alf Richards said. “We can probably have blacksmiths at work within a few weeks; but they will need materials to work with. And even if we give high priority to mining and refining metals, such operations can’t produce results overnight. So, scrap metal will have to be one of our first raw materials.”
Looking at his watch once more, Richards ignored a few hands raised asking for recognition and spoke out loudly.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “Let’s take a break for dinner and then reconvene. Our work has only begun—but it’s a good beginning. I wish my board of directors had worked as smoothly as we have here today!”
6
After dinner, Alf Richards reassembled the subcommittee and called the meeting to order with renewed gusto. It was high time, he said, to talk about construction. Once food and water were secured, building had to be the priority of priorities for the survivor community. Good progress had already been made building beehive
