Reclamation and Sitio Buildout Briefing

May 15, 2440, 2:00 PM CST

Matt was much more comfortable with the second and last official meeting of the day. He sat with eighteen other supply guys and gals. These were the senior logistics officers and their chief non-coms, plus a few others.

“Good afternoon. We are all busy today, but none of us so busy we can’t sit down out of the heat and relax a bit. Some of you had lunch with me a little while ago and some of you got to sit in the air-conditioned luxury of the dining hall. This is going to be the best of both.

“We will take this meeting in three parts. One, we are going to discuss the first-stage infrastructure and reclamation operations. Two, the actual city builds. Three, populating the cities and making them homes for our people. We will have two breaks and take questions at regularly scheduled periods during the discussion. So load up on drinks and snacks and let’s get down to it.”

Matt watched the others as today’s assistants. Y’ee Sp’erin, a boy of about thirteen, brought him a frosted mug of Dr Pepper. B’aeolin T’all, a girl of about twelve, carried two more for K’rem and M’rak, who sat at his end of the conference table. They were experienced with this now and knew what they were doing.

Matt got down to it.

“This is the land that was ceded to me today,” he said, bringing up the first map. “And almost no one lives across much of it. That makes it a perfect place for new communities. But it is only part of what we intend to do.

“We have more than a million people who need permanent homes, and while a considerable amount of the land I now control is suitable for that purpose, putting everyone in one part of Missouri and Kansas is neither practical nor desirable.

“We are going to establish settlements in several regions, with the first major construction efforts centered on land reclamation. That gives us the opportunity to do three things at once. We can make contaminated land useful again, recover valuable materials for manufacturing, and establish permanent communities with the employment and infrastructure they will need to survive.

“I have spent much of my adult life dealing with land that other people didn’t think was worth the trouble. Sometimes they were right, but quite often they simply didn’t have the equipment, money, or patience to make it useful. With your technology, that calculation changes considerably.”

He indicated the map, and M’rak brought up twelve highlighted regions.

“Our initial reclamation and settlement areas will be Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cincinnati, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, St. Louis, and Jefferson City, Missouri; and Clayton, New Mexico, and Elkhart, Kansas.

“Those are not twelve settlements. They are twelve geographic areas where we will establish construction and reclamation operations and build as many communities as the available land, resources, and staffing permit.

“Some of them are old industrial cities with enormous amounts of abandoned infrastructure. Some have riverfronts that have been neglected for centuries. Others have land that was once productive but has been sitting unused because the people who owned it didn’t consider it profitable to maintain.

“The eastern and central sites will provide access to an extraordinary amount of industrial material, while the western sites give us room for agriculture and communities that can expand without running into someone else’s property every few kilometers.

“There are also differences in who owns the land and who has authority over it. I am not going to pretend the political arrangements in Pittsburgh are the same as those in Elkhart. We will have agreements to negotiate and responsibilities to establish, but that is not what I have brought you here to discuss today.

“What I want to discuss is how we are going to build these places.”

Matt let M’rak shift the display to several photographs of abandoned industrial properties.

“Much of what humans call industrial waste is simply material that is too expensive to recover using the technology we have available. Iron, copper, aluminum, nickel, lead, cadmium, silica, and a good many other substances are mixed together in ways that make conventional recovery uneconomical.

“In some places the buildings themselves are valuable material. In others the soil is contaminated, the waterways are filled with industrial sediment, or the old infrastructure is falling apart.

“We can recover the useful materials and separate the contaminants. Your recycling systems and molecular fabrication equipment turn much of what would have been a liability into a resource.

“That does not mean we can simply pick up anything we find and feed it into a printer. Some of these sites contain materials that require careful handling, and we are going to have to identify them before we start making a bigger mess than the one we are cleaning up.

“But there is an enormous amount of usable material in these places, and I intend for us to recover it.

“I am also a businessman, and I would like everyone to remember that. The recovered material has value. Some will be used in construction, some will be processed into materials we can sell, and some will be returned to industry in forms that are considerably more useful than they are now.

“Properly managed, these reclamation operations should be profitable. We will be making land useful again, not simply spending money making it look pretty.”

That got a few chuckles.

“Now, the most important logistical consideration is that every one of these settlements will have its own cargo shuttle landing and unloading facilities.

“We are not going to establish one enormous supply depot and then spend our time figuring out how to get everything from that depot to the people who actually need it.

“The Type 48 cargo shuttles will deliver directly to the sitio construction sites. They will bring the equipment, machinery, supplies, and materials needed to establish the settlement. As construction proceeds, they will continue bringing what is required.

