Chapter 17

The first thing I did the next morning was to call William on his direct line at HRD.

“HRD Architects, William Chambers speaking.”

“Hello, William. Doug Smith here. I was able to complete my business on the East Coast sooner than expected. I would like to arrange an appointment with you for tomorrow morning.”

“No problem, Doug, would 9:00 be All right?”

“That will be good. I will be bringing Matt Crane and his wife Mary with me.

“Matt will be setting up mobile homes, portable buildings, and utility equipment on the ranch I purchased. He needs to consult with you on design parameters for concrete slabs, and for installing power, water, and sewage lines.

“Mary will be in charge of warehouse operations, so I thought you and she should talk about what she will need. I think the building design may need to take into account an overhead crane and the other things she will need.”

“All right, Doug, if you have time, I will prepare copies of the current blue prints for us to review. I also have a number of questions for you that need to be answered before I go much further with the design effort.”

“That sounds good to me, William. We’ll be there at 9:00.”

In thinking of the things I needed to do, it dawned on me that Fitz had the ‘Watch Doug Duty’.

Sticking my head out of my office door, I said, “Fitz, I would like to talk with you about a personal matter that I need your help solving.”

Stepping into the office and closing the door, Fitz said, “What can I do for you, Sir?”

“I am having a problem with my ladies.

“They tell me that I am oblivious when it comes to women and I guess that’s true. While we were on the East Coast, I mentioned that Sandy was behaving strangely and asked them what was wrong with her.

“They told me what they thought was going on, and now they are upset with me and are demanding that I help her. They tell me that Sandy is interested in you and that you like Sandy. They think that your respective social and economic backgrounds are keeping the two of you apart.

“I don’t know if what they think is true or not, but Earth is a new start for all of us. If you have any interest at all in Sandy do me a favor, spend some time out on the porch talking with her or take her for a walk around the block.

“Things may or may not work out for the two of you, but either way, my ladies will stop nagging at me to do something!”

“Sure thing, boss, I would be happy to help you with your problem. I am interested in Miss Archer, but I didn’t think she would find someone like me of interest.”

“Thanks, Fitz, maybe they will give me some peace, now.”

It seemed to me that I had handled that matter in a diplomatic manner.

Matt had mentioned that it might be a good thing for me to make a courtesy call on the Weld County Sheriff and the County Building Department. I decided to give Ken Johnson a call.

“Hello, Ken, this is Doug.”

“Morning, Doug, it’s nice to hear from you. How did your trip back East go?”

“It went well, Ken. I got my problem with the State Department resolved and contacted the United Nations and made the preliminary arrangements for presenting my credentials.

“The reason I called is that Matt suggested that I make a courtesy call on the Sheriff, and the head of the Building Department. I thought that you might know them and have time to introduce me to them.”

“Yeah, I know them both. I’ll certainly help you with the Sheriff, but you may want to see the head of the Building Department by yourself. He and I have had problems in the past, and there is a great deal of resentment between us.”

“What happened between the two of you?”

“The problem started with my Dad putting in the pump house and water filter. Back then, those of us outside the city limits did pretty much what we wanted to on our own land. The county didn’t bother us, and we didn’t bother them.

“About fifteen years ago, the state had the local counties do a health survey in the unincorporated areas of the state. They wanted to know how we obtained our water and treated our sewage.

“When they came out to my place, I told them about the pump house my Dad put in and the septic system we used. Well the next thing I know, the building department is telling me that I can’t draw water from the reservoir and that my septic system was substandard. They wanted me to pay for connecting the ranch to the Kersey public water and sewer systems.

“I told them where they could put their public utility demands and they took me to court. I had to get a lawyer to defend my rights, and I won, by God. The court agreed that I had the right to draw water from the reservoir and that the county could not compel me to use public utilities without first proving that my failure to do so caused a public health hazard.

“The other ranchers around here had their own water or were already on city water, but we all had septic systems. When I won my case, they all told the county where to go with their demands for us to use city water and sewage. Ever since those incidents, the building department and I have not gotten along.

“Of course, I had been having a few minor problems with my septic system, so a couple of years later, I decided to upgrade it. I had a contractor come in and do the work. The contractor took out the permit and ended up in a big fight with the building department because the work was being done on my property. They can be very vindictive.”

“That sounds ominous. I am hoping to start construction on the Embassy in the near future.

“I’ll call and make an appointment, but would you be available to go with us to the Sheriff’s office tomorrow afternoon as our local liaison?”

“Sure, I haven’t talked with the Sheriff for a while, so it might be fun. He and I can catchup on old times, and by the way, he was one of the ranchers the building department tried to force into hooking up to city water and sewage.”

After saying goodbye to Ken, I called the Sheriff’s office.

“Good morning, Weld County Sheriff’s Office. How can I direct your call?”

“My name is Doug Smith and I recently purchased Ken Johnson’s ranch. In the near future, my staff and I, which includes several armed guards, plan to live on the ranch. I thought that it might be a good idea if I spoke with the Sheriff about my plans for the ranch. Would it be possible to arrange an appointment with him for tomorrow afternoon?”

“I don’t handle that for the Sheriff, but I will put you through to his Administrative Assistant. Hold on please.”

When the Sheriff’s assistant Sharon answered, I repeated my explanation of why I wanted to speak with the Sheriff and asked for an appointment tomorrow afternoon.

“One moment Mister Smith and I’ll check to see if there is an opening in his schedule.

