Oakmont–Verona–Plum Development Site, Pennsylvania
May 18, 2440, 6:27 PM
“Whoever ordered this much pizza either likes us or has absolutely no idea how many people are eating.”
Jake Whetherall opened another box.
Joren Hale looked at the stack beside him.
“They know how many people are eating.”
“Then they like us.”
“Possibly.”
“Good enough.”
The evening meal had been arranged around Carlisle Pizza, delivered from Columbia with the incoming supplies. Boxes occupied several tables outside the kitchen, accompanied by salads, drinks, and enough additional food to accommodate anyone who had already decided pizza wasn’t what they wanted.
After yesterday’s enormous deer barbecue, nobody seemed especially disappointed by the change.
The kitchen was still being used. Workers carried out serving equipment and additional food while the evening crews rotated through supper.
The workforce was growing daily. Frank had arrived on the sixteenth with a small crew, and more personnel from his construction company, Marmaduke Inc., and Marmaduke Logistics had been arriving ever since.
The original sixty-six employees hired by the V’ren Trust were still present, including the hunters and the young drone tenders.
Most of the workers moved through assignments organized by Frank and Kate. The technical specialists and drone crews retained their separate working arrangements, but everyone shared the same increasingly busy compound.
Jake selected a slice.
“That’s more like it.”
Jelk Carr examined the pizza beside him.
“Is that the same kind you had yesterday?”
“No. Yesterday we had a deer the size of a truck.”
“I meant the pizza.”
“You need to be more specific, Squirrel.”
Jelk picked up a slice.
“I am becoming accustomed to your conversations.”
“Good. Means you’re fitting in.”
“Is that what it means?”
“Among other things.”
Ella Murphy sat down with her plate.
“Anybody seen the latest pictures from Columbia?”
Jake looked at her.
“Which pictures?”
“Matt and T’mari.”
“Again?”
“That’s generally what happens when somebody takes more photographs.”
Joren looked up.
“The ones outside Kemp Donuts?”
“Those and the car.”
Jake smiled.
“I saw the car.”
“You saw pictures of the car,” Joren corrected.
“Same thing for the purpose of this conversation.”
Ella turned her tablet so the others could see.
Matthew Marmaduke and T’mari Th’ron stood outside Kemp Donuts in Columbia, both wearing AGRIsolutions polo shirts.
Jelk studied the photograph.
“That is a very ordinary way to dress for people receiving this much public attention.”
Jake laughed.
“You should see Matt when he’s actually trying to look ordinary.”
“Does he make a special effort?”
“Not that I’ve ever noticed.”
Ella enlarged the picture.
“They’ve been seen together all over Columbia.”
“It’s been three days of meetings and running around,” Joren said.
“That’s not all they’ve been doing.”
“How would you know?”
“People are watching them.”
Jake took another bite.
“People have been watching them since the V’ren showed up. That’s not a revelation.”
Ella moved to the next photograph.
“Then explain this.”
A purple convertible appeared on the screen.
Jelk leaned closer.
“What is that?”
“Diamonte Motors,” Jake said.
“An older vehicle?”
“Brand-new.”
Jelk looked again.
“It resembles an old vehicle.”
“That’s the idea.”
Joren glanced at the picture.
“Retro body. Modern car.”
“Exactly,” Jake said.
Ella turned toward him.
“Know what it costs?”
“A lot.”
“Twenty-five million base.”
“That sounds right.”
“And people say that one cost nearly fifty million by the time he took delivery.”
Jelk looked at the car.
“Fifty million fiat dollars?”
“That’s the rumor.”
“Is it worth that much?”
Jake considered.
“Depends how badly you want one.”
Joren shook his head.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only answer anybody buying one of those needs.”
Ella scrolled.
“Diamonte only makes a hundred retro cars a year. They’ve been doing it for nearly a hundred and fifty years.”
“Hundred and forty-five,” Jake said.