“That is a considerable advantage. We can establish construction operations in widely separated places without having to build an extensive transportation infrastructure before the first house goes up.

“The limitation is the number of available shuttles, the people operating them, and the amount of time each shuttle spends on a mission. We have a great deal of equipment, but we do not have an unlimited amount of it, and I do not intend to waste cargo capacity.”

He looked to M’rak.

“M’rak Y’eslin will brief you on the initial deployment operations.”

“I have been working closely with Marmaduke Logistics, the High Lord’s private company, over the last several days,” M’rak said. “I am quite impressed with how V’ren-like they are in their approach to problem solving.

“The first cargo loads have been planned around the requirements of the individual construction sites. We do not need to wait for every location to have the same facilities before work can begin. Each site can be established independently, and the construction teams can proceed according to local conditions.”

He brought up the first deployment diagrams.

“I have transmitted to your captains and ships how the first cargo shuttle loads need to be packed and which people need to be assigned to each. Humans will be sent along to provide security and local knowledge. While we are all brave and many of us have military backgrounds, they know which of the local animals are dangerous and which might try to eat us,” he said, getting a chuckle.

“I also feel it is good that we get to know one another as people,” K’rem added. “This will be a good start to that.”

“The first thing all the teams will need to do is establish a base camp,” M’rak continued. “It must have a place for the cargo shuttles to land repeatedly and unload safely, firm ground for the initial power supply, and enough prepared area for the construction machinery and materials.

“We expect that to occupy most of the first day at the simpler locations. In the reclamation areas, particularly where there are existing structures or dangerous industrial materials, some additional preparation may be required before we begin using the heavier equipment.

“On days two and three, the automated machinery will begin clearing and preparing the site. At the new settlements, that means establishing the terrain and foundation conditions necessary for construction. At the reclamation facilities, that means preparing the material-handling areas and beginning the recovery process.

“We expect the simpler locations to have considerable work completed by the fourth day. That does not mean the settlements will be ready for occupation, only that the construction operations will be established and capable of continuing without the initial deployment crews remaining on site.

“The cargo shuttles will continue to deliver supplies directly as needed. The important thing is that we know in advance which equipment and materials are required for each phase, so we do not send a shuttle halfway across the continent only to discover that the people receiving it cannot make use of what we have sent.

“We also intend to move the specialized construction equipment between sites as each stage is completed. The equipment preparing the ground does not have to remain until the buildings are finished, and the building printers do not need to remain until someone has installed the kitchen cabinets.

“This will allow us to maintain several construction operations at different stages simultaneously, without tying up the most valuable machines doing work that other equipment or local crews can perform.”

K’rem took over the next part of the briefing.

“Though some of the engineering teams will hate this next part, W’ren and I,” he said, nodding to the man at the other end of the table from Matt, “have discussed it and decided they can complain to the High Lord if they object,” he added, getting a real laugh.

No engineering officer wanted to look petty in front of a noble. Trying to tell a High Lord, an engineer in his own right, that he could not do what was asked because he did not understand the complexity of engineering would be braver than most could ever imagine being.

“After dropping off each load, the cargo shuttles will take on recovered materials wherever the reclamation operations have prepared them,” K’rem said.

He indicated several of the highlighted regions.

“Some of this will be industrial debris, some will be the remains of buildings and machinery, and some will be contaminated sediment from rivers and other waterways.

“We will be sorting and processing what we can at the reclamation facilities, and the material that requires our shipboard recycling systems will be taken aboard the shuttles for return to the ships.

“This is going to require considerable coordination. The crews at each location will need to know what materials are ready for removal, what processing they require, and which loads are suitable for the available equipment.

“We will also have to maintain separation between materials that can be safely handled together and those that cannot. Some of the industrial compounds humans used before their collapse are unfamiliar to our people, and the local specialists will be important in identifying them.

“The return cargo is not merely waste. Much of it will provide useful feedstock for the fabrication equipment and chemical processing systems. What cannot be used immediately can be separated for later recovery.

“This will be hard on the engineering teams as they direct and clean out their systems after heavy use. But it also provides a substantial portion of the materials required for our construction program.”

Matt took back up the briefing.

“In short, we are going to put our shuttle capacity to work in both directions.

“We will deliver the equipment and supplies needed to build the settlements, and we will recover materials from the places we are reclaiming.

“There will be times when a shuttle has to move without a useful return load because the next assignment is more important. I am perfectly aware of that. But I do not intend for it to become our normal operating procedure.

