At the Pittsburgh Reclamation Project, S’rethi and D’vann K’var adjust settlement plans as changing groundwater creates new springs and waterfalls. Matthew Marmaduke accepts their engineering judgment and suggests fish ponds. Meanwhile, Ella Murphy’s resentment over 219 newly recognized Freehold citizens exposes tensions surrounding ancestry, belonging, personal relationships, and the meaning of citizenship.
An evening meal at the Pittsburgh Reclamation Project becomes a lively discussion of life across the Marmaduke Freehold. Construction workers revisit Blackwater 17’s eleven housing designs, explore Little Shinjuku in Marshall, debate Matthew Marmaduke’s influence in Columbia, and reflect on V’ren citizenship, community relationships, and the unexpected ways families make new homes their own.
At the Pittsburgh Reclamation Project, S’rethi and D’vann K’var approve the first of three planned sitios, each covering nine square kilometers. Engineers begin marking a 625-block street grid and placing Wonder Foam foundations while preserving a natural depression for two-level underground garages. Meanwhile, construction crews continue preparing the operating base for occupancy.
An evening barbecue at the Pittsburgh Reclamation Project becomes a debate about Matthew Marmaduke’s overlapping titles, Freehold loyalty, and the legitimacy of his authority. As human and V’ren workers discuss young cadets, the refugee fleet, and first-contact politics, questions about L’tani T’all reveal the limits of their willingness to share private information.
A celebratory dinner at the Pittsburgh Reclamation Project turns into an unexpected lesson in V’ren biology and family traditions. As workers share steaks from an enormous Megaloceros, S’rethi K’var explains female puberty, pheromone control, and why Fountain Grove and three additional retreats are being developed for transitioning V’ren girls and their female relatives.
Construction accelerates at the Pittsburgh Reclamation Project as S’rethi and D’vann K’var oversee Wonder Foam foundations, Quonset hut assembly, and essential utilities. Human and V’ren crews erect eight frames in one afternoon, bring a T-38 fusion plant online, and begin processing waste and river muck into useful materials for the future settlement.
On May 17, 2440, eighteen survey rovers disappear into a massive underground cavity beneath the Pittsburgh Reclamation Project. S’rethi and D’vann K’var coordinate geological stabilization using Wonder Foam, approve the first T-38 fusion plant site along the Allegheny River, and authorize grading operations across cleared sections of Pennsylvania terrain.