L'Gem

  Chapter Nineteen

  Knight, Nev and Blade made a materials run. They all went because they were meeting Case, Stats and Drand for lunch, with Kail and Tatton Tellerlock. They'd 'snuck onto' the golf course that morning with several others, including the mayor and town council. The golf pros from the other two courses had played ahead of them. Both had agreed with Nev's perfect date, and both said they wanted to switch courses, but agreed the new pro was very good. She was going to have a thorough mix of real beginners and real good, and was setting up the shop and schedule well for them.

  They met Case, Stats and Drand on the walk in front of Delant's. Kail and Tatton were both smiling widely when they walked in.

  "Nice game?"

  "Nice course, Nev. The campus land looks gorgeous from it, and the campus will, and vice versa. We checked with Bressler. We don't have to take bids if a local company can do it."

  "Now, that's good news."

  "The mayor told the regents Tatton would keep costs down, or he'd be paying it back in tuition and dinners, where everyone else pointed to him when the bill came."

  "For decades. I never really wanted to do a big project before. I requested sixteen people for on-the-job training. We're starting tomorrow."

  "Tomorrow?!"

  "I told them we can get two to the point we can dome them to work this winter, if we start now, Drand. Can't do that until the big equipment work is done."

  "You're going to pull Drand off the current jobs?"

  "Not for long, Case, but we need power out there to work fast. We can generate, but it limits the number of tools we can run at once and is more expensive. Ponce Caelton said he may strangle me for asking for Dawn too, but I need both to get us set up quick."

  "Yes, they do it in a fifth the time together. We're not sure why, but we are sure it's a fifth."

  "Now, the real reason for this meeting. I want all of you when you get your current projects done. I'll upgrade your licenses to subcontract, or employ you, though I think that's a little silly. I think you'll teach my people and the OJTs a lot, and we may be able to get a third building start under a dome. Kail said you like the building plans. Morelli said tell you to really look at them, then get over to their place and help redesign the whole thing fast."

  "What?"

  "She said they're architects. They learned how it's done and design well within those parameters, but you're designers you use materials, shapes, colors, plants, water and light to create the total composition, specifically for the people for whom you're building. They want to learn to 'move past the way it's done' and think you can help them make the whole project less expensive, easier and faster to build, more beautiful, and get the design of the year next year. The big one is specific group use, I think, but materials are part of that. She told me not to order a damn thing and spend the next ten days training OJT's to use equipment if that's what it takes. They want those buildings to 'speak their function and blend into a total educational environment.' They know they did a real good job, but think you can help them make it a work of art, like no other campus on this planet or any other. She said they designed the physical science building for equipment to go in, and you can help them change it to a building designed around the equipment within it."

  "I'm not sure we're going to suggest any changes at all."

  "They are, Knight. They think you will help give them closed or open space, areas that configure for current use and classrooms and labs that function together and just don't get too small or outdated. All this began because Vairdslea is going to have to tear out two walls and 'add a lump' on a building for a lab expansion."

  "It needs a bigger childcare center."

  "They see that too, Blade. There's room for a lot more, but 'the future' just got moved up. Morelli said the campus will be the best option for supplemental elementary class space, which will be needed for a large 'batch' in five years, but may not be needed permanently for twenty years."

  "Kids from other places are going to come here to school. They've all heard about us. Bressler warned us they've got a lot of students watching for a transfer date."

  "Dormitories."

  "Yes, Case. Very few Bressler students are local. The planetary government education grant and lending programs will make it possible for many to go to school anywhere, not just within commuting distance, or where they get local tuition rates."

  "Do we want to pull those students, Kail?"

  "Universities are already working on plans to specialize in areas, like Vairdslea Tech, Stats. This one will, but its mission is to be a home region university that offers at least the basics in whatever the people want. Here, that's primarily going to be a forest and alpine agra-prac. We can set it up to dovetail into Vairdslea on higher tech, but the agra base is going to be overshadowed a bit by general and basic tech to start, I think. Other large groups looking this way for a couple years maybe teachers, social science and government students, who see the community as a big part of a good fundamentals education. You're going to bring design students, who don't care if there's not a degree program because they'll learn from what's been built, while they get basic U curriculum. Agra, botany and environmental science students from everywhere, because of the unusual, and successful, cultivation in habitat."

  "Those, at least, were expected."

  "Guys, some of what's confusing you is the push to prepare for as many as possible. It's a private university, not public. Every credit in tuition goes to hiring and building, because it doesn't get public funds for anything but specific grant projects. The draw here will give them funds to increase the academic quality and variety on both campuses and facilities on that one. It will not be cheap to go to school here for anyone but kids from here. Right now, there's a lot of money available for not a lot of students. The more they can get right now, the more they'll have available for the time when babies born this year are trying to find any U with room for them and funds are tight, because there are so many. Every graduate now is a source of building and scholarship funds in the future. Sports teams that do well bring credits from broadcasting networks, more money to prepare and more scholarships. They don't usually move fast because the financing plans were made ten to twenty years ago. Public U's didn't get much help from the gov before, but they got some. Now they'll get much more. Bressler wants it that way. It doesn't want to be a huge public U, but it must have funds to be a very good choice for the students who will benefit most from the highest academic quality money can buy. That's its mission. People with money pay for that quality for their kids, and for scholarships for kids who don't have the money, but have the abilities to become the leaders of our, now free, world. Philosophy, political science, social science, and all the other less practical choices are essential to our society and Bressler assures they have the best and supports them with really good practical programs. Pracs aren't common. Doctorates are."

  "Richland isn't going to rebuild the physics program."

  "What?!"

  "Not to the level it was, Nev. They can't dedicate the resources without contradicting their mission as a public university. They're making room for every kid who couldn't afford to go to school and adding two education buildings. We'll get teachers, now, who intend to teach there in five years. It's one of six big universities expanding education programs and medical schools are yelling they need money, too."

  "You think we should build it here. I'm not sure I want to teach math and physics students, Kail."

  "You saw right through that one, Knight. I think we could find a way to fund it and no one else can right now. Whether or not you teach isn't the real issue. That is. We're not getting applications for that theory, and some of it is there's no concentration of talent around the necessary equipment. Vairdslea comes as close as any, but it's not a research-oriented school. Tech development, but not theoretical application."

  "Private university grant stuff, Knigh
t. Way off the scale of good higher education for the general population."

  "I'm trying to think of another university, somewhere on Gradelode, that has the structure to expand to that level, to donate money to, Drand, and I can't."

