Oakmont–Verona–Plum Development Site, Pennsylvania
May 20, 2440, 3:26 PM
“Did you hear anything more about those citizenship grants?”
The woman examining the equipment return didn’t look up.
“No.”
Ella Murphy stood beside her.
“Two hundred nineteen people. All at once.”
“I know the number.”
“Most of them hadn’t even been in the Freehold a week.”
“They’ve been citizens for a week now,” the woman answered.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
Her coworker checked a connection.
“We’re trying to finish this.”
Ella crossed her arms.
“My family has been living there for generations.”
“So have a lot of families.”
“My great-grandmother was a Boone Marmaduke.”
The woman finally looked up.
“Ella, you told me yesterday.”
“And a Littleton. And a Hart.”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“It means you’re related to a lot of people.”
“And Matt gives citizenship to aliens he’s known for two weeks.”
The woman put down her tool.
“Ella, I’m a Freehold citizen.”
Ella paused.
“I know.”
“Then you also know I don’t get a vote on who else becomes one.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“The Freeholder made the decision. Those people were sworn in. It’s finished.”
“I’m allowed to question it.”
“Of course you are.”
“Then why is everyone acting like I’m doing something wrong?”
“Because you’re asking the same people the same question every day.”
Her coworker gave a small laugh.
Ella looked toward him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
The woman picked up her tool again.
“Come back when we’re not working.”
Ella watched them for a moment.
Then she walked away.
Her coworker waited until she was out of earshot.
“You think anybody’s going to sponsor her?”
The woman shook her head.
“Not on the strength of that speech.”
“She’s got a Boone Marmaduke great-grandmother.”
“So do people all over Missouri.”
He smiled.
“She talks as though she’s the only one.”
“Most Boone Marmadukes aren’t Freehold citizens. She knows that.”
“Apparently thinks she should be an exception.”
The woman returned to her equipment inspection.
“Then she ought to find someone who thinks so too.”
3:42 PM
Frab Zelo was examining the apartment voltage-conversion installation when Ella approached him.
She had seen him working with the utility crew earlier and recognized him as one of the V’ren electricians assigned to the site.
“Frab?”
He looked up.
“Yes?”
“Are you from Leta?”
“That’s where my family will be living.”
“Then you must know something about the citizenship arrangements.”
His expression changed slightly.
“What about them?”
“The two hundred nineteen.”
“Yes.”
“People have been talking about how quickly Matt sponsored them.”
Frab looked toward the installation.
“I know.”
“Do you think everyone who received citizenship deserved it?”
He turned fully toward her.
“Why are you asking me?”
“Because you’re V’ren. You must know some of them.”
“I do.”
Ella nodded, encouraged.
“That’s what I thought. You know how these things work.”
Frab studied her.
“My wife is Gran Thron.”
Ella waited.
“She is an imaging technician.”
“All right.”
“My eldest daughter is Lerc. She’s fifteen.”
Ella looked puzzled.
“What does that have to do with citizenship?”
“Both of them are among the two hundred nineteen.”
There was a brief silence.
Ella shifted her tablet beneath her arm.
“Then I suppose your whole family benefited.”
“No.”
He answered so firmly that she stopped.
“My family consists of my wife, myself, and our four daughters. We are Freehold residents. Gran and Lerc are citizens.”
“And the others?”
“Residents.”
“Even the younger girls?”
“Yes.”
Ella looked toward him.
“So they didn’t grant citizenship to all of you?”
“No.”
“But you’re her husband.”
“I am.”
“And Lerc’s father.”
“Yes.”
“That seems rather strange.”
Frab’s expression hardened.
“What does?”
“That your wife and daughter would get something the rest of the family didn’t.”
“They earned it.”
Ella hesitated.
“Well, that’s what people keep saying.”
Frab set down the item he had been examining.
“Stop.”
She stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“You have been asking people about the two hundred nineteen. Now you are asking me to justify the citizenship of my wife and daughter.”
“I wasn’t asking you to justify anything.”
“You asked whether they deserved it.”
“I asked whether everybody deserved it.”
“And I have answered. Gran and Lerc earned their citizenship. They were sponsored and sworn in. The rest of us are residents.”
Ella folded her arms.
“I’ve lived in the Freehold my whole life.”
“That has nothing to do with my family.”
“My family has been there for generations.”
“That also has nothing to do with my family.”
“I don’t see why you’re getting upset.”
“Because I am here to learn this equipment, and you are interrupting that work to question the standing of my wife and daughter.”
“I have a right to an opinion.”
“You have a right to your opinion. You do not have a right to keep demanding that I discuss my family’s citizenship with you while I am working.”
Ella opened her mouth.
Frab raised a hand.
“No. I’m finished with this conversation.”
He turned back toward the installation.
“I need to complete my assignment. Do not approach me again about Gran or Lerc.”
Ella stood there another moment.
Then she walked away.
Frab watched her go.
He looked at the installation record on his display, made a note of where he’d stopped, and called for the worker supervising the next stage of the conversion equipment.
The work still had to be finished.
