Oakmont–Verona–Plum Development Site, Pennsylvania
May 18, 2440, 8:07 AM
“If you close that panel before we finish the connections, I’m going to make you take it off again.”
The V’ren worker stopped with his hand on the fastener.
Kate Red Hawk pointed to the service opening.
“See that?”
“Yes.”
“What goes through it?”
“Electrical supply.”
“And?”
He leaned closer.
“Water?”
“Nope. Look at the drawing.”
He brought up the installation plan.
“Communications.”
“Right. Ella’s people still need access. Leave it.”
The worker glanced at his companion.
“I thought the connections had already been completed.”
“Some have. Those haven’t. That’s why we check.”
He marked the panel for later installation and moved to the next section.
Kate looked toward the adjoining Quonset.
The seven buildings left unfinished yesterday were steadily becoming recognizable workplaces. Their frames stood in position, with crews following through on enclosure, utility connections, insulation, ventilation, and interior fittings.
Yesterday the buildings had risen quickly enough to astonish some of the human workers.
Today they required considerably more ordinary labor.
Frank Bakkal came around the end of the building carrying his tablet.
“How far along?”
“Shell crew’s moving. This one can take the next service checks as soon as they finish the section they’re on.”
“Any trouble?”
“Nothing unusual.”
“What about the maintenance workshop?”
“First usable area should be available as soon as the connections are accepted. The drone tenders don’t need us to finish every shelf and table before they can work.”
Frank nodded.
“Good. Tell them what space they can use, and keep the rest clear for the installers.”
“Already in the assignments.”
“Of course it is.”
He looked down the row of Quonsets.
“And the cabinet shop?”
“Equipment’s being positioned. They’ll have working space as soon as the services are accepted.”
“Lumber?”
“We have plenty.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I was asking.”
Kate smiled.
“We have eight thousand cubic meters of beautiful wood and eight thousand of structural lumber on hand. Two more full T-48 loads are due today, one of each.”
“That’s better.”
“We’re not going through thirty-two thousand cubic meters in a week, Frank.”
“Didn’t say we were.”
“You were asking about lumber yesterday too.”
“Yesterday we didn’t have a cabinet shop.”
“Today we’re getting one.”
Frank opened the shop plan.
One of the forty-by-one-hundred-foot Quonsets had been assigned to cabinetmaking and woodworking. It would turn the stock into the partitions, shelves, tables, cabinets, workbenches, and other fittings the project required.
The building was a workshop, not a lumber warehouse.
The bulk inventory had its own staging arrangements. There was no sense trying to fit a full T-48 load into a Quonset when one shuttle carried approximately eight thousand cubic meters.
“Have they got their first cutting list?” Frank asked.
“Yes. Benches and shelving for the maintenance workshop, office fittings, and the partitions we need to finish.”
“Good.”
“Once they’re running, we’ll keep feeding them work.”
“We’re certainly not going to run out of that.”
Kate changed the display.
The broader construction schedule covered more than the eight Quonsets.
The industrial compound was only one part of the operation. Elsewhere, V’ren engineers and construction crews were beginning the first sitio, and still farther away the stabilization and reclamation operations continued across the larger project.
The amount of land involved had made remote coordination essential.
Kate could not walk from one end of the project to the other whenever she needed to check a delivery.
Neither could Frank.
The displays, team leads, assigned transport, and communications channels made it possible to direct work spread over kilometers.
Another group of workers had arrived, adding to the crews Frank had brought from Missouri on the sixteenth and those who had followed from Marmaduke Inc. and Marmaduke Logistics.
The original sixty-six hired by the V’ren Trust were still working their assignments, but the site had already grown well beyond that initial contingent.
Most of the teenagers had been trained as drone tenders. M’ren and T’vessa were among them. Their work involved operating, servicing, and managing equipment rather than functioning as ordinary construction labor.
The adults were largely specialists, and the hunters were Trust employees too.
Most of the remaining workers received assignments through Frank’s organization, directly or through team leads.
That generally meant Kate knew where they were supposed to be before they asked.
Frank glanced at the incoming personnel list.
“Any trouble finding places for them?”
“Not yet.”
“You’re going to tell me when there is?”
“I usually tell you before there is.”
“That’s what worries me.”
“Then I suggest you keep paying me.”
Frank laughed.
Kate’s tablet sounded.
She checked the message.
“Electrical crew’s waiting on the next section.”
