The Project

Chapter 31

The Project Chapter 31

Arna and Garmik weren't sure if they needed to get a room at a nearby hostelry so everyone returned to the ship until it was time to meet Deegom and Irdurg for dinner.

"Well Garmik," said Alex, "This might be the break you were looking for, but these purifiers Deegom was talking about, do you think they could be built on Xindus?"

"Oh they would have to be constructed in space, but it wouldn't be that hard.

Everything would be constructed as separate units, the engines, the various decks; each room would be built separately, then lifted into space as needed."

"How long would they take to build?" Continued Alex.

" Not all that long, I would have to see the design prints first, but if they are really serious about this, it would be a truly incredible boon for Xindus."

Before they left for the restaurant Alex thought it might be a good idea to change out of their cammo's and tee-shirts, and into something a little more upscale.

If we were going to Bronco Dave's I'd say it wouldn't matter we'd probably be overdressed." Kelly groaned,

"Oh god! Did you go there as well?" Alex shrugged,

"Fraid so, but when mom got food poisoning there, no more Sunday night dinner at that joint." Kelly laughed and shook her head,

"That's weird, my mom liked that place as well I never got sick there, but my friend Jill got some intestinal thing she swore came from their salad."

"What are you talking about?" Asked Bria.

"Bronco Dave's Corral," began Alex. "It's a restaurant in the town we lived in, some of their stuff was pretty good, their carrots and corn were really good, so were their lima beans. The customers were something else though, dad liked to say it was the only place in town with a free "floor show."

"Floor show?"

"Yeah, mothers screaming at their kids, kids running around like they were at home. We were there once when some big fat lady bent over to pick up a piece of chicken her son dropped on the floor, her tit popped right out of her top. I about spit out my potatoes when I saw that." He then asked Kelly,

"Did you ever see little kids just reach under the cough shield and just grab food right out of the containers?"

"Uugggh!" Yeah I did, I told mom about it but she didn't care, she loved that crappy pot roast they served."

"I hear ya, well I've got a pair of jeans that are pretty clean, but I'll have to go with my cleanest dirty shirt."

"Same here," replied Kelly, "It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up some nice clothes along the way if we're going to be doing this a lot."

"How about you Bria?" Asked Alex, "At least you're wearing dresses."

"I think I've got one clean one left," she replied, "We need to find someplace to wash all our dirty clothes sometime."

After everyone changed, Alex exclaimed,

"I guess this will have to do, hopefully this place isn't real fancy, I'll really feel like "Joe s**t," if it is."

"We all will," added Kelly.

Much to their relief, the Peak Star appeared to have a relaxed dress code, Kelly pointed to a couple people dressed in what looked like flight gear. There was also the problem of what actually constituted "good clothes." So far, all they had seen people wearing were everything from coveralls, high boots, and cargo type pants like they wore, to robes, and uniform type outfits. Bria then spotted Airron and Drok sitting towards the rear, cutting through the tables, they made their way to the back.

"That certainly was timing," said Deegom, "We just sat down."

"We didn't exactly bring a lot of clothes with us," stated Alex, "We weren't sure what kind of place this was."

"What do you mean?" Asked Deegom.

"Oh you know," replied Alex, "All fancy and formal, well dressed people and all that." Both Drok and Airron laughed,

"This is a manufacturing planet, look around you; does it look like people are dressed in their finest?"

"Well, no," he replied, actually I couldn't tell if they were dressed up anyway."

"Well trust me," replied Airron, "Peak Star is a favorite with spacer crews, mid level management types, and machine operators, now what will it be?"

"How do we know what they serve here?" Asked Bria, "I don't see a menu."

Deegom chuckled,

"You don't need a menu here, when the waiter comes around just tell him, but since you two come from Ter…Earth, I'd go with something you may have eaten on your travels." Alex was caught in a dilemma, should he stick with Eabak or go with pippa riku, which as far as he was concerned, was turkey. Along with that, he'd try ronol, zaca, and plenty of yama nice warm bread. Kelly was having trouble making up her mind as well however; Bria was going with Kedra, Kidyne, and ronol. When the waiter came around, everyone, with the exceptions of Arna and Garmik placed their orders. Alex hoped that he had chosen right, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the Oxynian reps by letting food go to waste. While they waited, Deegom opened the discussion with information he had pulled up from his computer.

"I contacted Zeb Kifire at Fort Kamata, and he's ready to help. Naturally he will share in the credit, but everything will even out in the end."

"Now Garmik," continued Airron, "Will you need to return to Xindus or can Zeb act in your behalf?" Garmik looked at both Oxynian field reps.

"I have been entrusted with full authority to act in the best interests of Xindus. If Kifire, and Mocon can act on my behalf on their end there should be no reason for me to return to Xindus."

"We take it then that there is someone on your planet who will take charge of constructing these purifiers, and can recruit people to man them as well as come here to help," asked Drok

"Yes," replied Garmik, "Before I left, I set up just such an organization. Zeb has already dealt with them, so there should be no problem."

"Well that's great to hear," replied Airron, "You could assist us at this end so hopefully we can get a smooth start here."

Then Garmik asked Drok what the situation was really like on Ussen Ommo.

In his gruff voice, He explained,

"There is but one small area where the few survivors of the war fled, and I do mean a few. Over the yarns the population slowly grew, I believe at last count we had something like two hundred thirty-two citizens. And let me tell you, every one of those people sacrificed their souls to send me to collage in the hopes that I might be able to do something for our world." Then Drok gave them all a look that left no doubt he meant business.

"Make no mistake, I mean to make sure my people's sacrifices were not in vain."

Then Alex asked,

"What was the war all about anyway?" Drok studied him for a moment, then replied.

