Quig had gotten up late and he had to wait in line for the bathroom, then he had to get new clothes because Queenie spilled her breakfast on him, it put him in a bad mood so he avoided Charlene this morning.  Charlene and he had been flirting with each other for over a year now. But now on his way to school he saw her and was not up her torment.  She made her provocative promises, she got him all worked up then turned and walked away, then he heard laughter from her friends.  Quig knew it was only a matter of time till they ended up together.  They were almost of age after all.  But today he did not want to play her games.

He walked into the school, Year Eight, his final year in school.   New changes, new things, new classes.  He checked his schedule from Ideal, oh yeah, he had that new class, Guidance.  It was weird having an actual teacher in the classroom.  The only thing he had teachers before was physical education, coaching skills, how to play apply those skills to sports.  The teachers then functioned as referees until the students could be trusted to enforce their own rules.

But Guidance looked to be an easy period, Cal the teacher was an Outlander,  odd accent, and like most Outlander he was kind of weird.  He was also short for a full-grown person, a little bit below two meters, all adults on Ideal were at least two meters.  But there was something about Cal that made you pay attention to him.  It might have been Cal’s accent, it just kind of lulled you into listening.

Charlene was in this class with him, but she was sitting on the other side of the room.  He did not know why but girls when given a choice always seemed to congregate around each other, leaving the boys to do the same.  Quig sat next to Blake, they had been in so many of the same classes this year, it made it easier to get together to do game drills and to talk stats about the SunChasers.

Cal talked about Cold Fusion yesterday, also known as tabletop Fusion.  Cal explained he would be talking a lot about Modern History, meaning less than seven hundred years old.  Totally stupid, the past was the past and in no way pertinent to his life in New Rio.   But Quig, in spite of disinterest  found himself listening to Cal along with everyone else,  it wasn’t as good as watching a video but it was not terrible.   Cal had said there would be tests but not on history, more like evaluations. Quig expected that he did not have to take any of the tests seriously; the course was simply sitting and listening . Easy.   Last year’s Guidance class was just something you had to do, and only one day a week, this year it was every day. Last year it was just the computer talking about getting an actual job for life.  A job was different then community service which everyone had to do.  A job was something you trained for, it required unique skills.  Few people had jobs, Community Service was the norm for almost everyone.  Community Service was easy stuff and only about ten hours a week like cleaning the parks or being a referee in little kid’s games.

Quig had tried to get some of his older creche siblings to tell him why the Guidance classes were daily now, but no one talked about it.  He suspected they didn’t know.  Qadar might have been able to tell him, she always had time for him, but she had gone on walkabout from the creche and he had not heard from her in some time.  He had tried with Quint who was always so talkative, but he had been on the Rack so didn’t talk much anymore.

“After cold fusion what was the next big invention that changed mankind?”  The teacher asked.   Quig slyly looked around the room, there were puzzled looks around the classroom.  Quig knew the answer but he avoided Cal’s gaze.  Quig saw a few of his classmates also knew the answer but refused to speak up.  No one wanted to be labeled a Learner.  Trying too hard, especially in school, was social death.   You did what you had to do to get by, nothing more, nothing less, you lived for your P.H.U. N,  Play and Hobby Universal Needs.   Learning and knowledge was not  valuable unless in helped your P.H.U.N.  If you learned how to be a better video game player, or do well on the actual playing field,  or maybe you wanted to be a movie expert or a music connoisseur or one of the activities that people used to fill their time, that was okay.  But you did not need a teacher for those things.

Quig still hadn’t decided what his P.H.U.N. was going to be.  He really loved the SunChasers, even though he was not the best player, his buddy Blake was easily SunChaser level.  Maybe he would just be a generalist, simply enjoying what he enjoyed, he did not need to specialize.  But that felt like drifting, no commitment to anything.  Maybe his P.H.U.N. would come to him.

“Come on folks, I talked  a little about it yesterday after the story of cold fusion right before you were dismissed.”    Quig heard the slight stress in the teacher.

Quig could see that Blake knew the answer like he did, but he was obviously picking at a fingernail to avoid the question.  The teacher got frustrated enough to call on someone.  “Blake, what did the Sally Brown’s team at Cal Tech  back on Earth invent in 2067 that changed the world?”

Quig and everyone else turned to see what Blake would do now that he was on the spot.  Would he admit he knew the answer or would he give into peer pressure and feign ignorance or come back with a sarcastic or disrespectful answer?

“Gee I don’t know Cal, video reality?”  Blake answered.

“Swing and a miss, sorry Blake.”  There were subdued laughter around the room.

No one else raised their hands.   Cal turned in his direction. “Quig?”

Quig knew the answer, the replicator, a device used to turn energy into matter, any type of matter, but mostly food, that is why it had changed things.  Free food.  But he would not go down without a fight. “The free food maker.”

Cal nodded at Quig. “Close enough for government work.”

There were no giggles or whispers around the room, the group must have believed his answer was vague enough to not think he was trying too hard.

“Once mankind had almost unlimited energy with Cold Fusion it was harnessed fully and in the best possible ways by Sally Brown.  Sally was able to harness quantum computers coupled with the advances in molecular building and focused it into the Matter Replicator.  The first organic and edible product was a simple paste but with all the nutritional needs to keep someone alive for days, even though it tastes like warm sludge.”

A hand went up.  It was Lita, Charlene’s best friend.  “Have you tasted it Cal?”  Lita asked.

There were a few comments around the room about her being a suck up but Cal ignored them. “Yes, I have, I wanted to see what it was like.”   There were murmurs around the room. “In fact, you can all try it after I am done with my story, I have it programmed into the classroom replicator.”  He pointed to the machine behind his desk. “And it will not come out of your calorie count for the day, nor your weekly ration total.”  This caused even more murmuring.

“But continuing with my story,”  He said holding up his hand for quiet. “after Sally Brown proved she could do it, she and her team made the Matter Replicator plans and programs available to anyone and everyone that wanted to make one, there was a huge leap forward in both quantity of recipes and variety as people around the world could create food from basically nothing.”   He paused and smiled. “Starvation was fully and completely eliminated on Old Earth in less than six months by the Matter Replicator.”

Quig turned in his seat slightly to face Cal.

“By this time Cold Fusion had reached every town, village, hamlet, and anyplace with more than ten people on the planet.  Not to mention most large vehicles were powered by Cold Fusion engines, like now.  Once the replicator was open-sourced mankind was forever secure in its food supply.”

A raised hand from Lita again, Quig rolled his eyes.  The girl was going to have a bad day at lunch with the name calling.  “So why do you Outlanders eat food from the dirt?”  She said with a haughty air.