  "I can't either, Stats."

  "They want to keep them separate, Kail."

  "I know, Blade, but they're the most qualified to build it, even if they don't do it."

  "I'm going to stop pretending I don't know what he's saying. Trust us. You came here injured, angry and determined. You found freedom, friendship and peace, and gave us your skills and love, while you freed the whole world, pointing to us as example. You're ours and nobody is going to make your life even difficult, or they'll be pitched over the pass and warned not to come back, by every person in the region. You ought to be done and just have a good time, but IS destroyed the great center of advanced physics research on this world, and tried to kill the greatest concentration of brilliance, because no person was valuable to them, only things were. It's damn mean to force you to accept you are more valuable to all the rest of us than others. You already proved it. You know that doesn't mean 'better,' but 'better at' is essential to get us, who have been isolated and imprisoned so long, into the community of worlds as an equal, not as the stupid shits out there who didn't slam the crooks into prison one hundred fifty years ago."

  "We should have, Tatton."

  "We all know that, Blade, but it was running fine and the gov was ignorable, until about twenty-five years ago. By the time we all realized we'd ignored the pests too long, we had an infestation so vast we had to have something totally new, in the hands of the best on the world, to clean out the nests. We were all ready to help, but it had to be all at once or they'd have just overrun whoever tried."

  "One man saw it coming twenty-six years ago and tried to get rid of the source of the infestation. He was so careful not to damage anyone else, he barely slowed it, but he did attract enough attention to it you noticed it twenty-five years ago."

  "The Bicentennial Banquet bombing, when we all realized we wished he'd gotten them all."

  "That's the event, and the reason. It happened three years sooner than he expected it, and Alladisi was why. If he hadn't thought there was something that would give him the power to take control sooner, it would have been three more."

  "And thousands, maybe tens of thousands, would have died in the uprising, Knight. Thank you for saving all those lives. You going to let him stay big guy in the back forever, Nev?"

  "He's sure it's impolite to block everyone's view, Tatton. The best we can do is fan out and keep abreast. When he notices we're running to keep up, he drops back again."

  "Nev always noticed when we were running too, but he ran circles around us to keep from noticing he was leading."

  "Stats, I am not the phy…"

  "Sicist we are. You are, but a different type. The project coordinator has to know and understand it all or wouldn't know who to give each piece. Lunch, you to Morelli, Drand and Dawn to get power out there, and Stats and I to pick up materials for two projects?"

  "Yes, Case."

  "Hello, I glanced, but you were talking and drinking tea, not menu-looking, so I caught up and watched teacups."

  "Perfect personal service, as always, Cambi. Drift fungi soufflé. It'll be great, Kail. It's the best it can be for about fifteen days."

  "The fungi are perfect snowdrift shape with a hint of blue on white, Tatton. Not an aqua tint on any."

  "Oh, that's pure perfect and real unusual."

  "The chef is ecstatic. The harvest crew got to it at just the right time and Mirton yelled as soon as he saw what they were picking. Delant bought it before they finished picking the patch, this morning. Nev, I know you're crazy about popcorn fungi, but this moment, the soufflé is the tastiest treat on the planet. Chal came in for early lunch."

  "Definitely the soufflé, Cambi."

  "Everyone? All around. Caim pods, whipped brightroot and temptea with mine."

  "And mine. Six more?"

  "Easy table."

  "Caim pods, brightroot and temptea are all at peak too, or I'd have ordered a lunch, not dinner-size meal."

  "We know when to follow a good example, Tatton. Not much longer?"

  "No, Knight, but there are some late summer, early autumn and just after first-frost goodies still to be picked at perfection. The late fruits and nuts will start coming in pretty soon too. There are a few things there aren't enough of to get past the buyers here, which will show up clipped to menus at staggering prices for a day or two. We'll get more overnight visitors from all over the world this year, so tell Cambi and Chal to make you reservations, as soon as they know the days. You'll get in ahead of the gourmands, if they do it. If you wait for a call, you could be hopefully waiting to see if there's enough. A lot of people here haven't tasted because a one hundred credit dinner requires a real special coinciding occasion."

  "Why so much?"

  "We can't cultivate them, Nev. Everyone watches for one sudden appearance. The crews scour the forest looking for more than one in a spot. Got to be at least two because spores have to spread wide to find a place just perfect the next year. If the same place always was, we could increase, but it takes the right amount of sun and rain through leaves, or just the right deterioration and density of bluefang dung, or a dozen others, and the best we can do is be sure the spores can spread. Every harvester will have grass snips. It's worth that many people to harvest a few because people will pay for the labor for the taste."

  "Cambi! Reservations for… sixty, every time a harvester yells, 'I found one!' and crews rush to search for two. Spread the reservations out however needed, but get us in."

  "Sixty?"

  "I hit thirty before I got garage buddies counted. I'll be doing who-this-treat-who next-treat at sixty."

  "Six us, six the hotel. Other restaurants and hotels have hopeful claim over any of our reserved, if we get all we hope for. I'll tell you now I may call and say we've got thirty and you're paying for eighty to get, but we expect good this year. Lofterbach said it 'smells right.' That's the most accurate prediction available. Call the hotel now if you want. Their please-call list fills earlier than ours."

  "Comm Chal. Fast. Reserve sixty for the six gourmand's dream delights, as soon as you know. Donce and Barrett at least once. You twelve. Guessed it. Comm out. He's had tiny tastes, too rare and expensive for more."

  "He's only gotten in here twice. I know the chefs share nibbles for nibbles of others, but they're tiny nibbles. Servers are reminded not to lick plates after they get a taste."

  "Sixty."

  "I'm not worried about the bill."

  "Drand and I sometimes beat his dad with a code, but no one has ever beaten his mom."

  "Oh, a challenge, Nev."

  "Cheating may be the only way to beat her, Blade. Cambi, I'll pay in advance for chefs perfect meal selection and wine, steward's choice to accompany, as soon as you know the price."

  "I think I'll tell the chef after lunch. She slows down when she's giggling and lots heard slurps over the drift fungi. You cheat well."

  "Mom will be giggling for days."

  "Just don't tell her until Chal doesn't have sauté pans in both hands, Drand. I got dizzy watching the screen. Mmm… I know temptea is only this good fresh, but I'm going to buy a huge supply of dried anyway."