“Close enough.”
“They’re collectible,” Joren said.
“Apparently Matt collects them,” Ella answered. “Somebody claims he owns over a hundred.”
Jake snorted.
“People have been inventing stories about Matt’s cars for as long as I’ve known him.”
“Does he own that many?”
“I’ve never counted.”
“You’ve been to his house.”
“Ella, the man owns considerably more than a house.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“And I’m not his inventory clerk.”
Jelk studied the car again.
“I like the color.”
Jake raised his beer.
“See? Squirrel understands the important part.”
Jelk smiled.
“Although I would not spend fifty million on it.”
“Probably not the first thing I’d buy either.”
Ella looked at Jake.
“You’re saying you wouldn’t want it?”
“Of course I’d want it. Wanting and buying are two different things.”
Joren laughed.
“That’s a surprisingly responsible distinction from you.”
“I’m a married man. I’ve learned a few.”
6:48 PM
Grin Qwill arrived with a plate and found S’rethi sitting beside D’vann.
“Is this seat taken?”
“Please,” S’rethi said.
Grin sat down and examined the pizza.
“I have learned three things about human food in the last two days.”
D’vann looked interested.
“Only three?”
“I haven’t finished learning.”
“And the three?”
“Everything can apparently be placed on bread. Everyone has strong opinions about what ought to be placed on bread. And disagreement about those opinions can last considerably longer than eating the food.”
S’rethi laughed.
“That sounds accurate.”
Grin lifted her slice.
“What is this?”
D’vann looked.
“Pepperoni.”
“I’ve heard that word.”
“Have you tried it?”
“Not yet.”
“Then there is an obvious next step.”
She tasted it.
D’vann waited.
“Well?”
“Very good.”
“Excellent.”
“But the disagreement about toppings remains unnecessary.”
“Humanity may disagree.”
“Humanity seems to disagree about everything,” Grin answered.
At the next table, someone was showing photographs of the giant deer recovered yesterday.
Grin leaned over.
“Is that the animal?”
Jake looked up.
“Yep.”
“And you were suspended beneath a shuttle?”
“Not exactly beneath it the entire time.”
Jelk cleared his throat.
“We were assisting the recovery.”
Grin studied the photograph.
“Your explanation has improved since yesterday, I understand.”
Jake glanced at S’rethi.
“You been talking about us?”
“Only when asked.”
“Which is apparently frequently.”
Grin turned the display toward herself.
“That is an impressive animal. I’d like to examine the biological records when the wildlife specialists have finished with them.”
“You’re a botanist,” Jake said.
“Yes.”
“That’s not a plant.”
“Thank you. I had been wondering.”
D’vann laughed.
Grin continued.
“A living landscape includes animals. Particularly animals large enough to change the vegetation simply by moving through it.”
Jake looked at Jelk.
“See? The deer was educational.”
“Everything is educational when someone asks the right questions,” Grin answered.
Jude Walsh came by carrying a stack of empty serving trays.
“Somebody talking about hunting?”
Jake looked up.
“You’ve got opinions?”
“Usually.”
Jude put the trays down where the kitchen crew had asked him to leave them.
He had been hired by the Trust as a hunter, but that hadn’t limited his usefulness to the hunting contingent.
Today he had fetched supplies, assisted a mechanic, helped move equipment into the workshop, and carried materials for whichever crew needed another set of hands.
Jake nodded toward the deer photograph.
“You missed the educational part.”
“Was there one?”
“Apparently the deer was part of the landscape.”
Jude considered the photograph.
“Can’t argue with that.”
Grin smiled.
“Did you participate in yesterday’s hunt?”
“No. I was working.”
“Doing what?” Jake asked.
“Whatever Kate needed done.”
Joren laughed.
“That covers quite a bit.”
“Usually does.”
A worker farther down the table raised his beer.
“Moose and Squirrel!”
Several others repeated it.
Jelk sighed.
