L'Gem

by Sharon L Reddy

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Bard, Nev, Case and Stats were "in love with a piece of tech," before Quinn and Blade finished dinner. They'd cleared the place for the equipment garage and dozed and poured the drive to it. Bard 'went' to the ship for a magic trowel, while Loopy drove a rig down the drive and backed it onto the "rig garage" drive. The others placed connections and fixtures. In a few moments, the huge garage was complete and they moved everything off the road and into it.

  The bluebibs they'd named Chirp and Cheeky had already decided they were friends, and the georgie was the best place to wait for dinner. Quinn had one on each shoulder when he began clearing and trenching the outline of where the shield field would be, and extruding the base behind him. They flew circles over him and laughed, when he raised the georgie's water hood and drove it into the lake, to trench and extrude around where they would build their dock and boathouse.

  The projectors had been ordered from not-distant Granger Technologies. Since the order included settings, it wouldn't take long. The family had no difficulty with the computations. By the third they'd planned, they were working as a 'Tellerlock team.'

  The shuttle pad was the next item on the schedule. Granger would deliver the projectors by flyer in a bit less than an hour, at sixteen fifteen. They were the first they'd sold, and Quinn's family had bought nine 'all' and four air impermeable field projectors. The trench Quinn was digging and filling wasn't shallow. When he came up out of the water, the georgie's extruder attachment tank was refilled.

  They were cheating a bit. Dawn and Drand were making material for the extruder in Dancy's lab. The air intake vents were in place when Quinn got to the northwest corner. He trenched and extruded over them. Outflow was just two gaps defined at the top of the wall field in the lake.

  Bam took over the georgie, cleared the land for the shuttle pad and made friends with Chirp and Cheeky. Topper drove the dozer to level the pad base and Labs used the magic trowel to make it.

  The Granger flyer could have landed where they had the day before, but the shuttle pad was much simpler. When the flyer lifted, Danny and Ronnie landed Cora and Flo on the pad. It was just big enough for both.

  Frets was driving the transport and Gant was driving Bard's car to the lake. Both had company. Joel, Becks and Bren were with Gant. Billie, Rod and Wren were with Frets. They'd go back to the capital in a shuttle.

  Day called and said, "Ready," and Bard wished himself to Teal Valley to get two wind generators and a large container of conduit and vent parts. Nev went to the ship for the power storage tower and another type of material.

  Placing the shelves for the projectors was going to be much simpler. They were using the magic trowel to make towers for them, and several could sit on the ground. They were also using the trowel to make the corner joints for the fields. They didn't stop for dinner, but three did nonstandard bios, while they worked.

  Bard, Nev, Blade, Case and Stats got more equipment from the ships and 'the bunch' who brought the cars, and some groceries, made sandwiches in the road apt and delivered them to the ten clearing land, preparing soil, seeding, trenching, laying air vents, power and water conduit, building corner posts and door field frames, installing controls, setting projectors and hooking everything up. Drand and Dawn arrived and Topper learned how to connect the power generation system to a matrix.

  In deepening twilight, five days after the longest day of the year, the power system was switched over and the projectors turned on. Quinn smiled widely and invited people into the house, which now had lights. It had a better comp and transpatial comm a short time later.

  One of the corner posts was the path for the signal. The various gateposts and frames, and comp controls in them, gave them the ability to open the door fields from the outside. They also gave them depth, so the solid field projector could be in front of the air impermeable field. They could open the gates at the top of the drive, in the lake, over the shuttle pad and the flyer lot and not lose heat.

  The lake door would be open most of the time, until closed for winter, to allow the exchange of water. They hadn't decided what they'd eventually do, but a bubbler was already assuring the water behind the field was aerated and moving.

  The roof and door heights had been determined by the height of the tallest tree and Nev's yacht. The front gate was plenty of clearance on the trailer with masts up. The lake gate was top of the mast plus a tall BNU pennon.

  A great deal was moved off trailers that evening and one more thing was done under lights. The small spring on the property was tapped and fed into the water system. The water was cleaned of some minerals and all bio contaminants before it went into the house, but it didn't need purification for the sprinkler system.

  In a very few days, most of the very large piece of property would be lawn, but there was a wide band outside the field on both sides, and most of the large trees, and many bushes, had been left inside.

  A few trees had been removed because they couldn't survive. Only one tree had been moved. The blackwood tree had been painstakingly excavated, gently moved and carefully replanted in a spot designed for it near the house. The bluebibs had cleaned its root system of bugs on the way.

  Only Earth had insects and insectivores, but every world had creatures that filled those niches. They had 'bugs' and 'bug-eaters,' and bluebibs were very efficient. That night, two were also stuffed.

  Bard, Nev and Blade took the kids home in Cora. Case and Stats took Flo back to the resort, to take Loopy to her flyer. Gant and Joel didn't have school the next day and didn't go with them. The kids pretended they didn't know the two boys were going to camp in the Wander.

  After Loopy took off for her new home, Case and Stats went to their ship in Flo. Bard didn't stay with Frets after he took her home in Blade's car. When he got back to the ship, the three of them went home, back to Nev's room. He'd told them he wanted to be there with them in an unmistakable fashion. They learned Case and Stats had gone 'all the way home,' too, when they walked over for breakfast.

  "Just as you said, Nev, the whole sculpture garden nicely always-summer, and he included the side yard."

  "He noticed several of us looked longingly that way last winter, Case. Nothing we did yesterday took long. Today, we start real work, and real teaching."