“Go ahead.”
“You’re not coming?”
“I’m going to see whether anybody else needs something.”
“Try not to volunteer us for another project before lunch.”
“No promises.”
Kate headed toward the electricians.
Frank watched her go, shook his head, and returned to his own schedule.
Twelve years of working together had made their arrangement familiar. Frank owned the company and directed its construction operations. Kate kept the projects, personnel, materials, and schedules organized under him.
Neither had any intention of settling permanently in Pennsylvania.
For the moment, that was immaterial.
They had buildings to finish.
8:46 AM
Ella Murphy was checking an electrical service route when Kate appeared at the other end of the opening.
“Is that one ready?” Kate asked.
“Almost.”
“Good. The shell crew wants to close it.”
“Then they can learn patience.”
Herv Geth, the lead V’ren electrician, stood beside Ella, comparing the installation drawing with the equipment in front of them.
“There’s a difference in the service arrangement,” he said.
“I noticed,” Ella answered. “The human equipment doesn’t need the full supply.”
“No. But we still have to provide it correctly.”
“Which is why I’m checking this.”
Herv nodded and moved his display closer to hers.
The conversation was entirely professional.
Ella had taken two neural-interface sessions in the V’ren language and another two in V’ren electrical design. She was still learning, but she already had practical experience with two different applications of the technology.
At Boonville she had trained and contributed to installing apartment electrical equipment in the basement levels.
The apartment systems retained the V’ren six-phase supply for equipment such as HVAC and battery backup while also providing converted human voltages.
At Blackwater, she had worked with the residential arrangements. There, the converters were installed at block level, accessible for servicing from the alleys, and supplied ordinary 220-volt electrical service to the houses.
The residents could use normal human appliances without each detached house requiring its own V’ren conversion unit.
Those were different installations, and Ella knew the difference from having helped with both.
Her training also represented scarce neural-interface time that could not simply be handed to every human electrician on demand.
Herv found that knowledge useful.
Frank did too.
Neither particularly enjoyed the prospect of losing someone who could work effectively between the two electrical systems.
Kate examined the installation drawing again.
“Did you hear anything more about L’tani?” Ella asked.
Kate did not look up.
“No.”
“Nothing?”
“No.”
“People are talking.”
“People are always talking.”
“You’ve been working with the V’ren all week.”
“So have you.”
“Not the same people.”
Kate moved closer.
“Ella, is this the correct drawing for that connection?”
“Yes.”
“Then can we get it checked?”
Ella sighed.
“I was only asking.”
“You asked yesterday.”
“And nobody answered.”
Kate held out her hand for the inspection tablet.
“That hasn’t changed.”
Ella gave it to her.
Farther along the building, a V’ren electrician was helping a human colleague position a service component. They were discussing the best order for the remaining installation work.
Both were qualified tradespeople.
Neither required instruction in the elementary principles of electricity. The practical task was making their respective equipment and the human building systems work together correctly.
Herv checked the completed work against his display.
“The connection is acceptable.”
Kate checked the sign-off.
“Good. You can close that section.”
Ella looked over her shoulder.
“Is that all?”
“For this section, yes.”
“And L’tani?”
“Still not on the electrical drawings.”
Ella gave a short laugh.
“You really aren’t going to talk about it.”
“Not while I’m working.”
She handed the tablet back.
“Next one.”
Kate had known Ella long before Pennsylvania.
Until the previous year, she had lived at North Park Apartments, on the same floor as Ella. They had started as friends. Over four years, the friendship had become something Kate increasingly preferred to avoid.
It was a familiarity that made Ella’s questions easier to recognize, not easier to tolerate.
That history did not make Ella a bad electrician.
Quite the contrary. Kate knew exactly how much use the woman was to the project, and she understood why Frank and Herv were reluctant to contemplate losing her.
She also knew better than to leave a project dependent on one person.
From the first signs that Ella might become a problem, Kate had been in quiet communication with Angelina Reyes.
Angelina was Matthew’s chief of staff and handled Freehold human resources. She understood the distinction between a difficult employee and an operational dependency without needing it explained at length.
Between them, they had arranged V’ren training for four additional electricians.
None had Ella’s exact combination of Boonville and Blackwater experience. That would come from doing the work.
But the project was no longer going to depend indefinitely on a single human electrician with specialized V’ren training.
There had been no reason to involve Frank, Matthew, or the Guildhall.