“We have an opportunity to clean up substantial portions of the old industrial world and use the material to build something new.

“And as I said before, there is money to be made doing it. I rather like business arrangements where everyone ends up with something useful.”

He took a drink and looked around the table.

“We will take questions now on the reclamation and deployment operations.”

“Th’evor V’lir,” she started, giving her name by way of introduction. “My Lord. I am impressed with your rotational schedule, it is very thorough. What sort of integration problems do you foresee for the construction and reclamation crews, as we are using mixed crews of humans and V’ren?”

“There are potential cultural differences,” Matt said, “but so far we have experienced little in the way of friction between our people working together. I will say you, like other women, should make it known whether you are open to relationships or bonding with the human men you work with. I expect my people to be respectful of that choice, but when there is uncertainty there is always a chance to offend, even by accident.”

“St’elom Kr’eval, my lord,” another woman said. “This is a follow-up to that question and not germane to the topic if you would prefer to stay on topic, but are you encouraging such relationships?”

“I encourage you to decide for yourself if that is what you want,” Matt said. “You are an attractive young woman and would no doubt have many men interested in you, but I am not actively telling you to go out and find a human partner, nor am I discouraging this. I know K’rem has been kept more informed of such things than I have. K’rem?”

“I know of numerous partnerships that have already formed and some are bonding,” K’rem said. “Like our High Lord, I am not discouraging this and say only that you should follow your instincts if you are to pursue such things. W’ren?”

“After speaking with my niece and my sister, I am very much in favor of cross-partnering,” W’ren said, “but like them I believe you should follow your own instinct in such matters and will encourage women not interested in human men to make that known from the start. I think if no one has other questions we should hold this discussion until we take a break or after the meeting.”

“Thank you, W’ren. If anyone wants or needs to take a break now, we can take a quarter hour, or we can load up on more snacks and drinks and power through the next section, which we will take. You, what is your name?”

“K’ao Sk’aman, my Lord.”

“Please come with,” Matt said, signaling to his assistants to follow.

Matt closed the door behind them.

“K’ao, you are pregnant and looked like you wanted a break but were not about to put yourself or your reputation on the line in front of them. Go pee and I will figure something out.”

“Thank you, my lord,” she said, and sighed as she headed toward the door he pointed at.

“Do you see what I just did?” he asked.

“You singled her out for ridicule?” Y’ee said.

“Maybe,” Matt said, looking to B’aeolin.

“He is putting her needs ahead of his meeting,” she said to the older boy. “He is looking out for his people, even when she would not look out for herself. You wish to be a father one day, yes?”

“Yes,” Y’ee said, wondering why she was asking, but knowing his answer by heart. “As all good men should want.”

B’aeolin had learned three lessons that first afternoon with Dave and Annie. First was how to play spades. Second was not to play with Lord Matthew until she was much better at it. Third was, “He often sacrifices his own needs, like concluding this meeting on time, to take care of those he thinks of as family. He is being a good father to his family.”

Matt was unsure whether to hug her, kiss her, or pat her on the head. He settled on giving her a gold star later, and a “well done” now.

He had not expected the door to open and every man in the room walk out of it, each nodding in turn to him, their heads hung a little low as they passed. K’rem stopped with W’ren to talk to him.

“Go get everyone Dr Peppers and Klondike bars from Angelina,” Matt said, looking at the two youngsters.

“Matthew, I should apologize,” W’ren said. “K’rem reminded all of us that every one of us, save for him, were fathers and that we should have had the sense to know what she was going through. We would expect people to look out for our daughters, wives, or nieces better than we just did for K’ao. K’rem, who has no children, was a little more pithy than he normally speaks to people and made us see that you truly are the best of us.”

Matt gave a nod to W’ren as the group reassembled, and a genuine smile for his prized student of the day. He took one last swallow of his Dr Pepper and began anew.

“The base of each new settlement will be the initial work camp, which needs to be completed both as a shuttle landing and unloading site and firm ground for the fusion reactor.

“We will be using the Portable Type 138 Reactor you currently have in stock for the initial construction operations, but joint engineering teams have designed a more permanent and efficient long-term model, the T-38, that will replace them as fabrication time permits.

“The T-38 is designed to be produced in a reinforced human shipping-container-sized package, which will make it considerably easier to deploy and service. It has a practical electrical distribution range of approximately four kilometers using the standard equipment, which fits the dimensions of our new settlements quite nicely.

“We will be able to manufacture additional units as the fabrication systems come online. This lets us provide power directly where it is needed without waiting for some enormous regional infrastructure project to be completed.