“I believe these names are permanent.”
Jake looked delighted.
“Welcome to Missouri.”
“We are in Pennsylvania.”
“You’re learning.”
7:03 PM
The conversations had become louder as more workers finished eating.
Connor Day came over with Jilp Trez and asked whether there was room at the table.
“Always,” Joren said, moving his chair.
Connor took a seat beside Jilp.
Ella looked over.
“There’s our honeymoon couple.”
Connor laughed.
“We haven’t been married.”
“Soon enough, from the way you two have been carrying on.”
Jilp smiled.
“You humans seem very interested in assigning names to relationships.”
“Sometimes we need to know what to call people,” Ella answered.
“Connor,” he said.
“Jilp,” she added.
“Those are useful names.”
Joren grinned.
Ella rolled her eyes.
“You know what I meant.”
Jilp took a drink.
“I believe I do.”
Connor reached for another slice.
Joren looked at him.
“Thinking about staying?”
“In Pennsylvania?”
“Yeah.”
Connor nodded.
“That’s the plan.”
Jilp glanced toward the construction site.
“We would like to see what it becomes.”
“Good place to start,” Joren said.
“You staying too?” Connor asked.
“I am.”
Jake looked toward him.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Jake leaned back.
“I’m going home when we’re done here.”
“You have a home,” Joren answered.
“Exactly. Fifty acres outside Marshall, a wife who would have words about me moving away without her, and enough work waiting for me that I probably ought to be grateful I’m getting a few weeks out of it.”
“Few weeks?” Ella asked.
“However long the job takes.”
Joren nodded.
“That’s the difference, I guess.”
“What’s the difference?”
“You have somewhere you’re going back to.”
Jake considered that.
“Yeah. I do.”
He glanced toward Connor and Jilp.
“And you’ve got somebody you’re planning to stay with.”
Connor smiled.
“That too.”
Jilp’s hand rested briefly on his arm.
The exchange passed without anyone requiring the couple to explain themselves.
M’ren and T’vessa joined the group at the end of the table, both having finished their work with the drone tenders.
Most of the teenagers among the Trust’s original sixty-six had received training for that work rather than being assigned as ordinary laborers.
T’vessa’s family had stayed in one of the suites at the Marmaduke Homestead hotel before coming to Pennsylvania.
She already knew something of the Freehold and its people. She and Jude had each approached Angelina Reyes independently about the Pennsylvania opportunity.
Angelina had been asked to recommend workers, and both had become part of the Trust’s original contingent.
Jude moved over to make room for the two young V’ren.
“Plenty of pizza left.”
T’vessa examined the boxes.
“Apparently.”
“Take some before Jake gets back for another round.”
Jake looked offended.
“I can hear you.”
“Then I won’t have to repeat it.”
Joren laughed.
The young people sat down and joined the meal.
Across the table, a worker had discovered the May 18 coverage of the Rolla spaceport.
“Ten thousand jobs!”
Jake turned.
“What?”
“Rolla. They’re talking about ten thousand employees before the end of the year.”
“Total operation,” Joren said. “Not ten thousand people hired tomorrow.”
“Still a lot of jobs.”
“Sure is.”
“Columbia’s getting another thousand workers too.”
Ella looked up.
“Drivers and warehouse people.”
“According to the announcement.”
“Matt’s really moving the freight yard?”
“Not the headquarters,” Jake said. “Columbia keeps that. Rolla gets the big spaceport and major freight operation.”
Jelk read over the worker’s shoulder.
“The employee shuttle is fifteen minutes?”
“That’s what Matt said.”
“And people won’t be required to move?”
“Right.”
“Then the two places can share workers.”
Jake nodded.
“Which is why half Missouri is going to be talking about it for the next month.”
Joren looked toward the shuttle unloading area.
“Hard to argue with the amount of cargo we’re moving already.”
“Exactly.”
“Wonder what happens when those larger facilities are running.”