Kate had not asked anyone to discipline Ella.
She had made sure there would be other qualified people available if they were needed.
Her tablet displayed the next inspection.
She went back to work.
9:38 AM
The first workshop was ready to receive part of its intended workload.
The floor and services had been checked in the area being opened. Benches were being assembled, and other fittings remained unfinished.
Jelk Carr entered with Jake Whetherall, carrying a piece of drone servicing equipment between them.
Kate met them near the entrance.
“Where are you putting that?”
“Inside,” Jake answered.
“Very helpful.”
Jelk indicated the accepted working area.
“Here?”
“That’s been released. The other side isn’t ready, so don’t start moving equipment into it.”
“Understood.”
Jake looked around.
“Proper workshop. Roof, floor, electricity. We’re getting civilized.”
Kate glanced at him.
“You came here with accommodation shuttles and an entire fleet of machines.”
“Civilized doesn’t mean the same thing as comfortable.”
“Apparently not.”
Jelk examined the workbench.
“This will be useful.”
“It’s supposed to be.”
He opened a maintenance record.
“We’ve been handling too much of the servicing through temporary workstations. This should make it easier to keep the tenders moving.”
Kate nodded.
“Use what’s released. The installers are still working on the rest.”
Jake looked at Jelk.
“Want to ask her?”
“No.”
Kate narrowed her eyes.
“Ask me what?”
“Nothing,” Jake said.
“You’re standing together.”
“We do that.”
“Yesterday you came back hanging under a shuttle with a giant dead deer.”
“That was an entirely legitimate wildlife recovery.”
Jelk smiled.
“It was.”
Kate folded her arms.
“Moose and Squirrel are not borrowing another shuttle to go sightseeing while I’m trying to finish a workshop.”
“We weren’t going to ask that,” Jake protested.
“Then what?”
Jelk held up the equipment record.
“We wanted to know when the maintenance space would be available.”
“I just told you.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
Jake grinned.
“We were also wondering whether that drone could be made ready before supper.”
Kate looked from one to the other.
“Why?”
Jelk answered quickly.
“Because it is scheduled for the evening survey.”
She studied him for a moment.
“That was a much better answer than whatever Moose was about to give me.”
Jake looked wounded.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“I have a reasonably good idea.”
She stepped aside.
“Get your equipment inside.”
Jelk thanked her and went to work.
Jake followed.
Halfway through the doorway he turned.
“Kate?”
“What?”
“Do you know how to ice skate?”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“Just thought I’d mention it.”
She shook her head as he disappeared into the workshop.
Outside, Jude Walsh was helping unload another delivery.
A crew lead waved him toward the next shipment.
“Jude, give us a hand with this.”
“Sure.”
He went.
Jude had been hired as one of the Trust’s hunters, but that didn’t prevent him from doing whatever else needed doing.
He might fetch parts for a mechanic, help someone carry equipment, run errands, or mop a floor while another tradesman worked.
He had no particular interest in proving that a task was beneath him.
That made him useful in much the same way Jake and Joren were useful.
It was one of the reasons Angelina had recommended him.
10:15 AM
Along the northern side of the first sitio, the construction crews were putting up the boundary form wall.
The morning markers had established the reference line. The wall followed the designated edge of the engineered foundation, separating the planned Wonder Foam expansion from the area occupied by the T-38 installation.
The apartment row would also be anchored along that edge.
The forming panels were familiar in principle to the workers who had prepared the industrial platform two days earlier, but the apartment construction required greater precision.
Panel positions, braces, and alignments were checked against the building drawings rather than merely the required surface of a large industrial slab.
Work had begun around the garage depression as well.
The existing low ground meant the builders did not have to excavate the enormous pits required at Boonville.
There, ordinary human earthmovers and heavy-duty V’ren equipment had dug the apartment excavations to approximately thirty feet in a day.
The crews had then sprayed the lower floors, positioned and braced the wall panels, and filled them with Wonder Foam.
At Pennsylvania, the ground had already provided much of the required vertical separation.
The lower floors were being prepared for the same method.
R’alen checked the equipment assignments against the approved site boundaries.
The north wall had priority wherever adjacent foundation material would soon be placed.
The garage floor and wall crews had their own sequence, coordinated with the access routes that would remain open until the basement work was ready for the next stage.
The goal was to have the walls brought up to the street datum in time for the basement electrical equipment to be lowered into place on May 19.