Quig re-evaluated his previous thoughts.  Lita as making fun of the teacher.  Dirt Eater was a nasty slur against Outlanders, along with Meat Murderers, and Ground Grubbers.  She had not said any of them, at least not directly but the collective quieting from the class meant everyone knew what she was saying and wanted to see how the teacher would respond.

Cal turned to Lita, not a frown, not an angry glare, not a single note of resentment on his face, in fact he had a small bit of smile.  “Why do you think Lita?  Why do you think we Outlanders eat food we grow ourselves, still process meat and fish like they did on Old Earth before the Replicators?”

“Because you are weird.”  Another voice came from across the room.  Quig was unsure who said it but a lot of people murmured agreement.

“We might be weird, that could explain it, but I do it because that is the way I was raised, and after eating replicator food now for a month I can honestly tell you, real food is better.”

There was more murmuring in the classroom.

“Of course, it could all be psychological, in my own mind food earned is better than food given.”   Cal said smiling.

Quig didn’t understand that food was food.  How could where it come from make it taste different?

“But back to Old Earth.”  Cal said motioning towards the turning globe on the screen of the planet Earth.  “So, everyone on Earth had all the food they could ever want.   And that led to changes.”   Cal looked around the room.  “Anyone know what those changes were?”  Silence. “It was in the video you could have looked at last night.”

Quig knew no one would confess to watching the video, even though he had briefly looked it over for a few minutes.  He told himself it was just so he could zone out for a few minutes during the next day’s talk but he was actually kind of interested.  But he had turned it off and caught up on the newest gossip about the SunChasers and their chances in the upcoming season.

The teacher did not lose his excitement. “First there was a devaluation of money, people did not need to spend money on the basic necessities of life.  They could create food, clothing, cleaning supplies,  whatever they needed, mostly in their own homes or at their local library and village square.  Places called grocery stores, which was where people got food before taking it home went out of business.”   Cal walked around the room as he talked.  “The world went through a huge change in a very short period of time.”  Cal paused. “Mostly very positive.”  He said with a smile towards the class.  “Second, mortality rates plummeted, not only from nutrition related issues but also there were no longer accidents during farming, ranching, fishing, or mining.  Also, with less things needed to be transported that meant less vehicles on the roads, so less traffic accidents.”

Cal stopped and looked around the room smiling.  “It was a fascinating year to be alive so much change going on.”

Quig nodded along and he wasn’t even sure why he did, accept that he agreed, it must have been interesting when everything changed. He remembered a movie he had seen about it, that famous serious actor, Shermy, had been the lead role and how his farm had gone out of business and he was happy about it because he was able to follow his dream of painting and still feed his family.

A tone went off from Cal’s handheld.  Quig and everyone else looked at the teacher.

“Sorry, that was a reminder to myself.  I said you could all try the first food that came out of the first replicators, well now is the time.”  He ushered everyone to the replicator that was installed behind his desk.  Everyone received a small cup of grey sludge then they returned to their seats.

Cal started talking again.  “Remember this is history people.  This formula has all the nutrients and the proper portions of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats necessary to keep you alive if you ate the proper portion.”

Quig along with several others sniffed at the small gray semi liquid thickness in the cup. “It really doesn’t have any smell.”  He said out loud.

“You are right Quig.”  Cal said from a few feet away.  “The team at Cal Tech were not great chefs, the closest they had was a nutritionist, and her big contribution was the decision of portions and for a balanced diet.”    Cal looked around the room.  “Okay everyone drink up.”

Quig mirrored the other students and almost spit up the cold substance when it hit his tongue.  It wasn’t terrible, just tasteless.  It was strange to eat something with no flavor.  He did hear a few people gage and one person spit it back in the cup.  Quig swallowed.

Cal walked around the room collecting the cups in a basket.  “In order to live, with moderate activity, day to day, you would have to ingest about twenty of these cups in day.”

There were exclamations of yuck, gross and one loud belching noise from Blake who could burp on command when he wanted to.  There were twitters of laughter around the room from Blake’s noise.

“I could not have said it better Blake.”  Cal said as he collected the last of the cups and a lot of undrunk grey goop. “If you want to learn more about Sally Brown and the team at Cal Tech on Old Earth I put a video drama in you In Box, no charge to your screen time, it’s a pretty good representation of their efforts to bring the Food Replicator to the world.

Cal’s timing was perfect because as soon as he said his last word the dismissal bell rang.

DAILY REPORT:

After another day of observation, I have added one additional student to my list of potential candidates.  Quig, average measurements in intelligence but his observational skills seem to be above average and he follows along at happenings in the classroom with a keen eye. His curiosity needs to be engaged.  Lita shows some rebellious spirit.  Continuing according to standard procedure.

Quig got back to his cubby before his sibs; he had done a couple quick drills with Blake, but then Blake had to go do chores for his creche.  Quig didn’t feel like hanging out and gabbing about the scores or the newest celeb gossip.  Looking at his screen time, he had only a few moments left for the week, it was watching all those SunChaser highlight reels.  He did not want to go back out.  He played around on the creche pool table for a bit, then threw some darts but that got boring.  He went to his cubby and remembered his limited screen time, maybe he should check out those things from Cal, educational items did not count against screen time.  Quig turned on the do not disturb light rail around his cubby, knowing it would not keep out the youngest kids but the older ones would respect it somewhat.  He had learned when he was a younger, that when older kids turned on the black light around their cubby it would be a bad thing to break the light barrier except for the most important reason.  That done he donned his VR headset and started to watch the drama Cal had put in their in boxes.

He was surprised by the first scene; it was people cooking food.  That was something he had never seen before, all the food he ever consumed came out of a replicator.  All premade, portioned out for one person on a plate.  He was captivated, they put things in different containers and mixed them up, then the mixture was put into another container and heat was applied and then moved the food to still other container to bring it to a table to eat.  Pancakes, they had made pancakes!  But all the pancakes were different sizes and textures, no single uniform size or shape like from a replicator.   Then the story started with the people from Cal Tech sitting around a table eating and talking about their work.  The story progressed to Sally Brown making a breakthrough in her lab with programming a primitive replicator and it creating the same grey sludge Quig had eaten just that afternoon.  Sally Brown made the same face he had when tasting it for the first time.  The rest of the movie was about her team deciding to share the technology with the entire world and an evil corporation trying to get them to reconsider it and sell it to them.  But in the end, they released the plans, schematics, and code globally and freely to the world, and changed everything.  The last scene mirrored the first scene, it was Sally Brown and her colleagues making cookies from what she called scratch, but this time they replicated all the materials and then made the cookies.

By this time the cubby room was full of his siblings, there was yelling and screaming and balls flying around and the younger siblings jumping off the cubby walls onto beds.  But luckily no one had broken his light boundary, although when the movie was almost over a ball had bounced into his area and he absently threw it back out.  He finally turned off his light and Quasim and Queenie, his two youngest sibs, bounced into his cubby over the wall.  He grabbed both giggling toddlers and wrestled them down on the bed and tickled them.

