Wishing On A Star

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Sara's parents were still rather uneasy about things that weren't making any sense to their conception of the world, but they agreed to listen to our offer. I began the discussion with, "Basically the Shai Alyt Company is interested in harvesting walnuts from all your walnut trees, not cutting them but simply harvesting the nuts. Also, if you currently have any acreage lying fallow, they would be equally interested in planting and growing a variety of St. John's Wort on said land. We have machines that cut and sweep up the cuttings, as well as one that re-seeds the Wort for next season." Mr. Blessing was showing more interest now, by asking. "What's required of me in all this, and how much are they willing to pay?"

"As far as any effort on your part…Nothing, unless you feel like picking walnuts," I replied. As far as the Wort fields go, you do nothing except make them available to us, we do all the work. Now it must be made clear that Karuk and Sara won't be the only ones landing here and harvesting," I added. "Usually another contractor would also be allowed to take half the harvest, but then it's only fair."

"Now, about payment," I continued." If you agree to enter into this offer, a man by the name of Sandrick Alazon would come here and meet with you. An offer would be made, in gold, and it would be up to you to accept or reject it, mind you he won't entertain outrageous demands, reasonable and conservative offers will be considered." "How long would these, uh, "crops" be harvested?" asked Mr. Blessing. Karuk stood up and said, "Let me address that question Mr. Blessing. The truth is we don't exactly know, The Shai Alyt Company is attempting to synthesize the active ingredients found in these walnuts, as well as the Wort. By that I mean, artificial ingredients will be substituted for the extracts derived from what we are now harvesting. As to how long it will take them, is anyone's guess, but they won't go to the substitute ingredients until they are thoroughly tested and proven safe. I will tell you this though, I would safely figure on three to five dorns, er years, until this comes about."

Mrs. Blessing then spoke up, "I use walnuts in my baking, would I still be able to pick my own walnuts?" Karuk smiled, "Of course, Mrs. Blessing, in fact when we pick them they go into large shipping crates, just help yourself." Sara then spoke, "Father, we are already harvesting Wort in a couple vacant fields near here, it's the walnuts we're more interested in, however if you have a fallow field or two, it would be most helpful, and only add to your income." Her father seemed to be considering this, then asked, "How soon before this Sandrick fellow shows up?" Karuk then spoke again, "Certainly sometime before the next harvest, no doubt early in what you term spring here, they are eager to move ahead with this." Mr. Blessing sat and mulled over this latest information, then stood and proceeded to shake hands with Karuk. "Go ahead and tell this Sandrick fellow, I will talk with him." "Excellent, Mr. Blessing," said Karuk, "I've got a question?" "Yes," replied Mr. Blessing. "Right now we are sitting out there in that forest which works fine for the Wort we're harvesting out there, I there anyplace close to the walnut trees on this farm that can offer concealment for my ship, especially from your neighbors?"

"What sized area are we talking about?" Asked Mr. Blessing, "Let's just say the size of that clearing," replied Karuk. "There's a place in front of the woods," said Mr. Blessing, that is below a small hill that might be satisfactory." A few more questions were asked, then the discussion broke up as Mr. Blessing had chores to do. In an attempt to solidify his relationship with his father, Collin offered to assist his father, while we returned to the ship, in preparation to harvest the Wort in the outlying fields. I assisted Sara and Karuk with the harvest, operating the re-seeding machine while she ran the harvester. Karuk handled the AMJAC hauling full crates from the harvester back to the ship. Around four in the afternoon Mr. Blessing and his son, came out to see what we were doing. Karuk carefully showed them what each machine did, and what the picked Wort looked like. Both men were surprised to see Sara running the picker, but as she told them, " I just pretty much steer it, and make sure I'm not running over any rocks. She then proceeded to give them a demonstration, which in itself went a long way in "de-mystifying" the marvels of "New fangled contraptions."