The electrical crew from Leta was due on May 20 to examine and make the connections.
T’ira had arranged for the construction recordings to be shared with Ashton and James.
James had already seen the method used at Boonville, and he would be involved with the Rolla team.
Ashton had enjoyed participating in the industrial-platform work on May 16.
D’vann and S’rethi knew he would appreciate seeing the more precise apartment application.
There was nothing classified about it.
The two men were simply being kept informed.
10:52 AM
At the separate Pittsburgh reclamation operation, the second T-38 continued supplying power to the larger processing equipment.
Its Wonder Foam foundation was stable and fit for the present workload, but temporary. It was an industrial operating base for the reclamation phase, not the finished ground on which the future communities would be built.
Recovered material moved through several processing streams.
Some separated products could be used directly. Others were captured in gaseous form, and still others were packed for more intensive processing aboard the V’ren ships.
Among the useful products coming out of the operation was vitrified construction sand.
The larger unit was producing approximately five hundred cubic meters every six hours.
S’rethi was using much of it to fill the gaps between the broken stone across the prepared landscape.
It was an economical use of material the project was already recovering. Filling the irregular spaces between the shattered rock produced more manageable surfaces for the landscaping layers that would follow.
It was not a substitute for the continuous engineered foundation being laid at the first sitio.
The project’s supply flights were busy in both directions.
Construction materials arrived on the scheduled shuttle movements. On outbound legs, shuttles carried recovered materials away, much of it destined for further processing, storage, or distribution through the fleet.
There was no reason to move cargo aircraft into Pennsylvania full and routinely send them back empty while the reclamation operation produced material requiring transportation.
The compound’s smaller reclamation unit continued processing wet material from camp waste and river muck, with an input capacity of approximately 165 cubic meters per hour.
That number described how much wet material it could accept, not how much finished soil or other recovered product it produced.
The two reclamation operations had different workloads.
They also had different destinations for their recovered materials.
Across the wider development, deliveries and reclamation work continued independently of the first sitio’s construction schedule.
11:24 AM
Grin Qwill was standing beside a tree when S’rethi found her.
It was one of the mature living trees the landscaping crews intended to preserve.
A shuttle-assisted lifting arrangement had been prepared nearby, along with equipment for washing the soil away from the root system.
Grin had several displays open.
“You’ve found me,” she said without looking up.
“I was told you were examining a tree.”
“I am examining several. This one is simply the most convenient to stand beside.”
S’rethi looked at the trunk.
“Can it be moved?”
“Possibly. We have to know what happens beneath the ground before deciding whether it is worth attempting.”
“You’re preparing the lifting rig.”
“Yes. The straps will support the tree while the soil is washed from around the roots. We don’t intend to pull it out by its trunk and hope for the best.”
“I should think not.”
Grin enlarged the root profile.
“The difficulty is preserving enough of this to keep the tree viable afterward. Getting it out of the ground is the easy part if you don’t care whether it survives.”
“And you care.”
“Very much.”
She looked toward the broken hills.
“We’ve already lost enough mature growth.”
S’rethi studied the planting plan.
“Will the landscaping areas be ready for your crews?”
“Not all of them. The preparation is proceeding. I don’t want every tree waiting until the last surface is finished, either. We can choose what is worth keeping and arrange the work as the appropriate places become available.”
“The construction sand is helping.”
“It is. Broken stone makes a miserable surface to work around when it has gaps large enough to lose tools in.”
S’rethi smiled.
“I shall tell the reclamation crews you’ve found their output useful.”
“I have found many of their outputs useful. I’m waiting for them to stop providing so much rubble to put underneath everything.”
“That may be a little ambitious.”
Grin closed the root display.
“Are you coming to supper?”
“I expect so.”
“Good. Someone was describing the enormous animal you ate yesterday. I have questions.”
“About the animal?”
“About the animal, and about the people who thought suspending it beneath a shuttle was the proper way to bring it home.”
S’rethi laughed.
“You should meet Moose and Squirrel.”
“I keep hearing those names.”
“You’ll understand.”
12:18 PM
R’alen brought the accepted marker reports to the main engineering workstation.
D’vann examined the first grid.
“References?”
“Checked against the survey.”
“Material allocations?”
“Confirmed.”
“Equipment?”
“Positioned and ready.”
“And the north wall?”
“Formed and checked along the sections receiving today’s placement.”