4:03 PM
R’alen was in the personnel office when Frab arrived.
T’ira had been updating geological assignments and was also handling personnel administration in her capacity as his HR assistant.
Frab waited until R’alen finished the conversation already in progress.
“Can I speak with you about a workplace complaint?”
R’alen looked up.
“Certainly.”
He indicated a quieter part of the office.
“Do you want this formally recorded?”
“Yes.”
T’ira opened the appropriate record.
“Name?”
“Frab Zelo. Electrical installation.”
R’alen nodded.
“Tell me what happened.”
Frab described the conversation with Ella Murphy.
He explained that she had approached him during his voltage-conversion installation assignment, questioned the citizenship of the 219 V’ren, and continued after learning that his wife and eldest daughter were among them.
“She was discussing whether they deserved citizenship?” R’alen asked.
“Yes.”
“And you told her the discussion was unwelcome?”
“I did. I told her not to approach me about my wife or daughter again.”
“Did the conversation interfere with your assigned work?”
“Yes. I stopped the installation review to answer her. I had to resume from the point I’d recorded before she approached.”
T’ira entered the details.
“Any physical contact?” R’alen asked.
“No.”
“Threats?”
“No.”
“Anything else you want included?”
Frab considered the question.
“My family is moving into our home at Leta on the twenty-seventh. I came here because I need practical experience with the current stage of the apartment voltage-conversion equipment. I don’t want this continuing while I’m trying to do that work.”
R’alen nodded.
“Understood.”
He looked toward T’ira.
“Record his account and the work interruption.”
“Done.”
Frab glanced between them.
“What’s the next step?”
“We’ll document the complaint and obtain the information needed to assess it,” R’alen answered. “You did the right thing bringing an employment issue to the Trust’s personnel office.”
Frab nodded.
“Thank you.”
T’ira looked up.
“Do you want to add anything about the citizenship question?”
“Only that Gran and Lerc are citizens individually. The rest of us are residents. We haven’t asked anyone to pretend otherwise.”
R’alen nodded.
“That’s clear.”
Frab returned to work.
T’ira finished the record.
R’alen read it.
“Ella Murphy,” he said.
T’ira looked toward him.
“You’ve heard the name?”
“Several times since yesterday.”
“From complaints?”
“Not all formal ones.”
He closed the record.
“Keep this separate from the geological assignments. It’s a personnel matter.”
“Of course.”
“And we’ll need her account before making findings.”
T’ira nodded.
Outside, the construction equipment continued operating.
Frab’s complaint had not changed the foundation schedule or stopped the electrical work.
But someone had finally decided that Ella’s questions were no longer merely an irritating conversation.
R’alen asked T’ira to arrange a private consultation with the lead V’ren electrician, Frank Bakkal, and Kate Red Hawk. Ella was not invited to that discussion; her own account would be obtained separately before any findings were made.
The four examined the staffing problem as well as the complaint. Frab had been explicit that Ella interrupted his assigned work and continued questioning the citizenship of his wife and daughter after he made clear that the discussion was unwelcome.
“She’s a pain in the ass,” Frank said.
Kate glanced at him.
“Am I wrong?”
“No,” she answered. “But she’s also an excellent electrician.”
The V’ren electrical lead agreed. Ella’s firsthand experience working alongside V’ren electricians at Boonville was directly relevant to the garage installations; the visitors from Leta had come to observe a working method she already knew.
R’alen looked at the assignment roster.
“So the project still needs her.”
“Yes,” Frank answered. “And that doesn’t mean she gets to interrupt people and badger them about their families.”
Kate nodded. “Keep the complaint and the technical assignment separate. I’ll help you with the human personnel procedures if you want.”
“I would appreciate that.”
“Then we’ll work through them properly. Frank remains her employer, and the Guildhall has its own disciplinary process.”
R’alen arranged for Ella’s account and forwarded the documented matter through the appropriate channels. He did not presume that a Trust HR complaint gave him the power to impose Guildhall discipline himself.
4:25 PM
The afternoon construction review was considerably more satisfactory.
D’vann had received the latest foundation report.
Placement continued along the approved edge of the first sitio. The containment forms were performing as intended, and the lower garage areas remained unobstructed.
The second sitio’s survey and ground preparation advanced without entering restricted ground.
The third remained under continuing geological review.
R’alen joined the engineering discussion after finishing his personnel work.
“Tomorrow’s material sequence is ready,” he said.
“Any changes to the western access?” D’vann asked.
“None that affect the approved work.”
“And the unresolved sections?”
“Still excluded.”
S’rethi nodded.
“Which is where they’ll stay until the surveys are complete.”
D’vann smiled.
“I’m beginning to think you don’t entirely trust me.”
“I trust you to supervise construction. I don’t trust limestone.”
“An important distinction.”
T’ira brought up the pond observations.
“The corrected channel is holding.”
“Good.”
“Vdek says larger watercourses will require wire-mesh forms and more spraying equipment.”
“Then we plan those installations while the grades are accessible,” D’vann said.
S’rethi examined the landscaping model.
“And we continue testing the water before making stocking decisions.”