  "Teaching is point and watch them figure out how to do it, Nev."

  "True, but most of yesterday was individual work."

  "They don't know they're a team yet, even though they feel it."

  "They're going to learn that fast, Blade. Gant and Joel?"

  "Will probably do go-get for us, Stats. They know what we're doing. The kitchen doesn't need much work, but appliances need to be replaced and cabinets filled. Some furniture would be nice, and that's the room that just needs a scrub and a colorbond. They won't detract any from the whole job doing that piece."

  "Good job for them, Nev. They're at loose ends the next four days?"

  "No track practice or meets and they really don't need to study for exams. Almost a year."

  "A few more days and a baby to be born. Nev, you need to finish the book."

  "I know, Stats. We weren't supposed to be too busy to… do anything now."

  "When they work together smoothly without thinking about it, we'll get the whole bunch here to meld with them and get it finished fast. They need to get back on scooters, and also go places in uniform. They need to be seen on active duty, helping get ready for the Olympic Committee visit and building the Mandolin Space Corps."

  "They need to do the inside and build the room themselves, Bard. They may need to lay it all out."

  "I know, Blade, but I think we're going to have to take a little of the joy of doing it themselves away from them. It's too big a project to give them time for the other things their world needs them to do."

  "Ow, but I'm sure that's the choice they'll make."

  "If it wasn't, they wouldn't be the right ones
to do it."

  "I wonder how Buddy's doing."

  "Probably complaining you didn't shop for kitty food and making friends with Chirp and Cheeky. He's home and safe, and he knows it, too well."

  "It's a nice place for a kitty."

  "Nev… Bard, we may be about to get a cat."

  "If there's one that needs rescuing as badly as that one did, I hope so, Blade."

  "I'm glad I didn't see it."

  "He's a sturdy little… You have a wet lump in your shirt, Nev."

  "He was freezing, Bard, and he's just a baby."

  "What's his name?"

  "Boston."

  "Boston?"

  "That's where he was, Blade, under a sign beside a gravway that said, 'Historic Boston.' Somebody dumped him beside the road. Freezing rain and no shelter, he was huddled next to the sign support."

  "Give him to me. I'm going to take him to a vet."

  They went to the house without Blade. When he arrived, he had a warm, bright, playful ball of fur, and a large container of kitty stuff. He looked rather surprised, then smiled widely and said Buddy evidently had a buddy, because he'd wished to take Boston home. Buddy obviously agreed. He was cleaning Boston's ears, with Chirp and Cheeky 'supervising.'

  Nev and Quinn suddenly both disappeared and everyone laughed, but they didn't come back quickly. After almost a half-hour, Bard called Nev.

  "Where are you? Is Quinn with you? How many? Kittens, not 'somethings.' Nev, they didn't get any or you'd have gotten there before they did. No, I'm sure you'd have wished then. How's mama? What did the vet say? The vet said there's a great band at her favorite club. Mama and three kittens. Four animals that look like a cross between a rat and pig had them trapped under a tree root. It took both Nev and Quinn to fight them off and both were 'tusked.' They're on Filigree, but the vet didn't recognize the animal description. She did recognize Nev. She's been wishing to meet him. She knows they're there. Daytrippers don't bleed all over her animal clinic. Mama kitty and kittens will all be fine. The vet says mama has had too many litters. She's a purebred and she suspects she escaped a breeder, who considered her a money producer. The kittens aren't purebred. They're not quite old enough to wean, but mama needs time. She's going to keep her. Kittens and formula are coming back with them. When? Tell her thank you from your families. Comm out."

  "They were messed up. Why didn't we feel it, Bard?"

  "I don't know, Blade. Maybe her. The clinic is full of non-pets, and he suspects nonpaying, patients."

  "A xeno-veterinarian."

  "What you know we don't, Joel?"

  "Filigree is in second stage settlement."

  "Yes?"

  "All the xeno-biologists Alden has talked to want to list animals, not get close to them. If she's got a clinic full of 'other,' she's treating everything running into humans disastrously and they're not known species. An exploration ship might be a great home for a too-many-litters cat and a very high-psi vet."

  "On, not daytripping."

  "It's the one thing he sure needs a live person. He's right."

  "You think she's that rare?"

  "Everyone's 'that rare,' Bard."

  "I deserved that thump, Gant. That combo of training, talent and interest are that rare, Joel."

  "Alden would like fifty. Nev and Quinn found one. The combo of talent and interest might not be, but where but one of the second-stage settlement worlds would the hands-on training be found? How many vets are settlers in early second-stage?"

  "Damn few."

  "Add 'could learn to teleport' to search parameter and Nev and Quinn found one."

  "Blade, where did you go to a vet?"

  "Anthem University vet school on Brightland. Now where did he go?"

  Bard picked up the tattered young male and wished himself to the 'right vet.' He smiled and walked into the university vet school clinic. When the woman in a lab coat turned around, he grinned and told her she was drafted.

  "What?"

  "Drafted. Doctor, we're hunting veterinarians for the exploration fleet. You didn't recognize Blade. You now know who he was, and you know I'm not daytripping."

  "How?"

  "I thought I was building a device that would allow people to… physically daytrip. I didn't follow the math far enough. It can do that for some, but it… teaches. This is the right cat to the right vet. Some of your students, and you, are needed."