  Morelli yelled for Lambert, as soon as she saw them through the window. Lambert yelled for the staff to stand by for possible total redesign, and let spouses know they might not see them until morning. Two architecture interns ran down the hall with sketch pads in one hand and stools in the other. Knight, Nev and Blade walked into a flurry of preparation, including the receptionist running through with a big tea brewer and the secretary ordering food delivered.

  "They definitely expect to be working late."

  "Start tomorrow morning, Blade, and Bressler redesigned the s
tudent body this morning."

  "I've been thinking about what Drand said, Knight. I think we've got to do a sports complex quick, to help get ready. They don't have great teams because that's not who they get there. Here, they could, and people want it. Look how busy the ball and soccer fields are, and tennis and hoops courts. All the people waiting for the golf course and the size of the swim teams at the public pool. I don't think it should wait."

  "Physics, agra and phys Ed?"

  "And maybe a couple more if we can figure a way to get them under domes and more people working, Nev. An agra building?"

  "They'll know that part, Blade."

  "In here! We started there, said, 'there,' then ran for here when we realized all together made sense."

  "We're not sure how to go about this. We design in his head."

  "Blade said sports complex is essential for scholarship fund building and get more started if possible. We've been steering Knight since, so it's probably possible, but we… may be using things that haven't been invented yet to do it."

  "We'll help with that, especially if you need 'displacement,' Nev."

  "The answer is not to use domes, and a different type of foundation. I don't know what yet, but I've got an idea on how."

  "How many building codes are we going to break, Knight?"

  "How many are there, Andon?"

  "What do you see, Knight?"

  "The bottom of a pyramid, Nev. Empty and fill. Block and assist. How big can we make a stick?"

  "Are we going to get sick going back?"

  "No, Blade. I wish I could figure out a way to do in and out doors, but the other bases don't hold possibilities. If it was up and down, but it's open and close. Worlds turn fast and geo-sync out that far is too fast for that close."

  "It may be the open of another shape. Later! This thought now. I don't think the stick has a physical limit, but it's got a definite practical one. How big is a door?"

  "Let's figure out how big we need it to be, Nev."

  Knight, Nev and Blade talked and pointed. Four people sketched. They knew it was dinnertime when the secretary brought dinner. They noticed night had fallen when Case, Stats, Drand and Dawn arrived. Danny, Ronnie, Bance, Silky, Essa, Day, Jace and Elise arrived before they were 'up to date.' The big meeting room held them all.

  Essa's forest harvest and Bance's farm knowledge aided greatly. Danny on a comp aided. Kendra and Larry arrived with Mike and Loren, who had food for them, at twenty-two thirty-eight. Mike and Loren brought food again at two oh seven. By then, people were sleeping in corners, but they just napped until they were needed, or they could focus their eyes. At six fourteen, Mike and Loren brought breakfast. Kail and Tatton were with them, and the redesign was nearly done.

  "Is that possible?!"

  "Not with what we think of as building materials, Tatton, but they don't put 'building' in front of 'materials.' Some of what's noted has been made in labs a few times."

  "It can be produced in the shape and size needed, Melleen, but no one's asked it be done. Most won't be terribly expensive to produce. Cost was a factor."

  "That was a big surprise, Knight. My experience with new has been deciding to wait for the price to come down."

  "On tech, or corp-developed materials, the cost doesn't drop for a while because you're paying for all the time and money in R and D. Most of these materials were developed several years ago, but just developed. They were only news to other people interested in the field, not fantastic new useful products, because they didn't do anything better than something in use, but they do several things almost as well, and the several is why they're the best for this."

  "Labs move, classrooms change shape, entire sections of buildings, come apart and reassemble for other purposes, on other buildings, and it's done by a comp program on presets. And it'll cost about two-thirds as much because it'll take half the time. If 'outside' wasn't a distraction, they might have designed the whole thing without walls. The landscape plan is going to make outdoors usable class area, year-round. You don't need domes, Tatton. They're going to enclose the entire area with a field that people, objects and light penetrate, but rain, snow, and air don't."

  "Oh, shit. Air?"

  "It's warm or cold. It'll actually be two types of fields. The roof field will be object impenetrable, no flyer lots under it. It lets light through, but that's all. In nice weather, just switch fields off. The other field blocks defined molecules, air. You'll feel it when you pass through because the air around your body will be replaced as you pass. It won't affect your breathing because you can't be in it. If you stood with your nose through it, you would need to breathe through your mouth, but the kids who try it will discover it's not worth the work it took and nose plugs do the same thing. No one will pass out because they'll get out of position before that. It does have depth, but it would take the equipment in a physics lab to measure it. The shielded area will be vented. It's an inexpensive method of temperature control and people and plants like gentle breezes. It also allows greenscaping, without carbon dioxide-oxygen exchange evaluation, and Blade's sure he's done enough math assignments for a while."

  "At least until I sleep. The equipment will be cold when you drive it in, but Knight said we'll figure that one out later."

  "Sleep? I think I remember that word."

  "Eat first, Nev."

  "Yes, Mike. Thank you both for watching over us and being sure we had the right fuel to sustain us, and making sure it was in such tasty form. We noticed every meal had a careful balance of quick and long-burning body and mind fuel, after we noticed delicious."

  "You're welcome. I wish there was a chef's school in there."

  "There is."

  "What?!"

  "Not general. You still have to go to Mountain City for basic culinary arts, but there will be advanced training for chefs in the crops and forest-cultivated foods of this region, as part of the agricultural program. It'll be an odd term schedule because it'll begin with harvest, which you'll participate in as part of the course. You'll learn why some things are rare and expensive, personally, and what perfect is for each item from the best harvest crew supervisors. You'll learn the how and why of packaging and be trained to prepare perfectly, and what's been tried and didn't work, so you'll be ready to create with those foods, without repeating what was just not bad, and therefore wasteful of a limited supply of fantastic."

  "Kail, you really do know how to get people excited about learning. I'm not going to be a great chef, but I found out nutrition really interests me."

  "He may be a chef clinical dietitian before he's done. I consider nutrition late third after taste and appearance."

  Knight walked to Mike's car with them. Both knew he was thinking of cracking their heads together, but they didn't know why. When they got everything unloaded, Mike asked.

  "Are you going to go to your cell and lock the door every night for the rest of your lives? You show up to feed us, and we really enjoy it, but then you go right back to the kitchen or house. You're worrying Blade and Elise is nearly stomping. What's wrong? There is something wrong."

  "We don't… really fit."

