Chapter 18

Reginald gathered Fiona to him and hugged her in sympathy. He murmured into her ear, “Any time you want me to help, you know you should call for me, even if it is just for me to get hold of someone or something for you. I want to be a good husband and father; the best I can be.”

Fiona, as an older woman – by a couple of years — somehow could feel that he was afraid he would make a wrong decision at some time, and either a wife or a child might get hurt, and it terrified him. He was unlikely to state it in words, but his feelings were clear to her perception. For some reason that comforted her; that he needed her.

“Reginald, I know I have been with you and others for about a year so far, but I am only now getting to know you inside your head. I love how carefully you treat us all and the way you are able to make love with us all, but getting inside a man’s head and heart for his emotions is not so easy. Finding you feeling less secure in yourself just endears you to me, you darling man. I want to be a good wife and mother in your family, and knowing you have the same desires is encouraging. Thanks, my love.”

Reginald was stuck for the right words at this moment, so he just hugged Fiona tightly, his body language letting her know how he was responding.

The arrival of a chugging outside noise warned them that the drilling crew had arrived at their farm. Reginald was sent out to meet the crew and check that they were working on the correct field. They were.

Their crew chief noticed Reginald ambling towards them, and signalled Reginald to stop and he himself would approach him. As the middle-aged man walked towards Reg, he removed the ear defenders he wore on his head, and held them in his left hand.

Once they met, the man introduced himself, offering his right hand in welcome. They shook hands, both gripping solidly, man to man.

“I am Geoffrey Childs, sir, boss of this unruly mob. You must be Mr Robertson the landowner.”

“Yes, I am, Mr Childs. Just making sure you will be drilling the correct field; and you are. I presume you were given a map of the property and where the marble is expected to be found.”

“Yes, sir. The drilling cores should tell us how deep down the marble starts, how far down it goes, and what sort of quality it is. The quality we find will indicate what it might be used for, though demand for marble statues in the Colony is not expected in our immediate future. What we are hoping for is facing material for buildings of note such as Governor’s residence, and embassies such as one from Earth.”Reginald queried, “Embassy from Earth? Not from specific countries?”

“No, sir. The way I see it, the Colony will eventually become a sovereign planet, independent from Earth, so an Earth embassy will be the end result. It may take some time, due to the inevitable politics, but it will come; mark my words.”

“Interesting thought. So what were you saying about marble applications?”

“We hope the discovery will give us marble flooring for our important public buildings such as the hospital and secondary schools, and of course Colony Administration, though someone has suggested using local marble for rail station platforms. Personally, I think that is a waste of good marble, as hard flagstone is a better choice for that application.”

“You are knowledgeable about various stones, are you, Mr Childs?”

“Indeed I am. I ran a flagstone quarry back on Earth which is why I think flagstone is better for rail platforms and most walking surfaces such as pavements in the UK and sidewalks in the US: same thing, different words. Amazing amount of differences in English usage between the two countries. Anyway, stone: marble is superior for a decorative purpose, with its random inclusions giving it an interesting finish.”

“I see your point. Governor Kempe mentioned a possible marble quarry at this site. If that goes ahead, would you hope to be in charge?”

“That is a possibility, Mr Robertson, but it is not up to me. I can only apply for the position as and when it is posted online on the Colony’s job vacancies board.”

“There was not a quarry management job open for you when you arrived?”

“The Colony had a couple of open quarries, but these were for aggregates – sand and gravel to you – and a bit too mundane for me to be interested. Marble is a different material entirely. It requires experience and knowledge in all its uses, and the best way to cut it to gain attractive facings.”

Reg gave as his opinion, “If you do a good job here and produce an encouraging report, I would think you have an excellent chance. There can’t be that many suitably qualified quarry managers with your experience in the Colony.”

“I hope that is the case, sir. I will still try to do my best here.”

“On that matter, is there a way you could keep the noise level down while we remain living in our home?”

“Hmm ... I suppose we could erect sound baffles between the drill unit and the farmhouse, if we can get the right material to absorb the sound.”

“We were looking earlier at possible local materials for house thermal insulation, and we are proposing compressed straw bales of new dimensions for that purpose. It may be that a straw bale surrounding wall for you might also help cut the transmission of airborne sound from your drilling. It would also cut wind speeds to make your workers more comfortable.”