  "Three of them and a graduate. If I hadn't immediately come up with that answer, I'd have at least argued. The graduate is a settler on Filigree."

  "She's the one we found, but she didn't send us."

  "It's that rare?"

  "Probably not the talent, interest, even willingness to do it, but you're teaching more to those who can… feel it."

  "It's the caring that counts. Use what you know to learn as you go. The diagnostic comp will tell you what not to try."

  "How bad is he?"

  "He's fought several battles already. He's not all domestic cat. He's from Earth, North American Continent and his mommy or daddy was part bobcat, lynx rufus. He's going to be huge."

  "He's going to be ours. He matches our uniforms."

  "Take him everywhere. Don't leave him home and visit. He'll wear a harness, not collar, and leash and walk with you. If you start now. He'll also learn to use and cycle a toilet. Any cat will, but it requires training. He's younger than you think, about one hundred days old."

  "He's going to be huge."

  "As outsize as you are."

  "You and three students."

  "One is just getting started."

  "Is it the school or the education? Is learning domestic animals, and those of this world the only way?"

  "It's term break here, or I wouldn't be in this clinic. If you teach this cat to teleport by himself, get him neutered."

  "You're not just recommending it."

  "I don't always immediately recommend it. This is the third time I haven't in nineteen years."

  "Lynx rufus."

  "Smart and sturdy. Don't let him run loose and teach him not to fight. He will learn that for you. He's enough domestic cat he won't be a problem, unless there's a female in heat. If, by some chance, there is, get other males out of his way or get him out of there and disinfect the scratches. It is possible you can train him not to do that, but it's not likely, and his desirable wildcat genes in the domestic cat gene pool are why I'm not telling you to neuter him now. You decide when. Male cats have far fewer health problems if neutered. That's an average, of course, but exceptions are few, and he's a pet, not a stud."

  "Understood. Big gray kitten, what shall I name you? Sorry, I wouldn't pronounce it right."

  "He has some Siamese too, a real talker. He'll have an opinion on everything. If he sprays, give him yours."

  "He might?"

  "He hasn't been taught anything, yet. You're just who he wanted as teacher."

  "He'll be our kitty?"

  "Oh, yes. He may follow one of you around more than others, but he'll be quite sure he owns all of you and each should have plenty of opportunity to bestow strokes and chin scratches."

  "What's your name?"

  "Gerta Tchaivosk."

  "Gerta, you'll teach it to many more out there showing it to all people on all worlds than here."

  "It's a long way."

  "Comm connect Alden. Hi, we found a veterinarian who thinks of domestic animals as unusual patients, and her teacher. She has three more students with the feel you need, in various points in school. Anthony University on Brightland, Dr. Gerta Tchaivosk."

  "Oh, my, right the first time. No, I doubt he'd do as well with that. You'd probably better let him pick the name."

  "She's covering off-term hours at the clinic now. You're welcome. Comm out. We need things. Blade's stock went with Boston. He, Buddy and a pair of bluebibs named Chirp and Cheeky are having great fun with the toys."

  "The
toy store is this way. Bluebibs are the most… I don't know whether to congratulate those people on leaving them alone, or thump them for not studying the most advanced animal species we've discovered."

  "Advanced?"

  "From our viewpoint, yes. They looked us over, decided the new neighbors were nice, and have been helping take care of the neighborhood, and spending time with us and playing with our pets ever since. They're probably a little disgusted we aren't doing more to help fix up their yards than put up a windbreak, but we keep bugs out of our houses and they didn't know there was something else they could eat, either. We haven't offered them a bowl of seed and a perch in the living room, or built cozy little homes for them in blackwood trees. I've read 'may move into buildings in one hundred years' and wondered why people didn't invite them and see if they wanted to now. Do you know why nothing eats them?"

  "No."

  "Other avians and animals are afraid of them. Once in a while, a young goldtail will swoop for one. If it doesn't grab it, bluebibs from kilometers around will just hound it in circles for a while. If it grabs one, they'll kill it and several pairs will help the mate feed the injured bluebib, and the fledgling if there is one, until it heals. A bluebib that loses its mate dies. It takes two to survive winter, but the widowed mate doesn't really try. It sits in the nest and chirps softly, but it doesn't sing and it doesn't laugh. It will make sure a fledgling is well fed and healthy, but after that it just sits."

  "There's a pair inside nothing-through wall fields, twenty-five meters high and around a half-K square. Next year?"

  "I don't know. But I really hope I can arrange to be there to see how they tell their neighbors what they want."

  "You think they're underestimating their intelligence?"

  "I think they're far underestimating their domesticity. They don't require domestication. We fit in their homes comfortably. We make dinner easier to see, provide entertainment for the leisure time we give them, and usually add a bit to their probability of surviving winter. Our hands are very nice. They laugh. It's not like a cat purr. We don't understand them, or their heavy little brain, enough to judge intelligence, but they laugh, and they laugh at themselves. They have feathers and fly, but they're not birds, and they're not fragile. Their muscle tissue is different. They're the most alien creature we've run across. Everything else is about what you'd expect in a generally compatible environment. Those little avians are not."

  "Obviously, one of those."

  "Best scratching post made. You already have the best play-alone cat toy."

  "Yes, we do. Load us a bin. Pat and I need to get going before we're causing delays."

  "Pat?"

  "Pat-pat whap that toy. Pat-pat scratch. Pat-pat… It's about the same way Danny's cat, Bop, got his name."

