Chapter 12

“Nothing special,” she told him. “You acted like the man we have made you; comfortable in yourself and able to deal with anyone you meet, from yobs to Governors. I am quite proud of my baby’s father, Reg.”

She came forward and hugged him, and his eyes watered.

“I am simply acting as I believe a good husband should, Frances. I love you. I love all of you, for my sins. I love my children, even when I have to deal with mucky bottoms. They are the fruit of our loins, the children who we hope to give a worthwhile start for their lives ahead.”

“Having good parents makes a fine start, darling. That is the best grounding any child can get.”

Frances stopped speaking, then continued, “Hearing what you said to the Governor, you didn’t seem to mention applying for more land, over the ridge; and you certainly didn’t mention your idea of protected areas, making them like National Parks, where exploitation of resources is strictly controlled to preserve the natural environment.”

“Oh, that slipped my memory, Frances. We can bring it up another day.”

“If you do, consider who is going to run these National Parks, and under what rules. If a protected forest is on your property, do you have any say in how the land is used, if it is preserved in that particular way?”

“I haven’t thought that one through, dear. My preference would be that the Park rules override personal rights. The Park authority could negotiate with the landowner to see if any proposed use would impinge adversely on the local wildlife and nature in general. Picking of fruit and nuts as a forest crop would have to be restricted to authorised pickers acting on behalf of the Park, and the pickers be paid by the Park for what they collect and hand in. A certain percentage would have to be left on the trees to encourage regeneration of the forest in the natural way.”

That is good thinking, my darling, and worth exploring farther: keep it up. Talking about keeping it up, we haven’t see Ivan today. Any idea why?”

“All I can think of, is that he was late in getting to our property and rushed off to supervise his men; or he had another meeting with a client that has kept him busy.”

“HmmmÖ I think I’ll phone Hazel and have a chat for information. You get back to looking over the farm for any signs of invasion by local wildlife, or even a flock of Earth geese.”

“My God, yes. Geese can be damaging to crops or grassland if they arrive in large numbers, but I don’t think they are in need of our land for now. There must be plenty of food for the limited numbers of geese out in the wild.”

“Yes, but they might want to use a fenced-in farm for nesting, as they will be free of predators.”

“Not now, Frances, as this must be autumn if you are getting lots of fruit. Most birds nest in the springtime, and geese nest in more northern climes as well, so no nests for a long while.”

“Okay; so no nests. Go walk our land, darling, and keep out of mischief.”

She kissed him to encourage obedience.

Reg did as he was told, and headed for the fields. He told himself he needed the exercise, as he walked up the field towards where the fencing crew were working. As he slowly came closer, he noticed they were at one of the sections that ran over hard rock. They were concentrating on their task, and did not see him arriving until he got close.

One was using an electric hammer drill, chipping away at the rock to create a hole for inserting and cementing in a fence-pole socket. One of the men cursed and glanced up at Ivan, in case he was offended by the foul language, but Ivan just smiled, saying, “I know: It doesn’t always go to plan.”

“That bloody rock won’t chip easily, boss. It’ll take ages before we can install the anchor.”

Ivan told him, “Some stretches will be difficult, others easy, but it all evens out, Jimmy. Don’t fret too much.”

“I know, boss, but I pride myself in getting through rock faster than through this stuff.”

“What is it; granite?” Ivan asked.

“Yep, and a hard granite at that. I prefer granite that crumbles easily.”

“How about using our circular saw? Do one cut, and then another at right angles. That should make it easier to chip out the central cross.”

“Probably, boss, but we didn’t bring the circular saw today. It is a heavy beast for carting around.”

“I see.” Ivan pondered. “We should bring a handcart for the heavy tools in future. I’ll see to getting one, as we’ll face this problem time and again.”

“Hi, folks,” Reginald greeted them amiably. Ivan looked up at the voice. His greeting was formal in front of his men.

“Oh, it is you, Mr Robertson. Sorry to tell you we are having trouble cutting into this granite.”

“I can see that. Just leave it for another day if it is being a bugger. The fence poles are not that urgent. Just move on to the next one that will be on reasonable ground.”

“I was saying that I would have to get a handcart for bringing along some heavier power tools, Mr Robertson,” Ivan explained. “We got to this granite earlier than expected, so didn’t come prepared for hard rock.”

“Funny you should say that. We had a visit earlier from a guy who runs a delivery service using an electric bike and an attached trailer. You could ask him where he got his trailer made.”

“That sounds interesting. We don’t need an electric bike, at the pace we move, but a pedal bike with a trailer like that might suit our need; perhaps a tandem, if we have heavy loads. Who is it?”

“His name is Angus Holmes, with an l. He runs the Holmes Delivery Service.”

“I’ll ring him today, and find out what he knows about sourcing a trailer,” said Ivan. “Possibly there is someone who rents them out.”

His men had switched tasks and another man was operating the hammer drill. He seemed to be getting an improved result. As they all watched him, he grunted and stopped. “This seems less hard when you get in a bit,” he commented, and resumed his work.