S’rethi joined them and opened the latest geological overlay.
The approved sections remained clear.
Restrictions on unreleased ground elsewhere in the project remained in force.
She signed the release.
“Proceed within these boundaries.”
D’vann opened the equipment sequence.
“Preserve the garage depression. Keep the construction approaches available. Begin with the approved section.”
R’alen transmitted the instructions.
Across the marked ground, the first foundation equipment moved into place.
Wonder Foam began spreading across the prepared surface.
The selected formulation expanded and leveled within the designated boundaries. Forms constrained the material where necessary. Its behavior at the edges was controlled by the formulation and placement sequence.
Along the northern edge, the new boundary wall contained the expanding material, protecting the T-38 area while establishing the anchor for the apartment row.
In the lower garage area, crews were already forming the bottom floors.
The panels used to establish the apartment walls required more precise alignment than those used on the industrial platform. They were positioned and braced before the Wonder Foam was applied.
As the work progressed, the bottom floors acquired their finished shape and the first garage walls began taking form.
The apartment garages were no longer merely outlines on the construction model.
On the displays, measured elevations appeared over the computer model.
T’ira monitored the geological returns while R’alen followed material deliveries, machinery positions, and access routes.
D’vann compared the developing surface with the building and street plans.
S’rethi watched the foundation measurements.
“Within tolerance.”
D’vann nodded.
“Continue.”
He enlarged the northern apartment section.
“Garage walls?”
“Proceeding,” R’alen answered. “The first formed sections are being checked.”
“Keep the approaches open.”
“They’re included in the sequence.”
“The printer will have them level with the streets tomorrow?”
“That’s the schedule.”
“Good.”
The project-wide display continued updating behind the active site model.
Beyond the first sitio, survey work and stabilization continued across the greater reclamation territory. There were separate crews, separate safety limits, and separate equipment assignments.
Nothing about today’s foundation work brought those activities inside the first settlement.
The first nine square kilometers were enough to occupy the builders.
And the foundation had only begun.
1:36 PM
The new cabinetmaking shop was taking its first proper shape inside one of the Quonsets.
The equipment was being positioned, service connections checked, and work areas set out according to the shop plan.
The incoming lumber shipments were also being accounted for.
Each full T-48 carried approximately eight thousand cubic meters, enough wood to overwhelm the available storage inside the workshop many times over.
Kate had no intention of treating the cabinet shop as a warehouse simply because the material was arriving.
The first supplies needed for production would be issued to the shop. The rest would remain in the designated staging areas until called for.
Frank checked the inventory report.
“Second pair of loads?”
“Being received,” Kate answered.
“Both?”
“The beautiful wood and the structural stock.”
He studied the quantities.
“That’s quite a pile.”
“That’s quite a few weeks of work.”
“Longer if you don’t let me build anything.”
“I’ll allow you to build things. Just not all at once.”
He opened the cabinet shop’s production list.
“Workbenches first?”
“Maintenance shop benches, shelving, office partitions, tables. We’ve got people setting up offices who need somewhere to work, and crews moving tools out of temporary spaces.”
“And then?”
“Cabinets. More shelving. Whatever the next buildings require.”
Frank looked over the schedule.
“Good.”
Kate changed to the freight report.
“There’s no reason to reorder this stuff next week. We have thirty-two thousand cubic meters to work from once today’s deliveries are received.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’ve asked three times.”
“I like knowing what I’ve got.”
“So do I. That’s why I keep the inventory.”
Frank smiled.
“Ever consider running your own company?”
“Not while yours keeps me busy.”
“Fair enough.”
The cabinet shop was not going to consume the new stock immediately. Its purpose was to supply finished work to the expanding project over time.
The building’s doors opened onto a construction compound with plenty of work left to do.
Kate returned to the installation schedule.
“Electrical sign-off’s next.”
“Then let’s get it done.”
2:43 PM
Frank found Kate in the workshop.
She was standing beside a carpenter who had just finished fitting a partition.
“Anything holding us up?” he asked.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“That’s generally when I start worrying.”
Kate showed him the schedule.
“Maintenance has its first usable space. The other areas are progressing. The cabinet shop is coming together, and we’re issuing lumber as the crews need it.”
“Good.”
“Offices are following. Services are being checked as crews finish their sections.”
Frank nodded.
“Any shortages?”
“Nothing critical.”
He glanced toward the workshop’s open doorway.
“And the drone tenders?”