  "Patrick, with this nice smoke gray harness and leash and… silver tag with comm code?"

  "The Prince of Purse. It's Nev's."

  "They'd call in hope of reward."

  "That's why his."

  "Good thinking."

  "Hey! Stop that! If you want to go out, you have to get dressed. Bare is only allowed in the house. Sorry, but Teal Valley has tight rules on kitty nudity, too, but we'll visit a kitty nude beach occasionally. Good boy. There. If you just lay there, we won't have much fun. Come on, Patrick. Pat! Let's go. On your feet! Walk! Four steps will do for first effort. In with your stuff. Account code in… Bye!"

  "About time!"

  "Patrick needed patching. I found Nev's vet's teacher. That's who you visited. She said bluebibs probably wonder why people don't invite them in. We don't understand even their muscles, let alone their brains. We move into their yards, do great stuff, and of course they like us for making food easier to get and giving them leisure time to play."

  "She's… probably right. A windbreak in a blackwood would be an invitation to move into the neighborhood. An open window would invite visits?"

  "With a bowl of tipple seed, Bam."

  "They won't invade our homes. We don't invade theirs?"

  "Exactly. Domesticity, not domesticated. She said they're the first real aliens we've met and they like us. Can we apply animal intelligence to a creature that laughs at itself, and mourns a lost life companion? Does it know it will die too? It can't survive winter alone. Does it want to? We don't understand its heavy little brain. How can we say it thinks like an animal? It thinks like it thinks and there isn't any way to measure it, because there's nothing comparable. Everything else we run across is like enough to something like us to measure. They aren't. Patrick! No! You stop that right now. Buddy is not a rival, and this is his yard. That's better. No hissing! I know. You never met big tom that you didn't have to fight to survive, but that's all over. You have to be a very civilized kitty to wear your uniform and go places with us, when we wear ours."

  "Bard…"

  "Blade, he's part bobcat. His genes are needed. He's wild, but he doesn't want to be. Right now, he's scared and not talking. Talking to him will let him know it's not a scary situation, when he gets accustomed to it. He's a one-season-old kitten and she healed layers of scratches, lumps of infection, torn ears, split nose, a gash here… Buddy is bigger and Boston smaller. One's a threat to life and the other food supply, in his experience and instincts. The harness and leash, and a yank, say 'not usual' very clearly. Dr. Tchaivosk said don't leave him home and visit. We teach him to walk with us, and use and cycle a toilet. He's not a house yard cat. He's a traveling companion kitty. Now, whether that's her understanding of him, us, or both, I was way too impressed to do anything but nod and say, 'Yes, Doctor.' The comm code on his tag is Nev's."

  "Perfect, but he's got three babies."

  "Comm connect, Nev. I want to know if you're looking in her eyes while you heal enough I won't go nuts when I see it, or just looking in her eyes. I want you to meet our cat. He's all one color, gray. His uniform is smoke gray and silver. His insignia has your comm code. His name is Patrick. He's in basic training and Blade's considering thumping me for it. They're getting-- Damn!"

  "Calm down! It looks worse than it was! Comm out."

  "We should have gone to get pants instead of waiting, Nev."

  "Bard, it took time to run those things off. Like cutting a finger and wrapping it in tissue while you finish something. The cut's not bad, but the tissue looks like you almost chopped off a finger."

  "Nice try. Why didn't you yell for help?!"

  "I had help."

  "So did I."

  "Bard, there wasn't room for another person. We'd have been able to dodge better if we'd had more. Renna is looking for what it was and where we were. Those things were too close to people, or they wouldn't have had a mama cat and kittens trapped. They couldn't get out, or she could have climbed a tree. The kittens would probably have made it too. Those things were demolishing the root over her, and they were a hungry pack. I don't think she's big enough for them to be that determined, if they weren't starving."

  "Renna agrees, and is surprised she doesn't know what we fought off."

  "Comm connect Brightland, Anthem University Vet Clinic. Dr. Tchaivosk, Renna's got bloody evidence a pack of something dangerous and starving is too close to humans, and she doesn't know the animal to pinpoint world, let alone range. She yelled, 'What?! Comm out!' Did they try for your genitals?"

  "No, they lift heads to gore and that's the only 'under' place we have."

  "We turned fast. Scrape across thigh wasn't pleasant, but…"

  "We got one gore each, neither terrible and the rest were skin rips when we avoided. That's why they bled so bad."

  "If they lifted heads… A rooting animal?"

  "That's what Renna's trying to figure out. We're sure it wasn't 'stamp out invader.' They could have done that smashing the root. There just wasn't any doubt they were intent on dinner."

  Renna and Gerta found the animal, and the reason. Gerta
called the government, got nowhere, called a university school of veterinary medicine, and got a computer taking messages. Quinn called his mom.

  Three minutes later, the president of the Loreland company in the Shoppers Shipping Network connected Gerta, now Rear Admiral Tchaivosk, Liberty Gem Space Corps, Exploration, Xeno-biology with the Secretary of the Interior. The 'rotusks' were in a park, and they were meat hunting, because the fungi that was their primary source of protein was gone. They'd probably nearly exterminated getleafs, nuttucks and rootduckers in their range and about twelve thousand were moving toward the smell of protein, humans and their domestic animals.

