Oakmont–Verona–Plum Development Site, Pennsylvania
May 20, 2440, Later That Evening
“I still want Peking duck.”
Jake Whetherall looked toward S’rethi Y’ulen.
“You’ve mentioned that.”
“It’s what I want.”
“Not barbecue?”
“Not instead of Peking duck.”
D’vann K’var smiled.
“We’ve apparently moved from engineering to restaurant planning.”
“We’re building a town,” S’rethi answered. “Eventually somebody needs to make dinner.”
Frank Bakkal leaned back.
“I’m quite willing to let somebody else do that.”
Kate looked toward him.
“You’re already letting somebody else do it.”
“Excellent arrangement, isn’t it?”
Jelk Carr was examining the commercial portions of the sitio plan.
“There will be premises available for restaurants?”
“Yes,” D’vann answered.
“But someone must operate them.”
“That’s generally the problem.”
Frank looked toward the map.
“You can build the finest restaurant space in Pennsylvania. Doesn’t help if you haven’t got a cook.”
“Or staff,” Kate added.
“Or suppliers.”
“Or customers.”
Jake nodded.
“Now you’re getting to it.”
S’rethi examined the planned commercial blocks.
“The Trust can provide premises, utilities, access, and services. It shouldn’t have to become the operator of every restaurant.”
“Unless you want the Trust deciding what goes on every menu,” Kate answered.
S’rethi looked horrified.
“Certainly not.”
Jelk considered that.
“Independent commercial operators would be responsible for their own enterprises.”
“Yes,” D’vann said.
“And would have reason to attract customers.”
“Exactly.”
“Then one successful restaurant might encourage another.”
Jake smiled.
“Now you’re thinking like a businessman.”
Twenty-Seven Families
Frank looked toward the planned commercial district.
“Fine. We need a Chinese restaurant. How do we get one?”
“Find somebody who wants to open one,” Kate said.
“And who has a staff,” Joren Hale added.
“And can get supplies,” D’vann said.
Jake shook his head.
“You’re all thinking too small.”
Kate looked toward him.
“How so?”
“Say Matt wants a taqueria.”
S’rethi glanced at him.
“I thought we were discussing Peking duck.”
“We’re discussing how you get one.”
“Very well.”
Jake leaned forward.
“Matt might have to find an extended family network willing to relocate. Twenty-seven families, say.”
Jelk looked up.
“Twenty-seven?”
“It’s an example, Squirrel. Not a relocation order.”
“Understood.”
“One family opens the taqueria. Another decides they can do better and opens a second one.”
Kate smiled.
“Which gives people a choice.”
“Exactly. Somebody else starts making tortillas. Somebody’s uncle knows how to organize a mariachi band. Somebody’s grandmother has been making traditional pastries for fifty years and can teach the V’ren bakers.”
S’rethi looked interested.
“And the other families?”
“Some work in the restaurants. Some have entirely different trades. Some bring children, older relatives, friends, customers, and people who want to start things of their own.”
D’vann considered the example.
“So one business relocation can produce an entire little commercial network.”
“Exactly,” Jake said. “You don’t just get the fellow who knows how to make tacos. You get the people he knows.”
Jelk nodded.
“And the additional households create demand for services beyond the original enterprise.”
“Now you’ve got it.”
Kate looked toward the settlement plan.
“That would make recruiting very different from filling one vacancy at a time.”
“Sure would,” Jake answered.
Frank grinned.
“Also sounds like a good way to get more than one kind of supper.”
S’rethi nodded.
“Which is precisely the point.”
Jake looked toward her.
“Twenty-seven families for Peking duck.”
“I didn’t specify a number.”
“Yet.”
D’vann laughed.
The Second-Best Pizza
“What about pizza?” Joren asked.
Frank looked up.
“What about it?”
“Students. Workers. Families. You need pizza.”
Kate nodded.
“Somewhere teenagers can go without sitting in their parents’ living rooms.”
“Somewhere they can take friends,” Joren added.
“And complain about school,” Jake said.
Jelk considered the point.
“There are parks and recreation facilities.”
“Those are useful,” Kate answered. “But teenagers also want somewhere to sit with friends, eat something, and feel like they’re making their own decisions.”
D’vann smiled.
“Even if the decision is which pizza to order.”
“Especially then,” Jake answered.
S’rethi examined the commercial model.
“One restaurant wouldn’t be enough.”
“Why not?” Jelk asked.
“Because then everyone has to eat the same pizza.”
Frank laughed.
“She’s right.”
“Imagine claiming to serve the best pizza in town,” S’rethi continued, “when you’re the only restaurant serving pizza.”
Joren grinned.
“Best and worst.”
“At the same time,” Kate added.
Jelk nodded.
“Competition produces a comparison.”
“And preferences,” D’vann said. “One family wants one place, another prefers somewhere else.”
“Different prices,” Kate said.
“Different hours.”
“Different atmospheres.”
“Different pizza,” Jake added.
Frank looked thoughtful.