Ivan, satisfied with progress, stepped aside and gestured to Reginald to follow him away from the noise. They moved about ten metres away.

“Did you want to speak to me about something important, Reginald, that brings you out here?”

“Not really. My women chased me out to the fields, and I thought I might encounter you and your men. How is progress?”

“Still ahead of schedule, despite that little diversion into rock. Your ladies didn’t mention me?”

“No. Why should they?”

“Oh, it looks like my wives and your wives phone each other a lot; that is all.”

“You are probably correct. Anything further on your visitors?”

“Only that they don’t appear to be visitors any longer. Hazel and Ivy are treating them as permanent fixtures in our house.”

“How is that?”

“Well, last night I went to bed as usual with Hazel and Ivy, one on either side of me. At some point during the night, they both got up and then returned, supposedly, but when I woke in the morning, Jade was lying on one side of me, and Naomi on the other, both cuddled up close. I got the idea they were hoping I would make love to them, but time was short for getting to work, so I left and got my breakfast. Neither Hazel nor Ivy appeared before I left.”

“Ah, the swap procedure? You wake up with two naked women, but not the ones you expected?”

“That’s it.” Ivan admitted.

“Probably you will be expected to alter them from being virgins to being wives tonight, Ivan. Take it in your stride; you are not forcing them, they are volunteers, man.”

“I still feel I am not in control of my family, Reg.”

“Let’s face it: You are not in control, never have been, old son. Me too, I can assure you. My girls know what they want and go for it. When I think I am in charge, I discover later that what I did was their idea. All they had to do was prompt me to act. Take today; this ëgo walk the fields, darling’ idea? I am sure it was so they could get together with your ladies and work out the next step in getting you married to Jade and Naomi.”

“How?”

“Probably you will find they have spoken to a clergyman about fixing a date for the wedding where you take on Jade and Naomi. If you express anything less than real enthusiasm, they will tell you, ëdarling, we thought you would be happy that we did the preparation, for you DO want to marry the twins, don’t you?’ What are you going to say to that, Ivan? I can’t see any response other than agreement.”

“Damn, yes. Saying no would put me in everyone’s bad books, when saying yes would be so simple.”

“And let’s face the facts, Ivan. You have no objections to Jade and Naomi. Your reticence is all about losing face, appearing to be under the thumb of Hazel and Ivy; but you always will be, if you want a happy family. As I said before, go with the flow. It will be good for you. Every husband with a happy family has accepted the same proposition: the wife decides and the husband implements.”

Ivan sighed.

“I am afraid you are right, Reginald. I do want to be happy, and if that means fitting in with my wives, so be it.”

“Good for you, Ivan. Go home with that frame of mind, and you will be fine.”

Reginald patted him on the shoulder, and walked off on his own planned perusal of his fields. His eyes were on the lookout for animals, birds and other creatures that might be around. His eyes had occasionally noticed the odd worm in the more grassy parts. The areas of ground bereft of much plant cover showed no worms at the surface, suggesting the soil there was not very productive. Possibly it was a lack of certain minerals, so it might be worth getting a chemical analysis. The Ph values might also suggest what the problem was; too acidic or too alkaline.

His meandering walk went on, and at last brought him to the field where The Personalia had incinerated the remains of a spacecraft brain. He walked over to have a look into the depression, and noticed that a combination of wind-blown soil and water seepage had resulted in mud covering what was left of the mechanism. Reginald no longer fancied the site as a swimming hole, but it could work as a nature pond to attract local birds, particularly water birds. The sides would probably develop pond edge plants naturally from seeds already in the soil or arriving in the wind, but he might have to introduce some floating plants from a pond elsewhere. Ducks like browsing on floating plants ñ do we have ducks here? He thought they arrived as eggs like the geese.

He scanned the rest of his fields as he wandered, thinking of how much more he was due to plough before winter. Ploughing alone was not good practice, as the many accidents on slopes proved. It was simply too easy for a tractor to tip to one side if already running along a slope: one soft patch, the wheel goes down, and the tractor could tip over, trapping the driver inside the cab, or even worse, dropping him out then falling on him. Having a watcher on hand was the best safety measure; calling out if anything looked amiss.

Feeling energetic, Reginald strode beyond his official boundary, going up towards the ridge-line. The ground here was more rocky, with a few trees peppered about, looking like pine. He presumed that like situations would produce like adaptations, like needle leaves better able to cope with cold winter winds at height. The trouble with needle leaves was that they did not end up as fertile humus on the ground; they became a carpet of brown needles, making life difficult for ground plants.

He passed the trees and surmounted the ridge. From here he was able to look down into the valley below. He was again impressed by the apparent fertility, with plenty of grass, followed by the lush forest on the other side of the valley. Nothing in the way of wildlife was visible at this distance except for a smoky flurry of birds above the forest. Obviously one particular species liked the forest for a food supply, probably berries of some kind. He wondered if the re was some monkey-type forest dweller there, or something like a squirrel. He decided to consult the Rehome Encyclopedia about native wildlife, so that he would know what to expect to see.