“The temporary reactors will remain useful for construction and reclamation operations, and we will keep enough capacity available to provide redundancy where necessary.

“I know it is going to eat through your stores like Gr’aneth ate through the world,” he said, using the V’ren equivalent of Tiamat, and gave W’ren a sly smile.

W’ren genuinely looked impressed that Matt knew any of the legends. They were, in fact, the easiest things for him to learn through the neural interface once he had that initial grueling session that force-fed his mind the V’ren language primer.

“Once completed, we will begin the more delicate work of laying out the settlement. I expect the preparation and fabrication work necessary to begin construction at the simpler sites to take no more than seven days, which you will hear humans call a week.

“We typically work three to five days per week, but every human who has committed to this project is on call at all hours of the day for the next four weeks, as I expect you to be as well. It is what most of my people and many of your fellow V’ren call my ‘get shit done’ mentality.

“The names and configurations we are using come from the language of my ancestors, the Filipinos. First is the sitio, which roughly translates into small village. We are building these to standard designs so they will go up quickly and easily.

“The first settlements at Leta have provided us with a chance to work through the construction methods. The first six sitios there use an earlier design, with a somewhat larger allocation of smaller apartments. We will continue using those buildings, but the standardized layout for the later stages of Leta and the other new settlements is being revised.

“The standard sitio will be three kilometers on each side, giving us an area of nine square kilometers. It will contain six hundred twenty-five blocks in a twenty-five by twenty-five grid,” he said, letting M’rak push the image to each screen while he took a drink.

“The blocks are one hundred twenty meters on each side. The streets and sidewalks follow standardized dimensions, as do the service routes, utility connections, and building pads.

“We are using the V’ren nano-foam to establish the engineered foundation of the sitio. That includes the streets, sidewalks, alleys, drainage, and the building pads themselves.

“The construction equipment will not simply print buildings onto whatever ground happens to be there. We will establish the necessary grades as part of the printing process. This will allow us to provide effective drainage and consistent foundations without having to spend an extraordinary amount of time reshaping the natural landscape beforehand.

“The block-printing equipment will work ahead of the building printers. Once it has completed the foundations, roads, and utility infrastructure, it will move on to the next site. The building printers will follow, and then the fitting-out crews will come behind them.

“The important thing is to keep the specialized machinery working. I do not want an expensive piece of equipment sitting idle for three weeks while someone installs kitchen cabinets.”

He enlarged the residential section of the display.

“The yellow blocks are the primary residential areas. There are one hundred seventy-six of them, each containing twelve detached houses. That gives us two thousand one hundred twelve houses in a fully built sitio.

“The standard houses are six-bedroom homes, designed to accommodate larger families and the household arrangements that are common among your people. We have made provisions for higher ceilings and the larger rooms many V’ren prefer.

“Each household will have private outdoor space, including room for gardens and greenhouses.

“The green blocks are designated for parks, orchards, and rentable private gardens or greenhouse space.

“We want a substantial amount of green space throughout each settlement. Some of it will be public parks, some will be productive orchards, and some will be available to residents who want additional space for gardening or other agricultural activities.

“My goal is to make each sitio capable of producing a meaningful portion of its own fresh food for part of the year. I do not expect anyone to become entirely self-sufficient, but there is no good reason for people to be completely dependent on food brought in from elsewhere when they have the space and equipment to grow some of it themselves.

“The green blocks also provide places for children to play and families to gather. I do not want people living in what amounts to an industrial park with houses scattered around it.

“The brown blocks are designated for light industry and warehousing. We will have room for workshops, small manufacturing operations, repair facilities, and the ordinary businesses that provide employment and services within a community.

“The larger reclamation and utility operations will be located in additional areas outside the residential grid.

“Every sitio will have a dedicated area containing its fusion plant, a Type 48 landing and unloading facility, water infrastructure, and reclamation operations.

“These facilities are part of the settlement, but they are not counted among the six hundred twenty-five standard blocks. That is important because it means we can establish the same residential and commercial arrangement without trying to squeeze a large cargo shuttle landing facility between someone’s house and an orchard.

“The orange blocks are the apartment and commercial areas. The central block is reserved for the school and government offices.

“We have designed the entire plan so it can be rotated or mirrored to suit the location. The blocks remain in the same relationship to one another, and the building and utility designs remain standardized.

“That means the planners can accommodate different surrounding terrain or the placement of the additional infrastructure without redesigning the entire town. We are going to be building in widely separated parts of the continent, and it would be foolish to pretend every location has the same conditions.

