An Explanation, A Pleas for Help…
Sarita and Julie helped with the opening of the boxes stored in the shipping containers. Some of them Shauna was able to decipher the tags and the contents were not mysterious. Many of the boxes were filled with objects that were totally foreign to the workers.
“This looks like some kind of electronic thing, but I have no idea what it might do,” Sarita held a collection of wires and small metal gears. “There are 36 of them in small paper boxes labeled GC094S or GC095S. Does anything have that on the label?”
“Another part for something we don’t have or has disappeared,” Shauna said. “All we can do is keep listing them and hope whatever that number shows up.
“Has the prince found any information about why all this was locked up?”
“Yes, and if you will take a break, he has asked me to explain,” Naomi Gaughan, the prince’s main assistant said as she entered the workroom. The team of workers joined Simon around the table where the lists were being written. Naomi was followed by a helper from the dining center who brought in cool drinks and some sweets. “You all deserve a reward for doing this.”
As they enjoyed the break, Naomi explained that when the NeoUtopians first made plans for the planet, they were a very small group and raising the funds was difficult. When they finally had permission to settle, many of the original members had died. When they got to Higgins, the traditionalists wanted to continue with the plan to become a completely non-technical, agricultural society. In other words, no electricity, only wind or waterpower and only subsistence farming, but many were not convinced it would work. That is why so much of the material was shut up in the containers.
“I suspected as much,” Simon said. “When you look at what was begun and never finished, like the cabled airships, you realize there had to be a reason somewhere.”
“From what Lord Kelly told the prince, the descendants of the original founders held a vote in the Assembly and ordered the containers sealed,” Naomi said. “No one else was allowed to vote. They controlled the food distribution and that gave them power over everyone else. They knew there were things in the containers like electronics that did not fit the original plan, so they just hid them.”
Julie shook her head. “Good grief, the surviving crew gave them the extra electronics they had certain they would be rescued soon.”
“I suspect if we open the remaining containers, we’ll find what the crew gave them.” Naomi said.
“There are more of these containers?” One of the student helpers sounded alarmed.
“We know of at least four or five more hidden in the lower level of the main admin building. Prince Johnson is working with the construction team on a way to get into them. We can’t move them out because they support the building.”
“Well, that was one way to disguise them,” Sarita commented. “This project just keeps getting larger and larger.”
“Unfortunately, news of what you are doing is flying in the rumor network and three Philarch have called for an emergency Assembly meeting,” Naomi said. “The prince is considering it, but he wants to know what was in this container besides the maps and reports before he agrees. Any ideas on how much longer?”
“We can tell him what we found, but we have no idea what some of it is,” Simon said. “We’ll do the best we can. It is unpacked but not identified, that is the best we can do.”
“There may be more in those other containers,” Shauna said. “Some of these lists mention other container codes.”
“I’ll give him a progress report,” Naomi said.
***
Sarita was unusually quiet at last meal. Julie noticed. “Is there a problem with Megal?”
“Yes, they want him to go with them to leave the worst of the renegades on the north end of the third land. He thought he would be coming home but says them seem to look to him as the leader.”
“Something to get used to, Sarita,” Julie smiled sympathetically. “I sailed on Blackie’s ship before I got one of my own and it was difficult to separate my life mate from the captain of the ship. It got easier once I had jobs of my own, like the children and later my own ship.”
“Where did those ships come from?” Sarita had long wondered about the source of the larger ships.
“Honestly, they were built by the Utopia shipyard, and we demanded them. We got them mostly by sort of lying. We said we would teach them how to work the sails, but we never gave them the ships back. The families switching made it easier for the O’Malley family,” Julie laughed. “The first ship master knew what we were doing and according to Blackie’s father, only yelled about it for a few days. He got to build more ships and his son and grandsons have done the same.”
“Julie, that is so funny, Port used our system to outsmart us,” Sarita said. “Megal will love this and Francos also. They appreciate getting things done even if it takes some devious methods.”
“Funny how things like that happen. In Refugio, women had a secret network and pretended to be brain damaged,” Julie said. “Here in Utopia, Master O’Malley builds ships, turns them over to the Port sailors and claims they are just breaking them in. Lying about things is not a good way to live. I hope we can get things changed.”
“Me too, Julie, me too.” Sarita and Julie took their dishes to the cleaning station and went to bed. The Refugio scholars helped speed up their search. The days were long and tiring.
***
The gathering that evening at the prince’s family home was ostensibly to celebrate berries and cream with some of the prince’s children’s friends. The invitations also included several Utopians whose children were far beyond the age of children’s parties. Some of those invited were suspicious.
“The children are enjoying themselves, Sean. Shall we gather in the house and talk about whatever it is you need to talk about?” Lady Deidra Ryan said. “I am certain that my grandchildren would enjoy this, but I am sure you have some other reason to get this particular group together again.”
“It is a bit obvious, Sean,” Lady Elizabeth Rourke, Sean’s Aunt Bess, said as she finished her bowl of creamed berries. “Only those who were at those first meetings before we took my idiot of a niece down a notch are here, well not counting the parents of these children. I have to admit it was a good cover.”
“You ladies have seen through me. Yes, I need to discuss the results of the election we had,” He showed them the way to the main dining room, the largest room in the house, and went to gather the others. All had been active in the election they had held that removed the last prince from office. Sean began the meeting by explaining the meeting he had with the three conservative lords and the near riot they had caused.
