May 23, 2440, 7:42 AM
“Same house. Same service locations. Same checks.”
The Leta installer stood beside the two teams that had formed from yesterday’s group. Each experienced worker now had two returning V’ren trainees and one beginner.
“Today, you explain what you’re doing before I have to ask.”
One of the returning trainees smiled.
“And if we explain it incorrectly?”
“I’m still here.”
Frank and D’vann stopped outside the doorway as the first team lifted a premade cabinet into position.
Three held it while the fourth checked its alignment. The newest worker watched the level, then looked toward the Leta installer.
“Ask him,” the human said, indicating the V’ren beside her. “He did this yesterday.”
The returning trainee examined the reading.
“Your end needs to come up slightly.”
They adjusted it. He checked again, then showed her the placement marks.
The workers knew Wonder Foam. They understood tools, machinery and technical systems. Several had spent part of the voyage preparing for construction work at their destination. None had built an Earth-style standalone home before arriving here.
Now they were learning how its assemblies fitted together.
Once the cabinet was properly positioned, the fourth worker applied the adhesive.
“Three to hold, one to glue,” Frank said quietly.
D’vann watched them check the alignment again.
“And then the same installation in the next house.”
“Until they can do it without waiting for somebody to tell them what comes next.”
Across the room, the other team was checking a door frame. Their instructor moved between the opening and the cabinet crew, answering questions and examining the work.
Leta had printed this same house design. The alternatives tried at smaller prototype sites had produced useful comparisons, but the crews arriving here already knew the arrangement they would be repeating.
D’vann looked toward the next house.
“How many teams can one of your experienced people oversee?”
“Depends on the task and the people. Cabinets and frames, several. They need somebody close enough to check the work and answer questions. He doesn’t have to hold every cabinet himself.”
“And the service installations?”
“We assign those separately. Being ready to lead this doesn’t mean being ready to connect a power box.”
The cabinet crew released their hold and made the final checks.
The newest worker reached toward the next assembly.
“Same positions?”
“Change places,” the returning trainee told her. “You check the marks this time.”
D’vann glanced at Frank.
“That will help with the four hundred coming.”
“It will. We need people who can take three newcomers and get useful work out of them.”
They moved aside to let another cabinet through the doorway.
Behind them, the trainee began explaining the placement marks.
May 23, 2440, 6:36 PM
“Matt’s challenged three department holders.”
Ella Murphy set her tablet beside her supper.
Frank looked up.
“In Columbia?”
“At the Collective. Open session yesterday.”
“What over?”
“May fifth.”
That brought Kate’s attention away from her plate.
Ella enlarged the report.
“He says they acted against Columbia’s interests, mishandled communications and usurped his authority. He wants inquiries opened into all three.”
Cal leaned closer.
“Over the arrival?”
“Yes. He says the delays contributed to the deaths of people he was responsible for.”
For a moment, the only conversation nearby came from the next table.
D’vann put down his fork.
“Does the report identify what each department did?”
“There’s a summary.” Ella scrolled. “He’s asked for the inquiries to be completed in time for an up-or-down vote at the August quarterly meeting.”
Frank held out his hand.
“Let me read that.”
Ella passed him the tablet.
Jeff looked toward Kate.
“That’ll make for a pleasant meeting.”
“Several meetings,” she said.
S’rethi watched Frank read.
“He cannot order the result there?”
“No,” Kate said. “He holds four of fifty seats.”
“Four departments,” Frank added. “Plenty of responsibility. Still needs the votes.”
D’vann nodded.
“And the people he has challenged remain responsible for their departments while this is examined?”
Frank checked the report again.
“Nothing here says otherwise.”
Ella took a drink.
“It would be interesting to hear their side.”
“It would,” Cal said.
She seemed briefly surprised by the agreement.
Frank handed back the tablet.
“If he’s saying their actions contributed to deaths, I want more than somebody’s summary of the meeting.”
“He said it in open session.”
“I know. I’d like to hear what he presented.”
At the adjoining table, a Missouri worker turned around.
“Did he name them?”
“All three,” Ella said.
“Then they’ll answer.”
“Probably through statements,” Kate said.
“Probably through lawyers,” Frank replied.
Jeff shook his head.
“August suddenly sounds a long way off.”
7:02 PM
R’alen found the report on his own tablet.
“He has specified when he wants the inquiries concluded.”
“He doesn’t want it sitting indefinitely,” Cal said.
“Or he wants the vote while everyone still remembers,” Ella suggested.
“People remember deaths,” Jeff said.
His voice was quiet enough that Ella looked toward him.
He returned to his supper.
D’vann read over R’alen’s shoulder.
“Authority during the emergency appears to be part of the dispute.”
“According to Matt,” Frank said. “We’ll need the communications and the sequence of decisions.”
Ella nodded.
“That’s what I’m saying. People shouldn’t decide he’s right just because it’s Matt.”
Cal reached for his cup.