Later as we sat around the kitchen table eating supper, Mr. Blessing spoke up, "I've been thinking about that contraption I saw you using today Sara. Seems to me, if you could pick something like St. Johns Wort, someone could invent a machine to pick corn, course there's hay mowers and rakes and such, but something that could pick corn, now that'd be something." "Well Mr. Blessing," said Karuk, "I guess it's up to one of you Kagorians to get going and invent a machine that can do that, but a self powered machine that could pull it." Karuk went on to describe to everyone huge harvesting machines located on a couple agriculture planets that could harvest fields twenty times the size of the one we were working in less than an hour. Mr. Blessing simply could not comprehend such massiveness.

Since Karuk and Sara were finished with the Wort harvesting, they would be moving on to another set of fields as well as a large walnut grove somewhere in what I guessed was Ohio. I had contacted Morkai who would be landing later on this evening , prompting me to ask Mr. Blessing , "Sir, would it be all right if my husband lands in that small field off to the left of your barn, it won't be damaged, and Morkai always uses whisper mode when he lands, keeps things nice and quiet." Mr. Blessing gave me a surprised look, "You mean another one of them flying machines might show up?" I shrugged my shoulders and gave a determined expression, "Not for long Mr. Blessing, just to pick me up, Sara and Karuk are going elsewhere, and I've got to get out to Laramie to meet my parents." The fact that I would be flying over fifteen hundred miles in the next couple of hours was more than he could comprehend. "They are quite something to see as they land, come and I'll introduce you to my husband as well as my friends Nargra and Hanna." While he was thinking about that, Collin spoke up, "Did you say you was going out to Laramie?"

"Yes," I said, "We'll be there well before dawn." Collin gave me a strange look, "Uh ma'am do you suppose I could uh sorta tag along, I know of an outfit near there might need another hand. Collin turned to his father and said, "Sorry father, I'm glad we came to this understanding and all, and I will make it a point to visit more, as well as write, but the west is in my blood, I feel "penned up" around here, and Iffin these folks is going that way, I'd like to ride along." Mr. Blessing as well as Collin's mother expressed sorrow that he was leaving so soon, but they also realized that he now had his own life, and it wasn't on the farm anymore. I then addressed Collin, "If you want to come Collin, you're more than welcome, getting over the flying jitters are we?" He gave me a sheepish grin, "Um yes ma'am, something about covering all them miles in two hours seems to appeal to me."

Sara and Collin spent the next hour and a half cementing family ties, and being welcomed back into the "fold." Karuk also spent considerable time "buttering" up to Mrs. Blessing. When I asked him about this unusual effort later on he explained; "Getting on the mother's good side especially since Sara and I got married on Falth, and her parents weren't there, Sara's mother won't feel so left out, the mother is always the key." I wasn't aware that Karuk was such a "marital" expert, but he seemed to know what he was doing, and Sara didn't seem to object, so who was to say.

As the conversation was winding down Morkai's voice crackled to life over my wrist cron, startling everyone. "I'm sitting overhead, ready to land, want t o give me a signal?" This required me to head for the small field and give Morkai a marking signal with my wrist cron Sara's parents decided to throw caution to the wind, and have a look, so lanterns were quickly lit, as we all made our way out to the nearby field. Karuk and Sara made sure the rest of the family was out of the way, as I located a spot with enough clearance for our ship to land, then held my hand up and pushed a little button on the cron. "Got it," announced Nargra, "We're coming down." I then moved over to the outside of the fence with the others. Soon a familiar rumble could be heard as a dark and sinister shape slowly descended. Sara and Karuk voiced calm to her parents, as the Na'Vas came to a rest, and Morkai shut off the engines. A moment after the cargo ramp came down, Morkai, Nargra and Hanna descended the ramp way.

Shaking hands and greeting Karuk, Morkai moved on to the others. By now Collin and his parents were used to people with funny looking ears and eyes, so they extended their greetings. While Morkai was talking with Collin and his parents Nargra and Karuk stood off to the side talking privately. I had a feeling it was about the Dekken's, but Hanna, Sara and Mrs. Blessing had our own conversation going.

