by R J Murray
“Ah. I see. Another harvest already and more metals I assume. A four hundred and twenty day year, yes? Any chance of petrochemicals on that planet? Even animal oils are useful here with our lack of lubricants and fossil fuels.” Chang seemed satisfied by the answer.
“There have been sightings of large sea creatures, and they had the intention of hunting a few to study possible uses. We lack equipment and weapons to do so at the time we left. We have not found any petrochemicals although the ships are still doing deep scans of the planet.”
“Like the extinct whales, perhaps. Interesting. I will see what I can do before you leave. More colonists are being gathered and prepared. We have three more freighters who will return with you and a colonial administrator has been selected. He and his staff will join you so be prepared to have quarters ready by tomorrow. He will join you after the new ships have rendezvoused with you and then containers have been loaded. End transmission.”
The screen blanked out and everyone relaxed.
“Those higher ups make me nervous.” Someone said.
“Me too.” Amos said. “Never actually talked to an overseer level before and to have a Committeeman call us, almost shit myself.”
~~~~~~
It took two weeks before the new cargo containers were loaded and attached to the freighters. The new ships were even older than the original freighters. The Going Bust, Drunken Boxing and the Wet Nose joined the line around Luna with cargo boxes in place. The Captain of Going Bust, Schnyder Von Joost called Shit Creek.
“Why on Earth, or any other planet, would you ask for old submarines?”
“Huh? Submarines. You sure?” Dom asked.
“Right here on my manifest and I even went back and looked myself. Six old and I mean old, diesel submarines. I mean who has diesel fuel anymore? Rendering equipment and harpoon guns, obsolete cannons with obsolete ammo, a ton of the old hand weapons and ammo from eighty years ago or even longer, looms and spinning equipment, whatever those are, anvils, hand tools by the ton, assorted animals and birds, and two cargo containers with trees of all kinds. You are also getting, although not on this ship, industrial equipment, metal working equipment, clothing and cloth, sewing machines, household goods, and this list seems endless. I’ll send you a copy of the manifests from all ships. The Wet Nose has an almost identical load as ours, including more submarines. The only things that make any real sense are the animals, trees, saplings and seeds. We even have a crew of agriculture people to take care of them during the trip. How far away is this planet, anyway?”
“They didn’t tell you much, did they? One thousand light years and we will be there. Hardly even break a sweat.” Dom chuckled, knowing Schnyder would freak out.
“You have got to be kidding me. How far, really?”
“Gotta go, coffee break. We have strudel today. Shit Creek out.”
Schnyder turned back to his flight crew. “One thousand light years. We are dead men here. What the hell is a strudel? What kind of people are these guys?”
~~~~~~
The fleet dropped out of FTL at the ice belt, since the new freighters had to and the Star Gazer went ahead to pick up the canister of nanobots. The new ships were slow and it took over a month to get through the Kyper belt. Amos took the time to get aboard each ship and meet the new people, introducing the nanobots while he was there. He made no mention of what he was doing, just releasing a few thousand in each ship. He gave orders to restock on ice from the belt and rinse all tanks as a precaution against bringing bacteria to the new planet. He also gave each ship the new com link so they could talk at FTL, which caused some suspicion at first.
“Why would control not give us this while we were in dry dock?” Umbosso of the Wet Nose asked.
“They were still checking it out and would not release it for a few months. We were instructed to keep quiet about it until we left the solar system; I recommend you do the same. Alien technology is not always trusted and they do not want any word of this to get back until the Committee has given permission.” Amos answered. Mention of the Committee stopped all questions. The schematics had a new section, which would allow his computer to chat with the ships computers and review any orders from the directors or the committee, just in case they did something underhanded like before. They could also order the drugs jettisoned before they got out too far and control the nanobots.
“I hear you have antique weapons aboard as well. I need to look at them and take a few back with me. We may need to refurbish them all before we can use them.”
“You need to check the ammunition too. It’s just as old as the guns.” Umbosso replied.
Amos’ guests were housed on deck six in South and West Bays, and had not left their quarters since they arrived. Amos did not mind in the least, not sure what to do with a Colonial Administrator. By the time they were back in FTL, the new freighters had no leaks and were actually faster.
~~~~~~
“What happens when we get to this planet? Is our residence finished?” Juan Abdullah Huang asked Amos.
“Residence? No Sir, there is no residence. This isn’t Mars, with a hundred or more years of colony life. We have only been on this planet for a year. Still pretty rough and some are still living in cabins and those prefab things.” Amos answered. This was a rare occasion. The Administrator had asked Amos to eat with him and his staff.
“That figures. They send me out to the end of the universe and I am suppose to think it is a good thing. Well, do you have communications up at least? Since it is an agriculture colony, the farms must be large and far apart. Do you have roads, haulers moving goods, some infrastructure going on?”
“Yes Sir. Roads were the second thing they put in, after the farms were up and the crops were in the fields. Com units are still only one in each village. We put in a central com station and a small number of volunteers take turns in the village com hut in the evenings.”