“We can standardize the expensive work and leave the details of landscaping, local businesses, and community character to the people who will actually live there.”

He took another drink.

“The first six sitios at Leta will continue using the earlier layout. We have already invested a great deal of effort in them, and I am not about to tear up perfectly good construction because we have improved the design.

“The later stages of Leta will use the new standard, as will the other settlement operations.”

Matt nodded to K’rem to take over.

“Each standard sitio will contain ten residential apartment blocks,” K’rem said. “They provide the smaller accommodations needed by individuals, couples, and families who do not require a large detached house.

“Two blocks contain ninety-six studios each, giving us one hundred ninety-two studio apartments.

“Two contain one hundred twenty one-bedroom apartments each, giving us two hundred forty one-bedroom units.

“Two contain forty-eight two-bedroom apartments each, giving us ninety-six two-bedroom units.

“And four contain forty-eight three-bedroom apartments each, providing one hundred ninety-two three-bedroom apartments.

“That is seven hundred twenty apartments altogether.

“With the two thousand one hundred twelve detached homes, the total residential capacity is two thousand eight hundred thirty-two housing units per sitio.

“We do not expect them to be fully occupied for many years. The purpose is to provide the capacity for families to grow and for additional people to join the community without having to rebuild the settlement every time the population increases.

“The apartments will also provide accommodation for individuals who prefer to live alone or in smaller households. Not everyone requires six bedrooms, and there are many people aboard the ships who would prefer an apartment.

“The central civic block will contain the local school and government offices, while the apartment and commercial areas will provide space for shops, services, and other businesses.

“The arrangement also means we can begin occupying portions of a sitio before the entire grid is finished. Once the necessary housing and services are ready, residents can move in while construction continues elsewhere.

“We expect the new residents to participate in finishing their homes where practical. This will allow them to make choices about their interiors and will reduce the amount of work required from the specialized construction crews.”

He finished and nodded to M’rak.

“We will begin with a total of two hundred eighty settlements going up before the cold weather arrives,” M’rak said. “These will be distributed among the twelve initial reclamation and settlement areas.

“The exact number constructed in each region will depend on available land, the condition of the reclamation sites, and the resources needed to establish the necessary infrastructure.

“Some regions will support multiple construction operations simultaneously. Others will require more extensive preparation before the first permanent residential buildings can be erected.

“We are not planning to finish one sitio completely before beginning another. We will have some sites undergoing initial preparation, others receiving their infrastructure, others having buildings printed, and still others being fitted out and occupied.

“Construction equipment will move between sites according to the stage of work required. The block printers will not remain after their work is complete, nor will the building printers wait for the finishing crews to install every fixture.

“This is how we intend to manage a construction program of this size without requiring every sitio to have a complete set of specialized machinery permanently assigned to it.

“The Type 48 cargo shuttles will deliver directly to the sites according to their construction schedules. Reclamation operations will provide recovered materials for processing, and the fabrication systems will produce the components needed to keep construction moving.

“We are relying on the new tenants to do much of the finishing work to suit their own tastes, and that includes everything from painting to putting on outlet covers and installing their own replaceable lighting, and so on.

“Those that move into the later units might also be able to call on the expertise of those who have already been through the process.

“We expect the initial settlements to begin accepting residents as soon as they have the necessary housing, water, power, sanitation, and services. That does not require every planned building to be finished, but it does require that the residents can live there safely and comfortably.”

Matt took up the explanation again.

“Each sitio can function on its own, but for better urban planning we will group them together where practical and provide shared services.

“The central block in each sitio contains its local school and government offices. That gives every community a place for local administration and education.

“When we group two sitios together, we will build a dedicated middle school and high school, along with a small hospital. Those facilities will be outside the standard residential grids.

“When we have four sitios grouped together, we will provide two middle schools, a separate high school, and a larger hospital.

“We will add additional capacity as the populations grow. I do not want to build institutions that are too small to serve the communities, but I also do not intend to construct facilities we have no personnel to operate.

“Each sitio will have local medical personnel, including providers specializing in women’s health and birthing and children’s health, along with other general medical staff.

“The hospitals serving multiple sitios will provide inpatient care and more specialized medical services. The larger facilities will have the personnel and equipment necessary to handle cases that cannot reasonably be treated in a local clinic.

“The same principles apply to education. Every sitio will have local schooling, while the dedicated middle and high schools will serve multiple communities.

