An unexpected offer to Port and a break with custom…
Mandy was serving as runner when the far speaker let her know Spacer had an important message from Blackie and it was important.
“Don’t let anyone else see that message except Spacer, Mandy.” Mandy was surprised because usually, the message of a returning ship was shared across the islands. She quickly carried the decoded slip to the Bridge.
“Word from Blackie?” He raised an eyebrow at Mandy.
“Jose is on duty and said not to let anyone else see it.”
Spacer scanned the message and let out a whistle. “This is not what I expected on this run.” He turned to Boats and said, “Get on the net and round up the main officers and heads. We need to have an emergency staff meeting. Mandy, go get the big meeting shed ready and see the galley about some refreshment. But no alcohol. We need clear heads on this one. About time this happened.”
***
It was dusk as what functioned as ships staff gathered in the large meeting area. Mandy found a seat off the side for herself and Sarita. This was going to be interesting. Most of the residents depended on the common kitchen for food so there were supper stragglers. The community had continued the corporate tradition of getting consensus on major decisions. It took a lot of time, but that was the way the Galactic Consortium had done it. That was the way they continued just in case the GC came back and asked questions.
Mandy arranged for drinks and what passed for snacks. Several of the men and women made comments about how little there was, but it was good-natured, since all knew there would be short rations until the harvest.
Spacer told Boats he was ready, and they hit the metal plate to start the meeting. The crowd settled down. “I got a message from Blackie Okapie today about his latest buyback trip to Refugio, and it was not what any of us expected. They want to start trading with us, instead of us stopping their ships.”
The reaction from the crowd was immediate. Questions flew from all sides. He let it go for a couple of minutes and stomped his feet on the wooden stage. The crowd quieted again.
“I don’t have the details yet, but Blackie said they want to set up an agreement for trade between Refugio and Port. I wanted you all to be thinking about it before Blackie gets back with the full idea. That was all he had room for in the code, that they want to stop the demands for supplies or stealing them and start trading.”
“Okay, but what the heck do we have to trade?” came a voice from the back of the crowd. Sarita knew they had things to trade. “Think about what you have here,” she called out while she walked up the stairs to the stage.
Spacer looked surprised but waved her up to the front with a bit of a smile.
“Utopia grows the crab glass, except only small pieces, and it’s cloudy. They catch the fish you skin for the waterproof bags, but they are a lot smaller. They love the dried tree nut meat, but those trees die off if it freezes in Utopia. Some of the drugs you have discovered would really be worth a lot to the medical people up there. Don’t count yourselves out. You have accomplished a lot here just like Utopia and Refugio have. Utopia won’t be happy about you trading with Refugio but if it cuts down on the raids, it will be good. If you don’t believe me, talk to my uncle Tony who was captured with me. He is a trade envoy from Refugio.”
“How come he’s not up there too, Spacer? You trying to work something out on the side?” Henry Batchelder wanted to get Spacer’s job but had lost the last couple of elections.
“I didn’t know what he did back in ‘topia. Gunson just knew he had enough credits to pay for a boat to Refugio, not that he worked for the Overlord. We need to decide if we want to do this before we talk to him or anyone else. Before you all get to jabbering again, let’s have one comment at a time so everyone hears what everyone else thinks.” Spacer wanted to get back on track.
One by one the men and women commented. Several were ready to start trading. Food was the main thing they needed, but Refugio was not the main producer of foodstuffs on Higgins. Several of those who had lagoon works and needed new workers objected, because they could not replace their workers fast enough if the raiding stopped.
“You all know how I feel about this capturing people we do,” the head of the weavers’ group spoke up. “It is basically slavery what we do even if we claim they are ‘under contract’ to join the crew.”
“How would I get anyone to work in the lagoon if we didn’t force those folks out of ‘topia and ‘fugio? They die off too quickly from the black mold. You use the fiber I grow. How would you do your part if you didn’t have it, Alia?” Henry ran most of the lagoon farms where they raised the ropy seaweed that yielded much of the fabric.
“Henry, you know good and well if you made those people wear clothes and hats, they would not get black mold so fast,” Seta Gupta, the doctor, had long wanted to express that publicly.
“Whine, whine, whine, Doc. That’s why this is a bad idea. We need fresh workers who have to do as they are told.” Henry yelled. “We have to raid and capture new workers.”