  "Oh, shit. Mike, we let this go too long. Blade and I kept telling ourselves you were enjoying work and really busy learning everything you could, and ignoring it began in the mine. You came down here to be with us and we were busy all the time. You're our friends and you're retreating, and we caused it. Conversation jumped to masters level tech after hello, so you quit talking. Why don't you just tell Elise you want to make love to her together and stay home because you can't both have her?"

  "Uh…"

  "That answered that. Loren called his sister. Once?"

  "Twice."

  "Did you tell her where you are and what you're doing?"

  "No."

  "You didn't tell us you felt estranged. You haven't told Elise you're both in love with her. You haven't told the p
eople who love you that you're home and happy because you aren't. You really do enjoy what you're doing and learning, but you see it as… less than what we're doing. Yes, some of us are off the scale on math and tech talent, so what? Tarn's not. Chal isn't. Day, Kady, Reesa, and Elise aren't. Bance is off the scale, but he just likes tech along with everything else. Larry's almost as lost by tech talk as Chal. You two aren't, but you brought food when people were working on flyers, then left. You didn't stack the dishes and grab tools. We've all been telling ourselves you have different hours, you're tired, you're… Yes, all. Case and Stats like having a couple other guys next door, but you don't yell you've got tea on and biscuits baking. You fix it and take it somewhere. Blade wants me to give you math assignments, point to a corner and start over. What do you need?"

  "Maybe to know you and Blade are worried."

  "And miss us, too. Knight, we're comfortable at work. We really like what we do, and the people we work with. We don't want to go back to study engineering. We don't cook because it was what we did all those years. Our reaction was 'real food to cook!' not a groan because someone needed to and we knew how to feed a horde."

  "We don't know what to do about Elise. She's got a permanent happy-ever-after roommate dream and we want… her with us."

  "Well, that certainly isn't going to happen if you won't go anywhere with her. Blade said she should be saying, 'Hi, I'm Elise, these are my escorts, Mike and Loren. They brought food,' and crashing parties."

  "She would, and we'd find out we were crashing when someone helping carry trays said they didn't mind."

  "And you'd love it or she wouldn't do it. Two houses too far apart?"

  "No, but…"

  "She's got a three-bedroom house, half isn't office and you'd like to put girls in two bedrooms."

  "That's a good analysis."

  "Give her a cat."

  "A cat?"

  "She wants a loving roommate and you want those rooms occupied, but not by men. That sounds like a cat to me."

  "Not a dog?"

  "Dogs have to be walked and usually have one or two places they like. A cat will learn to use the toilet and occupies a whole house. Put a path connection in and he'll occupy yours too."

  "You had a cat?"

  "No, one of my tutors did. They wouldn't let him give me one."

  Knight gave Mike and Loren an errand, then went back in. At six forty-nine, the government patent office completed its checks. Eleven patents were granted to Bressler University. The group in the large meeting room cheered. They'd been worried the office would open before the computer finished.

  The specifications were completed and materials and equipment lists were done at seven thirty-eight. Orders were sent to thirty-seven small companies with the capability of producing the specified materials in the dimensions and shapes required, by Tellerlock Construction, with a computation of production costs and prepayment from the campus building fund. It was unusual, but so were the orders. Other orders were sent, then a request for thirty-two more OJT people to learn "modern large project construction" was sent.

  At seven fifty-eight, Geon walked into his office at the bank and began to giggle. It was full of containers of raw gems and valuable ores. The handwritten note on the top of one said they were donations to the campus building fund.

  The bank president arrived a bit late. She told her secretary she'd been giving instruction on the care of feeding of cats. She'd found a home for the last of an unexpected litter of kittens.

  The spermicide had been tailored for humans and had almost no impact on domestic animals, or farmers, ranchers and breeders would have noticed it immediately. There were tight restrictions on pets, but the bank president's kitty had made a dash for the door, while Mike and Loren were explaining they really preferred not to be identified as the ones who'd "found the containers just sitting," and asking aid in making them just appear.

  Loren had blocked the path of the purebred cat and asked if the bank president knew where they could get a boy cat for a friend. After they put the gems in Geon's office, the bank president had given them a bright-eyed ball of gray and white fur. They named him PLMR, and called him "Plimmer."

  He'd been to a veterinarian for immunizations, to a pet store for recommended equipment and supplies, and Mike and Loren had installed a 'cat run' that connected two paths, with covers permanently raised, and two pet doors, before Elise got home. When she arrived, they chimed the back door, now with cat door, carried in the supplies, and gave her the kitten. She looked at the name on the immunization certificate and asked what the acronym meant. They told her, "Permanent loving male roommate," then ran down the path, through the people door at the tennis court, through the people door to their path, through their house and to the car.

  They were four minutes late for work, but the chef managed to say, "Excused," through laughter, when they explained why. Elise was still sitting in the floor, giggling, with the ball of fur purring in her lap, when she called Kendra. When the story reached their house, Blade knew who had suggested.

  "You will always amaze me."

  "I didn't suggest the name."

  "No, that's their combined sense of humor, and I was worried because it disappeared."

  "Chal said not at work, so the problem had to be here."

  "Too much tech talk."

  "Stop feeling guilty, Nev. You weren't the friend they felt didn't have time for them. I felt like an idiot. Blade said he was worried and I was sure they'd come out of it with Elise tugging and the not extreme high-tech work on the flyers. This morning, Larry asked me if I was going to pay the caterers. I figured out why Elise couldn't get them out of the house, but they still had to tell me they felt like I only noticed they were around when they fed me."

  "What are you going to do about the preoccupation that kept you from realizing you were hurting them?"

  "We're following him to his damn room, Blade."

  "We need to sleep and get to work."

  "Lead, Nev. I'm out of patience!"

  Knight left Nev and Blade asleep and hunted what he wanted in the planetary library, now with all listings accessible. He refined the search parameters four times. The fourth gave him one reference listing. He read the three hundred fifty-six-year-old analysis of the settlement period social experiment on Carousel, then went to the jewelry store. When he returned home, he woke Nev and Blade.

  "No one here will know these little ruby ear studs mean a pledge of love forever specifically between men, but they'll know we chose them as an expression of love. It's not fair to ask you to let me put yours in your left earlobes and mine in my right."

  "Left is fidelity, but just men."

  "Yes, Blade, a diamond is both and emerald women."

  "He knows I'm going to say yes, and I'd go get the cutters if he put his on the left, Nev."

  "I'd hold his ear for you. I love you both. I pledge it forever. I do not pledge not to explain why it's a ruby and in my left ear to any and every person who asks."

