CHAPTER 16
“So, you’re all going stir crazy, salivating over trophy everything in every direction,” Jason said. “You’ve been glued to your screens.”
“We can wait,” Dovey said.
“Eh, it’s driving you nuts,” Jason said. “I like hunting. It’s a passion for all of you. It was your vocation by choice. I like hunting. Like the out of doors. Prefer fishing. You all want to take down the bull elephant or king lion. I want to land one of the bluefin. You seen those things?”
“They’re the size of killer whales,” O’Callaghan said.
“Seriously?” Ritchie asked.
“I really want to spearfish one, hoowah?” Jason said. “Get all this stuff set up, get the company stable and I’m going to take up blue-water hunting. Just spearfish for stuff. But that’s me. So, you’re going out in two-person teams. Drones have done a rough survey. You can see what’s out there. We’ll break the lease up into three zones.”
“What about scaring off the game?” Duncan said.
“We’re primarily here for shrimp,” Jason said, shrugging. “And with the run in full, we’re loading shrimp so fast we’re going to need another set of conexes in a couple of days at this rate. Point is we can take or leave game meat. The real problem is the wolves.”
“Wolves aren’t that big of a problem,” Ritchie said.
“You weren’t paying attention to that wolf pack,” Storm said. “Those aren’t timber wolves. Those are freaking dire wolves.”
“Yeah,” Jason said. “The wolves around here are the size of male lions on earth. And they hunt in large packs. Wolf packs will take down small to medium elephants. Everybody worries about the regular ‘dangerous game’ on Earth. On this planet, it’s the hyenas and the wolves to worry about. But I’m going to have the drones take out most of the wolf pack, so that’s settled.”
“Wouldn’t mind one of those skins,” Surber said.
“There’s an entire planet,” Jason said, gesturing out. “I’m not even going to bring in the carcasses. There’ll be time to hunt wolves another time. For right now, it’s what’s most likely to surprise you. So, three two-person teams. The bots are busy so you take eight drones and two coffins apiece. You’ll have to lug the coffins back. Don’t take anything you can’t field dress and get in a coffin. Which means no, and I repeat, no elephants.”
“Damn,” Storm said, shaking her head.
“We don’t want bad publicity that Brandywine is killing elephants,” Jason said. “Probably in this political climate it won’t matter, but still. Plus, the head on one of those things takes a freaking conex and how are you going to store it until you can get it to a taxidermist?”
“Point,” Surber said.
“As people adjust to the reality on the planet, they’ll realize that elephants can be pests . . . ”
“Major ones for farmers,” Dovey said.
“But you can hunt elephants on your own time,” Jason said. “Meat if it’s a food animal goes to the company, you can keep the hide and head. But you’ve got to drag the coffins. The drones and your AIs should warn you if there’s a major threat but keep your head on a swivel. There’s unknown bugs, snakes, et cetera. Roger?”
“Roger,” Ritchie said as the others nodded.
“Team leaders take the shot today,” Jason said. “Team seconds take it tomorrow. Teams: Storm and Duncan. Duncan, don’t be that guy.”
“Ain’t,” Duncan said.
“Dovey and Ritchie,” Jason said. “O’Callaghan and Surber. Surber, you’ve probably got more hunting experience, but . . . ”
“Not going to complain,” Surber said.
“Figure out your strategies and good hunting,” Jason said. “Literally.”
* * *
“I kicked them out of the nest,” Jason said into his phone. “And I went to so much trouble to build a good nest this time.”
“It was time,” Tim said, chuckling.
“These are people with waaay more experience than I have and I feel like a mother hen with chicks,” Jason said.
“Welcome to command,” Tim said.
“I don’t want to be in command,” Jason said. “I have zero interest in running things. I just want to be the guy figuring things out.”
“Then you should have taken the junior partner position,” Tim said.
“There’s another reason,” Jason said. “We’re going to need another partner.”
“Why?” Tim asked.
“What I just said,” Jason replied. “I’m good at figuring things out but not a guy to run things. I’m interested in expanding this. Not just fish runs but finding other stuff. I’ve got a lot of ideas about how to make this planet profitable but like the shrimp run I need to be there to figure it out.”
“Like what?” Tim said. “And, yeah, we need something more than just a shrimp run.”
“Let’s just talk about fruit orchards for a second,” Jason said.
“Fruit orchards?” Tim said, smiling. “Okay.”
“We were left with only six mature trees of every different major type of commercial fruit and nut trees,” Jason said. “Did you know that?”
“No,” Tim said, frowning.
“Same thing with commercial animals,” Jason said. “There are only six of each major breed of cows. Goats. Sheep. Pigs. All female. But with trees, and I need to stay on subject, there are billions of grafts in stasis. The containers are just in a mass floating off station . . . ”
“That’s where most of the conexes are being held as well,” Tim said.