Raymond Garza, the oldest member of the community, struggled to his feet. “That’s enough, Henry. Spacer brings this idea to us to discuss and then think about. Until Blackie gets back with the full offer, let’s consider what this young woman said. We can talk to this uncle of hers for ideas. We can’t do much more until we have more information.”
“Agreed, Elder Garza,” Spacer said, then signaled Boats to ring the closing gong to end the meeting. “We’ll hold another meeting on third day next to see what we have come up with. Plan on a full crew meeting when Blackie gets back.”
***
“I know the crab glass can be sold and we could dry the nut meat for trade, but what else have we got?” Spacer was worried. His discussion with Tony about trade seemed mostly about what they needed, but he knew there had to be as much going out if they wanted something coming in.
“Come now, Spacer, have you ever seen an adult male from either Utopia or Refugio with a beard-less face?”
“Well, you have one.” Spacer was puzzled.
“Only since I arrived here,” Tony laughed. “How much of that black glass is there on these islands?”
“It is all over the islands. We collect the small pieces out of the beach and walkways because it tears up foot coverings. The stuff is a danger to everything.” Spacer was puzzled. “The first crew had bloodied feet and even the littles just learning to walk wear protection. You have volcanoes in the north. Don’t you have the glass there?”
“I have only seen glass beads from what we have up there. I have never seen it in large pieces like the hair cutters you use. That will be the main thing you have to offer if you can provide it.” Tony grinned. “You have no idea how much time the iron workers have spent trying to create steel blades sharp enough to cut the facial hair without taking the skin off too.
“Two Bob showed me how the glass is knapped just like flint but much more difficult. This alone will be a high value in trade.” Tony went on to list several things he had observed, especially the soft fabric of the clothing in Port. The scarves were colorful but, like the clothing he wore, made in strips of cloth sewn together.
“Spacer, the cloth here in Port looks as if it is made of ribbons, you know small strips of cloth sewn together, not wide pieces of cloth. I noticed it on the scarfs, but these pants and top are that way also. The joining is better on these, so I had not noticed it before.”
“That is the way we do it, Tony. Alia told me that we don’t have wood enough or straight enough to build the big looms to make it wider unless we cut down the nut trees. One of the things that we value when a ship is captured are the sails. Utopia has wider looms to make the sails. We don’t.”
“Ah, that’s reasonable. These scarfs are beautiful and will sell well but you’re right. In Refugio, I have heard we had to negotiate hard to get the plans for the looms. All we had were plans for mechanical looms for synthetic cloth. The machines were lost when we lost the station.
“This fabric you make from the seaweed, that thread could be added to the hemp or other fabrics. There are so many possibilities,” Tony fingered the baggy pants and shirt he had been given. He had never realized the roughness of the hemp and woolen fabrics of Refugio and Utopia until given the baggy shirt and pants to wear here. He had not changed back to his old clothing.
“Ask around of the people,” Tony said. “I have seen some clever solutions that might be good for trade. You just need to ask, I think.”
“I have not been off the island in years to be honest,” Spacer said, “But I never really thought about the men having beards. I thought it was just custom.”
Spacer asked for anyone with something they made to bring it for Tony to evaluate on the third day. Tony was surprised to learn that the crew had found ways to overcome many of the problems they had with storage and just living. Sarita gasped when one of the weavers showed them some fabric dyed a vivid purple. The weaver explained where they got the color.
“It comes from a mollusk that is native here but like one that grew back on Terra. We have other colors we’re finding from some of the same shellfish. The colors are permanent, but it takes a lot of them to dye the cloth, so we don’t use it except on these fancy things. I am not sure how it will work on other fabrics like those they have in Refugio, but the colors are really something.”
“There would be a ready market for colors intense like that,” Rita said. “I can see it selling well in both settlements. Because it is limited means it will be more valuable.” They moved off to discuss an experiment of using the dye on some of Rita’s clothing.
“You see, Spacer, you have more than you believed,” Tony said with a chuckle. “While much of this looks ordinary to you, it fills a need and is unique, so that makes it more valuable.”
