Oakmont–Verona–Plum Development Site, Pennsylvania
May 20, 2440, 9:14 PM
S’rethi had brought the next day’s landscape schedule to the family’s accommodation shuttle. D’vann was looking over the foundation reports, and T’ira still had the water-quality readings open.
M’ren and T’vessa were examining photographs from Leta while R’alen finished his personnel assignments.
“Your pond is still there,” M’ren said.
“It would be worrying if it weren’t,” D’vann answered.
“Mother’s already asked for somewhere to sit beside it.”
“And somewhere to get Peking duck,” T’vessa added.
S’rethi looked up.
“Both would be appreciated.”
D’vann set the report aside and turned toward M’ren.
The Other Ninety-Seven Percent
D’vann turned toward M’ren.
“Speaking of people deciding what happens, how many of the technicians here do you know?”
She looked surprised.
“What?”
“The technicians. How many do you know by name?”
“Some.”
“How many?”
She considered the question.
“I don’t know.”
“And how many have you spoken with outside your assigned work?”
M’ren looked toward her mother.
S’rethi said nothing.
“Father, I’ve been busy.”
“I know.”
“There’s been a great deal of survey work.”
“I know that too.”
M’ren looked down.
“I talk to people.”
“Human workers,” D’vann said. “Members of families you already know. Other highborn V’ren.”
“Not only them.”
“Then name some of the others.”
M’ren paused.
Her father waited.
She gave two names.
D’vann nodded.
“Good. Who else?”
She thought for a moment.
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s what concerns me.”
M’ren looked irritated.
“I don’t see why this is suddenly important.”
“It isn’t sudden.”
S’rethi leaned forward.
“You’ve been spending most of your time at your workstation.”
“Because there’s work to do.”
“Yes. But you also seem to be avoiding social contact with the V’ren technicians who aren’t from highborn families.”
M’ren looked away.
“I’m not avoiding them.”
“Then you are certainly making yourself difficult for them to know,” her mother answered.
D’vann looked toward the settlement model.
“Forty thousand highborn among more than a million V’ren in Sol. That means almost everybody you will work with, supervise, rely upon, or simply live beside won’t belong to your social class.”
“I know the numbers.”
“Then you understand why they’re important.”
“Knowing people isn’t the same as knowing their jobs.”
“No,” D’vann answered. “But knowing the people who do those jobs is part of being effective.”
T’ira looked toward her sister.
“Some of the survey operators know things about the equipment I don’t.”
M’ren glanced at her.
“Of course.”
“And I learn more quickly when I ask them.”
D’vann nodded.
“Highborn status doesn’t tell you whether somebody knows how to operate a sprayer, calibrate a survey machine, or repair a service connection.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“No. But you keep arranging your day so most of your conversations are with people who share your background.”
M’ren folded her arms.
“I’m not sure what you want me to do.”
“Work with more people.”
“I work with people already.”
“Outside the workstation.”
She sighed.
S’rethi opened tomorrow’s landscape schedule.
“As it happens, there is a practical opportunity.”
M’ren immediately looked suspicious.
“What opportunity?”
“Vdek Rval will be preparing the larger watercourse installations.”
“And?”
“He needs assistance with the forms and placement work.”
M’ren looked toward the pond photograph.
“With the spraying?”
“With the preparations, wire-mesh forms, survey references, and whatever tasks he needs assistance with under the work plan.”
“I’m not a construction technician.”
“Which is part of why it will be useful,” D’vann answered.
She looked at her father.
“Father.”
“The work needs to be done while the construction grade is still accessible.”
“I know.”
“And Vdek knows the work.”
“Yes.”
“Then you can learn something from him.”
M’ren looked toward her mother.
“Have you already assigned me?”
S’rethi smiled.
“Yes.”
Her daughter sighed.
“Of course you have.”
T’vessa tried not to laugh.
M’ren looked at her.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re smiling.”
“Am I?”
D’vann leaned back.
“It will be good experience.”
“Moving wire mesh through rubble.”
“Among other things.”
“With a sprayer.”
“Possibly.”