“So, on the fruit trees,” Jason said. “Root stock is just the base wild tree. Like with oranges, there are going to be wild citrus trees that the grafts can be put on. So, all you have to do is find a wild apple tree and you can grow . . . Granny Smith or Fuji apples, get it?”
“Got it,” Tim said, nodding.
“So . . . you’re clearing land,” Jason said thoughtfully. “And part of that land is a wild apple tree. The fruit’s nothing much. But you can graft Fuji, say, into it. There may be a small copse. When you graft, you’re going to remove the existing limbs. They just take up resources. But those limbs can, in turn, be rooted and become the start to other root stock trees. Before long, you’ve got either an apple tree nursery or an apple orchard, depending on which way you want to go. Do you know where silk comes from?”
“Silk . . . worms?” Tim said.
“Which eat what?” Jason said. “Mulberry leaves, to answer the question. To create a silk industry will require massive orchards of mulberry. Where are the wild mulberry trees? Cherry, orange . . . ?
“There are thousands of fetuses of pigs, cows, in storage,” Jason said. “But there’s only six sows, six cows, to implant them in. Which is why we’re going to have to learn to milk . . . you know those gigantic cattle on the plains?”
“The aurochs?” Tim said, laughing. “You want to milk aurochs? They’re the size of small elephants!”
“I’ve done crazier stuff,” Jason said, his brow furrowing. “But that’s why we need another partner. We need a field operations manager. Not just a guy working for pay. Someone who’s got skin in the game. I figure it out. You and that partner monetize it. I’m basically the R&D guy of the partnership.”
“That . . . makes a certain amount of sense,” Tim said thoughtfully.
“I’m all about the new,” Jason said, looking into the distance. “That’s always been my real problem, sticking to one thing. But this world is all new. How we feed people is going to be new. New/old. Taking stuff that we know from Earth and fitting it into this environment . . . Remember how we were having a tough time getting supplies to outpost seventeen? Birds weren’t available. The road up was washed out. What did I do?”
“Found some camel drivers to carry the loads up the mountain,” Tim said.
“I like solving problems but then I want to move on,” Jason said. “So, we need somebody to get this stuff done on the ground side. The day to day. And expansion.”
“And you want to pick from one of these guys?” Tim said. “People.”
“If they fit,” Jason said. “The hunt is a test in part. Part because they were mostly, not all, going nuts with all this game and no shooting. But it’s a test in part. And, yeah, we need somebody.”
“I’ll notionally agree,” Tim said. “But I have to have input on the final choice.”
“Agreed,” Jason said. “I’m not great at picking people. Another reason I’m not the best guy to run a business. People are the main risk.”
“So, on old business,” Tim said. “I talked with James and looked at the restaurant thing. It . . . makes a certain amount of sense. We need a venue for meetings and dinners. And I’ve set it up so if Brandywine contributes to getting the package together, we get something out of it. Right now, there’s a dearth of capital to just get paid up front. So, we’re going to have to dip into our capital. Which I hate doing. Which means, we’re going to wait until we’re very capital solid. But . . . way things are going, that’s going to be a couple of weeks, max.”
“That’s soon enough,” Jason said.
“I looked up the chef’s resumé,” Tim said. “Checks out. Talked to him. Find the right venue and he can handle it soup to nuts, metaphorically and literally.”
“We’ll need to find some nuts,” Jason said.
“Deb’s trying to find a space,” Tim said, then sighed. “And at that point we hit the problem of unit holders. Most people don’t even know they own a fifth share of a business property on a main drag. We’re having a hard time finding a space.”
“I’ve got an idea on that,” Jason said. “But it cuts into material.”
“Oh?” Tim said.
“Most people have commo about their units on hold,” Jason said. “But if someone offers them some fresh food to exchange units, they’ll probably take it.”
“Somebody has to have the units,” Tim said.
“I’ve got some left that aren’t in my main areas,” Jason said. “I think. Jewel, do I have some units left that haven’t been traded?”
“You have nearly four million I haven’t been able to move,” Jewel said. “Including one in a possible venue. It is near your quadrant’s Market Square on a ‘main drag’ as Tim said. One of the four main connector corridors.”
Main connection corridors looked something like the interior of a shopping mall. They were lined with shops and in most areas had sliding walkways down the center. Jason remembered that at the ones he’d walked down, most of the storefronts were closed.
“We offer the unit holders some . . . probably not croc meat . . . Jewel, the unit owners are listed. Any Third Worlders?”
“One Copt, French, Indonesian and US other than you,” Jewel said.
“We offer the Copt and Indonesian croc meat,” Jason said. “The French and US . . . buffalo or something. Hate to be that way but the Copts and Indonesians are more likely to know about croc. We can offer the croc to the Westerners or whatever we have in quantity. Note that it’s pretty much the same as alligator. Can you tell me age or sex, Jewel?”