“The three family heads came to my office demanding we overturn the election on changes to the Charter. They returned this past week with supporters. Lord Murphy nearly died in my office. The healer said he overtaxed his heart.” Sean said. “The rest of them tried to get into that workroom where Simon Kearney and his team are cataloging the contents of the storage containers. From what the protesters were carrying, they seemed ready to burn the whole building down to get rid of what we are finding.”
“I suspect Murphy, Ludden, and Muldoon were the three because we all have issues with them when they rotate but I didn’t realize they were that serious,” Ryan said.
“Believe it, Deidra, I have known those three men all my life and their families were some of the members of the original NeoUtopian society on Terra. Most of their families are not as fervent, but a few have been convinced. I suspect those were the ones trying to burn down the workroom.” Rourke said.
“Aunt Bess, you have no idea how close we came to a disaster, but I need to let all of you know that our changes have had consequences we did not anticipate,” Sean said. He explained about O’Malley’s Dream, the ship that carried the Refugio and Port negotiators so quickly across the Wild Sea. “Ser Pesch also told Lord Kearney that his wife was negotiating a trade with some Refugio merchants to make some coveralls out of a nicer fabric. It seems the women there like them and she was not sure how many credits that would be worth. This was not what we expected. I also have information that implies Ship Master O’Malley has been building ships and giving them away to the Port sailors and his father may have done it before him.”
“Sean, since Redmon is the only one with the equipment and knowledge to build the ships, I am embarrassed that you were not aware of this long ago,” Donal Donnell, the head adjudicator spoke up. “There is a fleet of masted ships that Port uses to fish and raid the coasts and no one but Redmon or his father could have built them. His father used the excuse that they are ‘breaking them in’ for him and will return them.”
“But he claims that this new one with two masts belongs to him and his family. It is personal property that only he will control.” Sean was angry. “This is not what we envisioned when we voted the changes to the charter.”
“Well, it is clear you should have been more specific, Sean,” Rourke snapped. “All the motion says is that people could keep things they made or need as tools. Redmon and his sons built that ship on their own so I can understand why they want to claim it.”
“We were thinking about things that were seized and held in the main warehouse, like clothing and crafting tools,” Sean said. “The change that allows some master crafters to stay in one place and not rotate is also causing problems. They are inviting young people who want to learn their craft to move to their farm. Some parents have objected and want me to force a child back to their family group.”
“This is the result that our young people wanted, Sean.” Iseult O’Malley, a leading adjudicator, and head of the law school said. “That is why this particular change had so much support. They want to be free to do what they want, not be constrained to only what their family specializes in or where they moved to that rotation. My students may have had that in mind when they wrote the statement, but I’m not sure. Redmon’s oldest grandson has applied to study history at the University rather than learn to build ships. You see it in many families. Now they don’t need permission from the parents.”
“Speaking of history, your highness,” Donnell said, knowing full well how much Sean disliked that title, “Terran society showed that allowing people to do what they love really worked better than forcing them to remain in the family business. No society needs as many adjudicators as my family has children and we are a perfect example.”
“Fine, but how do I handle these angry parents?”
“Sean, you don’t have to run everything, and these parents obviously don’t communicate with their children well,” Rourke said. “Tell them we are a free people, and they need to talk to the youngsters.”
“Sean, I am more concerned about the smuggling of wine from Refugio and gin from Port. We are having more people needing treatment like Desmond did,” Andrew Alda, the head of the medical school spoke up.
“Or the fashions that Sheila got started among some of the Assembly,” Ryan said.
“A lot of us like to have some of the luxuries of life. Being held accountable for getting things done should have some rewards,” Lady Alannah Harrah, a member of the Assembly said. “We know that this idea the NeoUtopians had that everything is equal has not worked out well.” Sean was a bit shocked by her comment, but her embellished tabard over her coveralls reinforced what she said. “If we got rid of these standardized suits, we could develop an industry of nicer clothing using some of that fabric from Port.”
“That is not why we made these changes, Lady Harrah,” Sean said. Even though he was not as radical as the men who led the assault, he was devoted to the principal that everything was owned in common, and everyone should be viewed as equal. It was the main reason he disliked being addressed as ‘your highness.’ It set him apart as if he were better than the rest of the settlement residents.
“I need all of you to help develop some rules or regulations to clarify what can or cannot be done, or at least to better define these changes. Lady O’Malley, Lord Donnell, can you please help with this? We can’t have the main tools of production privately owned.”
“And why not?” Lady Harrah said. “As I read the stories from Terra, that is the way it worked. You bought and sold things, not just handed people the thing you worked hard to make. You got some value for what you put into it.”
“You get value, Alannah, you have food, and work, and support from the community,” Sean said. He had known Lady Harrah and these others since their days at the university. “Our society is built on community support, not commercialism like the Refugio society.”
“Well, Prince Johnson, the community is restive and unhappy. Too many of our people are not doing anything except taking,” Donnell said. “We have a problem with several of the families not doing the work they are expected to do. Right now, there is a shortage of cloth because one of the traditionalist families was in charge of weaving. They changed all the looms to manual and disconnected the solar panels. The ones who were to make the coveralls took the motors off the sewing machines and used foot power. I have been told the first coveralls they did were all hand sewn and fell apart. We have serious problems, Sean, more serious than who gets to control Redmon O’Malley’s fancy ship.”
“You are too far down the road of change, Sean Johnson,” Rourke said. “Any limitations should have been done immediately after the passing of the changes. There is an old saying from earth about closing the gate after the livestock gets out and that is where you are. Don is correct. We have more issues than who is going to run Redmon’s ships. We need these changes. Stop fighting them and get them working to help all of our people.”
| ← Chapter 20 | Chapter 22 → |
Should you want to read the whole story…
Book One
Book Two
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