As the community waited and discussed what to do, Henry Batchelder had been talking about withholding a trade agreement but was not getting much support. Most people told him to just wait until Blackie got back so they knew what the offer was. Spring shortages emphasized the need to have more food. A watch was set out on the reef to alert everyone when Blackie’s sail was sighted.
***
Conversations about the agreement with Refugio would have to wait. A storm was building on the horizon and Spacer ordered the storm gong rung. He explained to Tony that one of the crew remembered that back on Terra, a bell was used to notify of the approach of a storm before there were networks of communications. The settlement used a large sheet of metal to warn of an approaching tropical storm. Tony realized it was a piece of one of the crashed landers from the transport ship.
“We don’t have some of the equipment that the other settlements have. I have been told that the first crew were convinced they were going to be rescued and let the others have all they had. We have a few weather sensitives, but the best are on the ships, so they see it coming. We have storm shelters, though not enough for everyone. You get a place because of your seniority, but Sarita and Mandy will be with the rest of us in the dock house.”
Sarita and Mandy rushed back to the main house. Mandy showed Sarita how to pack all her belongings and store them up on the top of the wall under the roof.
“If we wedge them in tight, the wind won’t blow them out onto the families sheltering here. We will be down with the sturdy people in the docking house. It’s crowded, but if the storm comes from the wrong way, we will get wet. Good thing you can swim. If this is a bad one, we’ll have to swim before it is over.”
Sarita heard the sound of crying children as families began taking over the large house. “Why not build more out of the rocks like this building?”
“The rock is hard to cut,” Mandy said, “and the machine they used ran out of fuel. Besides, the island is made out of the rock and if they build enough buildings, we’ll use it all up. Lucky for us, these storms don’t come very often.” She led the way back to the dock area and they joined the crowd that was checking into the large stone docking building. The wind was beginning to pick up and a few raindrops hit as the women entered the now crowded building.
The next few hours were frightening. The roof of the building began to shake and leak. The grassy covering tore loose and more and more of the rain was able to come in. The sea began to rise, and people began to grab each other in long chains to keep connected to the hand holds on the back wall. It seemed to last forever but slowly the wind died down and the ocean water receded.
A voice called out with instructions for leaving the building. “Check in with your squad leader to get your assignment for the cleanup. Looks like we had an easy one.”
Sarita saw that Boats was standing up on a ledge near the door. “We are on Spacer’s squad, fixing the Bridge and running errands. You don’t know people, so you stay with Boats and Spacer. I’m a runner.”
Mandy led the way as they jogged toward the center of the town, but Sarita was shocked at how much damage the storm had done. Most of the buildings were just frames and piles of damaged roof and wall material had blown across the narrow paths. As they reached the center office building, a cry came from the docking area.
***
“Whose ship is that? It looks like Julie’s!”
The people pouring out of the stone docking building turned and stared. A large strangely masted ship crept towards the dock. Spacer was incredulous. They all had believed that the largest ship of their small fleet had sunk months ago. Juliette Hornby was an adventurous woman but the storm that hit when she was out over a year ago had been a bad one for the south coasts of all the settlements. They had given her up for dead.
“Can’t be anyone else, Spacer, big ship but the sail is a wonder. Looks like it is made of fish skin!” Jose, the watch from the highest land point had left his post and run back to the Bridge in his excitement. “She should be docking in soon from what her speed was. Man, there are going to be some happy folks if she got the whole crew back.”
Or upset by the ones who have paired up with a new partner, Spacer mused. He chided himself for being so negative because even if the ship had not vanished, some folks would have changed partners anyway. He sent runners to spread the word and walked to the long dock.
The ship was slowly eased into the dock and secured. It was clear, their small electric motor and the solar panels had survived. Jose was correct, the sail had the largest pieces of fish skin Spacer had ever seen. Julie hailed him from what looked like a thatched hut on the top deck. The main mast had been repaired with a bundle of small tree trunks bound together with pieces of what had to be fish skin but nothing like Spacer had ever seen.
“Welcome home, Julie, we had given you up for fish food. Glad to have you back.”
“That was what we thought we were going to be for a while, Spacer, got lots of news. We did a Magellan! Been all the way around this ball of rocks and there is a lot more than we were told.”
“Heard a rumor there were more islands and land on the other side.”