“Copt female, teen; French male, fifties; Indonesian male, thirties; US male, forties,” Jewel said.
“Throw in some flowers?” Jason said. “Offer different but substantially similar commercial property. Kilo of croc or half kilo of some known meat. I throw in a couple of units, you throw in a couple of units.”
“You have the majority?” Tim said.
“I’m the majority partner,” Jason pointed out. “Call it Brandywine’s. Private venue at first. Reserved parties only. Later we might open it as a restaurant when there’s more money in the system. Have some signs about food that’s available out front as advertising. Brandywine Corporation will run it and back it but we’ll own the units separately. And hope we don’t have a falling out.”
“Yeah,” Tim said. “Talked with Richard as well. He’s willing to make the loan on the equipment. He agrees we need a venue. There aren’t many on the entire station.”
“You agree on the meat for units thing?” Jason asked.
“Sounds . . . yes,” Tim said.
“Jewel,” Jason said. “Make it so.”
* * *
“There’s a request to trade units.”
Lucra Stamos was fifteen and had already been advised by her father to ignore such requests until the Patriarch had ruled on how they should be regarded.
Which she had told Mariam.
“I’m not supposed to listen to those,” Lucra said.
“This one has a benefit,” the AI replied. “They are offering a similar unit trade plus one kilo of crocodile meat.”
“Crocodile meat?” Lucra said. “Crocodile is good. Where do they get crocodile meat?”
“The person trading is with a food company,” Mariam said. “They get it from the planet. They also sell it.”
“For how much?” Lucra asked. It would probably be too much. With a family of nine children and Papa could not find a job, everything was too expensive.
“Twenty-five kilos for fifteen credits,” Mariam said.
“MAMA!”
* * *
“The trade is up in the air but you just got four new customers,” Jewel said. “Each of the families ordered at least a case of something. The Copts have ordered four cases of crocodile meat.”
“The crocodile meat is selling surprisingly well,” Tim said. “There’s enough moving in and out that it’s getting complicated. I know we talked about a field supervisor partner, but what I really need is . . . ”
“Don’t even put me in an office,” Jason said. “I’m the guy figuring this out.”
“We need a log guy,” Tim said. “Hell, at this point we need an accountant, a log guy and a scheduler.”
“I’ll contact the best log guys I know other than me,” Jason said. “I know schedulers, too. Call Gil about an accountant.”
“You have two agreements on trade,” Jewel interjected. “US and French contingent on delivery. The Copts and Indonesians probably have to discuss it. The Indonesians just ordered six cases of croc and a case of buffalo meat.”
“We’ll have three of five units with those two,” Tim said. “Which is majority and we can rent the venue to Brandywine.”
“And we’re in business,” Jason said.
* * *
The last team got back after dusk.
Jason had been in continuous contact with the drones and watching Dovey’s team as they struggled back pulling the containers. The containers counteracted gravity but the megabuffalo in the container still had mass. Getting it moving was tough, getting it to turn was tough and weaving it in and out of the trees was tough.
When it was clear they were going to be back well after dark Jason dispatched an Alfred to help them out.
“Sorry, Mum,” Dovey said, when they finally ascended the conex wall.
“More Dad,” Jason said, his arms crossed. “Mum’s not home at the moment.”
“Those containers are a bitch to maneuver, hoowah?” Ritchie said.
Both of them knew they’d screwed up. The question was what to do about it.
“You were being tracked by a tiger,” Storm said.
“We were?” Ritchie asked.
“You had blood on you,” Surber said.
“I took care of it,” Jason said, thumbing. “Dinner’s cold.”
“And the boss is a really good cook, too,” Storm said.
“My punishment is no real punishment,” Jason said, shrugging. “Dishes are done so there’s not even that. Just this. I’m not legally responsible for you. It’s your life and you signed waivers. But I am morally. I’m the guy in charge. I trusted you to make the right call and get back on time. You didn’t. I expected better.
“You disappointed me.”
With that Jason turned and walked away.
“Ouch,” Duncan said.
“Disappointed,” Storm said and walked away as well.
O’Callaghan just shook his head.
“We’re definitely getting back on time tomorrow,” Surber said.
* * *
“This sort of meal is great for you, hoowah,” Ritchie said. “But it’s going to start going right through me.”
Breakfast was fish, shrimp, fruit and some really horrible print bread Jason had brought along.
“There has to be something to be done about print food,” Jason said. But they needed the carbs.
Getting to sleep in a container with seven people, four serious snorers, had been a bit of a trial. But Jason just left his remarkably comfortable smart plugs in and eventually drifted off.
“Okay,” Jason said as they were finishing. “I know that the best times, traditionally, to hunt are morning and evening. But the hunting around here is so good, you can probably go any time. So, we’re going to take the morning to explore the tech abilities we have available. You all had trouble getting your, admittedly large, kills back using coffins. O’Callaghan, any thoughts on how to use what you had to improve that?”