  "I pledge the same thing. If you don't want people to know you've got a gap in rational, when it comes to us and other men, you can try to convince us to let you put them on the right."

  "Thank you. The custom was created by a social experiment group during the settlement of Carousel. The opinion of the researcher, whose analysis I read, was that the experiment was a success. The studs worn by the people in group marriages reduced the confusion of people in neighboring communities, reduced friction, and aided in widening the gene pool. The practice of wearing ear studs identifying the type of pledge had faded by the time the analysis was written, three hundred fifty years ago. I didn't do enough research to be sure, but I think that experiment may be why group marriage is common on Carousel and several other worlds in that area of settlement. It's considered a better choice for the financial security and emotional health of a child than single parenting."

  "I don't know if group
marriage is even legal here."

  "It's not illegal, Blade, but 'no social experiments' was specified in the original settlement application, per agreement with the mining corps that were paying seven percent of the cost of pre-settlement survey and settler transport."

  "I thought they paid more than that, Nev."

  "The corps promoted that opinion, beginning before settlement, Blade. They widely advertised they, in association with various others, were sponsoring settlement of a new world. There were two hundred twenty-six others and many people paid their own way, but neither advertising nor texts mention they paid ninety-three percent of the cost. You have to find the list, look how much each paid and obtain a total to compute the percentage. My grandmother always gave me hard, but very interesting, research assignments. You're going to put yours in yourself?"

  "I was."

  "You put the stud in, Blade. I'll bond the back."

  "Thank you, Nev. I didn't realize I wanted to do it."

  "I could keep the pledge."

  "We know, Knight, but you'd break Case's heart, and disappoint a lot of others."

  "Just don't start looking for them yet, please. I'm sure this is the correct ear, but I might be reminding myself of it while I'm checking to see if I broke a jaw."

  "Don't worry, Nev. By the time he figures out how to get from noticing to doing something about it, we'll both think it's hilarious. Are you ready for me to accept an invitation to Danny's spa now?"

  "She invited you?"

  "Of course not. She wouldn't add that to the difficulty we were having figuring out what we needed to do and say. She's going to be real happy Knight found a way for us to both pledge love and faithfulness, without keeping us out of her spa, and will probably start working on how to get us all in it. Both blinking. Oh, well, I'm sure she knows it'll be a challenge. I don't feel like going to work, but we need to."

  "Yes, we do."

  "Groan. Let's go."

  Case, Stats and Drand were 'moving,' too. They were in the boathouse shop loading their work truck, when Knight, Nev and Blade got there to load theirs. Case walked over to Nev, looked at the little stud, looked at Blade's, then found Knight's on the other ear.

  He grinned widely, called Danny and told her they "got it settled." Five laughed and Blade grinned, when his comm chimed right after Case said, "Comm out." Blade said he'd bring wine and cheese. Knight told Nev they still had a lot to learn. Nev said he'd learned the theory, but needed work on application. They were nearly finished loading when Larry walked in with a platter of sandwiches.

  "We got three calls to get food to you before you headed out; Mike, Dawn and Kail. We'd have probably gotten more, but Kendra called the everyone list and said we were assembling sandwiches. I was as sure as they were you were planning to work a while before you ate."

  "We were."

  "Mike said take breaks about thirteen and fifteen, Knight. Have some tea and eat at least two of the fruit and nut bars they put in the LH's. There are two types and Loren built them to keep you going until dinner. Drand, Dawn said Caelton really did need them to do it this morning, because the run is already beginning to taper off. They'll be done in about a half-hour and she'll call just before her 'body hits the bed.' The people you're working for know you worked all night. If you want to work until dark, take turns taking long naps, or you'll really worry them. If you're not home by seventeen-thirty, you'll be stopped for dinner and quizzed to find out if you slept. I like the ear decorations. Since they're little things, I suspect the size was specified."

  "The culture reference is in the current use directory on the comp in my room. I'd like to know if I'm right about it being the reason group marriage is common in the second settlement area, after you get more sleep."

  "I'm very interested, but I know I'm not as young as you are, too. I could do what you're about to, but I'm grateful it's not necessary. Take another, Knight. We made you three and extras for anyone else that wants more than two."

  "I'd like another."

  "Nev used a lot of energy."

  Nev blushed, groaned and laughed with the others. When he got back to their house, Larry told Kendra what Knight had said. As soon as the six left, they ran to the big house. Tracking the spread of the custom was their kind of fun, and they weren't that old. It was eleven oh nine and they had both napped during the overnight session.

  After the break at thirteen, Knight and Blade 'tucked' Nev in for a nap in the back of Knight's car. He awoke before they took a break at fifteen. Knight argued Blade should be next. He didn't win. Blade didn't win when Nev opened the back of the car and told him to get in with Knight at fifteen fifty. At sixteen forty-eight, Knight carefully and quietly got out of the car. At seventeen forty-two, Blade sat up, when Mike and Loren arrived with dinner.

  "Obviously, I napped. Case, Stats and Drand?"

  "Worked until seventeen. Dawn got dinner down Drand before he dropped. We watched to make sure Case and Stats didn't land in their plates. Danny's the one we almost missed."

  "Oh, shit. Worked the whole time Dawn and Ronnie did, then kept going, putting the info together."

  "Bowl of sugar in five flavors and high caff tea next to the comp. Tate called Day. The Caelton sorting floor manager didn't have any comp codes in the neighborhood and she sent another update at fifteen oh seven."

  "She was handed a big cup of soup and put to bed by a mob."

  "Day called Loren to ask what to feed her."

  "And you had soup on."

  "There's some of Loren's soup in your warmer for when you get home. Even if you don't work long after dinner, drink the soup. He packed it with everything your bodies need to restore, except sleep, it'll help you do that and tastes great. I've got a sample and the nutritional workup, including long slow cook, for Chal."

  "You do?"

  "That soup belongs on the room service menu, Loren, it's what a lot of people really want when stress, time zone jumps and altitude are making sleep difficult. He calls it, 'Nighty-night soup.' How long did you two sleep?"

  "About two hours each."

  "Caelton yelled Denny was still working at fifteen oh seven."

  "I should have known!"

  "You're all mad at yourselves for not expecting it, Nev."

  "She did it at school, Mike. She'd start working on something and we'd catch her halfway through the next day. A little candy and black tea to keep going, and going, and going, and always surprised how long it's been."