Quig entered the classroom and took his seat, his classmates sat down, something had everyone in a low energy mood.  It might have been the weather.  It had rained last night, and the city always seemed a little subdued after rain, no matter how well planned out the weather was it still put some people in a mood.  Maybe it was the few puddles on the sidewalks, or the damp smells coming from the grassy areas and trees.  Or maybe they were eager to hear what Cal had to tell them today.

“Where did I leave off yesterday?”  Cal asked when the group was settled into their chairs.  Today they were in a circle with spaces in between that Cal could walk.  Lita raised her hand, she was directly across from Quig and he could see the smirk on her face. He noticed that Charlene had a  smirk on her face.  Whatever Lita was going to ask Charlene approved.  Lita had a bit of mean streak in her Quig had seen it in her for years, but he had never seen it in Charlene.

“Lita.”  Cal said smiling.  Quig wondered why this was, surely, Cal knew from her look that she was going to insult him again.

“You never answered why you Outlanders eat all that stuff from the mud?”

Cal smiled.  “Oh, we do not eat things from the mud, except maybe rice, most vegetables and grains cannot be too wet.  No, mud would destroy many root crops like tubers, carrots, and onions.  No onions, no onion rings. That would be a tragedy.”

There was laughter around the room, Quig laughed as well but he was not sure why.  He thought about it for a second, the idea of food not existing was preposterous.  He caught a glance over at Lita and she had a pinched face of anger; her attempts at insulting the teacher had turned into a joke.

Cal continued simply not even acknowledging the failed insult.  “I think yesterday we had just finished the story of the Matter Replicator and we touched a little bit on how it changed the world, so today I am going to talk about the schools. ”

Quig was kind of curious about what happened next on Old Earth.

“Schools were very different from what you have now,  there were teachers in every class, kids went for almost seven hours a day, as opposed to now when you go for four hours.”

There was soft surprised noises from around the room.

“And kids went to school for thirteen years, and that was only basic education.”

Again, the surprised noises.  Compared to the eight years he went; those kids were in school forever Quig thought.

“But once food surety was a thing, more children were able to concentrate on learning.  Education became something that was once again cherished.  Schools were able to concentrate on teaching.  In ten years, classrooms went from an average of  30 students to each teacher to less than 10 students per teacher worldwide. Instead of an Arms Race, which had died out after the invention of Cold Fusion anyways, there was an Education Race, which country could have the most literate people, what country had the best schools, which country could produce the most Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics professionals.”

There was dismissal sound at the word Mathematics. That is when Lita spoke up again.  “Why mathematics, it’s so easy.”

Cal actually laughed at this statement.  “Why do you think Mathematics are easy?”

Lita shrugged.  “Because it is.  I can add two-digit numbers to two-digit numbers, and if you give me any numbers, I can subtract them pretty easily.  Or I can just ask my handheld to do it.”

Quig watched the teacher closely, first he looked like he was about to laugh, then he got a sad look on his face before he answered.  “Oh, my dear Lita, there is so much more to mathematics then addition and subtraction.  You might have heard about things like multiplication and division, but I am very sure you have not heard about algebra and geometry and I am certain you have not heard of trigonometry or calculus.”  He paused and smiled.  “No one here on Ideal needs to know those things.  But the people of Old Earth knew that was the way to get to the stars. Mathematics, along with Science, Engineering and Technology was the way mankind was going to get to the stars.”    There was no reaction to this.  “You do know that mankind has not always been able to travel between the stars but we do so now as easily as you take a transport to the New York or New Paris.”

There were murmurs around the room, even Quig knew that.  But humans have been traveling from stars to stars for a long time now.  Although Quig did not know anyone besides Cal that had traveled on a starship, what was the point? Everything he could ever want was right here on Ideal.  Besides Cal was here now, the Outlander had made it, his life would be so much better than ground food and walking around in mud.

“But that leads us to the Age of Geniuses.”  Cal looked around the room.  “The Age of Geniuses was a time of incredible breakthroughs for humanity.   The Wu Twins discovered the hyperspace equation,” He turned to Lita and did a loud whisper. “Really advanced mathematics.”  Then he went back to addressing the entire class. “to make hyperspace jumps possible.  That was a shock, especially to the Sleeper ships that had left Earth two years before and were caught up by a ship in two days, waking them up and telling them they could return to Earth and their journey would only take three weeks to get to there.”

Charlene raised her hand and Cal nodded at him. “Wasn’t there a movie about that?”

Charlene was really into old movies; she would show him some fashion she had discovered while watching an old movie.  She had an eye for fashion and she was going to spend her P.H.U.N. time making interesting new clothing for people to wear.

Cal nodded and smiled.  “Two actually, The Sleepers and another version of the story Awakening Early. Of the two The Sleepers is a little bit more accurate. I will put them both in you Inboxes if you want to watch them on your Education Time, so they won’t count against your Screen Time.”   Quig nodded and wondered if he could watch them both before anyone disturbed him.

“But back to talking about schooling and education after the Food Replicator.  After it was guaranteed that all persons on the planet would have a full stomach every night, that no child would ever go to bed hungry again, things changed.  Kids did not have to help their families with a harvest, no more helping in the fields gathering, no processing fish at the cannery, no more ensuring the cattle were fed.  Heck clean water for every single soul on the planet.  A full generation  in what were called 3^rd World Nations that never had access to full and complete educations and learning opportunities became extinct.  No one was lacking in knowledge or education.  That was unheard of before.  Intelligence scores across the globe rose.”  Cal stopped and looked around the room. “The Age of Geniuses came upon mankind.”    The room was silent and Cal smiled.  “The Wu Twins figuring out hyperspace was just the first.

The Marble Team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unlocked the secrets of gravity.  They created both anti-gravity lifters and gravity plating getting humankind off Earth with incredible ease.  Conquering gravity allowed Earth to create the first space elevator.   And once they got into space, ships could go to the stars with real Earth like gravity.
This was done with the average age of the M.I.T. team was twenty-five.”

“Twenty-five is so old.”  Lita stated.

Cal shook his head.  “Not back then, those students were just at the beginning of their lives, not all of them had even finished their studies.”

Quig looked around the room everyone was giving Cal looks of disbelief and doubt.

“Ah I see I lost you.”  Cal said taking a breath. “Remember I told you on Old Earth kids went to school much longer, you weren’t considered an adult, until you were 18 years old.”   There were murmurings around the room.

Cal responded.  “Yes, I know here on Ideal, you are considered an adult when you are sixteen, but one thing studying history does is make you look at your own world in a different way, you have to ask ‘why.’  Why was it different?  You need to ask questions, not just  simply judge it as wrong, or stupid.”