“More cargo,” Jake said.
Jelk smiled.
“A very sophisticated forecast.”
“I’m a man of considerable commercial insight.”
Jude came back from the kitchen with a fresh drink.
“James will be busy.”
“James?” Jelk asked.
“Rolla.”
Jake nodded.
“He’s already seen plenty of the apartment work at Boonville. The new construction ought to look familiar to him.”
“Different place,” Jude said. “Same people finding more work to do.”
“That’s generally how we operate,” Joren answered.
Jude sat down.
“And Kate will find somewhere to put us.”
7:21 PM
Ella had returned to the photographs from Columbia.
“There’s another thing,” she said.
Joren looked wary.
“What now?”
“Armed guards around Matt’s apartment.”
Jake kept eating.
“Okay.”
“You don’t think that’s strange?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s the Director of Alien Affairs for Amazon, the Freeholder, and apparently the High Lord of the V’ren. If somebody wants to put guards around him, I’m not exactly shocked.”
“Who put them there?”
“Ask whoever’s responsible for his security.”
“People think it’s because of T’mari.”
Jake looked up.
“People think all sorts of things.”
“She’s been staying with him.”
“Have you seen that?”
“People have.”
“Have they seen her walking into an apartment, or have they seen pictures of two people driving around Columbia?”
“Both.”
“Then they saw two things.”
Joren chuckled.
Ella looked annoyed.
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“Sure,” Jake said. “But if you already know everything, why keep asking me?”
She turned toward Jilp.
“Does it mean anything particular to the V’ren?”
“Does what mean anything?” Jilp asked.
“Being together that much.”
“Sometimes it means two people enjoy being together.”
“And sometimes?”
“It means they have work to do.”
Connor laughed.
“That wasn’t the answer she wanted.”
“It was the answer to her question.”
Jilp looked back at her food.
Ella shook her head.
“You people are impossible.”
Jake raised his beer.
“Hear, hear.”
Connor and Jilp answered together.
“Hear, hear!”
Several people laughed at the couple’s familiar response.
Joren looked at the photograph again.
“I’d be more interested in what they actually say than what everybody wants the pictures to mean.”
Ella glanced toward him.
“Since when did photographs stop meaning anything?”
“They mean somebody was there when a camera was pointed at them.”
“That’s not very romantic.”
“I’m not the one trying to marry them before dessert.”
A notification appeared on Jude Walsh’s tablet at the next table.
He looked up.
“This is going to be good.”
“What?” Jake asked.
“Somebody’s arguing that Matt’s university should share all the V’ren researchers with the rest of the world.”
“Which university?” Joren asked.
“Mizzou.”
“His university?” Ella said.
“He’s one of eleven board members,” Jude answered.
“That’s a lot of influence.”
“Four seats out of fifty in Columbia too,” Jake said.
“Which is the problem,” Ella replied. “Everything comes back to him.”
Jake looked at her.
“You’re talking about the guy whose companies were already doing business here before any of the V’ren showed up.”
“That doesn’t mean he should control everything.”
“Didn’t say he did.”
“He’s got the Freehold, Columbia departments, Mizzou, his companies, and now the Trust.”
Jilp looked up.
“The Trust is not one of his private companies.”
Ella hesitated.
“I know that.”
“Then you know those aren’t the same things.”
“It’s still a lot of positions.”
“Certainly,” Joren said. “But they’re different positions.”
Jake nodded.
“And Columbia can vote against him. That isn’t the same as the Freehold.”
“Four of fifty,” Jude said.
“Right.”
Ella scrolled through the article.
“Somebody says he ought to stop favoring Mizzou.”
Jake laughed.
“He’s on the board. What would you expect him to do?”
“Not make the other universities beg for access.”
Jilp looked confused.
“Have they requested access?”
“Some have,” Jude answered. “Some are complaining about how to request it.”
“Then perhaps they should begin with the requests.”
