“I like the idea that money is not an object anymore, it will be how hard you want to work that will get you ahead,” said Smith. “If you don’t put forth effort, you don’t eat. Seems pretty straightforward to me.” He smiled at me.
Idris joined in, “We agreed before that everyone who lives on Circadia would have to provide for themselves and carry their own weight. Self-sustainability is a necessity and a virtue here.”
Chapter Fourteen
Once the meeting was over and everything was agreed upon, Idris announced the decision and the reasoning to the group members. All heads nodded in agreement. It was easy to see that we were all in this together. It was beautiful. Never had I ever seen so many people not make a fuss and just agree with a plan. This was Circadia, though, and the people who were here were here for a reason.
With that being said, there was a lot of work to be done. I got to it immediately. I finally had help to lift my center pivot watering system and hook it up to a pump from the creek near the field we would be working. Jane and the chem team had found metals and had welded some of it into pickaxes and shovels we could use to work the ground. The field was difficult to till by hand, due to the layers of dead flower weed atop the ground. I wondered why all of the dead underbrush had not decomposed, and blamed it on the freeze as Circadia traveled across space. The underbrush, once tilled in, would help keep the soil fluffy and conducive to plant growth. Biomatter was an important asset to any type of soil, and it was abundant on Circadia.
Soon enough, the entire field was tilled and churned. We then moved the soil into rows to be seeded. I carefully searched the cargo hull until I found a tiny, plain cardboard box layered with plastic inside to keep the contents dry. It contained two small pouches, each of four different types of seed: soybean, corn, wheat, and rice. Outside of the packets was another bag filled with the beginning stems of potatoes. There were not very many potato starts, but like everything else, it would be able to multiply and grow. I put everything back into the box and hauled it out to the field.
A couple people paired together and chose one type of plant. They were sure to research the spacing and depth of the planting process in the book that I had brought with me. After that, they began planting the seeds. We gently watered each individual seed with the clay pots we had made one night by the fire. We would take gentle care of each individual plant until they were less fragile.
After we had sowed the seeds in the soil, all that was left was maintenance and care. For a bit, I sat near the field and stared at the wet spots on the ground. I knew better, but I just wanted to see a sprout pop up, really let us know that it was going to be okay. But a watched pot never boils, so I went for a run.
Walking over the creek, past the supply hull, I came across the architectural team. They had tons of crew members helping them build what resembled actual townhouses. The contrast of the modern-looking milled wood against the untouched nature as a backdrop was sharp. I yelled to Ronald, “Looks good!” and gave a thumbs up. He returned the gesture, and began to walk towards me.
“You really think it looks good?” he asked.
“Oh yeah, they look even better than the houses from back home. They're beautiful!”
“I have to tell you how we did it! It’s amazing. Of course you know we used the sawmill to saw the lumber. The lumber Circadia’s trees puts out is beautiful and strong, by the way. Then we sealed the wood with the resin from the largest trees here. The chem team said that the resin is highly flammable when wet, but when it’s dry, it seals just fine,” he said. “I’m pretty sure that’s how the little squirrel creatures survived. I think they froze into the resin in the trees. When they thawed, they came back. Resilient little things!" He shook his head back and forth and laughed a bit, then his eyes lit up. “I almost forgot the best part! See the windows in that house?” he said, pointing to the green glass.
“Yeah, how did you do that? They surely didn’t let you bring glass up here, right?” I asked.
“Well, no, of course not. We made our own!” His eyes kept growing wider. I worried they would pop out of their sockets. He was eager to continue his explanation. “Turns out, Circadia has a particular sand that consists primarily of silicon dioxide, like the sand on Earth. So all we had to do was make a kiln, and light that baby up!”
“That’s amazing... but why is it green?” I asked.
“Oh! That’s the iron. Back on Earth, there are ways to get it out but it’s pretty involved, and we kind of liked the green tint. What do you think?”
“Oh, I love it. It feels modern, but rustic all at the same time!” I thought the glass was interesting, but I wasn’t quite as excited as Ronald, understandably. I did my best to show some enthusiasm anyway.
“We did that before the panic about having more people on their way started, but I hope one day we can get back to it.”
“Me too.”
“Well, I better get to work! We have a lot more to do.” He waved goodbye as he walked up the hill.
I waved back and carried on.
The solar team worked quickly