“Mister Smith, the Sheriff can see you at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon, if that’s acceptable with you.”

“3:00 will be fine with me.”

I called Ken back to let him know that I had an appointment at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. He agreed to meet me in the lobby of the Sheriff’s Headquarters Building. If things went well, tomorrow, all I would have to do is talk with the Building Department about what I would need to do to obtain building permits for our temporary residences, and the Embassy compound.

I had been thinking of taking just my three bodyguards with me to meet with the Sheriff. After thinking about it, I decided that it would be a good idea to also take Sereine and Abby.

I had not thought about explaining our need to eat a low sugar diet to Abby. Lunch surprised her for she was accustomed to eating foods that were high in sugar. She commented on the dietary nature of our lunch, so I explained our problem with sugar addiction to her. She let Betty and I know that she enjoyed lunch, but also told us that she may want to eat out from time to time; at least until we adapted to a high sugar diet.

I had asked Matt, Mary, Bill, and Sue to join me after lunch so we could coordinate our activities for the next several days. I asked Abby and Sereine to join us also.

“Matt, Mary, and I have an appointment at HRD tomorrow morning at 9:00. Mary, you and William need to discuss your warehouse needs. Matt, I want William to prepare drawings suitable for submission to the Building Department for the concrete pads and underground lines that we will need for our temporary housing, office space, and utility equipment.

“I also have a three o’clock appointment at the Weld County Sheriff’s Office. I will want Art, Fitz, Mac, Sereine, and Abby to go with me. Matt told me that it would be a good idea to pay a courtesy call on the Sheriff and discuss our plans for the Embassy and its defense. Since our security staff will be located in his area of responsibility, I hope to avoid any embarrassing encounters between his deputies and our personnel.

“The day after that, I will be going to the Weld County Building Department to determine the requirements that we must meet for our temporary housing and for the Embassy. I will need Matt and two of my bodyguards to go with me. Abby, you are welcome to go with us, but I don’t think you will be needed.”

“Thanks for the offer, Doug. I think I will go with you. I learned that making contact with the local officials usually helps me in doing my job. My diplomatic status and experience may be of some use to you in dealing with the local bureaucracy, and if nothing else, I might make a few useful contacts.”

“If everything goes smoothly, I am planning on departing for the Multiverse the day after that. I will take Mac as my bodyguard and leave Art and Fitz to look out for everyone else. This is to be an in and out visit with no trading. Sereine, Abby, and Cindy will be going with me.

“We will start out on Slave World so I can discuss matters with Kendrick. Sereine can hop to Vora to coordinate with Inspector Nast regarding the Trade Checkpoint.

“Ahh, Matt, did you plan on a portable for Sereine to use as the temporary Trade Checkpoint office?”

“No, I overlooked that, Doug. I’ll increase the number of portables I buy by one, unless Sereine needs more space.”

“No, a room the size of Doug’s office should be adequate, for now.”

“Sereine, we need to talk about your space requirements so I can let William know what you will need.

“I am planning on a trip to Vora to coordinate things with my parents, and to give Master Moore a report on my progress. Once that’s done, I plan to return here with the equipment that Chairman Smart forwarded to my parents.

“Have I missed anything?”

Mac said, “How will I get to my home world so I can discuss that matter with my lady friend, and who will be guarding you while I’m gone?”

“I was thinking that Kendrick could arrange for several of our security personnel to provide coverage for me. Sereine, can you take Mac to his home world and pick him up afterward. I am expecting to spend three days on Slave World with Kendrick, and two days on Vora. Let’s add in an extra day just in case we encounter delays. Let’s plan on meeting at my parents’ home and departing on the morning of our seventh day.

“Anyone have anything else to add?”

Sue raised her hand to get my attention. “It isn’t relevant now, but I was wondering about our meeting like this. It’s okay right now, but when everyone and their families are here, there will be too many people to hold this type of meeting. At the same time, I think it will be advantageous to have a community meeting. In my hometown, we held quarterly town meetings so the city leaders could tell us what was going on and we could let them know about any problems we were having.

“It worked well for my home town, and it should work for us.”

“I agree with you, Sue. It sounds like a good idea and I haven’t had the time to work out an organizational structure that would support good communications. I would appreciate your putting together an organizational structure and interface plan that would support your concept of how we can involve everyone in our meetings without having to meet with everyone every time we hold a meeting.

“Anything else?”

No one had anything else to add. So I asked Matt and Bill to stay for a few minutes and I ended the meeting, so we could all get back to what we needed to do.

“Bill, while I am gone, I would like for you to take over from Matt and handle the arrangements with Mister Temba so I can present my credentials as soon as possible when I return. Matt, I want you to help Bill if he needs it.”

“Is there anything that you would like to see as far as protocol goes when you present your credentials, Doug?”

“Yes, Bill. I know there needs to be some sort of ceremony. However, I would prefer no pageantry and as little public exposure as possible.”

“Okay boss, I’ll do the best that I can.”

“Matt, we were talking about a dozen mobile homes. Right now, we have six single people, my ladies, and me. That means six small mobile homes and one large home.

“I’m planning on bringing twelve additional security personnel to provide security for our living area in the near future. I expect most of them will be married, but I will try to avoid bringing couples that have kids. We are not ready for kids, and I doubt that we will be until the compound is complete.

“That means as a minimum, we will need at least eighteen mobile homes for our people. I think we should plan on twenty in case we have to bring in some additional people. If necessary, some of the single people will have to share a place. If we need more places than that, we can have William add additional pads.