Finally, it became time to leave, Sara hugged her parents as well as Collin and commenced with a tearful goodbye. Karuk then reminded Mr. Blessing that he could expect a visit sometime early in the spring. Meanwhile I informed Morkai of Collin's wish to travel with us to Laramie. "Well then," Grab your gear, and get on board, Collin, we're shoving off," declared Morkai. Karuk and Sara climbed aboard the AMJAC to take them back out to their craft; Mr. and Mrs. Blessing moved away from our ship but continued to watch as we ascended into the heavens.

Morkai gave me the honors of taking off and setting course for Laramie, keeping our speed down so as not to create an "effect" across the night sky possibly causing alarm on the ground. Hanna was maintaining co-pilot status as I took a break and went to the galley for a cup of coffee. To my surprise, Morkai and Collin were sitting at the table chatting. Morkai looked at me and said, Collin and I have been talking, and he's given me a great idea. I was telling him about the difficulty of maintaining Wort fields in this area you people call the Dakota Territory." Collin then spoke, "If you folks could stake me so's I can find me a place to stay, I'll be happy to keep an eye on these areas you folks pick all that Wort, and keep an eye out for other places as well, you know "hidden" meadows and all that." "I like the idea," said Morkai, "If we had someone like Collin here who knows this western area on the "ground" so-to-speak, we wouldn't have to be so careful about harvesting out here. Besides, with those Dekken's sticking their noses in, Collin can keep an eye out for them as well." "Well we have to pay Collin a decent and fair price," I replied. ""Don't worry," added Morkai, Sandrick gave me a considerable amount of gold to cover something like this, but we'll see how it goes."

Collin examined the gold rings for a moment, then said, "Might want to use something other than these, showing these around will cause talk, folks might be real interested in where you was getting' them." "Collin's right," I said, taking them to a bank then opening an account and paying for everything with greenbacks is better, but what do you think we should do?" Collin thought a moment then asked, "what do you folks use for money on this planet of yours?" "It's all in credits Collin," answered Morkai," You pay for everything using a card, gold is valuable, but not to the point it seems to be here on Kagor. We also have what you call silver. It too is plentiful would that be useful?" Collin took a couple coins out of his pocket, "These are all I got to my name," he said handing them to Morkai. "That one there is a silver dollar, the other one is a five dollar Liberty half eagle, they make 'em in ten dollar denominations as well." Morkai looked at Collin and said, "Could I borrow these form you, don't worry you'll get them back, I want to show them to Sandrick, maybe we can convert gold wire and even silver wire into something like these coins, might make things easier on you, and not cause a lot of questions." Then as an afterthought, Morkai patted Collin on the arm, "Don't worry, Collin we've got you covered, as long as you're with us your expenses are covered, but you get those rings to a bank as soon as possible and get them converted to whatever currency you people use down here."

We landed in our "hole" about an hour before dawn; Hanna volunteered to keep an eye on the scanner watching for any intruders, while the rest of us got some sleep. Later, as we were eating breakfast, Morkai asked me, "Any idea on when your parents will be arriving?" "I'm not exactly sure," I replied.

"When we were here last, I checked the train schedules coming in from the east, nothing arrives before noon, so I'm pretty sure they won't be getting here until mid or late afternoon, Hanna and I will hike into town and get rooms reserved, as well as renting a carriage." Collin then spoke up, "Pardon me ma'am, but why don't I go into town and rent the carriage come back out here and pick you ladies up then we can all ride into town." We naturally agreed that was a good idea, then Morkai said, "Here's your money back Collin use them on the carriage, but try and get me examples of the gold and silver coins so I can show them to Sandrick." Shortly after strapping on his gun and grabbing his saddle rifle Collin walked down the ramp headed for town, Nargra checked the "door" in the rock wall for any signs of tampering, then once assured that things were fine, opened it for Collin.

A little over an hour later he returned with a somewhat ramshackle carriage and offered his apologies.