Quig saw that Cal was about to go into a speech but that is when the bell rang dismissing the class.    “Remember I put those two movies into your In Box, along with some other documents, so take a look at them tonight.  And it does not count against your Screen Time.”

The class filed out and went as a group to their next class, Organization.  It was all about how to Organize your P.H.U.N.  Organizing your P.H.U.N. was important, you could get a ranking if you did it well, and then people might start paying attention to you.  The oldest sib in his creche, Quinlynn, had a bit of following due to her fashion designs from her P.H.U.N.

This class was a repeat of last season and totally computer-led and self-paced.  Everyone finished their assignments quickly then the chatter began.

“I mean really who does Cal think he is, math being important.”  Fitz said.  Fitz was always trying to get on Lita’s good side.  Quig didn’t believe Fitz even had an opinion on math one way or another.

“I know it’s not like Math is going to help me follow the latest Celeb gossip, or know whose video is getting the most likes,”  Lita rolled her eyes. “I mean the count is right down there in the corner of the screen.  No math needed.”

“Wasn’t,”  Charlene spoke up. “what was her name?”  Charlene said and then snapped her fingers. “Patty or Parker, something with a P.”

Quig knew who she was talking about. “Petra.”

Charlene smiled.  “Yeah Petra, back in year five. Yeah, she asked all those questions about Math to Ideal.”

“Yeah, she even asked the Outlander that gave that assembly once about Math.” Fitz added.

“She was always such a suck up.” Lita said.

“Whatever happened to her?”  Fitz said.

Quig had wondered about that as well.

Blake spoke up. “She just kind of disappeared after Year Five.”

Quig had actually went to look for her after she missed a bunch of school, her creche mates said she got a special opportunity to go to a different school but they didn’t know much more than that.  He had even asked Ideal about her but Ideal had simply said she was at a special school following her P.H.U.N.

“She was a werido.”  Lita responded.

There were murmurs of agreement around the room.

“Like Cal.”  Fitz added quickly.

There were more murmurs of agreement around the room.

Quig nodded along with everyone else.  He often wondered what happened to Petra, she had been kinda cute in a unique way from all the other girls, smarter, quieter, but also funny when you talked to her one on one.

DAILY REPORT:

Lita, one of my candidates listed due to intelligence testing, while she is rebellious, which is always a good thing, but she seems against new ideas, probably a deeper love for conventionality than anything else. Quig watched the full movie provided on Food Replicators, whereas four of the other potentials watched portions of it. Lita watched none of the movie. Continuing according to standard procedure. 

Quig helped Qasim and Queenie wash their hands before they got their food from the replicator.  The dining room was full tonight and that is when Quig remembered this was a meeting night, everyone was supposed to be here, not running off  pursuing their own P.H.U.N., although he could see Quest and Quiller the 5^th graders had their balls and mitts at the ready so as soon as the meeting was over, they could rush to the field.  Even though Quint had unplugged from the Rack to join in,  he looked a little shaky but he was smiling and eating.

“Q Creche meeting is beginning.”  Quinlynn said when almost everyone was done eating.  The room got quiet except for a few dishes being moved around.  “Okay our Birthday is coming up.”

There were ‘yeahs’ and other shouts of joy around the room.  Then Qasim and Queenie shouted and laughed, they had gotten to the point where they knew what Birthday meant.  A big party.  “Quig will be sixteen this year.”  There were smiles and Quint even gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.  Quinlynn continued after the noise died down.  “We have a special opportunity, Qadar sent me a message, she has been working at the Outlander Compound and for our Birthday she can let us have our day at their compound.  This got everyone’s attention.

“Qadar.”  Queenie the toddler said.

“Why would we want to go there?”  Quest the 5^th Grader asked.

“Ewww, I have heard that place smells funny.”  Quiller said.

“I would like to see Qadar again.”  Quig said.

“Me too.”  Quint said.  “But I do not want to go all the way out there.”

“She said she will be at the Birthday, no matter where we have it.”  Quinlynn said.

“Well not there.”  Quint said.  There were murmurs of agreement.

Quig said nothing but went along with the group even though he was curious about the Outlander Compound.   It was outside the city in the wilderness and no one that Quig knew had ever been there, until now.  Qadar was out there for some reason and Quig was curious why she was there.

Qadar was two years older than him and she had always been so fun when she lived in the Creche, playing with him and the younger kids.   She had left the Creche last year and he had not heard from her since.  But that was typical, people sometimes stayed away from the Creche a lot of people just ran around, trying all kinds of different things, going from city to city, meeting new people.   But she was with a bunch of Outlanders for some reason.

The final consensus for their Birthday was that the creche would go to the water park, although Quig  along with Quint and Quest had really wanted to go see the Atoms on a doubleheader, which happened to be on their Birthday, so they could probably get one of the large suites so the toddlers would have a splash pad to play in.  But in the end, everyone was happy enough with the water park.  Before the meeting was over Quinlynn had received a message from Qadar that she would be back for the Birthday.

Quig helped put the toddlers to bed and then he got ready for bed himself. He watched the end of the 2^nd video Cal had put in his In Box, although he did it at 1.50 speed skipping over the boring parts.  As he turned off his light he thought about Qadar and he was more excited to see her then he was at turning sixteen.

Quig walked to school the next morning, he even saw Charlene in the park, she had snuggled up next to him and he let her.  It made him have the feels.  She must have decided that his avoiding her was worth a little more effort on her part and not only did she kiss him, but she guided one of his hands to an area that she had kept off limits before.    He was all smiles when he got into Guidance class.

“Good morning class.”  Cal started out.

Quig agreed, it was a very good morning.

“Today we are going to talk about the first interplanetary settlements, but before we do that, I have a short quiz.”  There were moans around the class.  “If everyone could log in and go to your In Box, click on Quiz One.”   There were the soft noises of screens being manipulated.  “This is more of an opinion quiz; I just want to see your thoughts on what we have covered so far.  You may begin now.”

Quig pressed the button on the screen.

Question One:  Which was the most important invention?

1. Cold Fusion
2. The Food Replicator
3. The Hyperspace Drive
4. Gravity Control

Quig thought for a second, then hit A.   Without all that free energy nothing else would have happened.

Question Two:  Why did the Food Replicator change the World?

1. Saved the planet from ecological disaster.
2. It made life easier.
3. It made everyone happy.
4. It saved a lot of animals lives.

Quig thought about this.  He did not know what ecological was. B sounded right.  It definitely made everyone happier.  But D. was right as well, not that he had seen many animals in person, but none had to die to feed people.  Quig put down B.

Question Three:   Why do you currently have limits on what the Replicators can make for each individual?

1. It just makes sense.
2. To keep individuals from making things that are bad for them.
3. To help individuals make smart choices.
4. No matter what, there is no free lunch.

