Chapter 9

"The Landerships going down in tandem were carrying lengths of cable for the wires between the fence poles, and delivering mechanoids to weld them to the fence posts. The cables are heavy, so only a few can be delivered on any trip. We found that the practical delivery is the cable links between two posts, so this is going to be a long job, with thousands of deliveries to be made. We have had to collect additional fuel for the task, so other Base ships have been detailed to have their Landerships seek out ice and take it to the Base ship for disassociating into hydrogen and oxygen. We are having new supplies coming to us every few hours, so we have commandeered more Landerships for taking cable lengths down to ground level.

"There is a practical limit to how many Landerships can be in one relatively small air space at one time, so we expect to be able to place only about 130 deliveries per day. The welding will be even slower, even with more mechanoids employed on the task, so that it will take approaching two months to install the wire cables to all the fence posts. The costs are considerable, but we can negotiate a fee with yourself later. Perhaps exports of timber to Rehome can be utilised as payment.

"I have to point out that when I say – 'all the fence posts' - we have to leave a gap for the exit of mega beasts. After that is achieved, we shall complete the fence."

John interrupted, "Now there lies a conundrum. We colonists need to ascertain that what remains in the enclosed area is not dangerous in other ways. There are concerns over the possibility of smaller poisonous creatures such as snakes, lizards, and insects. Can you help us by imaging at low level with drones, so that our explorers can have detailed images of the ground they need to survey?"

"That we can do with ease. We have drones available. We may also be able to assist with roving mechanoids. These could be sent to travel all over the enclosed area, sampling the local flora and fauna, for even bushes might be poisonous to humans. We would do this without charge, purely out of interest to ourselves, to add to our data on planets."

"That seems reasonable. I presume you will let us know what areas you have checked, and what inimical discoveries you make."

"We accept that stipulation, Governor."

Penny asked Muriel to accompany her to the college on her first day at attendance, as she was apprehensive about how she would be treated. Muriel was quite motherly about this request, seeing that knowledge of Penny's family disaster might disturb her on meeting fellow classmates and teachers for the first time.

Arriving at the college, Muriel told the office staff that, as wife of the Governor, she wished to make a statement to the two classes that Penny was joining. They reckoned that making things difficult for the Governor's wife was not a good idea, so they notified the lecturers in advance.

Thus, Muriel and Penny came to the economics class together, and introduced themselves to the lecturer. Muriel asked to make a statement to the class, and he agreed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Muriel Wells, wife of the Governor of New Eden. Recently, a murder was committed within a family in our community, leaving two teenage girls without a father or a mother." She paused to allow that to sink in. "Penny, here," she indicated Penny, "was one of these girls, who are under the protection of the Governor. I want you to treat her as a normal student, and please do NOT ask her about these traumatic events in her life. She needs to get back to a normal life and contribute to our community. Can I have your assistance with this, ladies and gentlemen?"

The shocked class members nodded and many voiced a "Yes, ma'am".

Muriel responded, "Thank you, class. Thank you, sir, for your forbearance. I shall leave you to your lectures." Muriel shook his hand, and left the lecture room.

She repeated this injunction at the teacher training class later in the day, having come back to deliver this brief homily.

Penny was relieved that no-one approached her about her family circumstances. They did approach her as a personable young lady, which pleased her immensely. All attempts over the next few days to ask her out, she rebuffed by saying she already had a boy friend, thank you very much all the same. The girls in the economics class were few, but they were supportive, just wanting to show their sympathy.

In the teacher training class, there were far more girls. She discovered that this did not mean more sympathy. Groups of girls seemed to gather in cliques that had already been formed, and she was the outsider. That was all right with Penny. She concentrated on her studies instead of socialising, and found herself rapidly catching up on the other students in both subjects.

Reporting to her new parents at home was a joy. John, Muriel and Gloria all praised her work and determination, and offered any help that she might need. In reality, what she wanted was a chance to get away from her studies for a little while, and helping with the young children was a great means of removing her attention from economics and teacher training.

Tabs also helped by asking questions about the economics of chemical industries. Every answer she got enabled Tabs to understand more about the part that chemistry played in the life of any industrial nation. That industry might only be the preparation of hides by tanning, but dying also played a part in all the cloth industries.

She learned about chemicals that helped intensify the colour of a dye, or getting it to be fixed permanently in a fabric (originally using alum as a mordant), so that washing the fabric would not remove part of the dye. All the early dyes were from natural sources, such as the red root of the madder plant. Choosing the right dye for the job was a combination of purchase costs, transportation from its production site, costs of other chemical fixatives, and the requirements in terms of temperature for the dye to work efficiently. In the 1870s, 10,000 tonnes of madder was imported into Britain each year. One ingredient might be cheap to buy, but the associated costs, such as importing, made it expensive, so an apparently dearer ingredient might be cheaper in the end.