“Already using the area we released.”
“Then we’re getting somewhere.”
Herv came through the adjoining doorway carrying an inspection report.
“There’s another section ready for review.”
“Good,” Kate said. “Who’s checking it?”
“Ella and one of my electricians.”
Frank looked up.
“Everything going all right?”
“With the electrical work, yes.”
Kate caught the distinction in his answer. Frank did too, but neither pursued it.
Herv handed Kate the report.
“She’s familiar with the equipment. That helps considerably.”
“I know,” Frank said.
“Especially when we’re dealing with the differences between the apartment converters and the residential distribution systems.”
“She worked on both,” Kate answered.
“Yes. It makes her useful.”
Kate entered the inspection into the schedule.
“Then let’s make good use of her.”
Herv nodded and returned to his work.
Frank watched him leave.
“Not many people around here can do what she does yet.”
“No,” Kate said.
That was true.
It was also why Kate had made certain there would eventually be more of them.
Frank looked at the first sitio’s progress report on his tablet.
“How’s the foundation?”
“D’vann’s people started placement after lunch. The north boundary wall is doing its job, and the garage floors and walls are going in.”
“About time.”
Frank grinned.
“You sound like me yesterday with the kitchen.”
“Someone has to.”
He looked over her tablet.
“Anything else?”
“I’d like to know when Marmaduke Media expects to get the Pennsylvania board online.”
“You sent the request?”
“Last night.”
“Then it’s in their system.”
“I know. I’m not asking you to chase it.”
“Good. I’ve got enough people to chase.”
Kate smiled.
“That’s why you employ a project manager.”
“Among other reasons.”
She handed him the latest completion report.
“Here. You can chase this instead.”
He read it.
“That’s more like it.”
4:56 PM
The first sitio foundation had advanced across the released sections throughout the afternoon.
It was nowhere near complete, and no one on D’vann’s engineering team was pretending otherwise.
The northern boundary form wall now separated the expanding foundation from the nearby T-38 installation.
It also established the anchor for the apartment row.
In the depression assigned to the ten apartment blocks, the bottom floors and initial walls of the two-level garages had begun taking shape.
The work followed the same panel-and-Wonder-Foam method used at the industrial platform, with the more exact forming and bracing appropriate to permanent residential construction.
There was more to do before the garage walls reached the 840-foot street datum.
That work was scheduled to continue so the basement electrical equipment could be lowered into position on May 19.
The Leta electrical crew would arrive May 20 for the connections.
The depression remained open where required for equipment access, and its lower elevation was preserved within the foundation layout.
Elsewhere, the first measured sections of the integrated foundation were holding their specified dimensions. The placement equipment had maintained its access without interfering with unreleased ground.
S’rethi reviewed the day’s results.
“The surface is developing as modeled.”
D’vann looked pleased.
“Excellent.”
“Not finished.”
“I didn’t say finished.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I was thinking we made very good progress.”
“That we did.”
R’alen checked the continuing equipment assignments.
“The machines can carry on within the released sequence.”
“Keep the monitoring active,” S’rethi said.
“Already assigned.”
T’ira looked up from the communications display.
“The construction videos have been sent to Ashton and James.”
“Good,” D’vann answered.
S’rethi glanced at him.
“You do realize Ashton will probably have questions.”
“Of course.”
“Several questions.”
“I should hope so.”
T’ira smiled and returned to her work.
The regional display showed the extent of the greater Pennsylvania undertaking.
Forty-five square kilometers of cleared ground was already an extraordinary engineering achievement. Beyond it, the survey and stabilization operations continued across the remainder of the roughly eighty-square-kilometer project.
The first sitio occupied nine square kilometers of that territory.
The second and third planned settlements were separate projects in their own right.
D’vann selected the local construction camera feed.
One of the newly formed apartment garage walls was visible, with the crews still working around it.
“Not bad for a Friday.”
“Not bad,” S’rethi agreed.
“One day we’ll be standing there looking at houses.”
“Yes.”
“And streets.”
“Yes.”
“And gardens.”
“If Grin has anything to say about it.”
“She will.”
He waited.
“And people?”
S’rethi looked at the developing foundation.
“That is rather the point.”
For a moment neither spoke.
Then D’vann glanced at the time.
“We should eat.”
“A very sensible proposal.”
He closed the display.
“Three towns.”
S’rethi took his arm.
“Build the first one.”