“Hey, that sounds workable, and cheap, too. I’ll look into it. I am not sure a straw wall would stand up to high winds, though.”

“You would probably have to pin it to the ground with u-shaped steel rods like a giant staple,” said Reginald.

“Hey, man. You are on the ball; you seem to be technically-orientated yourself.”

“I and my wives are mostly university students, and we as a team were recruited by the Governor as a sort of think-tank for new ideas. That helps with looking at problems such as reducing your noise level.”

“Well, Mr Robertson, you seem to have your head screwed on the right way. We should only be here for a few days. It depends on how deep we have to drill to get a handle on the depth. That will provide a valid measure for a commercial judgment on extraction.”

Reginald contributed, “Perhaps I could mention that if a quarry is to be constructed here, our home will most likely be part of the deal for the quarry, and end up as the offices for the quarry management. The thought is for us to build a new house a few miles north of here, on the edge of the new national nature reserve or park.”

“Nature reserve? I hadn’t heard of that. Whose idea was ... oh, was it your team’s suggestion?”

“I am afraid so, Mr Childs; one of our suggestions for future development of the Colony. The Governor thought this particular notion was worth turning into a series of Parks to be delineated in the years ahead.

We thought that the Colony should start as it means to go on, and protect the ecological environment as much as is feasible. Nature reserves, national forest parks and so on are part of that, giving the populace quiet spots to enjoy away from the urbanisation of most of the colony. The visitors would have to respect the Park’s contents. The Park’s work would also include protecting local species that we otherwise might destroy before finding how they fit into the local ecology network.”

“I like it as a plan, but you are going to be far from the transport links, aren’t you?”

“As of this moment, yes, but the Park visitors will need an easy transport link to get to and from the Park, so the Governor tells me a branch rail line will be built where geography helps with a shallow gradient, and we can have our home next to the terminal rail station. Our expanded residence will act as the Park’s headquarters for administration, the base for the park rangers and so forth. First we will have to wait to find out where the station will be stationed!”

Childs guffawed. “So you will be stationary for a while yet?”

Reg smiled at this continuation of Reg’s pun.

“That is so. That is why we would like to have noise amelioration in place for the present. Even if a route was identified right away, it takes time to build a rail line. I suppose if the GPS coordinates of the station were fixed, the rail station could be started without waiting for the track to get there. The only essential would be the exact orientation of the platforms to take the track when it arrived. I am sure the line builders would have that clear, well in advance. With the site for the terminal, the house plot would be easily laid out and the building’s construction started.”

Childs nodded. “You do think ahead, don’t you, young man?”

“You have to, if you are going to solve future problems. Looking ahead is a prerequisite for a think tank to work effectively, I am sure you will agree.”

“Indeed. Now I have to get back to work, Mr Robertson. Is there anything else you want to say?”

“Not really. There is a crew building a fence round our farmland and they are nearly finished. If you are going to have a quarry, you will need a protective fence to keep children and animals from falling in. The firm that is building our fencing are good workers, so worth considering in future.”

“I’ll speak to them for price details, and keep them in mind, Mr Robertson. Farewell for now.”

He turned, put on his ear defenders, and walked back to his team and their pounding drilling rig, leaving Reginald to walk back home.

Reginald was pleased with his conversation with the man in charge, and hoped that the marble would prove suitable to quarry and that Childs would get the manager’s position. Reginald thought he would do a good job, and wondered if he should put in a word with Governor Kempe about him. He finally decided that this might be regarded as interference, and dropped the idea. He should be good enough to win the post on his own merit.

As he arrived at the front door, Frances was there, Jimmy in her arms and sleeping soundly. Reg smiled at the scene, and as he came closer leaned forward to kiss Frances, then planted a delicate kiss on his son’s forehead.

“By God, I love you both!” he declared to Frances, who beamed.

“I know, love. We all love you back, every one of us. I don’t know how you do it, Reg, but you can make almost any girl love you. Thank goodness you are not looking for any more wives.”

Reg shivered, but told her, “No more wives, Frances. I already have as many wives as I could ever need, and having so many children makes it even more perfect.”

Frances looked up coyly at him. “I might be happy to have a second child before long, darling.”

Reg stared into her eyes, and saw the truth there.

“I think we can try to achieve that, my lovely wife. I will leave the timing up to you, for it is your body and your pregnancy.”

Frances smiled back, happy at this approval, then she remembered something.