"Sorry ladies, it seems the local, er madam has rented the only decent carriage the stable had, the man said she likes to take her girls on picnics near every Sunday this was all he had." Hanna looked at me and snickered, "Probably a reward for a profitable night no doubt." So we picked up our flight bags and climbed in. Collin kept the speed down as a front wheel acted like it might come off, "While you ladies is waiting at the hotel I'll see to this wheel." Hanna and I made straight for the railroad hotel, where I arranged for rooms for my parents as well as Andy. Checking in at the ticket agent, we discovered the train coming in from Omaha wasn't due for another two hours so we retired to the lobby, this time on the alert for rakes trying to be a bit too fresh with "innocent" women like us. Collin showed up a little while later with news that the wheel was repaired, and that we excuse him as he was off to a nearby saloon for a drink.

I started pursuing a day old Cheyenne newspaper and almost ready to put it down when my eyes caught a small article under an advertisement for some patent medicine claiming to cure dyspepsia. It reported that passengers on the Cheyenne to Deadwood stage reported seeing a strange object hovering over them in the night sky for several minutes then speeding off towards the north. The report also suggested that the passengers may have been drinking and witnessed a lone cloud. I discreetly tore out the news item with the intention of showing it to Morkai, could it be the Dekkens were involved? Hanna and I then decided to indulge in a light repast, so we headed for the dining room, and while enjoying lunch showed Hanna the clipping, she agreed it had to be our friends the Dekkens obviously teasing people on a stagecoach.

If it was the Dekkens, and we had a pretty good idea it was. They were getting dangerously close to violating the prime directive that expressly forbid alerting or interacting with people here on earth.

When Morkai told me of this decree I asked him if bringing citizens back to Falth could also be considered a violation."

"Technically yes," replied Morkai, "They tend to look the other way if you become citizens, which you ladies all have, but this business of bringing your cousin here just for a visit then letting him return to Kagor is, by the law illegal, but apparently the government is letting the Shai Alyt do this, not that I or the Shai Alyt is worried that your cousin will go back home and tell everybody he's been to another planet." I laughed, "They would lock him up in a minute if he did that," I replied.

Shortly before the westbound got in, Collin re-joined us and casually mentioned that the dance hall he went to had several nice young ladies performing. "That's nice Collin," remarked Hanna, "I'm sure there's nobody I know working there." Then she glared at him, and said, "What are you implying Collin, do you want us to go watch the show with you or something?" "Uh er, no ma'am just making an observation, didn't mean no disrespect." At that point, I heard the distant whistle of the train as it neared town. We then walked out to the station platform as the huge locomotive pulled alongside. For a brief moment I was struck with a wave of fear as this massive machine bore down on us, and for that one instant, now realized how Collin and Sara's parents must have felt confronting spacecraft.

Once the train stopped, the conductors started letting people off, Hanna and Collin naturally would not recognize my parents so I had to watch people getting off at four different cars. I was looking at the first car when I heard, "Holly! Oh dear God it's us Holly!" Turning my attention to the last car I saw my mother and father quickly making their way towards me with what looked like my cousin Andy accompanied by a woman following close behind. Hanna and I were wearing shaded spectacles thus hiding our eyes, but my mother recognized me all the same. My father was the first to embrace me, "Oh Holly you're alive, we thought you dead…Or worse!" Pulling away, only to be embraced again by my mother, I smiled and replied, "As all of you can see I'm alive and in good health." Finally getting them to calm down, I introduced them to my friends. "I want you all to meet my most dearest friend Hanna Halidar, the woman who saved my life, and the brother of another friend, Collin Blessing." Everybody shook hands with my parents profusely thanking her for that generous act. I then looked at Andy and the woman with him, "I presume you're Andy?" He reached out to hug me and said, "It's been a long time cousin, before you went off to college. Holly, I'd like you to meet my new bride Emily, Emily, this is my cousin, in fact my only cousin, Holly Bickford. Emily spent much of her younger life in Johnstown, but moved with her family to Murrysville where we met, and just last month were wed." As I shook her hand I said, I have another friend of mine also from Johnstown, Pricilla Sarlayn, formerly Pricilla Weatherspoon." Emily smiled, and replied, although I do not know the family, I do recall the name."

"Well," I announced, "I reserved your rooms, so shall we go inside, where I cam begin to answer your questions."