There was an obvious lack of human presence: no tracks, no smoke from campfires, no sign of any habitation. That encouraged him to think it might be appropriate to ask the Governor to legally turn certain patches of land into National Parks, or at least nature reserves protected from any human interference. The planet was big enough for there to be no population pressure on the land yet. This was the time to set up such reserves to protect the wildlife from eventual extinction like the famous passenger pigeon in the Americas whose millions of birds were swiftly annihilated by uncaring settlers.

While he was thinking about this, he decided that now was the time to act. He pulled out his phone and pressed for the Governor. This time he got directly through.

“You again, Reginald?”

“Yes, Governor. I am standing on the top of the ridge beyond our farm boundary, just exploring, and I have found there is a lush valley beyond; mostly grassland at this side, but thick forest on the slope on the opposite side. It got me to thinking of National Parks.”

“National Parks?”

“Yes, Governor. If we intend to preserve the local flora and fauna for the future, this may be the most appropriate time to start delineating the boundaries of protected areas, to prevent depredation by settlers exploiting all the land, trees, and wildlife to extinction. Have you thought about putting such protections in place?”

There was a silence before Governor Kempe replied.

“I have to admit we have not considered setting land aside for the protection of the environment. We had more urgent priorities, but I take your point. Have you any ideas on the matter?”

“Not yet, sir. One immediate possibility would be to grant the land to me and my family with a specific proviso that the new section has to be protected from any major exploitation such as logging and shooting or trapping of wildlife. That would give that valley interim protection until you can get a legal provision set up for creating National Parks throughout Rehome. All I see our family doing is farming part of the grassland, on a small scale, with the details cleared with your office before starting.”

“Hmmm Ö and the forest?”

“All I can envisage is the collecting of nuts and fruit from the trees, for our use and for selling to the local grocers. That assumes there are no vicious predators in the forest.”

The Governor responded, “No dangerous predators are knownÖ. Dangerous to humans, that is; but a snake can be dangerous if you tread on it, though normally it will hide from you. Just take care, is my advice.”

“Our advice in return is: please look into the matter of nature preserves, sir, to leave a legacy for our Colony’s grandchildren.”

“Your point is well taken, Reginald. Farewell.”

Having completed his call, Reginald gazed down at the distant forest and wondered. He opened his phone again and rang his home.

It was answered by Jemima.

“Robertson household; Jemima speaking. How can I help you?”

“Hi, Jemima. It is Reg. Do you girls think I can take a walk beyond the ridge and down to the valley there?”

“Hang on, Reg. I’ll consult Frances.”

There was a pause for about ten seconds by his estimate, then Frances came on.

“Reginald, you will NOT go over the ridge on your own, today or any day. We will organise someone to go with you, perhaps tomorrow, and act as your fallback person in case you get into trouble. No-one knows what is there, so it may be the old threat of ëHere be dragons’ or any other threat. Come home now and we will make sure you know you are loved.”

Reg sighed, saying, “Yes, dear.”

He reluctantly made his way home, walking slowly as he admired the surrounding countryside in the pleasant sunshine partly obscured by white clouds ... There were more trees than he had first surmised, and he noted that many of them had the remnants of fruits and nuts about their branches, or lying on the ground below, much like beech mast litters the forest floor. The trees of this world appeared to be more profuse in their seed-bearing offerings than many trees on Earth. This may have been why his wives found so many fruits worth blending into a tasty mixed juice.

As he walked on, the attraction of the whole natural surroundings made him think more about the nature reserve idea. People would like to go there as a break from urban living, even if only for a short break; a holiday ñ what the Americans called a vacation ñ to recharge their spiritual batteries.

At first, he had assumed the visitors to be from the colony in the future, but that could be widened to permit visitors from Earth, provided these could be adequately controlled. The last think he wanted to see was wild campers lighting fires anywhere they felt like it, and abandoning all their unwanted debris when they left.

His humour was uplifted by a memory from “The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, where a planet famed for its attractions instituted a tough policy of ëdon’t take anything more back than you arrived with’, and that included if your weight increased, the excess had to be removed before you left!

He did not envisage such a draconian measure here, but something to deter people from abandoning their waste. Possibly get them to take a time-stamped picture of their campsite on arrival, with their GPS co-ordinates, and the same on departure. Failure to do so would result in a large fine for non-compliance, on the basis that they may have vandalised the site.

Being a park aimed at not disturbing the natural world, they would also have to carry nothing more offensive than a hand gun, as hunting wildlife would be banned in the reserve. Even a handgun would be mostly excessive, as it was likely the only predator they might meet was another human.

To provide farther protection to the park, numbers would have to be limited. This would need to be done at an entry checkpoint. Putting your identity or bank card into a slot would tell you whether you may enter or the gate would pointedly remain closed.