“This will also affect the way we assign medical personnel and teachers. We have people with the necessary qualifications aboard the ships, but we are going to need to recruit and train more of them as the population grows.

“The same goes for industrial capacity and redundant power stations. Eventually we will be creating larger industrial and agricultural operations serving multiple sitios and linking ourselves to existing human infrastructure and trade networks.

“Those arrangements will vary by location. The reclamation areas around Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are going to offer different opportunities from the agricultural regions around Clayton and Elkhart.

“But that is the advantage of using the same basic settlement design. We can build housing and public infrastructure to a predictable standard while allowing the local economy to develop according to the resources and people available.

“This takes us to our natural stopping point and a place for new questions before we take a break.”

Matt was pleased to see everyone leave except for Y’ee this time.

“I was wrong earlier, my lord,” Y’ee said.

Matt just looked at him and waited.

“I was wrong,” Y’ee said finally. “You were looking out for the weakest member, or maybe that is the wrong word, but I learned in physics class a chain is never stronger than its weakest link. I thought on that, and you were taking care of the weakest link.”

“All true,” Matt said. “Now, so you remember it, I want you to go ask Angelina what words would be better than weak regarding a pregnant woman.” He thought about it for a moment. “Tell her you need more Klondike Bars and Dr Pepper. If you survive, we will discuss it over beers later.”

Matt leaned back in his chair and watched everyone, including the kids, file back in. Y’ee was not even mussed, which was amazing. That could mean trouble later, for him, for Y’ee, or for both of them.

“We will start this session with the questions I know you all have,” Matt said once everyone was seated. “I want to hear them, because later this week I will have to make statements to the media.”

“My Lord, Pr’elim Gr’oven,” one of the officers said. “At the sitio level, what does a full-strength staff actually look like? How many permanent V’ren posts, how many human posts, and how many billets are assumed to be filled by mixed families rather than formal hires?”

“We start by offering homes to the people who are building the sitios, or at least giving them the option to stay,” Matt said. “As I told the last group, I would like to see everyone who wants a ground-side home in one of them before the cold weather hits.

“We will prioritize V’ren families with needed skills first. That means people who know how to manage the fusion plants. The second group I am prioritizing is medical personnel. If we have families, we need teachers.

“We will also need people to manage the water systems, reclamation equipment, agricultural operations, and local businesses.

“By the time cold weather settles in, I want each sitio that is ready for occupation to have at least a thousand people. We will build up the populations from there as the housing and services become available.”

“S’eaora Tr’ovan, my lord,” another said. “Who decides which humans get first chance at moving into these sitios? Are we prioritizing existing Freehold partners, local farm communities, refugees from the guarantor cities, or some quota from each?”

“First, we have established reciprocal residency with several of the local Missouri communities, and I think we will attract a number of them,” Matt said. “As much as I hate to lose my own people, I am also getting a number of V’ren who want to live in the Freehold and work for me, so I wish everyone well.

“The reclamation regions will provide opportunities to recruit locally as well. We will need people familiar with the existing industries, and I expect some will be interested in the new jobs and housing.

“Along the Kansas borders and in some of the western development areas, we will be lucky to get anyone with local agricultural knowledge, so we will take who we can get.

“I do not intend to establish fixed quotas based on where people came from. We want communities with the skills and people necessary to make them function.”

“G’mon Gr’akin, my lord. Will there be a standing requirement that every sitio admin team include at least one human in senior leadership, or will those posts be V’ren by default with humans in advisory roles?”

“The Trust is going to make the initial selections,” Matt said. “This will mean there are humans in administration. Maybe not in every sitio, but in most. In some, they will actually dominate, simply because we do not have enough V’ren with the right skill set.”

“Rhmelor Graron, my lord. How do you want us to handle existing human towns in the reclamation regions? Do their current residents have priority for nearby housing and jobs, or are they expected to apply like anyone else?”

“That will depend on the agreements we make and the circumstances of the particular community,” Matt said.

“Most of the western settlements will be built on land with very little existing population. The reclamation areas around the older cities are a different matter. Some will have nearby human communities and businesses, and we will have to work with them.

“I would certainly encourage people already living nearby to apply for jobs and housing if they are interested. But the Trust will be responsible for its own residents and will have to establish the rules governing admission.

“Some existing communities may want to cooperate closely with us. Others may prefer to remain independent. I am not going to demand that they join simply because we are building something nearby.”

“S’yl Sm’alin, my lord,” another officer said. “What is the process for vetting human settlers from a security perspective? Who is screening for guarantor corporate plants, SAC-aligned troublemakers, or people with histories that might put our women and children at risk?”

