Chapter 14: Decisions Decisions

Day 25 Bangalore:

I woke today and knew it would not be the same old humdrum. First, the Endeavor was due back. Fran and Gail should have a large load of needed construction equipment and supplies.

The most important single piece of equipment was the planing mill. With that, we could plane our rough sawn lumber to smooth siding. The mill could make tongue and grove or ship lap lumber. We now had a supply of finished lumber for walls and cabinets. Mark and Anu would now have some quality building materials. Anu's lumber mill was in business.

After we unloaded the Endeavor, we had lunch. At 1400 hours, I welcomed everyone to our first town meeting. Mark made his presentation. It was followed by an hour of questions and answers. When we finished we took a vote on the plan. Of the three hundred and forty five eligible voters, the vote was three hundred and twenty nine in favor five against and eleven abstained. We had our first decision. Mark gathered his construction forces. They had a project.

Fran, Gail and Wendy got to work on rehabilitating the Enterprise. They modified the bridge and engineering so they were centaur compliant. Fran found three of her old crew that wanted to become part of Bangalore Transportation. That would give them two complete crews.

Anu found that the Douglas fir lumber was desired on other plants. Bangalore had a product to exchange for other goods. Anu had a team of centaurs planning on pioneering the continent to the west, Nova Blessing. It needed to be terraformed to gain soil to plant the trees. It would produce good lumber in fifteen years. He was planning on planting Douglas fir, loblolly pine and redwood for soft woods He also wanted to plant rose wood, teak, walnut and oak for hardwoods. Bangalore was a temperate planet so all the trees should grow well.

We named the island the hospital was on Wellville. Joe and his set named the continent to the east O Graton. We were terraforming it too. Anu had it seeded in grasses.

The timber on Bangalore would provide all of the building materials needed for the present construction need plus give us material to ship off planet. The only lumbering would be in areas to be cleared for construction or for food farming. Stewardship of the timber resource was to be the way things were done on Bangalore. Timber was a crop just like wheat or soy beans.

Mark and Anu were ecstatic. They had finished lumber available for projects. Mark had reinforcing iron and mesh needed for foundations and roadways.

We had our town meeting. The town approved Mark's plan. The big problem was everyone wanted their home now. We decided at that meeting the infrastructure had top priority. We would build the roads, town meeting hall, school then homes. Homes would be built for individual families. The family would be selected by lottery. All homes would be one of three standard plans. Homeowners could customize their home after occupancy.

I asked for and received permission to build a village of twelve homes at the farm for farm employees. Anu would provide the labor to build these homes.

We were under construction.

Mark started the next day paving the road to the farm. His grading crews were starting to layout and grade the road to Equus.

I had Joe try his machine on a badly burned patient. It worked. He could treat ten patients a day. The delay was due to rehab backlog.

We were still treating the more serious injuries with surgery.

I talked with Fran and asked her to setup training for the other centaur astronauts/pilots. She was also to rehab the Enterprise. With Joe's machine we would have a load of passengers every ten days. We would need two ships in service. It would be good to have a third ship as a backup. There were two other starships at the space port. She should survey them to find out what they would need to be flight ready.

Fran agreed to get all of the ships flight ready.

I went and met with my surgeons. Marsha and James wanted to head back to Earth and Graton. The staff was ready to go it on their own. I asked Marsha to wait ten more days to see how the staff would do without her. She and I were to observe but not actively participate in the surgeries.

All the surgeries went well. I gave Marsha and James permission to return home.

On the evening before their departure we had a big all-hospital going away party. There were no dry eyes in the place.

Sushi and I told Marsha and James we would be back by October. Sushi wanted to have her kittens in Graton so her mom could be there. We would need a room for the holidays.

"Your rooms are always available," James said.

The next morning the Enterprise lifted off with two hundred passengers and a ten-container load of Douglas fir. We were buying some appliances for the new homes.

Mark had the main road to Equus paved and was starting to layout and grade the streets for the housing areas. He and Anu worked out a modular design for the homes. They were built near the sawmill and moved to Equus by mater transporter.

Joe and his set decided to pioneer O Graton. It had been terraformed and grass had been planted. They wanted to raise sheep and farm fish. They had placed an order for twenty five head of sheep and two sheep dogs with Paul before he left. They also hired six centaurs and their families to work the ranch. They would stay at Wellville until the town and the farm homes were finished. They would need at least six homes and three barns for the sheep and supplies.

We continued rehabbing patients. We were treating fifty patients a day. I talked to Anu about getting some more ships and another crew. He had some ideas and would get back to me.

Sushi and Sally were busy making happy Angus cows. They were inseminating all of the cows in heat. Sushi was going to be a busy vet. Sally recruited two foals from her school to help out. Sushi told me she had three candidates to go to Veterinary school. She thought we should give scholarships for the students.