Chapter 14: The Genteli Settle In

~~ August - Week 32 ~~

Sean came back and collected Don and Zan.

He took them to his apartment building showed them around. He showed them how to access the replicator for basics like towels, clothes and toothpaste. Don and Zan just stood and looked at the screen of the replicator.

“It can make all these things, just by pressing a button?” Don asked in wonder.

Sean looked at the wonderment on the guys’ faces. He was getting used to the local inhabitants’ reaction to the replicator. They had significantly reduced what the standard replicators would produce for free. The rest of the items had to be paid for. Some of the scientists had grumbled but as they were getting paid and since the things were not standard on the ship they couldn’t bitch much.

“Yep! It sure can,” he said. “Kyle has modified them, so you simply request an item. If it has to be paid for, a price appears beside it as well as your current bank balance. The price is then automatically deducted from your account as long as it has cash in it, then it’s produced. You open this hatch when it dings, and retrieve the item.”

“There is a lot more to them that what you see but they are handy to have,” Sean concluded. He walked them down the hall and set their handprints for the door. Kyle had taught him how to do it. He let Don and Zan into the flat.

“Sorry it’s pretty basic, but you’re welcome to decorate as you wish,” Sean said. “There are a couple of web pages on the pad you can access to buy or order extra furniture from. Or you can go talk to Bones as he is also making unique items you can purchase if you wish.”

They had not been sure how primitive they would find the accommodations when they got here. So, they had bought a wagon full of furniture. Don was amazed at the spacious living arrangement and the luxurious furniture, Sean called ‘basic’. He looked at Zan and grinned.

The bed alone in one of the rooms was huge. Don could also think of someone he would like to share it with. He decided he would keep some of what he had, but otherwise, he would need to get rid of the rest. Zan hadn’t bought much furniture, so he elected to take the bed that was here, they could set Don’s up later.

They did find the bathing room a little less than he was accustomed to as there was only a small bath, but when Sean explained how the shower and air-dryer worked, both guys decided they could become accustomed to the faculties very quickly.

The toilet also had Don intrigued, and Sean showed him how to push the button when finished, and other special features used when seated. Sean and Zan left him to use it, to his relief.

Don decided he was going to be very happy here. He had brought all of his money with him. With the trade goods he personally had purchased to sell, he had a feeling that he could live here without working too hard for the rest of his life. He found the people and their technologies fascinating.

Zan was walking around the unit. Oh yes, this was more than adequate. So far, he had been amazed by everything. He still didn’t know why he had come with Don or what he was going to do here, but he wasn’t worried.

Something would come up. In the meantime, he was happy to learn how these people operated. He loved the banking system, and could it see it set up at home. It sure would reduce the muggings.

As they walked out, Sean pointed out some of their neighbours’ units, naming who lived in them. It turned out Doc Von lived across the hall to Don’s delight, and Sean had put the girls at the other end of the building, well away from him.

DT commed Sean to say the perimeter fences were up and the basics installed. So, Sean then took the boys over to where the ponies were located. He told Don, his people had completed their medicals and would meet them over there.

Sean’s people had set up the port-a-washroom and laundry. They had included a ten by twenty-metre covered area with a pallet floor in front, for when it was wet. The headers had parked the four living wagons. With two on either side, end for end, so the edge of the cover protected them as well. There was still plenty of room under the cover for them to be comfortable.

Sean’s people had helped them remove the harnesses, and they were now stored in a big cupboard they had supplied. Horrie told Don that Haf had already picked up the trade wagons and carted them off. The money from the sales would be put in his and the girls’ accounts. He had given Haf the lists of what belonged to whom.

Gary and DT turned up and asked Don what he wanted to shift to his apartment. Don and Zan had them help empty their wagon into three piles. Don pointed out the collection he would keep. Zan pointed to his smaller one. Don then asked the headers what they wanted from the third-largest group of items.

Don gave his wagon to Horrie and his wife for putting up with them and doing an excellent job, getting them here. The couple had shared their wagon with their married daughter and her husband all the way here.

The girls turned up with Gavin. Don explained to them what he was doing. They also agreed to give up their wagon for the herders to use, as they didn’t tend to use it again. They split up their possessions as well. They asked the two servants what they wanted to do? They had decided to try to live without servants like humans.

Don wasn’t surprised when the women looked at the two single male herders. They had effectively been living with them for the last three weeks. The girls had put them in that wagon not willing to share theirs. Don had heard enough noises from the wagon to suggest none of them had been abstaining from sex as he, Zan and the girls had.

The guys took the girls hands, and Don said he would pay the girls as work hands to their delight. Don had told the herders they could do whatever they wanted with the gear, he didn’t want, and the girls also agreed. The herders chose what they wanted to keep. This still left a lot of stuff.

Sean said they had a market day tomorrow. If they wanted, they could set up a stall in the Common to sell the gear they didn’t want. Or they could assign it to Haf, and he would sort it out. Gavin and DT ended up carting off the excess equipment for Haf to sort out.

The washroom had Don intrigued, and he had to go take a look. It was very spacious. Sean explained it had four toilets and four showers. There were four hand sinks and a bath alcove down the long end.

Down the other end, it had two washing machines and two separate dryers as well as a steam clothes press and a large double utility sink. Four large cupboards partitioned off the laundry from the bathing area for storing towels and whatever.

Don noticed the space beside the washroom was another room. In it, there were two large white boxes against the sidewall. Two smaller but different ones that sat between the backbenches and there was another double sink, but it was shallower.

Lots of cupboards were hung on the side and back walls except were a large window was over the sinks. The side benches ran into the wide benches across the middle of the room, with convenient access between them. A table with eight chairs took up the front section. He had noticed a similar set up in his unit but hadn’t asked at the time.

“What are they for?” he asked Sean, pointing at the large white boxes.

Sean opened the doors, and cold air burst forth, “Fridge and freezer,” he said.

Don investigated, he had heard that on other continents, they had personal cold boxes, but these were marvellous and huge, you could keep a lot of food in them. They were very expensive items to import. He knew they had a cold box back home, but it was nothing like these items.

These people amazed him. They treated all these luxury items as if they were everyday must-haves. Sean went on, noticing Don looking at the other two white boxes.

“Looks like the boys whipped up a full kitchen for the girls. This item is a stove, see it has hot elements on the top,” Sean touched a pad on the side, and one of round circles under the glass top started to glow. “For putting pots on, this section controls the temperature.”

He then opened the door, so Don could see the area with metal racks in it. “This part is an oven for cooking cakes and roasting meats and such. This pad controls its temperature.” He then went to the other box and opened its door. Inside were two draws with lots of slots in it for dishes. “The dishwasher,” he said.

The Genteli on the other continents hadn’t bothered to build devices like these as they had slaves to do menial work. Don was amazed these people had built this room, just for making cooking easier. It was a bit like the machines Sean had called the clothes washers and dryers. Women always bitched about laundry day.