“Now there’s a radical proposal,” Jake said.
Ella sighed.
“I’m surrounded by Marmaduke loyalists.”
“I’m loyal to my wife,” Jake replied. “And to getting paid for work I’ve done. Matt happens to be pretty good about the second.”
“His company isn’t even the one employing everyone here,” Joren said.
“Thank you,” Jilp answered.
Jake raised both hands.
“Fine. I am loyal to anybody who keeps bringing Carlisle pizza.”
“That’s a standard I can understand,” Connor said.
Jude looked toward the kitchen.
“I’ll agree with that.”
Jake pointed at him.
“Didn’t you drive K’rem somewhere to eat once?”
Jude smiled.
“Sure did.”
“Where?”
“Just a place I knew.”
“What did you get?”
“Four things Matt won’t eat.”
Jake’s interest visibly increased.
“Which four?”
“Fried bologna, brain sandwiches, pig ear sandwiches, and chitlings.”
Jelk looked from Jude to Jake.
“What are those?”
“Some of them,” Jake answered, “are things you ought to ask about before you order.”
Jude laughed.
“Matt won’t introduce anybody to them. Says they smell horrible.”
“And you took K’rem?”
“Yep.”
“Of course you did.”
Joren shook his head.
“You get one day driving a V’ren lord and that’s where you take him?”
“I wasn’t going to take him somewhere Matt would’ve taken him.”
“Apparently not.”
Jude took a drink.
“That’s how you learn about a place. Get somebody to take you somewhere you wouldn’t have found yourself.”
Jelk considered that.
“Then perhaps I should ask you for recommendations.”
“Happy to give you some.”
Jake looked toward him.
“Be careful what you ask for, Squirrel.”
“I’m beginning to understand that.”
The discussion drifted toward the relative merits of various pizza toppings, which was probably an improvement.
Across the outdoor tables, someone had begun showing the family photographs posted by Matt’s relatives.
T’mari appeared among the Marmaduke family, wearing casual clothes and looking comfortable beside Matt.
Ella glanced over.
“See? I told you.”
Jake looked at the photograph.
“Told me what?”
“That there’s something going on.”
Jake examined it.
“Well, there’s definitely a family supper going on.”
“Jake.”
“What?”
“You are deliberately being difficult.”
He took another drink.
“That’s been said before.”
Grin Qwill leaned toward the nearest display.
“Who is that woman beside Lady T’mari?”
“One of Matt’s relatives,” Jude answered.
“Ah.”
She examined the people around the table.
“They appear to be enjoying themselves.”
“They probably are,” Jake said.
“Are they always photographed so frequently?”
“Not usually by half the planet.”
Grin considered the image.
“Your people seem quite good at making a private meal into a public event.”
“Not everybody appreciates that,” Joren answered.
“No,” she said. “I imagine not.”
Jilp looked at the photographs, then at Connor.
“Do you have gatherings like that?”
“Family suppers?”
“Yes.”
“Sure.”
“Good.”
He smiled.
“Good?”
“I would like to go to one with you.”
Connor reached for her hand.
“That can probably be arranged.”
Ella looked from one to the other, then back at the screen.
For once she had nothing to add.
Jake finished his pizza.
“Anybody got dessert?”
Joren shook his head.
“Is that all you ever think about?”
“Not even close.”
“Then what else?”
Jake pointed toward the photograph of Matt’s purple car.
“Wonder if he’d let me drive that.”
Jelk laughed.
“Would you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Even if it costs fifty million?”
“Especially if it costs fifty million.”
“And your wife?”
Jake considered the question.
“She’s already got enough reasons to yell at me.”
Connor smiled.
“Sounds like a sound marriage.”
“Twenty years of practice,” Jake answered.
“And you still haven’t learned?”
“Learned plenty.”
He stood and gathered his plate.
“Mostly when to stop talking.”
The laughter followed him toward the kitchen.