  Cattle, sheep, hogs and adult humans were too large to attack, but calfs, lambs, piglets, cats, dogs and small children were not. She estimated they had two days to "get a lot of fish or other smelly protein" upwind of them and six to reduce the population to about eight hundred. Ninety percent of the predator that kept rotusk population down had been exterminated because one pair killed three lambs. She sent him the ecological impact analysis no one in his department had "bothered to do," and the survey xeno-biology analysis of the rotusk, which included when, why and how the "omnivore, not herbivore "hunted.

  Bard took Renna and Gerta to Alden. Loreland didn't have any organization, not even firefighters, that could move fast enough. Liberty Gem Space Corps personnel were already tripping to Loreland, when Gerta and Renna were uniformed and led to trip chairs.

  Both would be ready to catch Shoppers Shipping Network ships in a few days. Space Corps ships had already been dispatched to rendezvous with those to pick them up. Some Liberty Gem adventurers were also arranging rendezvous with shipping network and corps ships. A few very skilled people had asked transport, not trip chairs. Alden expected more when word spread that Liberty Gem Space Corps would arrange transport for families, including cats and dogs, for skilled exploration force personnel.

  Blade, Case and Stats and Quinn's family had just waited. Gant and Joel hadn't. They were on a materials run. It wasn't a big one. The five had gotten almost everything needed the day before. They'd have had it all, but they'd changed the design plan.

  The front gate had been left open. They were expecting modular addition deliveries and some items Joel and Gant were getting were to make a sign warning of a field gate and instructions on requesting entry. They were also getting tipple seed.

  Bard, Nev and Quinn arrived with three tiny kittens and food for them, as Bam was ordering a botanic and bio-survey of the area for blackwoods and bluebibs.

  "He designed a bluebib house that fits around the nest, or invites bluebibs to build a nest in it. We just don't doubt they'll like them. They're not-quite-transparent greenish and include a tipple seed plate, a way to get seed up to it, perches and a 'fledgling porch.' That one surprised us."

  "Why a porch, Topper?"

  "Fledglings leave the nest when they learn to fly, but they stay beside it until they mate, which isn't with the closest bluebib of the opposite sex. They may leave and return every day for one hundred days or more. He thinks some may not find mates and die. That may be the reason some pairs have been observed non-active, just sitting in the nest for days, after the first bout of nasty winter weather. So, a fledgling porch and house already in blackwood trees, to give young ones more time to hunt mates and build nests. He thinks the porches will also provide shelter if they have to range farther the find the right mate."

  "I have far too little information to know if that's a reasonable assumption, and I'm completely sure he's right."

  "So are we, Nev. We're going to use a magic trowel to make the houses. We're also going to try putting some in other types of trees and putting feeding stations some places. We know they don't use the evergreens because of their sticky, seeping sap, but they might use houses anywhere off the ground, including a house porch, or just move inside, if there was food and a bluebutton bush in a planter."

  "A bluebutton bush?"

  "A bluebutton bush is a bluebib toilet. The bush center is a funnel and the foliage grows out of the base and around it. It doesn't cover it. Anything that goes into that funnel is quickly broken down to feed the plant. It doesn't need bluebibs to survive, but it flourishes and is a near solid mass of fragrant little blue flowers in late spring with their aid. It's used as decorative foliage and as a houseplant because it smells fresh. Its dense foliage releases a lot of oxygen, if given food, water and light. It forms waste nodules on the roots and some people harvest them for decorative purposes, or trace elements. A few have had success feeding them specific elements to get nodes with dominant colors, but most who try it poison the plant."

  "I got permission! The Secretary of the Environment approved and we can do it on private property, and we'll have help! The Conservation Club is making it their summer project. They'll assure everyone knows we, and they, will be putting bluebib houses in trees in their yards. They're excited about the idea of trying other trees and places too."

  "That's great, Bam! Ready to get to work on our house?"

  "No, Quinn. I want to give the bluebibs theirs first. I'm sure we should."

  "All right. What do we need we don't have?"

  "Tipple seed."

  "If Gant and Joel aren't back with it soon, I'll go get some the quick way."

  It took them twenty-six minutes to figure out exactly how to build and support the house without disturbing the nest, or restricting the growth of the blackwood, in any blackwood.

  Boys and girls between the ages of ten and eighteen would be placing houses, and supports needed to be somewhat adjustable to fit any tree. The seed plate filling system had to be very easy to attach, as well. When they finished that, they built a house-making frame.

  Gant and Joel had split the materials pick up and brought the tipple seed. They too were present when Bam zapped the first bluebib house, and first plate filling system, into existence.

  Quinn carried the ladder for Bam. It would have been simpler to use the georgie to lift him, but Conservation Club kids wouldn't have those. Bam was pretty sure he would know if it would be difficult for a much smaller person. Topper was sure if anyone was going to fall off it would be Bam. Loopy had a cam to record how the house was put around the nest, and everything was adjusted, connected and checked.

  Bam went up the ladder, then pulled the house up by the "just a dog leash or something," clipped through the loop on the top of the house.

  "Make sure you get well-braced on the ladder, like I am. This is hardest. If you've got collapsible scaffold or lift, use it. It's lots easier from right in front than beside because the ladder's in the way. Set the house over the nest with the fledgling porch on the tree side. The bluebibs don't always sit facing the same way in the nest and they can look out any direction. A fledgling always sleeps on the treeward side, until it finds its love and helps build a nest for two. We may be giving them hotel rooms they can use while they hunt too. Population stats say some don't have enough time before winter. Now, once you have it set, undo your lift string and then go down your ladder until you can reach under the house easily. Slide the three supports to touch the branches, then reach under and get the bottom flap. Pull it around under the branches and snap it to the front corner. It may be floppy like this one, or you may have to stretch it. Either way is fine. It has more stretch room than the blackwood will ever need. Now push up the middle of the side and close this clip to hold it. It's supposed to have gaps. The bluebibs need ventilation and even a cold wind won't bother them, if it's not blowing on them. Don't try to do the other side from here. You have to move the ladder to put the seed plate filling system on anyway."