“I am using a few different teams with different tools,” Matt said. “Corporate plants are fine. They will figure out what all of you already know. Knowledge of how to build something will not help them without the fabrication tools in their possession.

“In fact, I would like to see a number of large companies sending people. I at least know they will not be stupid. They will honestly be able to report that we are not hiding ulterior motives.”

“D’valer Sn’ivar, my lord. Are there minimum service commitments tied to housing? For example, if a human family accepts a house in a sitio, are they expected to provide a certain number of years of work to the Trust, the Freehold, or the local cooperative?”

“Short answer, yes,” Matt said. “A contract spelling out requirements for V’ren and humans alike will exist, but I am not sure yet what the final version will look like.”

“N’elan M’ril, my lord,” another said. “You mentioned each sitio having medical, education, and logistics staff. Are those posts going to be filled first from the V’ren fleet and only secondarily from humans, or do you want us actively recruiting human doctors, teachers, and other specialists into those roles?”

“The medical and education roles in the initial sitios will mostly go to fleet personnel,” Matt said. “We have the people available, and they need to be put to work.

“However, the larger hospitals and schools are going to require considerable staffing, and I want us recruiting qualified humans wherever we can find them.

“For the shuttle operations, I am using my own logistics team so that the deliveries tie neatly into the construction schedules. With that said, I have already hired over a thousand V’ren employees for Marmaduke Logistics and will want to hire more.

“The reclamation operations will also require specialists, including people who understand the old human industrial materials and the machinery we will be recovering.

“If you have questions about what it is like to work for me personally in that role, talk with M’rak later.”

“He bought me a truck,” K’rem added with a grin, which got a round of quiet laughter.

“Glarik Sm’alin, my lord,” another officer said. “What about language and training? Are we expecting human settlers to gain basic V’ren before they move, or will we embed language instructors and cultural officers into each sitio for the first few years?”

“A lot will be done with the neural interface,” Matt said. “I encourage both sides to make sure they can communicate with one another. The schools will be bilingual.

“However, we have a limited number of machines and technicians, and the amount of training a person can endure is not unlimited. We will have to use ordinary language instruction as well.

“Your people have a substantial advantage because you have been studying human languages for decades. Our people are only now beginning to learn yours, and I expect it will take some time before we have enough people who can function comfortably in both.

“We will provide translation equipment where it is needed, and we will have to establish sensible training schedules. I do not intend to put people through more neural instruction than the medical personnel consider safe simply because I would like everything done yesterday.”

“Pyn Grulan, my lord,” another said. “In terms of discipline and law, will human settlers fall under V’ren municipal codes, Freehold law, or some hybrid charter? Our security planning depends a great deal on which court they answer to.”

“Everyone living in V’ren Trust properties will be subject to V’ren Trust legal codes,” Matt said. “That is the simplest way to keep things clear.”

“Vhveran Trim, my lord,” one of the older officers said. “Will there be a ceiling on how many humans versus V’ren can occupy a sitio in the first phase? For example, are you aiming for a fifty-fifty mix, or do you want a clear V’ren majority until institutions stabilize?”

“Right now it will be driven by what each community needs,” Matt said. “I do have some thoughts on this, but I have shared them with the Trust council and am waiting to see what they decide. In the end, no sitio is going to function exactly like the others.”

“S’ilan Gr’elin, my lord,” another said. “You said the cargo shuttle operations will be handled by Marmaduke Logistics. Will human workers be hired as Freehold employees paid in your currency, or will some of them be taken directly onto V’ren Trust rolls with longer-term service obligations like our own?”

“Marmaduke Logistics is currently contracted with the Trust to provide the logistics service,” Matt said. “Like all our other contracts, the firm’s employees decide how they want to be paid, which for most means either FiatDollars or NewDollars.

“The Trust can hire personnel for its own operations, but the cargo shuttle services will remain the responsibility of Marmaduke Logistics under our agreement.

“We will be bringing in additional people as those operations grow. Some will be recruited locally, particularly where we have reclamation facilities requiring people familiar with the materials being processed.

“I do not care where a qualified person was born. If they can do the job and meet our requirements, I am willing to hire them.”

There was a short pause, then another officer spoke up.

“You mentioned contracts for both V’ren and humans,” she said. “How much discretion will local sitio leadership have to bring specific humans in under those contracts? If a human foreman or midwife proves invaluable, can a sitio chief sponsor their extended family for housing and work, or will all such requests have to go through a central Trust office?”