“Flexmet?” O’Callaghan said. “It’s your usual answer.”
“I told Storm yesterday that I don’t like talking about my ideas before I try them out,” Jason said. “People should trust that the boss knows. But we’re going to try some ideas on that. We might not always have bots available. We’ve already got stacks of fully loaded coffins. Let’s go experiment. Jewel, security situation right outside the abatis?”
“Nothing at present on the forest side,” Jewel said. “Usual croc conditions.”
“If you’re done, grab your guns and light field gear and follow me,” Jason said.
When they were prepared, he waved for the group to follow him and clambered down off the conex wall. He picked coffins from a filled stack tossing about twenty kilos of flexmet on top of one of them.
“First thing,” Jason said. “You were having one of the team push each coffin out and back, more or less.”
“They had too much mass to handle more than one at a time,” Dovey said. “It really got me the thing I’d heard talked about with being in zero gravity. That there’s weight and then there’s mass. Mass just keeps moving.”
“Yeah,” Storm said, snorting. “Those things were a bitch to maneuver. I’m glad they’re tough. I ran mine into a tree more than once.”
Jason pushed the coffin down to ground level and climbed on. “Jewel, have the flex connect the two coffins, lightly, end to end. Bring down a drone to control.”
A drone obediently settled on the rear coffin.
“Lash them together, in series, lightly,” Jason said. “The lashings should flex so that the containers can go around obstacles. Clear enough?”
“Clear enough,” Jewel said.
“Make it so,” Jason said. “Bit of flex to hold me on the container safely. Now, send a strand of flex out to the top of the abatis. Then send strands down to the ground from both containers. Have the ground strands lift the container, gently, to a height to clear the abatis. Clear enough?”
“Clear enough,” Jewel said.
“Make it so,” Jason said.
The coffins slowly lifted as a tentacle of flex slithered out to the top of the abatis. Then the pair of containers were gently pulled forward until they were hovering over the abatis. Jewel had correctly surmised that they needed multiple points to hold them in place and had attached the flex without order.
“Come on up,” Jason said, waving to the group. He watched which of them used flex for aid: O’Callaghan, Storm and Duncan. “Now cover me. Jewel, commander’s intent is to use this general method to attach to ground and trees to move the containers between the trees at about six feet above the ground for the seated person at their seat. Move at about a slow walking speed, no faster. Can do?”
“Can do,” Jewel said.
“Take me about a hundred meters in, turn around and come back,” Jason said. “Make it so.”
The technique worked fine as they left the abatis. Jewel maintained about six feet height as they descended. But as they moved into the brush a problem immediately cropped up.
“Whoa,” Jason said. “Don’t run me into tree branches.”
“I was wondering about that,” Jewel said. “You probably should be prone. And you still may have to cut or push some out of the way.”
“Will do,” Jason said, getting prone on the box. “Choose such a height and path as will run into the least branches.”
In a few moments he was back on the abatis and climbed off.
“And that’s a better way to do it,” Jason said.
“Yes,” Dovey said, shaking his head. “Should have thought of that.”
“None of us did,” O’Callaghan said, regarding Jason thoughtfully.
“You’re going to be training trainers,” Jason said. “You need to think about how to maximize the tech to make everything easier and encourage them to do the same thing. Tim, my partner, once said I weaponize laziness. I figure out the most efficient and easiest way to get something done so I don’t have to do as much work. You need to do the same. The new people that are coming in need to do the same. Necessity is the mother of invention. I can’t think of everything. When you are stuck, be inventive. Thus ends the lecture.”
“Hell, you can use them to bring extra guns. Like a porter,” Storm said, looking at the containers.
“You need them for the kills,” Surber said. “You’ll get blood all over the guns.”
“Wrap the guns and any other gear in flexmet,” Duncan said. “Keeps the blood off and it’s self-cleaning.”
“The answer,” Jason said.
“Gazillion and one uses,” Storm said. “I got raised that the world is hard and you just suck it up. You can use a four-wheeler to recover the elk, but if you’ve got to drag it up a hill to the four-wheeler, you drag it up the hill.”
“My dad made the Great Santini look like a mild-mannered beta leftist,” Jason said, shrugging. “I was always too lazy for my old man. Too much of a dreamer. We are who we are. Spend the rest of the morning in camp. Each of the teams take their sector and work with the drones. We also have a few, not many, new species of potential foods to try out. Divvy them up and taste and smell test. Early lunch then spread out again. No change. Same teams, same area. Dinner is barbeque pork.”
“Barbeque barbeque?” O’Callaghan asked. “Or grilled?”
“Barbeque barbeque,” Jason said. “Bit of an experiment. I brought a grinder and the dry rub will be mostly local spices and herbs. We’ll see how it works out.”