  Bam went down the ladder and moved it, showing it was carefully set in place, reminding the kids to check its footing. He suddenly had interested small company.

  "Hi, Chirp. It's not quite done, but the perches are solid. All right, you can sit on my shoulder, but it's going to be moving around. Anot
her reminder to always make sure your ladder is solidly footed and against the branch. Take the time to be sure. The bluebibs would be very upset if it fell with you, and so would your parents. You should really do this in pairs. It's nice to have company and a guy down below can steer the house and plate filling assembly up. Attach your pull-up string to the top of it and head up. Now, snap and clip the bottom flap on this side first, then go up a little and pull up the assembly. The assembly cord will blow around at the bottom, but it won't blow high enough to tangle. The rods up higher are flexible and even a tall person won't get poked by one. If something gets caught in a loop, like your head, it'll pull the assembly down, not strangle you. The assembly will bounce. Figuring out how to make this so it's not dangerous in anyone's yard was the hardest part, but I think most people will love being able to give bluebibs some tipple seed, especially in winter and making it easy… Well, a bowl on the porch or maybe inside an open window, is great, but a little plate by their house says, 'I'm glad you live here.' We don't know how smart they really are, or how they think, but we know they get 'you're welcome in our yard.' Of course, they may see it as we're welcome in theirs. I'm sure Chirp and Cheeky do. See what I mean about help steering the assembly? Thanks, Quinn. Cheeky, would you please wait to use the loop as a swing until I get it connected. Thank you. You just saw why the loop is that size. I've seen them use other loops of rope and such as swings. Now, this clip, this one and this one. Unhook your pull string and down the ladder. Time to check the assembly. Pull the loop to bring the little cup down. Fill it with seed. It doesn't hold much. Too much would just blow away. It's a plate, not a bowl, so it doesn't collect water. Here we go. If I did it right, the little cup will get to the top and dump right on the plate. If there's any seed left when it gets there. Oh, they think both trying to ride the cup is fun. Watch out. Quinn, do you think that would have gone on the plate if Cheeky wasn't under it?"

  "Yes, I think she was right in the middle. They think her seed shower was hilarious."

  "Yes, they do. Well, Chirp, what do you think?"

  None of them expected the answer to Bam's question, or not one so clear. Chirp and Cheeky flew down, landed one on each shoulder, then hopped in, until they could rub their heads against his neck. He reached up and gently stroked Cheeky then Chirp with a fingertip. He had tears in his eyes when he softly said, "You're welcome." They'd underestimated the unique little avian, and the reasoning power of its heavy little brain.

  The inside work on the house went quickly. The five learned fast and worked fast. Gant and Joel did work on the kitchen while the others worked on making eight bedrooms and four baths into five bedrooms and six baths, the sixth with a spa and exterior door. Their workout room would be on the other side. It also gave them a third easily accessed toilet from their entertaining areas. The last two nonstandard bios were done that morning.

  By the end of the day, Patrick didn't have to be watched around Buddy and the kittens. A place to sit to watch and brimming bowl of kitty food where one of the three were working had aided in reducing friction greatly. Box training was as simple as with any cat. Toilet training would require time and patience. That evening, they took him home and ceremoniously removed his harness. His 'ship chair' was placed in the bridge lounge, his ship food and water dishes filled and placed in a corner of the kitchen, and his ship litter box placed next to the toilet in the front bathroom on that deck. Then they took him to their house and did the same with his 'home' things.

  When they sat down in the living room, Nev clapped his hands loudly. They watched and laughed as Patrick chased the "best play-alone kitty toy." He wasn't any happier to 'get dressed' the next morning, but he seemed quite pleased to be set down in the huge yard with Buddy and Boston.

  That day, they finished the house. They talked it over and decided they wouldn't miss shopping for furniture. They figured out how and Quinn, and the family member whose room it was for, went to get it. Each time they arrived by something perfect.

  They were very carefully specifying on Mandolin. The logistics of large item pickup on other worlds were too complicated, and it just wasn't necessary. The reason they'd decided not to shop was the selection of beautiful was too wide to make it a fast job. They did 'take it home,' but doubted anyone would notice vehicles they rented to pick it up were sometimes rented a short time apart a long way apart.

  At twenty-three fifty-seven, they finished furnishing and decorating. They were laughing at themselves a bit when they opened a bottle of champagne at midnight. Several times, they'd arrived in their parents' homes, not stores. They'd left messages they'd "stolen" something at each.

  The fourth day, they began on the outside. They'd begun to work together as a team, but the type of work inside the house had limited it a bit. By lunch that day, they were a bit awed at themselves, and Bard, Nev, Blade, Case and Stats were very pleased.

  Joel and Gant complained they weren't going to be there to pre-assemble for them, or see the work progress any longer. They had school the next day and kitten deliveries planned that afternoon. All three had been claimed by family members.