“I forgot to say, dear, that the Governor phoned to say that his director of rail services is working on a possible route for a branch line to the new nature Park, and expects to have a destination spot picked out in a couple of days. That will let you, and us, sort out the entrance to the Park and where the footpaths will lead from there.”

“I get you. Do you think we should have a grand arch over the entry gate, with a large sign saying the name of the Park?”

Frances frowned, saying, “A grand arch, perhaps, but the park sign ought to be at a lower level, just one side. I expect that Governor Kempe will want to approve it, as he may want to provide matching entrance gates for each of the Parks in future; a kind of brand emblem for the Parks.”

“Okay, that makes sense. Anything else?”

“No, that’s all he had. He said he was working on other things and would let you know later.”

“Right. Has Mr Robson pulled together all the gold we found?”

“I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

“When there is enough to be transported without causing difficulty, it will have to be taken to the bank and deposited. Governor Kempe is hoping it will soon be enough to act as a standard backing for the Home dollar.”

“That is ridiculous, Reg! The amount can’t be more than a handful or two. The value can’t be that high.”

“Last I heard it was about sixty dollars per gram. A hundred grams would be worth around six thousand dollars, and I would guess he has more than a hundred grams.”

“That’s a lot, but still minimal in relation to gold backing for a currency. You would need gold worth millions of dollars.”

“So? The land beyond the Robson land grant: does it belong to anyone yet? If not, we could prospect that area and see if there is gold there.”

“If we found any there, wouldn’t it belong to the Colony as the landowner?”

“Probably, but Governor Kempe has done so much for us that we shouldn’t object to it going straight to the Colony.”

Frances sighed, “Trust you to be practical, Reg. We shouldn’t be greedy. How about, if the detector says there is gold there, we ask the Governor for a percentage of what we collect, as a finder’s fee?”

“That sounds fair. First we have to find how to set the airborne detector to cover that area.”

“Ask The Personalia. They may be able to simply radio the new GPS locations to the machine. It would be a test of the machine as well, for that area will have more obstacles on the ground to get in the way of a low level search.”

“Good idea, love. I should first check with Admin that we can prospect that land. I hope that the ground beyond the Robson farm doesn’t have any holes to step into.”

“Unlikely. I looked at the images online and it looks remarkably like the Robson’s ground. It goes downhill a bit then up again; a sort of small valley, that tilts to the left, so if there is placer gold in that valley, it may be down to the left. Of course, heavier stuff may be lurking upwards to the right.”

Reginald dialled for the Colony Administration, gave his name, and asked about gold prospecting in unallocated land.

“Where were you thinking about, Mr Robertson?”

“The patch of land beyond the farm of Charles and Charlotte Robson,” he told them, “farther away from the rail line.”

“Robson? Looking it up on our database; ah, yes. Charles Robson, farmer from Earth. The land beyond remains unallocated, so if you want to prospect there, you may do so. Please note that the Colony possesses all mineral rights for unallocated land, so anything you find belongs to the Colony. We have a policy of awarding a 5 per cent finder fee for any valuable material you hand in, and a smaller ongoing fee if we later exploit the find. Failing to hand in what you may discover is regarded as a deportation offence, so be warned.”

“No problem; that is acceptable. Thank you for your help. Do we have to apply for a prospecting licence?”

“No, we don’t have anything like that set up, but if we have any concerns, we can ask The Personalia to do an overview of what you are up to in that location. That will clarify the matter for us, and expose any underhand criminality except on a very small scale that will not matter.”

“Okay. That gives us carte blanche to scan that general area with our drone aerial metal detector.”

“No doubt, sir. I don’t know what you mean by that description, but as long as it does not do any harm, you are welcome.”

“Thanks, friend. We will get started tomorrow. Bye.”

Reginald passed on the news to his ladies, then went to make his call to The Personalia. He was interrupted by Erika.

“Reg darling, our neighbours the Georgesons will be visiting tomorrow, all three of them and the baby!”

“How will they manage that?”

“They have managed to get hold of mountain bikes, and Gladys will have her baby in a front papoose carrier. Letitia didn’t want to be left out, which is why they took so long to come over: getting the bikes.”

“Grand,” Reg told her. “I’ll look forward to meeting George. At the moment, I have to call The Personalia about some gold.”

He now made the connection on his phone.

“Hello Reginald Robertson. What can we do for you?” the alien ships responded.