The arrival of a chemically-produced aniline dye in the 1850s produced a revolution in the dye industry, courtesy of Sir William Perkin and his various coal-tar dyes.

These discussions between the two girls helped both with chemistry and with economics.

With Penny now introduced to college, Tabs felt prepared to go back to school. She asked Muriel to speak to the school principal, to try to achieve the same discussion-style help with other pupils. Muriel told her that it was impossible to expect young teens to be as responsible as those now in college, but she would gladly speak to the principal about it.

She did so the next day, in preparation for Tabs resuming school the day after. Muriel emphasised to the school that, should Tabs be harassed, they would remove her from the school and home-school her instead.

With that threat hanging over the school, the principal instructed her teachers to ensure that the pupils behaved accordingly. Tabs started as scheduled, and found the education process less stressful than she expected. Within days she was finding her feet in the classes. Her home tuition had expanded her horizons in all subjects, so that she looked at them from the viewpoint of practical application in society. That helped her to take in what she was learning, and it showed.

John found himself with time to devote to the more mundane aspects of his job: the occasional problems with new immigrants, squabbles between various tradespeople about trying to put each other out of business, budgetary constraints preventing necessary building work from happening, and so on.

The immigrant problems were usually solved by negotiation; using logic to make people see what the best course of action was for them. The friction between competing family businesses needed a longer-term solution. As the colony got larger, there would be more business for everyone, so why not agree to avoid predatory pricing in the meantime. Any business thinking it was a suitable time to compete at that level should consult the Colony Administration Department; they would issue a general statement to all the firms in the same business that the gloves were off, if the officials agreed on the situation. An appeal to the Governor to override such a statement in advance was allowed for in the agreement.

Budget difficulties were more a matter of choices. Raise taxes to pay for needed facilities, sell more products to Earth and Rehome, ask The Personalia to invest more cash in the Colony. Each option had its drawbacks, and John consulted widely before making his decision. It all took time.

At home, family life had settled down. Gloria announced that she was pregnant, then ten days later Muriel provided the same news about herself. She was delighted that she was still fertile, and was already planning ahead for more rooms in their home, or a move to an even larger house. The two rooms originally designated for official guests had been taken over by their family additions, Penny and Tabs, but the other house had now been refurbished for use by official guests from Earth or Rehome.

Muriel's plans were for their growing number of children. She put it to John, "When our next babies arrive, John, either we have new rooms for the children, or our younger two get their cots moved into your bedroom. Which would you prefer?"

"Is that my only option, Muriel?"

"Of course not, dear. Penny could always vacate her room, and move in with you; but that would only postpone the shortage difficulty. If she got pregnant, the children question simply increases."

John gulped. No matter what he did, it all boiled down to needing more space for the family. He consulted his Resources official.

"Timothy, on the matter of resources, in looking ahead, the existing Governor's mansion is going to be too small when our children start to grow larger. We have already lost our guest bedrooms to Penny and Tabitha; though that has been rectified with your refurbishment of another house.

Muriel and Gloria tell me we are having another two children in nine months, and the number of rooms has to be increased. That means either an extension or a move to a larger building. What do you, as my resources manager, have to suggest?"

"Allow me to call up the plans of the location, Governor, then I can advise better." He did so, then projected the plan from his phone onto the wall next to them. He nodded to himself as he considered.

Governor, the rooms on this wall: are you prepared to lose the windows?"

"If necessary, yes. One of these is my study; the other is the dining room."

"We could build an extension on that side, with two rooms. If we built it as two-storey, you could have four rooms, assuming the upstairs landing can be extended. Is there a window on that wall of the landing?"

"Not quite. The landing stops, with a door at each end, into the upstairs bedrooms, giving a turn into the rooms. You would have to extend the landing through one of those doors, making an arrow-head with doors into the two new bedrooms. The original bedroom on that side would need a new door directly into the room."

"Okay. That is do-able. What about downstairs, for getting into the two new rooms?"

"How about we sacrificed my study, converting it into a corridor to where the new rooms are? Come to think of it, if these were smaller rooms, for younger children, you could have three rooms instead of two, and one could be my study. How about that?"

"Yes, but the corridor would have to turn, with your study facing forward, and the two small bedrooms opening off the corridor after it turns. We can work it out. When do you need this for, Governor?"