  They left right after lunch, and after they made sure Chirp and Cheeky knew they were taking the kittens and all their things. They made sure Buddy, Boston and Patrick knew they were going too. They'd kept them in the kitchen days and the Wander nights, but all three cats and Chirp and Cheeky had known they were there.

  The others knew it had been a good idea when Chirp and Cheeky checked Buddy and Boston's toys, boxes and dishes. They didn't check Patrick's. He'd arrived two mornings and his chair and dishes were moved around. They obviously knew he was a visitor.

  Gant and Joel had done a great deal to get things ready for them. They'd built the frames for the parking lot assembly, preassembled many walls, picked up plants and arranged them in order of use, set up work areas in the big equipment garage and more. That evening, Quinn called both and told them they'd gotten "three days work" done that day, and knew it was because they'd already done two-thirds of it, then he complained they were going to have to do that two-thirds were themselves for the rest of it. Gant and Joel laughed and said they were sure their help had been appreciated.

  The fifth day, the five 'blended into a working unit.' Topper was surprised to be the one who managed the job. It didn't surprise the others. They'd known he kept a mental schedule for everything. Once he realized they didn't expect him to tell them what to do, just what came next, he relaxed and they worked fast and smoothly.

  That evening they worked several hours under lights after Bard, Nev and Blade left. In the morning, 'everybody' would be coming to help. Gant and Joel had given them an extra day to become a team, but they were out of time. Quinn, his family, and the five admirals had to 'get back on stage.' Jeannine needed them at events and affairs, beginning with a ball the next night.

  Bard and Danny moved everyone in the neighborhood, except Plimmer and Bop, to Mandolin the next morning, including the two babies and about-to-be-mommy Elise. All who worked 'regular jobs' had taken the day off to help. They began working at five local time. Frets called for a ride at seven ten.

  At eight thirty, Gant and Joel came back. They'd asked to be excused at noon Veil Lake time, when they learned there wouldn't be track practice that day. Their coaches were daytripping to Mandolin to help them get some competitions restarted. They went back to work prepping, as soon as they arrived.

  Twenty-nine people worked quickly and smoothly. Topper knew everything that had to be done and each person knew what piece of next they'd do fastest.

  Larry said he knew he was best at hold, carry, brace, brew tea, make sandwiches and change diapers. Quinn grabbed a sandwich and dispo cup of tea and told him he definitely made work faster and easier. Mike and Loren grabbed, said he understood "sustaining energy" well, then checked on Elise. She said she was checked so often she wondered how anybody had time to get anyt
hing else done.

  At sixteen forty-seven, they finished. They watched as the boats and skimmers were moved into the boathouse. They saluted themselves with tea, then Danny and Bard took everyone from the neighborhood home.

  Bard and Nev moved Bard's car and the Wander successfully. Blade, Patrick, Frets, Case and Stats followed in the shuttle. They'd been gone eight minutes when family members of the five began to arrive with cars, clothes, flyers and momentoes.

  All were gone when Walt, in a Liberty Gem style running suit, arrived to do an NTN report, with a 'local kid' reporter and cam op. The two locals were extremely surprised. Walt wasn't.

  Cheeky and Chirp sat on the perch on their house and welcomed each arrival. The yard was still a long way from being a lawn, but it was greenish with new growth and the area right around the house, including under their tree, had been sodded. When the sprinklers came on at eighteen, Chirp and Cheeky played in them.

  Bam had explained the fountain by their tree was for them. So was the window into the big entertainment room. They'd learned the levers to open and close it quickly. Buddy and Boston couldn't get out, but they could get in to play. They could also shut it if a party got noisy.

  There was a window like it in each enclosure on the house. Buddy and Boston wouldn't be allowed to roam when the family was gone for quite some time, if it all. The bluebibs weren't the only previous inhabitants in the yard, and it would be a while before all were comfortable and not fear the non-hunting cats.

  Patrick went to his first affair that evening. He was rather shy, but generally quite well-behaved. Blade took him for a 'walk,' and to the ship and his kitty box, in the middle of the evening. He was a good kitty and enjoyed the kitty treats he received for doing his duty. He spent most of the remainder of the evening under the table asleep.

  Bard, Nev and Blade made sure one of them was at the table, but all three danced with a number of women and stood and talked with groups the last half of the evening.

  Bard danced most with Frets, but not exclusively. Quinn's family were also in uniform and at their table. They danced with more. Dancing was a good excuse to ask a great many questions, and a lot of people had them.

  The next morning, Quinn's family got help again. Danny brought Ronnie, Drand and Dawn and then she and Bard picked up a large number of loads of materials, for bluebib houses.

  Quinn and Bam used the rigs to deliver two large loads. They leased trailers and took them home for more. They didn't stay to help make them. They went back to where they'd left one of the loads in Labs' and Topper's cars and spread out with the Conservation Club kids and reserve officers Quinn drafted to put the houses in blackwood trees.

  By fourteen, two more trailer loads had been delivered and the first two trailers, now empty, were picked up by Day and Larry. They picked up loads of materials to make houses on the way back.

  Everyone wore 'work uniforms.' The Conservation Club kids were wearing theirs. By the next morning, a great many of the club kids were wearing far more tailored uniforms. The method of tailoring had been distributed and the closer-fitting style was also for sale. Six loads of bluebib houses were delivered that day.

  The next morning, all the kids were in closer-fitting uniforms. Two floppy-clothes-caused accidents had been recorded. Neither boy was badly hurt, but the planetary club officers had said, "Change them now!" and every club had someone to do it for those who couldn't. Basically, they made new uniforms out of the material of the old. There was more than enough to do it, and the trim covall style looked good.