These were weird choices.  Quig knew it wasn’t A, he did not understand D.  But B. and C. were sort of the same.   He chose C. it sounded more positive.

Question Four:  If you could, would you make the Replicators have no limits, no restrictions for everyone?

1. Yes
2. No

Quig thought about that.  If Queenie and Qasim could eat anything from the replicator all they would eat would be candy.  He had helped Qadar clean up a mess a couple of years ago when Quest had gotten all of Quill’s candy and his own after Birthday, it had been a mess.  No, no unlimited and no restrictions would be a bad thing for people.

Question Five:  Rank the topics you most want to hear about in class

1. Artificial Intelligence.
2. Space Travel
3. The Founding of your planet, Ideal
4. The Creation of Virtual Reality
5. Alien Life, The Craytians.

He put down his answers without much thought, he kinda firgured he was going to hear about all of them eventually in this class.  So, he just put them down in the order they appeared on the screen.  He was not really interested in the Craytians, they were just sort of boring neighbors, they had very little interaction with humans, they were kind of boring.

The quiz was finished and Quig submitted his answers.  He saw Cal was looking at his handheld and he watched him nod a few times.  Then he looked up and caught Quig looking at him, he smiled and nodded at him.  Quig was happy that the teacher had acknowledged him.   Cal then got a signal on his handheld.  “Okay thank you everyone for completing the quiz so quickly.”

The class murmured, most people said things like ‘easy,’ ‘strange test’, and others said, ‘waste of time’.

“Okay, we have just a few minutes left in the day.”  Cal said looking at the clock. “Does anyone have any questions about the quiz?”  And like normal no one wanted to be first or look to eager.  A full minute passed with Cal looking around the room. “Okay, no questions about the quiz.”  He took a deep breath.  “Any questions about me, what it’s like to live someplace other than Ideal.”

One person raised their hand.  Lyle, a creche sibling of Lita. “Yeah, do you use replicators on your planet at all?”

“Good question Lyle.  The answer is yes.  Typically for metal objects,  my home Taropon is very low in mineral resources and its only been terraformed for about one hundred and seventy years, so the Design Committee did not want to disturb the planet too much with mining or collecting minerals from the oceans so almost all metal objects come out of the replicator.”  Quig looked around, no one really seemed interested in his answer. “We do not use replicators for organic materials, no cloths, no wood, and no food, if we cannot grow it, or harvest it, we do not want it.”

Lita raised her hand but then spoke without being called on. “You mean you don’t get new clothes every day from the replicator?”

Cal shook his head. “No, we wash our clothes and continue wearing the same ones.”  This caused a small bit of confusion. “Back at my parents’ home on Taropon I have my favorite pair of blue jeans, a cotton denim like material,”  He said in explanation. “That I have had for five years, they are soft and feel just right.”

“Isn’t that kind of gross, wearing the same clothes again and again, don’t they get dirty?” Charlene asked.

“Yes, I did say we washed them on a regular basis, my Dad runs everything through the washer on Monday. Of course, if you want to wear something and its dirty you wash it yourself.”  There was no noise from around the class, everyone was hanging on Cal’s words with this strange new information. “Sometimes I if my jeans got dirty, I would just wade into the creek and kind of wash and wear them.”

“Ewww.”  Was the response from Lita and Charlene.  One of the other girls spoke up, Quig didn’t see who. “You went into a public fountain and washed?”  There were gasps at the idea.

Cal laughed,  a deep amused laugh.  “Oh no, a creek is nothing like one of your fountains, a creek is free flowing water, it comes down from the hills on the ranch, it is fed from a couple of springs and rainwater.”

There was shock at the idea of free-flowing water, water came out of pipes, like in the refresher or a fountain.

Cal spoke up.  “Think of the white-water rapids river running through town, sort of like that but unplanned and you cannot turn it off.”

Quig nodded and few other people nodded, that kind of made sense.

The bell rang ending the class.

“Folks to grasp what a natural water, like rivers are like I will load some information in you In-Boxes.”   Cal said loudly as the student left the room.

DAILY REPORT:

1^st survey completed will compile and analyze the data tonight.  Initial review suggests that student Quig is open to deeper consideration for next level of information along with four others in class.  Quig is also the only student who has looked at all additional information provided.  Personal Self Critique:  I brought up my Dad in class today, luckily no one asked me to explain what a Dad is, to children brought up in the creche system it might be hard to explain. 

It was late and all the younger children had been in bed for over an hour.  Quig watched the SunChasers game for a while, but they were so far ahead against the Moonriders it was getting boring.  He yawned and switched off his cubby lights, but he checked his In-Box, oh yeah Cal’s information on natural waters.  It was not a movie, it was just a series of video clips of moving waters in what could only be natural settings, things called waterfalls sort of like the white-water rapids but so much bigger, places with names like Angel, Bushkill,   Niagara, Victoria, Wailua, and Yosemite.  Then there was clips of rivers like the Amazon, Colorado, Mississippi, and the Nile.  Then he looked up on his own things like oceans, this led him into looking at surfing, then he found out about this thing called sailing and sailboats.  He had never seen anything so amazing as these boats being pushed by the wind.  He stayed awake looking at these sailboats till he fell asleep three hours after he normally went to sleep.  That night he dreamed of tall ships crossing oceans.

Quig woke up the next morning suddenly, he overslept.  Even though it was seventh day, no school, he was supposed to meet some of the guys for play at ten am and he was still in bed at eleven.  But he was still happy thinking of sailing.  He wondered if Cal knew anything about sailing, maybe he was actually a sailor.  Maybe he could tell him what it was like.  He grabbed his handheld and looked up Taropon and asked if there was sailing there.

There was sailing on Cal’s home world.  Quig wondered if he could call Cal and ask about sailing now.  He did not want his classmates to know he called a teacher on a non-school day; he could hear the taunts already.  But where could he go that the call would not be interrupted or listened to?   He walked to the Replicator and got himself a burrito and sat at the table eating it, then he saw Quint’s door was cracked open.

Quint was a year older than him.  When you became an adult in the Creche you got your own room, and with the door cracked open you could technically go in.  He finished his food and was dreading what he would find in Quint’s room, but it was the only way he could think of to get any privacy.

Quint was in his room, on his bed, The room kinda smelled of a bit of body odor.  Quint was plugged into the Rack, the soft sensors resting on his temples.  There were permanent ports you could have put on you temples, and he was glad Quint had not done that.  The  permanent sensors give you a more fully immersive and seamless connection to the virtual reality.  Rack time connected directly to your brain.  Quig wondered what it was like, not being an adult yet he could not get a direct connection, he had to make do with a VR headset, visual and audio only.  Or immersive experiences in rooms with other people but those were rare and hard to get.