“Grandma, you are home! They said the fish got you, but I knew better!” Julie’s granddaughter raced down the beach to the dock closely followed by Julie’s daughter-in-law who dashed past to embrace her husband. The reunions put the debriefing session off until all the crew were able to reunite with their families and friends. Two season cycles had passed and that was a long separation.
The sailors off the ship pitched in and all hands worked to get the damage cleaned up. Most of the community began picking up the soggy fronds that had blown off their houses. Mandy and Sarita cleared a path into the Bridge and began clearing out the damage left by the storm. One of the shutters had broken and the rain had soaked the furniture and floor.
“Boats got all the papers packed in the hampers before the storm hit,” Mandy said, “so we may not have lost much. The electronics are the scary part. Sometimes even the fish hide won’t keep the water out and we lose some of it. That is something else we need, electronics. We don’t have any metal here, so making things ourselves ain’t possible.” Mandy swept water across the rough rock floor to an opening under the wall.
“Mandy, would you consider moving, like to Utopia or Refugio? This place is nice most of the time, but you need so much.” Sarita began setting the hampers of equipment off the tables and on the floor so they could be emptied.
Mandy stopped and stared at Sarita. “Things may be hard here, but this is my home. I ain’t leaving.” She stared at Sarita and knocked the broom against the wall angrily. “Couldn’t even if I wanted to. Spacer has my contract.” Spacer entered the office and ordered the women to get the porch cleared, then to get to work on the main meeting area.
The storm cleanup took most of the day. Sarita saw her mother once when the sick bay crew came by with an injured person on a pull-cart. Rita was carrying a small child and holding the hand of a woman on the cart. Sarita wondered how often this kind of storm happened, but the crew supervisor yelled to quit gawking and get back to work. By evening they had the main meeting area cleared, but it would be days until the roof could be replaced. The hot sun that followed the storm made it clear that the fronds were badly needed. Her hands were raw from gathering the rough fronds.
As the sun was setting, a crew carried tubs of food into the meeting area and the residents began to gather. Sarita realized they could not get back into their homes yet, so the galley was bringing the food to the meeting place. Everyone would eat in the galley this evening. She wondered if they were as exhausted as she was. Mandy had not gotten over her comment about leaving Port, so Sarita sat near some of the people she had worked with.
“You’re from Topia, ain’t you?” asked a young man.
“Yes, I grew up there, but my parents were from Refugio.”
“They have storms like this up there?” another asked.
“Yes, we get these in the spring, but most of our buildings are partially underground, so we don’t have this kind of damage.” Sarita realized as she said it that she had made a mistake. They had never seen a place with that much dirt.
“Newbies like you keep saying that, but I don’t believe it,” said one of the natives. “You dig down and you get water, or sand, not dirt. I ain’t stupid. You’re just joking us.” The others laughed and agreed. They had never been out of Port and had no idea what the rest of the planet was like.
That evening, Julie joined Spacer on the platform while most of the folks ate the storm rations. Spacer banged on the floor to get everyone’s attention. “Julie’s got a lot of news, so listen up.”
“To start with, this blasted planet is about the same size as Terra, so our trip was a long one,” Julie said. “First part of it was really quick, there is a very strong current that we got caught in that carried us a long way really fast even though we lost the mast early. There are islands scattered across the mid-line just like ours here, but there are a couple of large land masses I estimate directly across from Utopia. One of them is a mess of active volcanoes but the other is a lot like Utopia. We could not do an aerial, but the land is pretty flat and has lots of crazy vegetation and some really neat animals. We didn’t see big trees like they have on Utopia, so we rigged a new mast with a bunch of smaller ones.” Julie called on some of her crew to talk about what they remembered most, and the conversations continued until someone pointed out the littles were falling asleep, and they could keep telling stories all night. As if to emphasis the time, the lights flickered and went out.
“Curfew time folks,” Boats announced. “Some of the equipment is not working well. No power late at night.”
“Understood, Boats, this grandchild of mine has grown and I am not looking forward to carrying her back to the shack.”
“We have things to think about folks, a lot of news.” Spacer lit a torch, and the flame was passed through the crowd to help everyone get safely to their shelters. They had become accustomed to using the torches after dark. The hand lights that were saved from the transport vessel no longer held a charge. The batteries had lasted longer than anyone expected, but they had finally died.
Should you want to read the whole story…
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