“This is exactly what the executive council wants,” Matt said. “Local leaders who see value in someone should be able to say so and put that person forward.”

“Lhmanir Trilen, my lord,” another said. “We already have reciprocal residency with several Missouri communities and many humans tied to Marmaduke Logistics. Are we to treat those people as the primary human pool for early settlement, or do you want us to deliberately recruit from outside your current network so we are not accused of stacking the sitios only with ‘Freeholder loyalists’?”

“Recruit all you want from everywhere,” Matt said. “If you have the skills to attract people, great. I might hire you for Freehold HR. We will still run everyone through our system for background checks.”

“Dr’alim Sk’aman, my lord,” one of the senior women said. “You said everyone on V’ren Trust property will fall under Trust law. If a human family proves disruptive or refuses to follow basic customs around pheromones, bonding boundaries, or communal obligations, how easy will it be in practice to remove them from a sitio? Do you envision an established relocation or eviction process, or will that be left to municipal-level judgment?”

“I do not know yet,” Matt said. “I have advised the judicial council, but I just do not know what the final form will look like.”

“J’aeolin Sp’ukar, my lord,” another said. “Regarding human settlers, will the first wave be allowed to bring their own institutions with them, such as churches, small cooperatives, and trade guilds, so long as they respect Trust law? Or do you prefer that they fold those functions into V’ren-designed structures from the start so we do not build parallel societies inside the same sitio?”

“That is a local decision,” Matt said. “If it does not violate Trust law or basic security, I am inclined to let people bring what gives them stability, but local councils will have to live with the results.”

“Y’ioavel Th’ivar, my lord,” another officer said. “You and the others have spoken favorably about cross-partnering. When a household is half human, half V’ren, will they be treated any differently in the housing queue or staffing lists, or are they to be treated on paper exactly like any other family and simply evaluated on skills and conduct?”

“They will be residents of the sitio,” Matt said. “I expect them to be treated just like everyone else. Need will be evaluated and met just like everyone else.”

“Kovrel Hrin, my lord,” one of the older men said. “As we begin inviting humans with useful skills, especially mechanics, nurses, and teachers, some guarantor cities may try to block their emigration. When that happens, do you want us to continue recruitment quietly from those regions, pause and negotiate, or shift our efforts to friendlier jurisdictions?”

“Anyone who blocks their people from emigrating will find everyone else siding against them,” Matt said. “I would suggest you read some of our history concerning this subject, especially as it pertains to Houston and Memphis.

“In the end, we will get some local immigration, driven mostly by curiosity, but most serious immigration will come from abroad.”

“From a logistics standpoint, we can move a very large number of humans quickly once the shuttle operations are fully established,” K’ao Sk’aman said. “Do you want human settlement to scale in step with the buildout of schools, clinics, and water systems in each sitio, or will there be a hard monthly cap on new arrivals so local services are never overwhelmed?”

“That is going to be more of a local issue,” Matt said. “We can set guidelines, but the people on the ground will know when their clinics or schools are hitting their limits.

“I want to see people moved into permanent homes as quickly as we can safely accommodate them. That does not mean moving a thousand people into a sitio with no working water system or medical personnel.

“We will have settlements where the houses are ready before the school is fully staffed, and others where the infrastructure is complete but the people have not arrived yet.

“We are going to have to manage that, and the local administrators will be the ones best placed to tell us when they are ready for more residents.”

“What expectations should we set with human applicants about citizenship status?” St’elom Kr’eval asked. “Is there a path for them to become full V’ren Trust citizens or Freehold citizens after some years of good standing, or will they remain a separate class of allied residents living under Trust law without full political rights?”

“Except for a few who we will probably invite here and there, I want to model the human citizen question on how we do things in the Freehold,” Matt said. “You must live here for a year and a day, usually meet age requirements, and have another citizen sponsor you. We know that system. It works.”

“Finally,” Pyn Grulan said, “for our own clarity, who will actually draft and own the criteria we use to say yes or no to a human applicant? Will that come from your office and the Trust council, from Marmaduke Logistics human resources, or from a joint board with all three, so none of us are making promises we cannot keep?”

“The V’ren Trust has authority over this matter,” Matt said. “They will write the rules. I will argue where I think we need to, but in the end, it is their charter and their law.”

“But you are the High Lord,” Pyn Grulan said.

“And a smart one, too. Your people honored me because they trust me. I am trusting them to choose the laws they wish to live by. When the time comes, I will remind them of the choices they have made and make them honor those choices as matters of principle, rather than ignore them as matters of convenience.”