“The inquiry should establish what happened.”
“And if it establishes that he’s wrong?”
“Then he’ll have to answer that.”
S’rethi looked toward Kate.
“Would he accept the vote?”
“He’s been working inside the Collective for years. He knows they can vote against him.”
Ella tapped the edge of her tablet.
“Knowing they can doesn’t mean enjoying it.”
Frank gave a short laugh.
“I’ve yet to meet anyone who enjoys losing a vote they care about.”
A worker farther down the table asked which departments were involved. Ella turned her screen toward him and began going through the report.
Kate continued eating while they read.
7:21 PM
“Is he coming back for August, then?” Cal asked.
“From where?” Jeff said.
“The tour.”
R’alen opened the tentative itinerary.
“He should be. This is several weeks, not the rest of the year.”
D’vann leaned closer.
“Has the route been settled?”
“Not completely. Denver, then Mexico. Japan and Korea, Kenya, several stops in Europe, then the Northeast Alliance and Chicago.”
Jeff raised his eyebrows.
“That’s some mileage.”
“Less troublesome when you have shuttles,” Cal said.
“Still a lot of beds.”
“And meetings,” Kate added.
S’rethi studied the route.
“Are all the young people traveling for the whole tour?”
“I haven’t seen a final list,” R’alen said.
Ella returned her attention to them.
“People are already asking why those places.”
“Some of the conferences were on his calendar months ago,” Frank said.
“Mexico was,” Kate agreed. “He’s said that several times.”
Ella scrolled through the responses.
“Several people apparently haven’t read it.”
“Several?” Jeff asked.
She smiled.
“Quite a few.”
R’alen moved down the itinerary.
“Japan will be interesting.”
“For whom?” D’vann asked.
“Me, if someone sends photographs.”
“Ask your sister,” S’rethi said. “She’ll probably have collected them before you think of it.”
Cal looked at the European portion.
“These are still tentative.”
“Which won’t stop anyone booking a table and claiming he’s coming,” Frank said.
“Or deciding he’s insulted them by going somewhere else,” Ella added.
This time several people laughed with her.
7:39 PM
“Denver first,” Jeff said. “That should give them time to discover what they forgot to pack.”
“They can buy things elsewhere,” Kate said.
“Yes, but then we’ll get another forty photographs of a shopping cart.”
Ella turned her tablet toward him.
“People are still discussing the Target ones.”
“Of course they are.”
“T’mari’s shirt, mostly.”
R’alen glanced at the screen.
“Again?”
“And whether they’ll make an announcement before leaving.”
“About the tour?” Cal asked.
Ella gave him a look.
“No.”
D’vann reached for the bread.
“If they announce anything, I expect you’ll tell us.”
“I certainly will.”
She looked back at the comments.
“One person says taking her around the world makes the relationship official whether they say so or not.”
“She has work to do,” S’rethi said.
“She can have work and a relationship.”
“Yes.”
Ella waited, but S’rethi was serving herself another piece of bread.
“Especially after all the things people have been saying about her family.”
At the other end of the table, Frank asked R’alen to turn the itinerary back toward him.
“Where does Chicago fall?”
“At the end of this version.”
“Good. I know somebody who’ll want to follow that visit.”
Ella continued reading.
7:56 PM
The discussion of the Collective had spread to the next table.
One of the V’ren workers wanted to know whether Matt’s position as High Lord affected the inquiry.
“Different office,” Kate said.
“But the people voting know who he is.”
“They knew who he was before we arrived,” D’vann said.
Ella nodded toward him.
“That’s part of what people are arguing about.”
“Of course it matters,” Frank said. “So do the other people sitting there, their departments and whoever depends on them. Four votes don’t tell you the whole room.”
Cal looked at him.
“You sound as though you’ve sat through a few.”
“Enough meetings to know everyone brings more than the paper in front of them.”
S’rethi considered that.
“The records will matter.”
“They should,” Frank said.
Ella reopened the report.
“I wonder whether the three of them knew he was going to raise it publicly.”
Nobody at the table knew.
That did not stop the question traveling to the next one.
8:18 PM
Frank collected his plate.
“Tomorrow, Cal. I want the revised crew allocation before breakfast.”
“You’ll have it tonight.”
“Then I’ll read it before breakfast.”
D’vann looked up.
“The cabinet teams?”
“Those three can each take a new group. Their Leta instructor will move between them.”
“Already?”
“For that installation,” Frank said. “He watched them repeat it all afternoon.”
S’rethi smiled.
“That should please you.”
“It does.”
Jeff stood and stretched.
“Come on, Kate. We said we’d find Jelk after supper.”
Ella was still showing the Collective report to someone from the adjoining table.
“August,” the man said. “That gives them time.”
“To investigate,” she replied, “and to count votes.”
Kate picked up her cup and followed Jeff.
Behind them, R’alen returned to the tour itinerary. D’vann leaned over his shoulder, asking how much time had been allowed between the listed stops.
