“Imagine howwe’ll feel,” a woman said next to him, “when we look out andsee our new world.”
Frank’sshoulders released the tension he hadn’t even been aware of.His anxieties were put into perspective by one simple statementdelivered in a spirit of hope.
“Now there’ssomething to look forward to,” he said turning to find he wasstanding next to... the widow. He hadn’tthought to ask what her name was earlier. If Sushil knew she was awidow, he must know her name.
Easy enough to fix. “I’mFrank,” he said, offering his hand before thinking to wonder ifthat was a proper thing in her culture. Screw it, hethought. Gonna be a lot of changes over the next few years.
She took his hand.“Trisha,” she said with a reserved smile.
“Trisha,” herepeated. “Short for Patricia?”
She tilted her head,one brow raised in amusement. “No, Trisha is an old Sanskrit namemeaning ‘wish’.”
Frank stifled hisown wishes. She’s off-limits, remember?The thought put him at ease. “An auspicious name,” he said.“Aren’t we all here on a wish?”
She laughed. “I’vebeen called many things but never auspicious!” A look of concernflashed across her face as those around them turned. She snatched herhand back, laying it across her collarbone and looking back out atEarth.
The tension inhis shoulders was back now. Well done, jackass! You’vemanaged to run afoul of their ways in less than two minutes oftalking. He was tempted to saysomething, anything to put the conversation back into the easyfriendliness of a few seconds ago but he figured he’d just makethings worse.
“Boss!”
He wasn’t sure if hewas annoyed or relieved to have Terry show up. He shrugged. Given howthings were going, almost any change would have to be for the better.
Terry edged incloser, holding hands with a teenager – the young manfrom the cargo bay. Trisha’s son?
“Hey, Terry,” Franksaid.
“Hey,” Terry noddedat the boy. “This is Vikram. He’s pretty cool. He’s like agenius about growing coffee!”
“That right?”
“Yeah. His mom’sbringing along seeds for her choice-crop.”
The farmers in thecolony weren’t allowed to just plant whatever, not on a new planetwhere the only long-term food might well come from their efforts.Each family had a couple of assigned crops so the colony wouldn’tstarve or end up dependent on Earth.
To compensate, theyalso had the right to choose one crop on their own. Frank and Terrywould be growing corn and soybeans for the colony but they were alsobringing along some of their best marijuana strains.
Terry had let go ofVikram’s hand so he could gesture. He did that when excited andfinding out that coffee would be cultivated on the new world woulddefinitely excite him.
“Oh yeah,” Terrycontinued a little self-consciously, “he also said dudes hold handsin India all the time and it’s totally not weird or anything.”
You weren’t here a few seconds ago, Frankthought, though Vikram’s mother was definitely nota dude. “So you’re acoffee grower, Vikram?”
The teennodded. “Yes sir.”
“Oh, sorry.”Frank held out his hand. “Name’s Frank.”
Theyshook hands. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Frank. Terry tells me yourchoice-crop is marijuana?”
“That’s right. Ifigure we might be able to develop a market in the republic, maybeeven the empire as well.”
“Tell him,” Terrysaid eagerly, nudging Vikram with an elbow.
“You might have amarket without having to look beyond the colony itself,” the ladtold him.
“Really?”Frank had been thinking ofcannabis as more of a long-term crop so this was entirely unexpected.
He looked back up atTrisha, realizing it might be a bad idea, chatting with her son aboutwhat might be a forbidden substance in their homeland. She didn’tseem angry.
“It depends onwhere our fellow colonists come from,” she told him. “Some statesallow it, some don’t. You’llfind some who disapprove.” She allowed him a ghost of a smile atthis. “But the seeds…”
“They have somereligious uses,” Vikram said, “and bhang lassiis a popular drink made from the seeds.”
“Then how am Ithe only farmer to bring it as my choice?” Frank asked her.
“You must havebeen the only marijuana farmer they tried to recruit,” she said.“They were mostly looking for people that grow staples. When theyrealize you can give them a taste of home, your choice crop mightmake you a very popular man!”
“Tell themabout our idea,” Terry urged herson.
“What are you twocooking up?” Her ominous tone was belied by the smile on her face.
“Inter-cropping,”Vikram told her. “Terry tells me that cannabis is a…” Hefrowned, looking at his new friend.
“We call it apioneer crop,” Terryreminded him.
“Yes. A pioneer crop.It helps to prepare hostile soil for other plants. Even with thealien technology they gave us to condition our fields, we’ll mostlikely have a long struggle to get good yields.”
“If we mix the weedin with their coffee,” Terry added, “It might keep alien bugsaway from the roots and who knows what kind of flavor the coffeemight take on!”
“Can we beneighbors, Ma?” Vikramasked.
“Perhaps,”she told him. “It’s a little early to start picking out farmplots.”
“Bad luck,”Terry agreed.
Trisha and Vikramboth looked sharply at Terry. She movedcloser to her son.
Terry hadn’tnoticed because a pretty young lady had just moved past in front ofthem and she’d been awareof his obvious interest, muchto the agitation of her mother.
But Frank hadcaught the change in their behavior. Should I ask?he wondered but time had just run out.
A group of armed andarmored individuals entered the space and began moving through thecrowd. Their heads moved left and right, probably scanning the crowdfor weapons.
One of them passed infront of Frank and Trisha’s group. His chest bore a symbol of awhite circle eclipsed by a blue one.
The armed guardsrespectfully cleared a space in the center of the room and stood,facing inward rather than out at the colonists. Frankhad thought they were there to intimidate the colonists but why wouldthey face inward instead of…
The colonists gasped insurprise when they suddenly realized there was a small group ofarmored figures standing in the middle of the circle.
“It’s said thatthey do that using only their minds!” Vikram whispered in awe. “Andthey can read your thoughts!”
Trisha shushed him, asa good many parents were doing at the moment. The buzz of surprisegrew quiet as