“I’d rather have a town with six decent places to eat than one magnificent restaurant everybody fights to get into.”
S’rethi nodded.
“Exactly.”
“And at least one place that delivers,” Joren added.
Jelk looked toward him.
“Delivery is particularly important?”
“To people who have spent all day at work and don’t want to cook.”
Frank raised his glass.
“Now there’s something I understand.”
Somewhere to Complain About Work
“I want a bar,” Frank said.
Kate turned toward him.
“I’m shocked.”
“A decent one.”
“You’ve barely got a kitchen here and you’re ordering a bar.”
“I’m planning for the future.”
Jake nodded solemnly.
“Essential infrastructure.”
S’rethi looked amused.
“Essential?”
“Absolutely,” Jake answered. “People need somewhere to complain about work.”
Frank raised a finger.
“Preferably somewhere my project manager isn’t sitting next to me.”
Kate smiled.
“Why? I’d like to hear what you have to say.”
“That’s precisely the problem.”
Jelk considered the discussion.
“Isn’t it more efficient to raise workplace concerns directly with the person who can address them?”
Jake looked delighted.
“Squirrel, someday you’re going to discover that people enjoy complaining even when they don’t want a solution.”
“Why?”
“Because sometimes they want somebody to agree that they’ve had a miserable day.”
D’vann laughed.
“And a bar provides that?”
“Among other things,” Frank answered. “Friends. Music. Games. Food. People from different workgroups meeting each other.”
Kate nodded.
“And sometimes someone hears about a job, a business opportunity, or a problem somebody else knows how to fix.”
Jelk considered that.
“So the social establishment creates informal connections between otherwise separate groups.”
“Exactly,” D’vann said.
Jake grinned.
“Professional networking with beer.”
Jelk looked thoughtful.
“That sounds considerably more sensible than merely complaining.”
Frank laughed.
“Don’t ruin it.”
S’rethi looked toward the commercial district.
“Then we need cafés, restaurants, bars, bakeries, markets, and places that aren’t part of the Trust’s formal operations.”
“Yes,” D’vann answered.
“And we need different operators, not just one organization choosing everything.”
“Agreed.”
She leaned back.
“Good. Now find me Peking duck.”
The Household That Comes With the Shop
Jelk was still studying Jake’s hypothetical families.
“Would the Trust recruit an entire extended family network?”
“If it made sense for the settlement,” Kate answered.
“Wouldn’t each adult still need an appropriate arrangement?”
“Of course.”
“And the children would need schooling.”
“Yes.”
“And the older relatives might require services.”
“Yes.”
Jelk nodded.
“Then attracting one commercial enterprise becomes a much larger planning exercise.”
D’vann looked pleased.
“Now you’re seeing why we can’t create a town simply by placing businesses on a map.”
S’rethi added, “And not every useful person will have a formal qualification that appears in a personnel search.”
“Like the grandmother teaching pastries,” Jelk said.
“Exactly.”
Kate nodded.
“Someone who has been cooking for fifty years might be an excellent instructor without ever having attended a culinary school.”
“And if she comes with her children and grandchildren,” Jake said, “we might get three households, two more businesses, and somebody who starts a community music group.”
Joren laughed.
“Plus twenty-seven relatives complaining that nobody makes the food properly.”
“That’s how you know it’s a real town,” Jake answered.
Frank looked at the map.
“We can provide the buildings.”
“People provide the rest,” S’rethi said.
D’vann considered that.
“Then our work isn’t finished when the last wall goes up.”
“No,” she answered. “It only changes.”
A Town of Its Own
The supper tables had begun to empty.
People carried dishes toward the kitchen Quonset and collected their belongings.
Frank was still discussing the merits of having a bar somewhere other than his construction site.
Jake was arguing that a proper barbecue restaurant should be given equal consideration with S’rethi’s Peking duck.
Jelk was asking whether both establishments might share suppliers.
D’vann looked toward the construction lights.
A week from now, if the schedule held, more of the first sitio would have recognizable buildings.
In time there would be residents, streets, parks, shops, and perhaps a restaurant overlooking one of the new watercourses.
Some businesses would succeed.
Others would fail.
People would argue about where to eat and which shop charged too much. Teenagers would discover places their parents didn’t particularly like. Workers would meet after their shifts and complain about their employers.
The Trust could plan for all of those possibilities.
It could not manufacture the relationships themselves.
S’rethi joined D’vann beside the tables.
“Are you coming?”
“In a moment.”
She followed his gaze toward the unfinished town.
“Still thinking about the commercial spaces?”
“Yes.”
“And the pond?”
“Also the pond.”
She smiled.
“Good. Then remember both when you approve tomorrow’s plans.”
“Anything else?”
“A Chinese restaurant.”
He laughed.
“You really aren’t going to let that go.”
“No.”
They returned to the family shuttle.
Frank called to Kate from the kitchen entrance about the next day’s material deliveries. She went to find out what he needed, leaving Jake and Jelk comparing the commercial spaces on the plan.
D’vann closed the model and followed S’rethi toward the family shuttle.
