Chapter 6

John pursed his lips in thought, then said, "Why don't we make the railway system a company owned by the community, with each family issued a share on arrival, or two shares if they have been here more than a year. We could reward our committee members with an additional two shares for their work on the committee. That way, it is in their interest to see the colony expand successfully: the rail network will show that success, I believe."

"Neat trick, Governor. I think they will go for that. I'll have Legal draw up the papers for forming a railway company today."

"Thank you," said John. "Anything else we need to sort out? I presume you will tell the committee members they have been volunteered, and to sort out a chairman between them?"

"Ahhh, that is a slight problem. Each of them will think he is best to run the committee, so that might lead to friction. Perhaps if the Governor were to appoint the Chairman, the others would simply accept that decision."

"Bloody office politics!" declared John, "But I take your point. Go through the list, pull out whoever has the best managerial experience, preferably in a commercial business, and submit his name to me. I will appoint him as Chairman; he is unlikely to refuse the honour. Draft me out a letter of appointment, and include a paragraph about speed being of the essence, and practicalities should have priority over cleverness. I want work seen to be done, not a display of how clever someone is."

As he finished speaking, he heard a faint "bang", that sounded as if it was outside. He asked someone to check what was happening. And a couple of the men rushed out. One returned a couple of minutes later to report, "One of the staff was looking out of the window at the time, and said there was a bright light in the sky, in the general direction of the tunnel, then the bang came afterwards. He reckoned it was a meteor coming in from space, but has not seen one before, so would not swear to it."

John said, "O.K., panic over, if the colony is unaffected. Let's get back to work." At this moment there was another "bang", exactly like before, so he exclaimed, "What the hell is going on? Two in two minutes: is this a bombardment from space?"

Now his phone rang. He expected it to be someone asking about the sky events, but instead it was The Personalia.

"Sorry about the noise, Governor. We should have warned you that this would happen. The rail posts come down at above the speed of sound, and when they pass that, it causes a loud noise. It is such a well-known effect that we neglected to mention it. If you are not expecting it, the sound could be frightening.

"There will be a lot more, arriving in batches of twelve."

John heard another bang in the background, so said, "Thanks. I'll get a message phoned to everyone."

"We can do that, Governor. We will use your voice, to sound more friendly."

The minutes John closed his phone, it rang again, and he switched it back on, to hear his own voice saying,

"People of New Eden, the bangs that you may have noticed are nothing to be concerned about. The noise is the delivery and installation of metal fence posts for the protective fencing to be built outside the mountains. There are more than seven thousand of these posts coming down from orbit, over a period of several days, so just tell the children to ignore them, or have fun watching them arrive in the distance.

"They will be coming down in a sequence running over hundreds of kilometres. This is the first stage of building a megabeast-proof fence, to allow settlement beyond the mountains. Thank you for your forbearance."

One of his staff came running in to the office. "Governor, how did you do that? It seems as if your message went to every phone in the Colony!"

"Thank The Personalia for that, Bill. It was all their own work, including using my voice: I had nothing to do with it, beyond agreeing!"

Before the day was out, the residents had become used to the regular lights in the sky, followed by the sound barrier being broken again. One bonus from this was that the populace recognised that the process of extending the Colony beyond the mountains had begun. There was talk of who would be going out there, and to do what?

The questions came to the local Colony news pages, so John Wells placed a statement there to the effect that, "at the request of the Colony, a massive steel barrier is being erected many kilometres beyond the mountains, to protect future settlers from the megabeasts. Most of the work is being done by our friends and allies, The Personalia, who are being given a part-share in the Colony's future exports, in payment for their actions on behalf of us. The Personalia, as you may know, act as our own space-force, to protect us from any threat from space."

John found a message to call the College head, in response to his own request for a discussion about a possible student. He called the man back, and explained his mission.

"Sir, in a recent criminal case, a man was banished to Rehome for life, for killing his wife. Their two daughters are being fostered by my family, and the elder daughter, Penny Fabricci, age 17, is considering studying for a future career. Can you tell me what courses are currently open to her? I am aware that this is the wrong time of year to start a course, but I see this as partly therapeutic to help her over the tragic loss of both parents. Her preferred subjects are either mathematical – economics, etc., or the medical professions."

"Governor, normally I would be averse to such a start, but I can see the justification in this instance. Allow me to investigate the situation, and I shall get back to you tomorrow or the next day."

"Fine. I am grateful for you, taking this on board. I shall look forward to hearing from you, sir."

At dinner that night, Tabitha was happily forthcoming on the subject of chemistry. "Mr Wells, did you know that each element shows a specific colour when it burns in oxygen, so that simply seeing the colour of a flame, lets you know something about the elements involved."

"I did know that, Tabs. It was a point that fascinated me when I first heard it. I heard it from my grandfather, who had an open fire where he burned scrap wood. If what he burned was driftwood, it had a green flame, from the sea salt embedded in the wood."

"Fascinating!" Tabs said. "I hadn't heard that before."

