She grabbed his handand pulled him through the door. “Mr. McAdam! You’re a verynaughty man! You’d better tell me about this ‘part’.”
And so began the secondwhirlwind of the evening.
Sweat Equity
Site Selection
The Mouse, Ragnarok Orbit
Frank arrived at themeeting early. It was in the same dramatic setting as the wedding. Afitting choice that Ragnarok would hover over their deliberations.
His brother was alreadythere, along with Gleb, Luna, Sushil, Captain Hennessy, Mal – thewarrior who’d be commanding the garrison, two women and the LadyBau. “If I was the one who married that lovely lady yesterday,”John said in Imperial with a grin, “I’d be showing up late tothis, not early!”
“And then you’dhave an entire platformfull of people, all grinning and making lewd comments,” Frankreplied in the same language.“Now they’llall bearrivingone or two at a time and they might smile but they’ll be ontheir own and I’m already here, part of the overall group.”
Hedidn’t even notice consciously but the presence of an alien hadshifted his mind into using the only alien language he knew, even inthe ordering of his thoughts.
“Oh, that’s good!”Gleb said nudging John in the ribs with his elbow. “Starting tolook like your brother’s the smart one.”
“Still think youdon’t belong on the council?” Sushil asked, sounding as though healready knew the only answer that made sense.
Frank shrugged,then remembered his manners. He gave Bau a nod, the closest he felthe should ever come to bowing to any ‘noble’. “My Lady,” hegreeted her. No sense in ignoring a powerful friend.
“He’sdiscerned my darkest secret!” theQuailu exclaimed dramatically and in a suspiciously deep falsetto.
Frank frowned atthe group as it dissolved into laughter. The alien stepped forwardand Frank nearly recoiled from the smell. “Iowe you an apology, Mr. McAdam.” Its voice sounded like it wasgargling a mouthful of gravel.
“I sensed yourassumption about me when you arrived for the ceremony yesterday,”the creature admitted. “I’mjust having some fun at your expense, I’m afraid.”
“Frank...” Johngestured to the Quailu. “… this is Father Sulak. He’swhat they call an oracle in the empire.”
“And the republic aswell,” Sulak added loftily, patting his chest. “We are terriblyeminent fellows, I’ll have you know…”
He frowned slightly,glancing down at his hand and drew, from the chest of his tunic,something that looked like a moldy strip of jerky.
“Oh!” he exclaimed,taking a large bite and chewing it with evident satisfaction.
“What does anoracle do?” Frank asked him.
“Portents,” camethe mushy, half chewed reply. “The will of the gods and such.”
“He cleaned upfor your wedding,” Gleb said, “but he cultivates this slovenlyappearance for…” He frowned. “Father, whyexactly do you dress like that?”
“It lowersexpectations,” Sulak explained, offering an expansive wave ofwelcome to a mildly startled group of colonists who’d just walkedin.
Frank hadexpected some knowing smiles from the other councillorsas they arrived but they were all too distracted by the odd alien intheir midst. They’d beenchatting among themselves as their platforms approached but theyinvariably went quiet as they noticed the alien.
Sushil handledthe introductions for the new groups.“And this,” he concluded forthe final time, “is theLady Adelina of Earth, sister to our Lady Luna, and Adelina’sdaughter, the Lady Gabriella.”
Adelina looked a littleunsure of being referred to with any kind of title but the daughterjust seemed amused.
“If there’sno objection, Chairman Kawle...” Gleb gestured to the middle of theplatform.“I’ll bring up the data from our low-level scans?”
At a nod fromSushil, Gleb voiced a command and a ten-foot-diameter holographicversion of their new home appeared. The scanned areas showed incolor, concentrated near the equator, while regions that hadn’t yetbeen covered were mostlycloser to the poles.
“No surprisesyet,” Gleb said. “What we’re seeing down there mostly conformsto the old surveys. I’d say there are more than enough good sitesfor you to choose from. Have you settled on the architecture?”
“We have,”Sushil confirmed. “By an overwhelming vote, we’ve chosen to livein a town centered inthe geographical middleof our planting zones.”
“Interesting,” Glebpursed his lips. “And you’re sure you wouldn’t rather anarcology? A single building might afford greater comfort andsecurity…”
Sushil tilted hishead. “There is no might about it. Anarcology would be more comfortablebut we’reall farmers. We long for a connection with our land. Ifanything, the vote nearly went for homes on individual farms ratherthan in a single community.”
“This was ourconcession to security,” Frank added.
“And that,” Sushilpointed out, “only won the vote because we wont be limited toground transport to reach our fields.”
“But youwant a fortifiedtown, yes?” Gleb sounded more like he was urging than asking. “Itmay not afford much protection against aerial assault but we shouldnever ignore the possibility of a ground attack.”
“Indeed,” Sushilagreed.
“Yes!” Gabriellablurted. She looked mortified to suddenly have everyone in the roomstaring at her. Her mother slid a reassuring arm around hershoulders.
“Sorry,” she said.“It’s just that I was picturing this exact kind of settlement thewhole trip out here, so I was looking at a lot of reference imagesfrom Earth…” She trailed off, rubbing a hand on her elbow andlooking for any direction that might not have a pair of eyes lookingback at her.
“You have someideas for what it might look like?” Gleb asked her. “Wehave standard designs for walled towns that the nanite work-gangs canthrow up in a matter of days.”
Gabriella noddedresignedly.
“But…” Glebcontinued, “… I, for one, would rather have our first Humancolony look like aHuman colony, rather thanjust some outpost of the empire.”
“As would most of us,I think,” Sushil added.
“Really?”Gabriella beamed at her newuncle. “I’ve beenlooking at the standard files. Hack,one of the crew, helped me tocreate new template options that we can apply. I could show you…”
“You have somethingready to show us right now?” Luna looked impressed. “I don’tknow about the rest of you but I’d like to see that. Couldn’thurt to see what the town might look like.”
The council wasbuzzing with interest as well. “Let’s start with a look at yourideas,” Sushil decided. “Ihave to admit, I don’t like the standard design very much myself.”
Gabriella raised theplanet to make room and opened a new command