“Evening? They are not manned full time?”
“Everyone is farming or mining or working at something. No spare bodies are available yet.” Amos said.
“Do you at least have a map of some kind for me to look over, so I may have some idea of what I am walking into?”
“Yes Sir. On the screen in your quarters just call up colony maps.” Amos said.
Juan looked at Amos carefully and intensely for a moment. “You don’t want me here, do you Captain? Will the planet be any different?”
“No Sir, it won’t. May I speak freely Sir?”
“Why not. Hundreds of light years from Earth and he asks to speak. Go ahead, please.”
“Well, I was considering dumping you out the closest airlock once we were far enough outside the solar system. Your staff too, I might add.” Amos pulled his pistol out from under his jacket and laid it on the table next to his plate, his hand resting lightly on the butt.
Juan sat up and gripped the table tightly. “You can’t be serious.”
“As death itself. We are still not sure what to do with you. You see, the colony has decided to go independent and declare itself a nation unto itself with as few ties to Earth as possible. You are a tie to Earth and our old life. We don’t want the old life to infringe on our fun so we may need to dump you all soon.” Amos sipped the coffee, enjoying the flavor. He wondered if the manifest included coffee plants.
“You have revolted against Earth government?”
“Pretty much. You see, once we discovered the drugs and dumped them, we started thinking and we liked it.” Amos said.
“You dumped the drugs? None of you are under the plan?” Juan looked scared for the first time.
“Yup. We are thousands of abnormal, freethinking and uncontrolled humans in an environment which stimulates independence and self-determination. You are obsolete before you even arrive.”
“Then why did you ship grains back to Earth? Why did you come back at all?” Juan asked.
“We thought we could start trading with you. We need things we can’t produce
yet and Earth needs the resources we have in abundance. It seemed like a good deal for both of us. If we decide not to dump you in interstellar space, you may need to come to terms with this new world. Maybe find some job or position that you could make a living at without actually causing any trouble or thinking you were in charge of anything.” Amos looked Juan in the eye and waited.
“So you think you may have a use for me. I see. Without me, or someone like me Earth could grow suspicious of the colonies. I would need to play a role for you. Otherwise my staff and I are to die.”
“Well, yeah. That’s pretty much the plan. You work with us and we use you and your staff to get things going. You live and can even be a part of something new. Screw us over and I put a bullet in your skull without hesitation.”
“We accept.” Fortnard, the administrator chief assistant answered immediately. “We have no choice and I do not wish to die. Working for you or working for Earth is of no great difference at our level and we are the ones who do the actual work. The administrator must make decisions but we carry them out.”
Juan wisely kept his mouth shut.
~~~~~~
“Tell me about the weapons.” Amos said.
His engineering officer, Josiah Campbell looked disgruntled. “Mostly junk at this point. Even the nanobots just circle them right now. I don’t think they ever saw one of these before.” He pointed to an assault rifle lying on the workbench. It was disassembled and all the ancient grease cleaned out but every bit of it looked worn.
“I’m in the process of getting the original specs up and entering each separate piece into the computer. After that, I have to enter all the data into the nano control program so they can access the data, then enter the orders they need to do the work. It would be quicker to build new guns.”
“Did you have anything else to do for the next few months?” Amos asked.
“I had hoped to write my memoires Sir.”
Amos smiled. “I see. What about the ammunition?”
“Useless. It is far too old to be reliable and it is corroded. The good news is that we can make more ammunition. We have chemicals and we can recycle the cases and projectiles. The nanobots can be given simple orders on cleaning and replacing the corroded bits. I have already found information and diagrams on a loading mechanism used in the old days to reassemble the cartridges so that will be easy enough for small batches. We could probably produce a hundred rounds in a day for test purposes for each hand weapon. The artillery you talked about will need more time but we can do the same thing we are doing with these small arms. You might want to take a look at this other weapon.” Josiah walked over to another workbench and handed Amos a short weapon with a large barrel.
“What is this?”
“The records call it a trench gun. You pump this handle here to load a round into the chamber. The ammo is held under the barrel in this tube, eight rounds in all. It fires either a single huge lead projectile or several smaller round balls. The other name for this is a pump action shotgun or riot gun. Historical records show that this was nasty at shorter ranges, say out to about thirty meters or so. You could clear out a room with this in a few shots.”
“That is nice. Does it work?” Amos asked.
“Not yet. Same hold up as the other weapons, but this one will be ready first, I think.”
“Have you had a chance to look over the data on the submarines?”
“Yes Sir. Why do we have them?” Josiah asked.
“Beats me. We did ask for boats, for fishing and we got submarines. I have no clue why but we need to see if we can make them operational or if we scrap them for resources. Let me know what you recommend and I will pass it on.”
“Yes Sir.”
Chapter 11 The Second Year
The planet now had a name, Acadia. It had been voted on in the winter and was now official. It was harvest season on Acadia and Syble drove the combine down her fields, watching the combines on either side of her. There were seven in all, and when they were done here, they would all move to the next farm and harvest their wheat. It would be like this for the rest of the month, day and night in teams until all the grains were in.