She pondered, and advanced another point. "A particular dye that came from the Mediterranean, that gave a purple colour, turned out to be made from certain shellfish. It was extremely rare, because you had to know which shellfish produced that dye. It was a closely guarded trade secret. It was known as Tyrelian Purple, because the dye producers were based in Tyre."

Penny added, to show she had picked up things just as well, "I learned in my history class that the top Romans wore robes dyed purple. The reason for that was that the purple dye was so expensive that it showed you were rich or one of the top nobs. It came down through the generations as the saying "born to the purple", meaning you were born into a noble house."

Tabs said, shocked, "You learned that in history class?"

"Yes. It is not all dates of battles and names of kings, you know."

"So did you learn any chemistry in your history class, big sister Know-it-all?"

"Actually, yes. The history of steel-making revolves around the temperature at which iron melts in a blast furnace. To get to such high temperatures with just charcoal was extremely difficult, so switching to coking coal produced higher temperatures more quickly, so cutting costs. Coke was even more effective in obtaining high temperatures, but it was not until an improved blast furnace was invented, that steel became really cheap to produce. Henry Bessemer's converter furnaces were all the rage for a long period. These swivelling furnaces allowed the addition of certain constituents and removal of others by blasting air through the molten iron to remove impurities, turning it into steel."

Tabs was puzzled. "Why did you learn about the chemistry of iron and steel, when you were studying history, Penny?"

"Simple. All knowledge is intertwined. It is human beings who try to slot it into different subjects. In the past, when a man became interested in many different subjects, and became knowledgeable in them all, he was known as a polymath, because it was seen as unusual.

"But when you think about it, building an aeroplane is not just the physics of aerodynamics. It is metal-working; the chemistry of glue; interior design; the chemistry of fuels; economics of a manufacturing business. Then in its operation as a commercial aircraft it requires advertising and public relations; the economics of passenger travel; the safety factor in the airline business. So to run an aircraft you need a whole battery of knowledge. Most companies parcel out these to individual experts to sort out, working to a set budget. Often the man at the top only knows about financing a company. Few have detailed knowledge of the business.

"As a result, someone who has detailed knowledge in a number of disparate subjects is in a better position to be a success in almost any job. That is the principle of universities. Study a number of subjects, with one specific subject as the main focus.

"Even if you concentrate on one subject, it opens up. The English language is an amalgam of several different languages, depending on the history of the country. The Roman invasion contributed Latin words; the Norman takeover added many French words to the local patois. The Vikings added more words, as did the Flemish weavers; the Dutch North Sea fishermen, the Huguenot refugees; Scots moving to England, bring Scots Gaelic and Broad Scots dialects; Irishmen coming across, bringing Irish Gaelic.

"As if that wasn't enough, most languages in Europe derive from ancient Celtic languages that give for example Cornish.

"So studying one language means having knowledge of historical movements of people, knowledge of philology, and working out which words come from which background."

John remarked, "Penny, are sure you don't want to become a teacher? You sound as if you might have an aptitude in that direction."

"No, Governor. I picked up my knowledge while I was at school, but not FROM school. I read a lot of books from the public library at Metropolis, and I picked up a lot more on the Internet. I did it because I was interested in the subject, and its ramifications, some of which were absurd, like the so-called scientific ideas about the origins of human beings, and where fossils came from. Scientists of the time came up with some ridiculous claims, mostly based on the "everybody knows" theory of life. It was a wonder that they ever got round to accepting reality."

"Penny, the College head is coming back to me tomorrow or the next day with a list of courses which may have an opening available. If one of them is teacher training, that may be worth you considering, my girl."

She bridled, "Governor, I am seventeen, coming up eighteen. I am a woman, not a little girl. Please treat me a such."

John looked across at Muriel and Gloria, not sure how he should respond. Gloria voiced, "She is quite correct, John. She is not much younger than I was when you married me. You have to see her in that light, not as a foster child needing looked after."

Penny beamed at Gloria, but said nothing more.

Muriel's voice filled the following gap in the conversation. "I think we should all thank Tabs for her contribution to an interesting discussion. Thank you, Tabs." She clapped her hands in applause, and the others swiftly joined in. Tabs was delighted at this recognition, but slightly embarrassed, so got up, saying, "Well, I have some more studying to do. My physics is not as good as my chemistry. Thanks again, everyone."

And she left for her room. Gloria and Muriel also got up, to deal with the children. The babies were in their cots, but needing changed and fed. The older two had still to be prepared for bed. John stood up.

"Penny, it looks like you and I get to clear the table and do the washing-up. Let's get started."

"Sure, Mr Wells."

He grimaced. "Can you make that "John", please? I'll feel more comfortable with that in our house, Penny."

"Of course, John. Then can I come to you for a cuddle, later? I want to sit in your lap and have you hold me secure. I still need a bit of comforting."

"Naturally. Of course you can. Anything I can do to help, it is yours."

The clearance went quickly, then John moved to his study, expecting to catch up on his email, which never seemed to stop. As soon as he was settled, he found his castor-wheeled chair being pulled back, and a pair of lips kissed his neck from behind.