“And I suppose I’ll be doing it all day.”
“You’ll do the work that’s assigned and useful,” S’rethi answered. “Then you can tell us what you learned.”
M’ren sighed again.
R’alen looked amused.
“At least you’ll know another technician by name.”
“I already know his name.”
D’vann smiled.
“Tomorrow you can find out what he knows.”
People Who Know Their Jobs
R’alen returned to the staffing discussion.
“Mother’s point about the technicians matters for the recruitment program as well.”
D’vann looked toward him.
“How so?”
“We have personnel records covering an enormous range of qualifications, but those records don’t make every qualified person available.”
“Some must remain aboard the ships,” S’rethi said.
“Some are already assigned elsewhere.”
“And some need training before they can work with Earth infrastructure,” T’ira added.
R’alen nodded.
“Frab Zelo is here precisely because he wants experience with the current stage of the apartment voltage-conversion installation.”
D’vann nodded.
“He’ll be able to take that experience back to Leta.”
“And he’ll be moving into his family home there next week,” R’alen said.
S’rethi looked interested.
“The twenty-seventh?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
R’alen continued.
“There will be many more assignments of that kind. Short periods of practical work in one settlement, followed by applying the experience elsewhere.”
“Provided the personnel can travel,” T’ira said.
“And have the necessary clearances,” R’alen answered.
D’vann looked toward the medical planning notes.
“Quarantine remains a constraint.”
“Correct.”
“His Lordship won’t override medical restrictions merely to move a technician faster.”
“Nor should he,” S’rethi answered.
“And neural-interface training has limits,” T’ira added. “People can’t simply acquire every qualification overnight.”
R’alen nodded.
“Machines, technicians, available human participants, and the amount of integration people can tolerate all constrain the training schedule.”
D’vann looked toward M’ren.
“Which means experienced people are valuable.”
“I know.”
“And knowing how to find them is valuable.”
“Yes.”
“And working with them is valuable.”
She sighed.
“I understand.”
“Good.”
T’vessa smiled.
“Tomorrow you’ll be able to explain watercourse installation to the rest of us.”
M’ren looked toward her.
“Tomorrow you’ll be able to carry my tools.”
D’vann laughed.
“Excellent. Cooperation already.”
The Tour Under Discussion
R’alen opened the internal planning notes again.
“There may be an opportunity to address several of these needs through the international travel arrangements.”
M’ren looked up.
“The tour?”
“The proposed working tour. The Trust is considering which meetings and organizations should be included.”
“Has it been announced?” T’vessa asked.
“Not as a finalized public program.”
“So the itinerary is still changing.”
“Yes.”
S’rethi examined the proposed contacts.
“Universities, trade organizations, prospective employers, government offices.”
“And organizations that can help establish businesses,” R’alen added.
D’vann nodded.
“His Lordship will be useful for introductions.”
“He already has relationships with many of these institutions,” R’alen said. “The Trust doesn’t have to build every contact from nothing.”
M’ren looked curious.
“Will he conduct all the meetings?”
“No,” R’alen answered. “The relevant Trust personnel will handle the matters within their responsibilities.”
“Then why is he going?”
“Because someone who can open a door is useful even when someone else is best qualified to conduct the meeting.”
S’rethi smiled.
“The same reason he doesn’t have to personally supervise every foundation placement in Pennsylvania.”
D’vann raised his cup.
“An arrangement I thoroughly approve of.”
T’ira examined another part of the planning note.
“There’s discussion of a youth delegation.”
“Yes,” R’alen answered.
“Who’s going?”
“No final selection.”
M’ren leaned forward.
“Who chooses?”
“That’s among the matters the Trust will settle.”
“And what are they supposed to do?”
“Participate in selected portions of the tour, meet people, answer questions, and report on their experiences. The exact arrangements haven’t been finalized.”
T’vessa looked interested.
“Will it include V’ren who aren’t highborn?”
“I’d expect that question to be considered,” R’alen answered.
S’rethi nodded.
“It should be. A delegation purporting to discuss ordinary youth experiences ought to include people who can speak about different circumstances.”
D’vann looked toward M’ren.