The freighters were expected back any day and they wanted to be ready. If Earth wanted grain, they would bury them in grains and expect to get goods in exchange. It didn’t even have to be a fair exchange, not that they expected any kind of fair dealings from Earth or the Council.
Syble wanted a few animals and had requested them before the freighters left for Earth a year ago. Chickens, ducks, geese, some kind of bird that laid eggs you could eat. The local birds did not lay eggs. They laid a growth that looked like slime and grew into something disgusting before becoming a local bird. Juvenile birds did not remain in the nest, they slimed around the trees and enveloped things to digest them. Eventually the formed a chrysalis like a caterpillar and after a few weeks an adult bird popped out, with hairy feathers and teeth.
She also wanted a few animals for milk, butter, cheese and most of all, ice cream. She never thought she could miss ice cream so much.
“Turning left.” The call came over the com and Syble watched as one by one all the combines, including hers, made the turn and headed back down the field.
Many had already gotten together as life companions and over a hundred were expecting a child in the fall or winter. Syble waited since she was still only nineteen and there were very few men her age in the colony. Franklin was nice but she was not in a hurry to choose anyone for a lifelong companion yet and certainly not someone as old as he was. Getting her farm and house ready had first priority for her.
Franklin drove his tractor and turned another field for planting. He had added another section during the winter months like almost everyone else in the colony who was a farmer. Surprisingly, only about two thirds of the people had any knowledge of agriculture. There were teachers, engineers, machinists, doctors, lower level civil servants and military among dozens of trades and professions. Those people were working on building villages between farm sections to provide a well rounded colony.
Franklin had not found anyone he wanted to marry either, just not even looking yet. He had work to do and little free time to join in the few social gatherings that were obvious mixers so men and women could look each other over a bit closer. Less than a thousand couples so far in the colony but after harvest there were a lot more mixers planned. Maybe this fall he would attend a few.
He wasn’t interested in Syble either, but she was cute and fun to hang with. He felt a need to watch out for her, a protective instinct toward the young more than any feelings of romance. Some of the other men had an interest but the rules of the colony were clear. If both parties said yes it was fine. If one said no, then the other had best back off. Basic laws had been agreed on during the last winter and a representative of each farm section elected.
A few of the military were used to form a constabulary force who were only allowed to enforce Acadian law and to patrol the forests watching for the few predators recognized as dangerous. The Catroph had landed here after they killed off the Astangii. They left a few presents behind with teeth and claws in case anyone returned. The constabulary was armed with the only weapons on the planet at the moment, but one fellow had set up shop as a gunsmith and was busy turning out bolt action rifles for the farmers. He found a few people who had metal working experience and snagged a few power tools from storage, with the approval of the local government. He was turning barrels while another fellow made the action and a third made wooden stocks. There were a few other bodies floating around doing odd jobs and moving stock as needed.
As the colonists realized that this was home, more of them had begun to look at what they still needed and what skills they had. Shops opened for clothing, shoes and other goods, the constabulary providing the skins needed for leather. The villages began to resemble actual towns instead of a wide spot in the dirt road with a com station.
~~~~~~~
“We are get
ting good reports from the planet so we need to think about what we do to defend it and the freighters. We have one base up and running in orbit around the planet. Are there more in this system?” Eric asked the assembled captains.
“We found two further out but they were a long time dead and equipment in bad condition. A few dozen satellites are in orbits thirty million kilometers out listening for anyone dropping out of FTL including another dozen on orbits not in the plane of the ecliptic. Ores are available in the asteroids but we lack machinery to mine it.” Lee read from his tablet. “Horace says he has successfully mined the gas giants in the next system and would like a medal. Since he is the only human to have ever done so, he feels it is well deserved.”
The others laughed.
Eric nodded. “We can come up with something, maybe a gas bag award would do. Did he get everything for the next load or do we need to go back?”
“He got it all and some for us as well.” Lee said. “Hand weapons are in short supply still and more of those lizard dog things were seen south of the colony. Constables are on alert but are not sure the six mm rifles they carry will kill one of those things. Nukes are in short supply, two reloads available for any of the ships once we unload what’s in the tubes.”
“What about conventional warheads? We have cataclysm and spec five. We could use some of the extra probes I still have aboard and refit them as weapons.” Eric suggested. “That would give us a few more things to throw at them, maybe disable a few gun turrets or get one inside if we are lucky.”
“I was reading . . .” Phil started to say.
“You can read?” Eric asked, surprised.
“Bite me. Some of your history books as a matter of fact. Back in the day they used something called wild weasels, an aircraft using electronic countermeasures to confuse the enemy. They could simulate other aircraft, missiles in flight, jam scanners and com links among other things. What if we took a few probes or even the big emitters and outfitted a few with that kind of equipment. We could even simulate nukes with the right equipment.”