"To be quite honest, nobody really knows anymore, and unless there's something out there in the dead lands, no records exist anymore. It happened so long ago there's no one left who has even one memory of that terrible time. Besides, nobody speaks of the past anymore, it's a bad memory left in the dust of time. Nobody wants to remember, the future is the only way for us to survive. That's why all our hopes are on this project that will hopefully turn the artifacts of our past into the means to finance our future."

Then Airron placed a small device in the center of the table which then appeared as a holographic screen.

"I found some images of purifiers at work on Dreia Jikim several yarns ago; this will give you an idea of what we're talking about here."

Alex and the others watched as a video began showing an incredible large machine that looked like it was just resting on the surface of the planet.

"How big is that thing?" He asked, "It doesn't look like its moving."

Airron tapped a couple buttons on his keyboard which caused a small yellow object appeared next to the machine.

First of all, the purifier is moving, roughly at a fast walk for most. That object I superimposed on the screen represents the height of an average individual, as you can see the machine is quite large." Alex figured that thing had to be like two aircraft carriers stacked on top of each other.

"That is one hellva big machine," stated Alex, "So it just sucks everything up cleans the soil lays it back down and just keeps moving?"

"That's pretty much it," replied Airron, "Depending on how contaminated the soil is and the area, and two of them working, you're looking at six to eight yarns for the whole process."

"What about stuff like metal or old bones?" he asked.

Drok spoke up,

"Any metal is ground up, sorted, and saved as scrap, everything else is returned to the soil along with added nutrients, grass, and tree seeds. There is a very controlled regeneration process that takes place as this thing moves along. We plan to start with the lesser contaminated areas first, while this is going on, teams of androids will be dismantling the larger pieces of wreckage and salvaging anything useful."

By this time, their food was starting to arrive so the meeting took a temporary break. Looking at his food, Alex though.

"Well it certainly smells good, looks good, well, here we go!" He was pleasantly surprised when the food met and exceeded his expectations. Smiling, he looked to see how Kelly and Bria were reacting. Bria seemed indifferent, as she chowed down; Kelly wasn't making faces or gagging, so he assumed she was enjoying her selection. As he dug in, he was rewarded with a meat that was just like turkey, not a Butterball mind you but nicely textured breast meat. The ronol tasted exactly like asparagus although the stalks were about the thickness of pencils. The zaca tasted of sweet carrots, and the yama was warm and fresh.

"So do you need to transmit any personal authorization to Deev Mocon, or Xindus," asked Airron, "You know we can arrange for a private and coded message if you like."

"No," replied the android, "that shouldn't be necessary, but I do want to have a look at Ussen Ommo as well as the purposed timetable. I want to be able to tell the council this is what will actually be required, we will need this many people to actually come here. Accommodations will have to be established. Tell me Drok, will your people have any objections to having a number of androids living near them?" The Gri'Foda thought a moment then shook his head.

"Not that I can think of, my people will realize that they are there to help them. Now I could think of a few humanoid races they would easily object to, but androids…No."

"Excellent," replied Garmik, "Then I guess all we need to do is head for your planet and look it over." They spent the rest of the meal going over the smaller details with Airron promising to alert Deev Mocon, and Zeb Kifire at Fort Kamata of the plan so they can contact your council, and get things moving on their end."

As the meal was winding down and everyone fully relaxed, Drok asked Alex and Kelly where they were from.

"A galaxy far far away, our home world is called earth although I've heard it called Terra," said Alex. Drok shook his head,

"Sorry, never heard of it.

"Few have," injected Kelly. Drok then asked Bria several question about her world becoming quite interested when she brought up the subject of Doradian metal working.

"That is a specialty of my people as well, remarked Drok, "Metal to fashion blades and specialty hand tools is certainly not in short supply." Alex immediately thought of a very appropriate verse.

"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:3."

Kelly and Bria just stared at him with puzzled looks,

"What made you think of that?" asked Kelly Alex shrugged,

"I don't know, I really don't, read it somewhere I guess." Drok quietly said,

"I can't think of anything better to describe our situation than that Alex, in fact, I would like to copy that."

"Well you're certainly welcome," replied Alex.

"Is that something from your planet?" Asked Airron,

"It's a passage from our bible," replied Alex.

Since they were planning on leaving early, Arna decided that it was probably best to return to the ship. Drok promised to arrive early with his gear; Alex wondered how the big guy was going to enjoy the trip cramped up in the Karla-Ann.

Drok certainly kept his word, banging on the door. Alex looked at his watch and groaned,

"Christ! We've only been asleep for four hours, well he did say early." Arna dropped the ramp allowing Drok to trundle aboard; he carried the equivalent of three army duffle bags over his shoulders and asked where he could bunk.

"I'm sorry," replied Arna, "We're just a little cramped but let's see what we can do here." She and Garmik spread several shipping pads over which they spread a large sheet that wasn't cloth, but was soft and flexible like a blanket. Drok carried the equivalent of a sleeping bag which he then laid out over the pallet.

"This will do fine" he proclaimed, "I've slept in worse places than this." It didn't take long for Kelly and Bria to teach him how to play poker, and before long they had a serious game going.

At one point during the trip, the subject of steel came up, with everyone comparing blades. Drok carried a short sword hat looked something like a short machete that was not only a work of art, but was razor sharp.

"My father made it for me," said Drok, "Nothing fancy, just your standard utility knife, I carry it just to give people an idea of the quality of our crafters."

Even Bria thought it was as good as or perhaps even better than anything made of Doradus. After two cycles, they arrived over Ussen Ommo, Drok directed Arna as to the flight path she should take so they could get a good look at the planet.