  "Day said she was. Don't work late, big boy. You'll get a lot more done tomorrow if you give your mind a little waking rest time before you drop."

  "We don't plan to work under lights, Loren."

  "Knight, we've got a date with Elise and we'll all have trouble leaving early enough to see the show if you aren't home by twenty."

  "We'll be home, Mike."

  "I thought we were going to 'casually mention' we saw the show tomorrow."

  "I had a vision of the three of us going round and round the block 'just going by' to see if they were in yet, and Elise yelling get their asses home before we ran out of fuel."

  "Not unlikely."

  "Everyone in the neighborhood is pleased you're wearing rubies. Larry and Kendra have got us all giggling. Different subject material, but they sound just like Drand and Dawn. They had fun, and you were right. Larry says the reason for the size of the studs is 'indicative of the adept societal planning and sociological analysis of the aggregate regional culture.' He's impressed by the paper, and with you for finding just what you wanted."

  "Always the same size and not centered in the lobe wouldn't be copied as 'decoration,' and small would help that and not be expensive for anyone, guys."

  "This little dot of red's been touched a lot today, Knight."

  "So has mine."

  "Mine has too."

  "It doesn't belong in the other ear. You're still working on fair and not seeing this is. It's a pe
rfect fit for each of us. A perfect fit for us and you working to ignore being squeezed into too small wouldn't be fair. It's your turn to remind him next time, Nev."

  "Estimate on project completion?"

  "Just before one of us cracks his thick skull to try to get it through it."

  "Not long."

  Larry finished the precis and Kendra nodded. He sent it to the people waiting for it. In a few moments, he'd gotten some version of 'terrific and just what we need,' from each. When he had, he made a call to a personal comm code Milla had tracked down for him.

  "Good evening, Minister. I'm Doctor Lawrence Cartier. I'm a sociologist, educated before the gov wiped out the profession and carefully disguised as a statistician. I prepared a precis for you. It's been reviewed by sixteen others, who carefully didn't mention they do sociological research, or call themselves sociologists. We believe it will aid in developing a tax structure that will promote the economic and emotional health and growth of our society, and patch some holes before people begin to fall through them in large numbers."

  "I was careful not to mention I did sociological research too, Dr. Cartier. I want the precis, but I'd like a fast brief on patch."

  "Our society does not stigmatize women who want children but not husbands. However, unknown father, and therefore clinical insemination, is not socially acceptable. Even though the penalization of people choosing to have more than two children has been removed, there is no provision for households which provide emotional and financial security that a single-parent household cannot, such as best girlfriends living and nurturing their children together. The current tax structure requires a separation of family units by 'blood' relationship. Unless it includes marriage, which in our societal expectations includes a vow of fidelity, a household in which one adult has the primary duty of nurture must compute the share of finances of the nurturer as wage, and that person must declare everything, from bed slept in to a child's use of the swing in the yard, as income. I believe we've found both a way to eliminate that and establish a method, in which women, and men can indicate their emotional commitment to families that are not based around heterosexual couple marriage; that will aid women seeking fathers for children without requirement of financial support, that will allow men to give love, and aid if needed, to their children, that will not be anathematic or abrasive to our social structure, or cultural customs. It worked so well on Carousel, four hundred fifty years ago, group marriage is common in the entire second settlement area. I believe I've successfully eliminated the promotion of group marriage, while still promoting the establishment of financially and emotionally stable familial environments for the nurture of children, and emotional health of adults. The research bibliography, cultural-spread tracking diagram, and the who and why I believe it will achieve near instantaneous global acceptance, are attached. Basically, it's about to happen and the government can keep up with it, if you move fast. I'm calling from my home in Teal Valley's West Side."

  "I just dumped 'after the election' in the cycler. Send."

  "I'm including images of why you've got twelve days, if the members of the Design Academy can keep from yelling for everyone's attention before then."

  "I'm receiving them now. We'll get it in tomorrow's session! Comm out!"

  "Her son's an interior designer, Kendra."

  "I thought 'Design Academy' hit with a bigger splash than usual."

  "It's always been bigger-splash on every other continent."

  "It's a fantastic precis and lays it all out for them, and I know how scary 'exposing' yourself was."

  "Terrifying, but I don't look much like that tall, skinny young man."

  "And there's no record he did anything, except in the memory of people who wish he'd gotten many more."

  "It stopped the plan to institute euthanasia. I got all who were working on it."

  "You've never told anyone that's why before, have you?"

  "No, there wasn't anyone who'd believe I saw the plan and whose it was, in a few words of gov propaganda in the new 'approved' sociology texts before."

  "I love you. Today was such fun."

  "I love you, and it certainly was. It'll be fun tracking it here, and tell us a great deal more about the developing post-revolution society."

  "It's going to be a great sociology reference work. You write beautifully too."

  "Thank you. I couldn't do it without you, and not just because of your skills."

  "I love you too. What the hell are we going to do about Danny?"

  "Stand back and watch Blade."

  "Good solution."

  It didn't surprise Blade to get a date reminder at twenty fifty. Knight and Nev grinned when he put a therm of soup in the basket, with the wine and cheese. When he picked the basket up, Knight asked him if he'd decided what he was going to do. He set it back down and pointed to the table. They sat down around it.

  "Can we accept any unilateral decision she makes?"

  "You think she's made an emotional commitment."

  "We know she has, Knight. I think she knows she has, doesn't have difficulty admitting it to herself, but feels it would be an intrusion to speak of it to others."

  "To whom?"

  "The whole neighborhood you built her, Nev. That's how she sees it. You built your princess a castle in the rich and peaceful land, and filled the apartments around the courtyard with heroes full of love. She doesn't want anyone else occupying her tower, but she wouldn't be happy without the love all around her. We're a little… above the courtyard of the castle, the loved warriors in the keep on the hill watching over all. She sees herself as one of the guardians, with, but not the same as, us. All around are her worthy companions and loved friends, but the prince, the knight and the sage are her peers. She doesn't go anywhere, and she doesn't need a date or a group to go places. So why isn't she going? Why doesn't she notice there are other interesting men?"

  "She's not 'settled' because we weren't."

  "That's how I see it, Knight. He's having trouble again."

  "Nev, you're ours. We're yours. We're together. Nothing can change or intrude upon it, but you don't feel that yet. Blade, you or I will be driving the LH for a few days, even if we're all riding it."

  "Very good idea, Knight. Tuck him in your bed tonight. Danny's not going to make a fast decision, other than to get a cat and leave the door to Case and Stats' open."

