If itreally was a chololatier,they’d make a good neighbor for Frank’s destination. The cafe,like the chocolatier, would rely heavily for milk on the small herdthat had come with the colonists.
At present, everyonewas using UHT stabilized milk while the cattle browsed the localfodder and tried to work out whether the whole adventure was justsome elaborate prank. None of them were giving milk but that shouldhopefully change, now that seven of them were pregnant.
He exchangedfriendly greetings with Sushil and Rohan, who sat at one of thetables in the small courtyard, before going into order. He shudderedinvoluntarily at the scents inside.
In the space of aninstant, the act of stepping through the door, into the aromas ofsteaming milk and fresh-ground coffee, transported him millions ofmiles. He could close his eyes and believe he was back in California.
“I never tire ofseeing that look,” the owner said.
Frank opened his eyes,not having noticed that he’d even closed them. He smiled, noddingin agreement. “I don’t think your customers will ever tire of iteither.” He held out a hand. “I’m Frank.”
“Adarsh,” heshook hands. “Of course I know who you are,” he added.
Right,Frank thought, everybody was at the wedding…
“I’m selling yourwife’s coffee,” Adarsh said, pointing a thumb at the menu-boardbehind him. “Without her, I’d just be helping out on my father’sfarm wondering how I might one day get something like this set up.”
“Right,”Frank made a show of smacking his forehead. “I knew all that but itclean flew out of my mind when I stepped in here.”
“I’ll take that asa compliment!” Adarsh gestured at the menu. “And what’ll youtake, Frank?”
“A large darkroast would be justthe thing,” Frank said.
“Large darkcoming up,” Adarsh confirmed, pulling a mug from a stack by theorder counter and filling it from one of the pots at the back.
Frank looked down atthe barely visible scar on his wrist. “This is my first transactionin the republic,” he said, waving his wrist over a spot on thecounter. The implant vibrated to confirm payment.
“Milk and sugar’sjust over there,” Adarsh nodded toward a station by the end of thecounter. “UHT’s all we got till our four-legged friends areready.”
“What about sugar?”Frank put a splash of milk in his cup. “Might drive prices up ifyou have to ship it all the way from Earth.”
“One of theassigned crops was sugarcane,”Adarsh said. “Productionshould ramp up before our stocks run out.”
“Ohthat’s right!”Frank picked up his firstrepublic purchase. “Thiscolony’s really coming together. Ikind of feel sorry for those guys on Mars.”
He took a sip andsighed his appreciation. “Thanks, Adarsh!” He saluted the baristawith his mug and headed outside.
Rohan reachedawkwardly, grimacing as he movedhis tablet out of the way of the empty seat, an implied invitationthat Frank accepted. He placed his mug and sat. “Morning,gentlemen.”
“Frank,”Sushil nodded affably. “Niceto see the family that supplies our coffee patronizing our onlycafe.”
“This is nicerthan sitting by myself inmy kitchen,” he said.
“It’s arelief to see this happening,” Sushil nodded his head at the cafe.“I certainly didn’t want to be responsible for this place butyoung folk like Adarsh might just turn Unity into a success whetherI’m competent or not!”
“Management 101,”Frank declared. “Stay out of the way and let folks succeed withoutany meddling.”
“I can dothat,” Sushil said, hoisting his mug as if in a toast. He took adrink and set it down. He frowned toward the south end of the square.“Say, Rohan, didn’t you say Terry was helping out with thewatering today? He must have finished early.”
Theyall followed his gaze. Sure enough, Terry was coming toward them,walking faster than usual.
“He seems agitated,”Sushil observed.
“Frank,” Terryblurted, “you gotta help me!”
“What’s wrong?”Frank leaned forward in his seat. It was alarming that Terry wasworked up enough to forgo his usual polite greetings to the others atthe table.
“It’s Mrs. Naidu;you gotta tell her about what happened up in the highlandsyesterday!”
“What!” Franksuddenly felt the hairs raise on the back of his neck.
“Terry, what’shappening?” Rohan asked, now very concerned.
“Mr. Naidu!”Terry said, alarmed and apparently just noticing Mrs. Naidu’shusband. “Your daughterbrought me lunch up where your orchard is and…”
He held up his hands inresponse to the sudden, alarming angle of Rohan’s dark eyebrows.“No, sir! I would never dream of fooling around with Kiara! Well,that’s not quite… I mean, she’s amazing but I…”
“Terry,” Frank cuthim off firmly before he could make things worse. “Just tell uswhat happened.”
“Alright.” Terrylooked from Frank to Rohan and back. “I was irrigating the orchard,not far from where we’re putting in the coffee trees. Around noon,Kiara showed up with food and we were just eating and talking andthen…”
“Yes?” Rohandemanded. “And then?”
“The same thinghappened,” Terry said quietly.
“The animals wentinto sync?” Frank asked. “You could almost hear a voice comingfrom the north?”
Terry nodded.“When it stopped, we’d been sitting there for almost two hours. Iflew us back to town right away but Mrs. Naidu is in a real state.She thinks I…” Heflapped his hands helplessly, looking to Rohan.
“Don’t worry,Terry,” Rohan said, a tremor in his voice. “I believe you becauseI had the same thing happen two days ago.”
“You too, Rohan?”Frank asked.
“That’s whathappened to my back,” Rohan admitted.
“What are youtalking about?” Sushil demanded. “What is this voiceyou say you heard?”
“I don’t know,”Rohan said. “I went into a trance and, when I woke, I didn’tnotice how much time had passed because I stepped backwards andtripped on a root.”
He shifteduncomfortably. “It took a while for me to get back to my runaboutand return home.”
“You said nothingabout this,” Sushil accused.
“And haveeveryone think I’d lost my mind?” Rohan flared buthis anger was short-lived. “I had no idea that Frank hadexperienced the same thing. I wasn’t sure if it was just in mymind.”
“We should have saidsomething,” Frank admitted. “It’s much easier when you havemultiple witnesses.”
“Including my owndaughter now,” Rohan said, getting up with a grimace. “I shouldgo see how she is.”
“She’s prettyfreaked out,” Terry said, watching Rohan stuff his tablet andnotebook back into his bag. “She had the same weird experience asthe rest of us and her mom doesn’t believe a word of it. Mrs. Naiduwas still shouting when I left.”
He grabbed Rohan’sbag. “Let me carry that for you, Mr. Naidu. You don’t