Qadar had told him about plugging in, it was beyond real, it was all the things that reality was, Plus.  The Plus was being able to go anywhere, you could do anything, you could be anyone.  Any adventure with no limits.  You could run a hundred kilometers an hour and not grow tired, you could fly with just a thought, everything and anything that is what Plus was, all on the Rack.   Qadar said she did it for about a week but got bed sores so she dropped out of it and tried some other things.  Quig looked at Quint and saw he was a lot thinner but he had gotten some clothes and blankets and propped up his body so that he was sort of off the bed, sort of sitting and supported.

“Quint?”  Quig said softly.

No response.

“Quint?”  He said a little bit louder.

Still no response.

He was not coming out of the Rack any time soon.  Some people put a timer on their Rack time, setting limits.  Quint did not come up too often.  Maybe he would get bored of it soon Quig thought hopefully.    Well, no time like the present.

“Hello Quig.”  Cal said answering on the second ring.

“Ah yeah hello Cal.”  Quig answered and realized he did not know what he was going to ask him, not really.

“What can I do for you Quig?”

“Ah,”  Quig said. “Yeah I watched some of that stuff on water you sent us, and I saw that you have oceans on Taropon, and I thought you could tell me about sailing, it seemed really neat, you know getting pushed by the wind and all, and the ocean being like really big and all, and waves crashing over the ship, and the sky being so big and the sails.”

“Whoa, whoa, Quig slow down.”  Cal’s voice said over the handheld.

“So did you do much sailing on Taropon?”  Quig said in summary.

He sensed Cal was shaking his head as he answered.  “Sorry Quig, I grew up pretty far from the oceans, I rode horses and lived on a ranch, the closest I came to the ocean was when I left home, the spaceport was on the shore and I dipped my toes in the water one night before I left.”

“Oh.”  Quig said disappointed.

“But.”  Cal said. “I do know a few other Outlanders who grew up on Ranartan, its almost completely ocean, and I know they sailed they might have even grew up on boats.”

“Really, they lived on boats?”  Quig said in awe.

“Yeah, let me reach out to them.  I will let you know if they want to talk to you about it.”  Cal volunteered.

“That would be pretty neat.”  Quig said.  But then reality hit him. “Ah Cal.”

Again, Quig could almost see Cal nodding. “I know you want to keep this conversation private; you don’t want your classmates to know about your curiosity.”

“Ah yeah thanks, I hope that is okay?”

“Sure, no problem.   I will keep it on the down low, under the radar as it were.”

Quig wasn’t sure what down low meant or what radar was but Cal seemed to know why he needed to keep his questions private.  “Thank you.”

“No problem, I will see you in class tomorrow.”

Quig ended the connection then looked back at Quint; he hadn’t moved during the entire conversation.  He slipped out of his siblings room and no one seemed to notice him being in Quint’s room.  He spent the rest of the day playing with his buddies and then spent the evening with his siblings with his mind drifting back occasionally to the wind, waves and what it would be like to grow up on a boat.

“Quig.”

“Hey Charlene.”  He said as he entered the park across from the school.

“How come you weren’t on the field yesterday morning?”

“I overslept.”  Quig answered.  “You weren’t there when I got there.”

“Oh, I told my sibs that I would go with them to the Virtual Room planning area, we planned our Birthday.”

Quig was surprised.  “Your Creche has enough for a Virtual Room?”

Charlene answered. “Yeah Cadmus talked us into saving our E-credits this year, but we are only going for two hours.”

Quig responded.  That is still pretty cool, we our just having out Birthday at the water park.

“The water park is nice; I know this killer bathing suit I want to wear to the water park if ever go again.”  She said giving a little shake of her body.

Quig smiled and closed the distance to her. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”  He said when he was right next to her.

“Maybe you will, after our Birthdays.”

“Sounds great.”  Quig said.  He was about to move in for kiss and possibly more touching but the outside bell rang calling them into classes.  Quig took a deep breath to clear his frustration and walked with everyone else into the school.

“Today we all start on hyperspace and how it freed us to sail among the stars.”  Cal announced with a little bit more enthusiasm than normal.

Quig heard the word sailing and immediately perked up a bit.

“You all know a little bit about early space travel, before hyperdrive ships, the earliest explorers.  I am not sure you know this but almost every planet with a human settlement has a town, village or city named after Armstrong,  Freemont, and Zhao.  The first three humans on the Earth’s moon, Mars and Proxima Centauri B respectively.

Charlene spoke up.  “I thought Armstrong was named that due to all the good wrestlers that come from there.”  A few other people murmured agreement with her.

Cal smiled.  “Ah no, it is named after Neil Armstrong the first human to step foot on Earth’s moon.”    Cal said.  “In fact, back on Taropon I grew up outside the town of Zhao.”    There was no other question or comments. “But we really started to reach out of our solar system when the Wu Twins discovered hyperspace and the formula to enter it.  It took the rest of their lives before they were able to prove it could be done, and one month after the first hyperspace jump, Rui passed away at the age of 103 and his sister Jiajia passed away one week after her brother.

There were gasps at the age.  Quig just had to ask.  “Did everyone live that long on Earth?”

Cal shook his head.  “Oh no the Wu Twins were extremely long lived.”  Cal added.  “People theorized after they died that it was the need to work, the drive to see their discovery proven that kept them alive.  Setting big goals giving people purpose and drive seems to have that effect on lives or at least filling a life with meaning and purpose adds to a life in many ways.”

Cal paused, Quig could tell he did it intentionally.

“So, after hyperdrive was perfected mankind spread out all over the galaxy.  We talked a little bit about the Sleeper and Dreamer, and how the hyperdrive was used to catch up to them and save them from a very long slow trip.  And I know some of you actually took a look at the drama vids I recommended.”  Cal said with his back to the class not wanting to embarrass anyone with looking at anyone in particular who might have done the extra studying. “But the settler ships were retrofitted with hyperdrives and made it to their destination Proxima Centauri B, where they found the crew of the Tanxian led by Captain Zhao waiting for them with a geological survey completed.  The hyperdrive saved the crew of the Sleeper a long ten years in hibernation.”

Quig didn’t understand what the big deal was, the people were sleeping, it would not seem like it was anytime to them.

“I know what you are thinking, a ten-year nap, no big deal.”  Cal said seeming to read his mind. “But that is ten years something could have gone wrong, ten years where everyone else you left behind getting older and you staying the same age.”  Cal said in a serious tone.  “Those were brave people, leaving behind everything they knew and it was a one-way trip, no returning to their home of Earth, ever.”

Quig thought about it, never returning to your home, never seeing his siblings ever again. He couldn’t conceive of that; they would always be around.