“His Lordship will be disappointed.”
“His Lordship can be patient.”
D’vann laughed.
“That would be a novel experiment.”
4:48 PM
Ella had found new comments beneath the family-gathering photographs.
The main pictures were already familiar.
Matt and T’mari together on the deck.
The two of them among relatives.
The old red pickup.
There were also the pictures that bothered Ella much more: one showing her mother’s sister talking with T’mari, and another showing her half-sister’s stepdaughter speaking with Matt.
Ella opened the younger woman’s account.
She had posted several comments about the gathering.
Apparently Matt had spent a good portion of the evening flirting with women and making people laugh while T’mari periodically told him to behave.
Other relatives described the two as looking as though they’d been married for decades.
Then Ella found a comment about kissing.
She read it twice.
According to the account, Matt and T’mari had been discovered more than once leaning against something and kissing, with neither appearing particularly embarrassed about it.
Ella scrolled farther.
Someone had mentioned a guitar being passed around.
Matt had taken a turn.
The reported songs included “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “I Like Beer,” a country arrangement of “Brown Eyed Girl,” and “Rainbow Connection.”
Ella stared at the comments.
Her mother’s sister had apparently been there for all of this.
So had her half-sister’s stepdaughter.
And she had heard about none of it from either woman.
Ella opened a message to the younger one.
She began typing.
Then stopped.
She deleted the first sentence.
Wrote another.
Deleted that too.
Finally she closed the message without sending it.
For several minutes, the HR complaint and the citizenship argument weren’t on her mind at all.
5:41 PM
The trial pond was holding water at its intended level.
The corrected channel carried the overflow downhill through the rubble without spreading behind the basin.
D’vann inspected the readings.
“We ought to keep it.”
S’rethi looked at him.
“As a permanent feature?”
“Unless you intend to make Vdek take it apart.”
She studied the location.
The channel was outside the structural footprint. The surrounding area could eventually be landscaped without obstructing maintenance access.
It remained useful as a test installation.
“Yes,” she said. “We can keep it.”
D’vann smiled.
T’ira took another photograph.
“This one?”
He examined it.
“Good picture.”
S’rethi reviewed the flow data.
“Tell His Lordship the initial trial succeeded. Make clear that the larger features still depend on sustained flows, water quality, and drainage design.”
“And fish,” D’vann added.
“And fish.”
T’ira sent the photograph with the engineering observations.
Vdek looked toward the proposed larger channels.
“We’ll need wire mesh, survey lines, and the larger spraying equipment for the next work.”
“Give Kate the material requirements,” D’vann said.
“And Frank the crew requirements,” S’rethi added.
“Of course.”
D’vann looked at the little watercourse.
Somebody would eventually walk past it without knowing how many measurements, adjustments, and conversations had been required to make it work.
He found that rather satisfying.
6:08 PM
The supper tables were filling.
Ella approached a V’ren woman who had just sat down.
“Do you know Tell Rarz?”
“I know who she is.”
“Eric Garcia manages my apartment building.”
“Does he?”
“He has children, you know.”
The woman looked up.
“Does he?”
“And he’s apparently involved with Tell. Very quickly.”
“I don’t know his household arrangements.”
“I was wondering what his children think.”
“Then you’d need to ask his children.”
Ella sighed.
“Everyone’s afraid to say anything.”
The woman picked up her plate.
“No. I simply don’t know those people.”
She moved to join a colleague.
Ella watched her go.
At another table, somebody was discussing the day’s Marmaduke Inc. financial coverage.
There was talk of projected profits and Christmas bonuses.
Ella turned toward it.
Near the end of the row, D’vann was showing Frank the pond photograph.
“You got your water feature,” Frank said.
“A small one.”
“Looks good.”
“S’rethi approved keeping it.”
“Then you’re doing well.”
Kate joined them with the next day’s schedule.
“Until the first resident asks where the fish are.”
D’vann laughed.
“Everyone has been reading His Lordship’s message.”
S’rethi sat beside him.
“Eventually the residents won’t know how much work went into making a pond there.”
Frank looked at the picture.
“They’ll just call it their pond.”
“Yes,” she answered.
“And somebody will ask for a restaurant overlooking it,” Kate said.
D’vann turned toward her.
“That reminds me. Where are people going to eat when they move into the buildings?”
Frank looked at the kitchen Quonset.
“Not here, I hope.”
“I’d like a good Chinese restaurant,” S’rethi said.
Jake Whetherall, passing with his plate, stopped.
“I’d take barbecue.”
“Peking duck,” S’rethi clarified.
Frank grinned.
“Then somebody’s got to open a restaurant.”
D’vann looked toward the settlement plan.
That was another problem entirely.
They had buildings, roads, power, water, and places to live.
Someone would still need to make dinner.
And not everybody would want the same thing.
Later, Ella received her first formal disciplinary warning by email from the Columbia Electrical Guildhall. The notice did not remove her from the specialized garage assignment. That remained a question for Frank and the project leads, who had decided to retain the experience she brought from Boonville while addressing her conduct through the appropriate process.