“And it should include young people who actually know people outside their own households.”
She stared at him.
“Are you going to bring tomorrow’s assignment into every conversation?”
“Possibly.”
“Father.”
He smiled.
“You should have known I’d find more than one use for the argument.”
T’ira laughed.
What Makes It Home
Later, R’alen opened photographs of the work at Leta.
The finished houses were beginning to sit within recognizable streets and public spaces.
Soil had been placed.
Planting was underway.
Grass and meadow growth were appearing in areas that had recently been bare construction ground.
Some homes were occupied.
Others were waiting for families.
M’ren leaned toward the screen.
“That looks much better.”
“People are beginning to live there,” S’rethi answered.
“It’s strange,” T’vessa said. “The buildings haven’t changed much, but the place looks different.”
“Because there’s something happening between the buildings now,” D’vann answered.
“Gardens,” T’ira said.
“People walking.”
“Children playing.”
“Someone arguing about where the plants should go,” S’rethi added.
M’ren smiled.
“And eventually restaurants.”
“Eventually.”
“And a pizza shop.”
“Several,” T’vessa said.
D’vann laughed.
“And a bar for Frank.”
“Preferably somewhere Kate can’t hear him complain,” R’alen added.
S’rethi smiled.
“And a Chinese restaurant.”
“Of course,” D’vann said.
They studied the images.
The standardized house was the same.
The essential construction system was the same.
But residents were already changing the character of the place.
Some households had rearranged rooms.
Others were using spaces in ways the original designers hadn’t anticipated.
A settlement designed as a repeatable engineering product was beginning to become something less predictable.
D’vann looked at the photographs for a long moment.
“We can build the foundations, streets, power systems, and houses.”
“And provide the spaces where businesses might operate,” S’rethi said.
“Yes.”
“But we can’t determine every part of the life that develops there.”
“No.”
M’ren looked toward the Pennsylvania model.
“So that’s why you’re asking about restaurants before the apartments are finished.”
“Partly,” her mother answered.
“Because we need to plan for what people will do after they move in.”
“Yes.”
“And because you want Peking duck.”
S’rethi smiled.
“Also yes.”
10:42 PM
R’alen gathered his things.
“I should return to the T-24.”
“Early assignment?” D’vann asked.
“Material movements, survey support, and personnel work.”
“Busy day.”
“Very.”
T’ira looked toward him.
“I’ve completed the geology assignments. I’ll check the personnel schedule in the morning.”
“Thank you.”
M’ren was studying the landscape installation plan.
“How early does Vdek start?”
S’rethi looked pleased.
“Early enough that you should get some sleep.”
“That’s not a time.”
“Your assignment has the reporting time.”
M’ren opened it.
She sighed.
T’vessa smiled.
“Enjoy the wire mesh.”
“I shall remember your sympathy.”
D’vann stood.
“Good night, R’alen.”
His son embraced him, kissed his mother’s cheek, and collected his tablet.
Outside, the construction base was settling into the night.
Beyond the work lights, the first sitio’s foundation continued to occupy the cleared ground.
The second site was being prepared.
The third waited at its higher elevation, where the engineers had determined it belonged.
Several new springs were still running through the limestone.
One small pond now held water in a channel made that morning by a technician with a backpack sprayer.
In the days ahead, crews would build more channels and retaining ponds, fit utilities, finish foundations, and begin turning standardized structures into homes.
Elsewhere, the Trust was considering how to recruit the people who would run the businesses, teach in the schools, maintain the equipment, and make the streets worth walking through.
D’vann looked toward the little pond photograph one last time.
“Benches,” he said.
S’rethi glanced at him.
“What?”
“We should put benches there.”
“After we’ve finalized the drainage and maintenance access.”
“Of course.”
“And arranged the planting.”
“Of course.”
“And identified what fish we can safely put in it.”
D’vann smiled.
“Now you’re thinking about fish.”
She laughed.
“Good night, D’vann.”
He closed the landscape model.
M’ren checked her reporting time once more before closing the assignment.
She would have to ask Vdek where he wanted her in the morning.