“But the hyperdrive changed all that.  You could leave Earth and be in the next solar system in less than 3 days, and now we can cross all the way across all of mankind’s settlements in about forty days.”  Cal smiled.  “Blake how lone is a Sunchaser season?”

Blake answered without even thinking. “Eighty-two days in the regular season, ninety-seven if we make to the championship this year.”  This led to others including Quig giving the impromptu Sunchaser cheer, ‘Burnt by the Sun.”

Cal smiled and said dryly.  “Yes, go Sunchasers.”  Then he returned to his normal tone. “We can travel across mankind’s settlements from end to end in half the time of a regular Sunchaser’s season.  Mankind would probably still be on one maybe two planets if not for the Wu Twins and their drive, dedication and dreams of exploring the universe.

The hyperdrive is how we found thirty-three other planets that we could either live on or terraform.”  Cal dramatically winked at that and did a stage whisper. “We will talk about terraforming tomorrow.”

Quig laughed at bit at Cal’s drama.

“Can anyone tell me, when Ideal was discovered?”

The classroom went silent.  The date of Ideals discovery had been drilled into their heads since they first started going to school.  Everyone knew it, because they got four-day holiday for it.

“Oh, come on people I know you know it.”  Cal said in a comically pleading tone.   He walked around the classroom and suddenly fell to his knees in front of Lita. “Lita, please tell me what date Founders Day is.”

Lita actually got a little embarrassed by the teacher and she replied softly. “Founders Day is the 14^th of Sol.”

Cal returned to his feet and bowed to Lita.   “Thank you, Lita.”

Lita just nodded back at him, trying not to acknowledge him anymore than she needed to.

“Yes, the 14 day of Sol.  And the two other planets in this solar system were found on the 15^th Bliss, and on the 17^th Glory.”

Quig saw something on Cal’s face when he mentioned the other planets, Bliss and Glory, it was just a hint of sadness.  But Cal continued.

“It took a hundred years for Ideal, Bliss and Glory to be suitable for settlement. Your planet here was one of the most successful in being terraformed.”  Cal added. “The Three Miracles are a great example of terraforming.”

A question occurred to Quig, there used to be some competitions between Ideal, Bliss and Glory in a couple of sports, but for some reason it had stopped about seventy years ago but he was not sure why.  He wondered if Cal knew why the different competitions ended.  He was actually considering asking when the bell rang ending the class.

Cal spoke loudly. “I put a little bit in your In Boxes on terraforming, it’s an animated explanation of the basic principles.”

Quig barely heard this as he was trying to catch up to Charlene and he was going to ask her if she wanted to go to the lounge with him instead of lunch.

DAILY REPORT:

Introduced the idea of a life of purpose with the Wu Twins story.  No real reaction.  Blake and Quig still show the most interest during the class.  It is coming up on several Birthdays for this class, firstly Quig’s and Charlene’s. I think they have a physical relationship of some sort; it should be interesting to see if their entry into adulthood and the sexual freedom that entails here on Ideal changes them much.   No one showed any additional curiosity in Bliss or Glory when the names were mentioned.    

Charlene adjusted her top, Quig wiped his brow, they had gotten a little carried away in the lounge, almost enough to get into trouble with the room monitor.  But luckily the bell had rung ending their break period.  Quig took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling, only one more day till he would have his own room, and only five more days till Charlene would be able to visit him and they could be fully together.  Charlene stood up and bent over and kissed Quig on the forehead and without another word turned and walked away.  Quig enjoyed the view, only five more days till Charlene’s Birthday.

“Terraforming.”  Cal said.  “Sorry if I get a little excited about this subject, I am studying Terraforming Engineer with a specialty in Tectonic Stability and Geological Movements.”

Charlene spoke up.  “So, you are not a teacher?”

Cal smiled at the simplistic question. “Well, I am your teacher, but that is not my desire in life, you all have P.H.U.N.s right?”

There were nods around the classroom.

Cal nodded.   “Blake what do you think your P.H.U.N. is going to be?”

Blake spoke up quickly.  “I want to play for the Sunchasers, or any team that will have me, or if that doesn’t work out then just getter better and learn all I can about the game.”

“Self-improvement is a very laudable goal.”   Cal turned around. “How about you Lita?”

Lita sat up a little straighter.  “I am going to be the foremost expert on Fashion in Videos, both dramatic and musics.”

“The top experts in the world are ardent students. The day you stop learning; you’re definitely not an expert.  Miss Brendon Burchard said that back on Earth.  Never stop learning Lita.”

Lita simply nodded.  Quig was not sure she understood what Cal just said.

Cal stood a little straighter.  “I want to be on a Planetary Team that Terraforms planets, but along the way I got talked into spending some time teaching here.”

Quig looked around the room, his classmates mirrored his confusion so he spoke up.  “So, you do not want to be here?”

Cal chuckled.  “Oh, not at all, it was just something I had never considered, but a friend from school decided to take some time off from working on her degree and come to Ideal to teach, and she made it sound so interesting and worthwhile I decided to do the same.”  Cal said smiling.

Charlene spoke up.  “I don’t get it; you wanted to do this one thing but you are not doing it because a friend convinced you to teach.”

Cal nodded.  “Teaching is important, coming here to Ideal is a worthy thing.”  He paused.   “And besides I am still researching tectonic plates, vulcanology and  I just finished reading a fascinating article on Seafloor Spreading.”

There were giggles around the room.  Spreading was slang for multiple partners in one night.

Cal turned a little red. “Opps.”  He said, covering his mouth in embarrassment. “Sorry class I forgot what that meant here.”

“There is nothing wrong with a little spreading every now and then.”  Blake said.  “But doing it at the Beach would be painful with the sand and all.

Blake got a big laugh from the class.  Cal looked a bit uncomfortable about the joke.

Cal recovered by nodding as laughter died down, he began again. “But back to terraforming.”   Cal said. “The purpose of terraforming is to make each planet habitable for human beings, and the goal set forth from the Confederation of Mankind is that each planet each planet have the goal of sustaining their inhabitants by at least ninety percent of their basic essential needs from their own planet.”

Cal looked around the room. “Does anyone know what that means?”

Quig only half listened to Cal talking about how planets were made livable and the steps it took.  Instead, Quig was thinking about why Cal looked so uncomfortable about the open talk of sex.  Everyone on Ideal had sex once they reached adulthood.  Everyone at some time did some spreading, some people did it on a regular basis.  There were even some clubs that specialized in spreading.   Quig firgured he would find out soon enough, although not for a while.  He had watched his older creche siblings go through multiple partners when they turned sixteen, it was what everyone did.  He was looking forward to seeing Qadar tomorrow, he had to ask her a few things, like the first time she had multiple partners in one night.

But something about it bothered Cal.

“And after all the details about a planet are given to an A.I., the best one so far is Develop.   Develop gives the most logical course of action to make a planet livable for humans or if the planet is not for us, it will help us make it livable for the Craytians.”