  "The princess' companions."

  "Dawn and Ronnie are loved, married women friends. We're a family. That's what she's sure we should be and hoped for us. This is the symbol of a complete emotional commitment. It tells every woman, and man, none of us will make one to anyone else. That's why it's important Knight wears it, Nev, to us, to him, and to all the women and men it politely informs he is not the man of their happy-ever-after dreams. Love affairs, but not true love. That's ours."

  "You think Danny's made that deep commitment to everyone in the castle and us."

  "Yes, and it wouldn't change if some moved out and new families moved in, except in this house."

  "You're right. Sit on her and put a diamond in her right ear. She's fully committed to the 'people of the realm' and it'll pitch her well-founded fear of breaking hearts in the waste cycler."

  "He's always going to amaze me too. I was going to let her figure it out."

  "He loves her too much to watch her keep working that hard to be obviously noncommittal."

  "But you're my happy-ever-after. I'll get the stud gun and the mini-bonder."

  "I don't have a stud."

  "Comm connect Bance."

  "Hi, Knight, no discovery yet."

  "Good, but not the reason. You got the specs. Get a diamond for Danny's right ear to Blade at her place. If she wasn't emotionally committed to the whole damn neighborhood, and it wasn't mutual, she wouldn't have been pacing the parapets of the tower, until we got settled and a mob wouldn't have put her to bed."

  "Bance, call s
omebody!"

  "Obviously, my wife agrees. Comm out."

  Blade put the stud gun and mini-bonder in the basket and went to Danny's. Ronnie had seen it as soon as Knight pointed. There might be others who chose studs for the same reason, but Danny was the one who knew she was committed and needed a way to express it and warn off the dreamers. She saw the stud gun, as soon as he opened the door, but let him in anyway.

  "No intentions of getting close to your left ear and neither rubies nor emeralds would complement all your varied wardrobe."

  "Blade, I'm not making a commitment to anyone."

  "Danny, a diamond is 'every,' not 'any.' Do you want to spend the rest of your life trying to keep suitors from being damaged, or let them know the princess is emotionally committed to her people, before they ask for a first dance? We could have twenty people here to help sit on you and supervise placement if Ronnie decides to make a statement in support of Nev's instructions. Knight told Bance to get a diamond. How many were upset with themselves because they hadn't checked to be sure you had gone to bed?"

  "Everyone."

  "It's mutual, isn't it?"

  "It hurts you're so wise."

  "It was worth it. I'm a very happy man. I thought I'd found all the love I could want or need, then Nev doubled it. I admit a pledge of love forever did not occur to me, as the way to deal with the jealousy I was not successfully ignoring."

  "Until you were suddenly trying to figure out how to get him in bed and realized you're in love with him too."

  "The exact order. Surprise, abrupt realization. I'm not interested in other men. It was Case who made me realize Knight is."

  "Case isn't interested in any others."

  "I know. If Stats was interested in any man, he would be."

  "Oh, I missed that one completely. Big, beautiful, smart, caring, gentle as only truly strong men can be."

  "Ow."

  "You're the most gentle of all."

  "I definitely feel better. Diamond?"

  "I have recent experience arguing all of them would find a place to sit. Swimwear in the spa suddenly seems appropriate."

  "I was prepared to observe your preference."

  "You have a swim briefs under, in case I decided a bit of enticement was in order."

  "You are always an enticement, the most physically beautiful woman I have ever seen, and the physical is a low res projection of the beauty within."

  "I've got an itsy-bitsy hot pink two-piece you will love."

  "I'm going to be facing the wall while someone else does the stud."

  Ronnie called Nev and Knight. After she spoke to them, she called everyone in the neighborhood, Silky, Essa and Jace, Tarn and Bellin, Chal, Donce and Barrett, Kail and Lillen and Tate. After that, she called Knight and Nev again. Nev said, "You called Bance," between giggles and Knight supported him on the way to Danny's. Blade was laying on the living room floor laughing and Case and Stats were holding each other up, when Knight and Nev got there. Knight 'dropped' Nev on Blade. Danny walked into the room, nicely dressed, asked why Blade wasn't and Case and Stats collapsed.

  "My clothes are drying!"

  "Oops."

  "He was almost out and you threw them behind him!"

  "He made… a diving catch!"

  "We fished out his clothes and him! He was laughing too hard to climb out!"

  Knight sank. When Ronnie, Dawn and Drand walked in, Danny was standing over five laughing men on the floor. She looked from them to Ronnie and told her it wasn't the "interesting evening" she'd planned, and she wasn't telling her why they were laughing until they got Blade dressed. Ronnie asked where his clothes were and five men roared with laughter.

  By the time all the people and representatives had arrived, Blade was dressed. However, there were several others laughing too hard to stand, or sit.

  Plimmer was 'in attendance' and obviously thought it was a great party. He leapt from one shaking body to another. He curled up next to his food and water under a chair, when everyone finally managed to at least get off the floor and into a chair. Danny's was in the middle of the room. When Bance opened the small case for Blade, he looked at him for explanation. The diamond wasn't alone.

  "They called while I was there."

  "Does everyone who called Bance understand this is a statement of complete emotional commitment? If it isn't forever, this is not correct."

  "I made that very clear to them, Blade, so did Larry."

  "It's a statement of the same depth of commitment as a wedding ring."

  "It's the symbol you're in a family, Larry. It's right for Danny because she feels this entire neighborhood is hers, and is totally committed to it."

  "Blade, we'd have gone happily on as roommates our whole lives without really making a commitment, to anyone, avoiding it just as Danny has. When we asked ourselves why, we realized all we were doing was avoiding making the statement."

  "Jace and I are ready. Marriage isn't right for us, but this is. Ours are going on the left."

  "Our emeralds are going on the left too. Reesa and I won't ever split. Someday, a man might belong with both of us forever, but that's a possibility we examined, not an expectation in any form. We're a family. We wished we'd been sisters, but that's going to be how a lot of women, and men, feel about it. We never had best friends forever, without a wedding ring and fidelity."

  "Blade, there was nothing except sisters or brothers that expressed the family feeling before."

  "I'm a little jealous, Larry, I want to deny they feel the totality, or the incompleteness without it. I have three diamonds."

  "I proposed. They said yes. I don't even want to contemplate life without them in it. It was an abrupt realization. I had to kick out 'one-man' and it had thirty-eight years of cultural roots. They're a family. They showed me my place in it has been waiting almost since we met. Ours are going on the left too."