  The world attention on the bluebib house installation and the Conservation Club instruction 'did it.' When the Olympic Committee tripped to Mandolin that day, the odd style and the odd attitude were both disappearing from Mandolin. That evening, they were flown to the estate on Ricky Lake, where the wealthy young were gathered with their scooters, and in their costumes, to put on a show in the first rink built just for the purpose.

  They were extremely impressed before it even started, as they watched the rink rise out of the ground and unroll along tracks that locked seamlessly into place, including the jump ramps. Then the grandstands and lights rose around it. The 'scooters' cheered and Quinn, Bam, Loopy, Topper and Labs bowed, watched for the charged light, then lifted their pro-scoots onto the rink they'd designed.

  It was much larger than the first design because they could put it away. The grassy area would also be their soccer field.

  The posine they'd used was a new type, very new. It wasn't 'cushioned.' It was firm with optimum roll and drag for float scooters. It had been developed just for that purpose, by the company that had developed posine and the BNU physics lab, six days before. That day, rinks using the family's design had been completed near the ski lodge, hockey rink and where the new golf course would be in Frostlea. They planned to show off too.

  Representative Walston was sentenced to counseling the next morning. The Association of Broadcasters was reprimanded and a Broadcasting Regulatory Commission created not long before noon. GNMB broadcast a formal retraction of speculation about Cory, and every network pulled its society news segment and reported the reprimand and that there had been no factual basis to reports of 'personal misconduct' for twenty-eight years.

  Former society casters flatly stated their jobs had been come up with the most popular story and get the best reaction for a cam image. Only Walter said he'd despised it, but thought he'd had no other option but restaurant server. The others all said the only thing they liked about it was the star pay. One woman said it was "the only reporting job a woman could get" and using her masters degree in journalism to "fetch coffee" for men with bachelors degrees, for a third their salary, had been less appealing.

  The five and Patrick were at a reception for the first daytrippers from eight worlds when Mike called. They ran out the door to their cars and drove to their ships. Patrick was undressed and taken home. Nev started the kitty toys rolling, then they got in the T and went to the clinic.

  They laughed at themselves for being irritated they couldn't just pop in. Case, in his car behind them, called and complained.

  They got to the clinic 'in time to wait' with their friends. At twenty fifty-three Teal Valley time, Milo yelled it was cold outside.

  Bard, Blade, Nev, Case and Stats didn't go back that evening. All of them needed time at home, and Nev needed time to work on the book. At a little before midnight local time, Quinn arrived with a bottle of champagne.

  "We did it. Armond Fashions released new summer designs, and there's not a bag, tent or brothel advertisement in the bunch. Tens of thousands of kids are listening to their parents tell them they should take with they'll enjoy in school, dads are bragging about their smart daughters and moms about their talented sons. Boys are remaking their clothes themselves and parents are helping. They're also taking them shopping for flooter costumes, even if they don't have flooters, and won't for a long while. School boards are changing gym clothes recs for next term and insurers are giving reasonable rates because of it. Beginning gymnastics and dance classes have boys in them and sales of workout equipment are soaring."

  "Something happened we don't know about."

  "Walt on the run and New Tech News debuted with the image of Bam making bluebib houses, and Chirp and Cheeky's thank you, then Conservation Club kids putting them in trees, then the shoppers shipping, back to us and the house, then the rink. He did 'high Society having fun' and mixed in people having fun 'with' us, spread women's accomplishments and men's art and sensitivity on thick, gave the nonstandard bio addresses… They gave him a full half-hour this morning, showed clips this evening, then interviewed him on an hour news special this evening. MPB delivered the presidential group study, including the basis of it all, backed with images and statistics for one hundred eighty years, and finished the job. Our society is 'true nobility.' You five are the best advisory command ever. Liberty Gem is the best neighbor any world
could have. The president exemplifies the office. His grandchildren are beyond description. We're planetary heroes. The 'power of the press' to manipulate and form public opinion was forgotten because the word 'press' was no longer used. Henry Clayland will go down in history as a figure of pathos, not a villain. He's our example of the result of putting success above all else, and of that power abused."

  "Ten days. Not exactly how Larry recommended, but we've decided to rip apart and reassemble instead of 'bring about change' before, and he doesn't get mad, or left behind."

  "High-tech, muscle-powered, can't-wear-bags, takes-an-athlete toy. Start with this."

  "That's Larry, and Uncle Drand can figure out how to do anything with a good set of parameters."

  "You're not going to stay a while."

  "You don't need us, Quinn."

  "Yes, we do, Bard, always, but we don't need your help. We love you. No one else will ever know or understand the five of us as well as the five of you, and I still don't know what to do about five separate bedrooms and Loopy being disgusted we all get… chivalrous."

  "Comm connect guys."

  "Hi, Blade, champagne?"

  "The planet job was finished by MPB, with our bunch as stars and Walt as emcee, Case, but Quinn's got a team who know they're a family."

  "But don't know how to be slobs in the kitchen together yet."

  "Four boys and a girl, and the boys remember it before they leave their separate rooms."

  "You have a plan."

  "Your turn to wish nine men to the right place."

  "Thank you. We'll be right over. Comm out."

  "Attire?"

  "Nev, do you think we have appropriate for what Case has in mind?"

  "Not if it includes cloth."