Chapter 22

Pat had left more than enough room beside the freighter in the new compound for the Striker to land.

The two teams met up two hours later, after their naps, to discuss the day ahead. They had all managed to get enough sleep, and with the magical recharge, they were all feeling fresh and ready for what lay ahead.

Whitney was invited to join the crew for the breakfast meeting. They just had to set it up first.

James and Aaron opened the cube they had set down with the others on either side of the road that led out of the northeastern gate. They hauled out one of the big pavilions and soon had it up on the other side of the road so that it faced the intersection.

They even extended three of the sides to provide a larger covered space that was open to the roads. Que, Kola and Tale found the stacks of fold-up tables and chairs in one of the storage cubes. Sean had set it up for rescuing a group of people. The crew soon had seating set up for roughly eighty people under the pavilion.

James, Dusty and Pat dragged out the two portable bains-marie and the two big barbeque and grills. They added some more tables to create a food prep and serving area. They even grabbed two of the large glassed-door fridges.

Kola found that he could plug them into a couple of the portable power cubes and put the power cubes behind the flap that was protecting the cooking area at the back of the pavilion. He soon had the fridges humming along and chilling down. The electric grills were soon warming up.

Chris, Darla and Beanie had been piling food into a multi-level trolley. They soon had it wheeled into the new food-prep area, and James and Dusty started cooking while the others went back to collect more food and equipment.

Pat also found a commercial toaster, and it was soon set up and rolling out toast. Tale and Que had found two big urns, and they soon had water on the boil. Crockery and cutlery were found and soon piled on a side table for the hungry to claim.

Several different flavours of fruit juice and flavoured milk were loaded into the fridges as well as plenty of plain milk for breakfast cereals, tea, chocolate and coffee.

The breakfast cereals, butter, jam and other spreads for the toast, with other condiments were placed on the tables. Onions were being sliced, and so were tomatoes and mushrooms. Eggs were being cracked, and snags and bacon were sizzling and being turned.

Some big trays appeared courtesy of Aaron, and the cooked food soon started being shifted from the grill to the trays and into the bains-marie.

The group happily chatted while they worked.

“Dusty, this is a beautiful spot,” James said to his wife as he turned the snags.

“Yeah, I reckon with the milder weather here and the proximity of that nice wide river and the sea, a community could do very well,” she replied as she forked over the bacon.

Whitney added, as she was slicing the onions, “I think we could make a go of it here. We have a lot of orphans that would be better off here. If they go to Terra, they will most likely end up being captured and sold off as slaves. In Europa, they don’t have any facilities to look after them.”

“What if they go with the SWA Alliance to New Ghana? They have a lot of orphans,” Pat asked as she flipped the fried eggs expertly.

Chris replied, “When I had my second chat with Johan, he told me that they have been training theirs, and they are mostly older teenagers. Unless the couples who have kids take them, I think they will be a problem for the others to look after.”

“Well, I have to get them off the damn Napper first,” replied Whitney.

Dusty shook her head, “I don’t think so. I have a feeling if you immunise them and then we feed them they will come good in no time. I think the immunisation will be good for the pregnant girls and their babies too.”

“Zed told me that Immo was made by Queen Lee when she was trying to save a very sick child. Everyone who receives it becomes a lot healthier, even if they didn’t think they were sick before. The Immo also doesn’t have any reported side effects on Harmony, so it has been deemed safe by them.”

Whitney brightened up no end at hearing this news. She had heard there was a new drug trying to get onto the market that immunised people against a lot of common illnesses.

It was hard to get hold of because a lot of health organisations on Earth wouldn’t approve it. Everyone knew the drug companies feared the immunisation would put them out of business.

“Mistress, the replicator has finished making the assortment of clothes requested and the Immo. If someone would like to fetch them. I believe you will also have breakfast guests very soon,” Zed told Dusty.

Dusty thanked him and asked Whitney if she would like to go get the immunisations. Whitney happily complied, and Bindy took over her cooking duties. They all looked up to see several of the healthier pregnant women and some of the smaller children, who Whitney had been trying to reduce the number of drugs they had been getting, coming out of one of the cubes.

Tale and Kola went and introduced themselves and directed the colonists over to the pavilion.

One of the bolder women asked, “What happened to us?”