  "We'd get married, Blade, but that would make our lives difficult. This is the same thing to us and won't."

  "Two houses."

  "We're working on it. There's a family that belongs in this neighborhood, but I don't know if they'll move."

  "He's talking about us, Silky."

  "Uh…"

  "If you decide to move, I'll buy your house."

  "Tate?"

  "Keerse and Devy both want to move, Day. They aren't going to move without me. It's amazing how unimportant the word 'party' is compared to 'child.' Devy's pregnant and has career plans. Keerse wants a home and children. They set me up. I'll say thank you forever. This is right for us."

  "Move the sculpture garden?"

  "Silky, the house is bigger, but two stories, so the yard is bigger. It has a family room, with the door into the side yard between it and Day's."

  "Tarn, we love our neighbors. What would they think?"

  "Essa's pregnant and figuring out how to keep baby fingers off paintings and sculptures."

  "He's right."

  "What?!"

  "Guys, we're going to move the sculpture garden, and a path."

  "I see that, Blade."

  "Let's get this started. Danny, they're all here, and all made their decisions to make their commitments because you admitted you had made one, not because of ours. You ready?"

  "I'm so happy I'm about to cry. I didn't know I needed Silky and Essa, and their children, here."

  "Loren did. He's been figuring out what you need to be healthy, since he found out you were stuffing yourself with sugar. This isn't the interesting evening I planned either, but that plan isn't as important as this, and I'm sure I'll believe it after that planned interesting evening. All done, Princess, your love for all visible in your lovely ear. Case and Stats. Why diamonds?"

  "It's not just each other."

  "We'd be wrecks if the people in the five houses on this end went different directions, and it's spreading."

  "You're saying yours is the same type of commitment as D
anny's?"

  "No, it's to each other, and everyone else as part of that. We called Bance back and said diamonds instead. Rubies didn't encompass the commitment. It's 'I love you. I'll share my whole life with you, and we'll usher for all the rest of our loves."

  "The commitment to each other is complete, Blade, but 'and all our loved friends' is part of who we are."

  "I agree, but the others needed to hear you say you fully intend to be Uncle Case and Uncle Stats to all their kids. Otherwise, they might hesitate to yell at you to change stinky baby because they've got their hands full."

  "Not Ronnie and Dawn. They've been giving us stinky jobs since freshman chem class."

  "Am I going to do all of these?"

  "No one is worried you won't get it in exactly the right place, Blade. You even caught your clothes."

  "Stats, I'm not supposed to have to match giggle jiggle."

  "It's a good thing you did Case's first."

  Kail had read the precis. When they left Danny's, he and Lillen went to Larry and Kendra's. There hadn't been a 'reception.' A party was planned, but not that night. It was only twenty-one fifty-three, but most still needed a long night's rest. Blade and Danny's 'interesting evening' was starting an hour late, but neither minded. When they sat down in Larry and Kendra's living room, Kail grinned.

  "You picked every one."

  "When the minister called me back and told me her son had said he hoped they could handle the attention they were going to get, I started figuring out who'd spread at least that piece of it. I knew Reesa and Kady would be working on the idea. When Ronnie called, I called, told them exactly what it meant and to decide. Case and Stats surprised me."

  "Diamonds."

  "And they're right for them."

  "Of course. It wasn't an example they wanted to set. Blade said, 'jealous.' It was a very personal commitment, not what 'everyone does,' the symbol Knight found for Nev."

  "He's very happy, deeply in love, and if anyone had told me my raving romantic son was going to end up with two men…"

  "No one else is 'romantic' enough for him, Lillen."

  "The custom?"

  "Will spread through the region in hours. Tarn, Chal and Tate were there. There will be little studs just below the cartilage on the outer side of many earlobes tomorrow. All will be correctly placed and none will have them who haven't made a forever commitment. When Loren asked Silky and Essa to move, it was for Jace and Day. They're probably the only ones who don't realize it, though no one will mention it. You'll see the cohesion of the outer community Tarn and Chal helped Nev build. Knight, Nev and Blade will be called upon to move five sculptures. Knight and Blade's strength and training are why they were asked to do it and they can't be copied, but everything else will be done by others, because they need to work elsewhere."

  "I looked. They got a lot done today, but not as much as usual."

  "They weren't all three working most of the time, Kail. Tomorrow, they'll be rested, including Blade, and start early. It's important to them all he spend this night with her, but it won't be a long one."

  "Why important?"

  "It defines her relationship with them, and she's been waiting for them to define theirs. Blade's there for her, and has been all evening."

  "Once he has been, she'll relax and grab the hand of whoever puts a gleam in her eye, and not just them. Case and Stats will notice every woman who walks by again, and so will Knight, Nev and Blade. Yes, Nev. He has his dream of together-forever pledged love, so he'll relax and have fun with women who think he'll be fun. There are a lot of women whooping and dancing around here. Fully committed, they aren't marriage candidates and won't be worried that's how some women see them, or Case and Stats. They were in the position of being such eligible males that they couldn't show an interest. That was always the case with your son. 'Raving romantic' was quite practical. He could only be interested in one girl and the only one right knew better. She loves him very much. She's now completely happy because he is. They were the most interesting group I'd ever seen, and none of them were couples. Very unusual."

  "I know, Kendra. There's usually at least one pair in a bunch like that."

  "The minister?"

  "They'll have the entire package ready to go when session opens tomorrow. She warned me several are going to be using 'chunks' of the precis as speeches and just tell everyone they're plagiarizing. I told her to also tell them the author gave permission. They agreed with the tax structure recommended. The elected congress won't be able to move as fast. They'll have both party and constituency to consider. The pro tem congress' job is get what the planet needs done now, with the knowledge of their regions to aid. None are going to campaign for election, at least not this one. All agree 'get it running and get out of the way' will aid our interplanetary image."

  "Elections?"

  "She didn't say. I'm sure the date will be announced before the conventions in six days. Campaign ads are already beginning to appear. The proposed platforms give enough basis for people to choose parties."

  "People are amazed the structure it's complete, no gaps they suddenly discover."

  "Excuse me."

  "You have good reason for a yawn, Kendra. I'm going to borrow it as an excuse to get my husband home to bed. We'll definitely come back some time when you two aren't short of sleep and he hasn't been working sixteen hours. There are some days he only works twelve."

  "It'll settle down soon, Lillen. I hope."

  "So do I, Kail. 'Settle' is our best hope. 'Slow' is not in their repertoire."