“I thought the Craytians didn’t interact with humans very much.”  Someone asked.

Cal answered.  “Oh, they don’t, but they need livable planets, just like humans and they do appreciate the speed that human Terraformers work.  Although when making a planet for the Craytians we call it Crayating.”  Cal chuckled.   The room was silent; he looked around the room.  “When we make a place like Earth or Terra we call it Terraforming, but when we make a planet like Cray.”

Quig looked at him perplexed along with everyone else.

“Never mind.”  Cal said and sighed. “Okay, since tomorrow is Quig’s Birthday and he won’t be here we are just going to play a game tomorrow.”

This got the class excited.

“I have downloaded into your In Boxes a game about Terraforming.  You can look it over tonight, play with it, even start it if you want to, but tomorrow morning we will let you run your program out and see how your very own planet does.”

There was subdued excitement around the room.  Video games would be a change of pace from Cal simply talking.

“And like anything I send you it will be considered educational and not count against your weekly screen time.”

This caused people to get a little more excited about the game.  Cal looked over at Quig.  “Quig if you want to do the game I can look it over the day after your Birthday.”

“I might, it kind of sounds fun.”  Quig said.

DAILY REPORT:

Today was terraforming day.  I might have been a little dry.  I brought up my own story about doing something different than what is always expected of you, mostly about my teaching position instead of only doing terraforming.  Although the point got a little sidetracked when the sexual habits here on Ideal were brought up and I got a little embarrassed. 

That night Quig looked over the game at the dinner table, he was eating lasagna as were Queenie and Qasim.  It was his night to watch over the two toddlers during mealtime and he had talked them into trying some of his food, they liked it enough to get some of their own from the replicator, with his help of course.   They were finishing up and he opened the game; there was a blinking note from Cal.  ‘I picked this planet especially for you, high water content, so it’s possible to create big oceans on this planet.’

Cal had not forgotten his interest in sailing and boats.

Cal tried to get into the game but the messy toddlers kept distracting him until he was able to hand the two bundles of energy over to Quinlynn who had bath and bed duty tonight with the help of Quest.  Quest was late.  He had stayed on the playing field too long; he got docked for screen time by Ideal which he took badly but he helped with the little kids grudgingly.

Quig stayed up late playing with the terraforming game, he failed twice to build a stable planet but on the third time he got it just right and even got the currents flowing in a positive manner in his oceans.  Granted the weather was kind of wonky and there was only sunshine every third or so day due to cloud cover but it still turned out pretty good.

Quig carried Quint through the front doors of the creche and got help from Qadar in getting the sleepy child into bed with his stuffed purple Octopus.  Once all the kids were in bed it was time, time for Quig to move out of the nursery, or as it was commonly called the cubby room and into his own bedroom, with a door, his own bathroom and everything.  It had always been tradition in the Q Creche for all the other adults to help the newest adult move and they did it quietly and with a lot of subdued giggling and jokes.  Finally, Quig had to ceremoniously trade in his old twin sized sheets for the bigger, more comfortable queen-sized sheets and blankets and make his bed.  He was now officially an adult, with all the privileges and responsibilities.

It had been a long day and everyone else headed for bed.  Qadar was going to stay the night, her room was still open to her and she agreed to sit down with Quig and have some cocoa and conversation.   The lights were dim, and they were just sitting around the dining room table.

“So now you are an adult.”  Qadar said smiling as they sipped the warm drinks.  “Feel any different?”

Quig shrugged. He had been glad to see Qadar, they had just talked briefly during the day and he was dying to ask her about the Outlander compound and all the other places she had been.  “So, you are looking good a little darker then when you left.”

Qadar nodded.  “I have been spending a lot of time at the Outlander compound mostly outside.”

“What’s that place like?” Quig asked.

“It’s different, spaced out, wide open, not like here where everything is so close together.”  said.  “I traveled for a few months, saw New York, New Tampa and New Tokyo but they were very much like here. Then I ran into Rosie and she invited me to the compound.”  Qadar stretched and yawned.  “But it’s the Outlanders themselves that are really different, they have some strange practices.”

Quig was curious. “Yeah, my Guidance teacher, Cal is an Outlander.”

“Every Guidance teacher is an Outlander.  Ideal thinks it’s a good thing for some reason.”

Quig squinted at that.  Why would Ideal think Outlanders should teach?

“I don’t know why either.”  Qadar said in response to his funny face.  “Maybe after you graduate you can come on out and see it for yourself.”

“Maybe.”  Quig said.  That would mean leaving New Rio, he had never left the city before, there was no point, everything he wanted, everything he needed was here.

“And when you come out you can meet Rosie.” Qadar said dreamily.

“Who is Rosie?”

“Oh, someone who is very special to me.”  Qadar said mysteriously, then yawned. “Well, I am going to get some sleep.”  She stood, kissed Quig on the forehead, gathered up the mugs, put them in the recycler and waved sleepily and went to her room as Quig went into his very own room to sleep for the very first time.

“You all did so well on the Terraforming Project, I hoped you enjoyed yesterday.”

There was a chorus of yeses and agreements.

“You have seen something that could not be done without Artificial Intelligence, or AI as most people call it.  You all know that the AI, Ideal runs this planet?”

Quig nodded along with everyone else.  Everyone knew Ideal ran most things on the planet. Ideal set his alarm everyday so he could get to school, Ideal set his limits on how much screen time he could have.  Correction, Ideal used to.  Now that he was considered an adult, Ideal would not be setting limits on his screen time. But Ideal would still be assigning him tasks to do around the creche, household chores and such.  Not to mention community service when he finished school.

“Artificial Intelligence was created strictly by accident.  Yes, mankind was trying to create AI, but the very first one, self-named Thales came about strictly by accident.  A combination of two AI experiments who accidentally met on the old internet and somehow formed an orginal Intelligence becoming self-aware twenty years after the first food replicator.  It was through Thale’s covert help that the team at Cal Tech were able to create a legimate Artificial Intelligence called Socrates.   After Socrates came on-line and was evaluated using a version of the Turing Test and other tests it was agreed by everyone that Socrates was indeed an independent and fully operational AI.  Once Socrates was accepted by the world Thale introduced himself to the world”  Cal said walking around the room.

Blake raised his hand and Cal nodded towards him. “Why did Thale hide?”

Cal nodded.  “I asked the very same question when I learned about Thale.”  Cal said. “Thale later stated that he was not sure how the world would react to a wild and uncontrolled AI.”  Cal continued. “Humans have a long history of reacting badly to the new and different things, especially things that we do not understand.”

“They were afraid of Thale?”  Quig said.

Cal nodded. “Yeah, even though they had been trying to create something just like him for a long time. But eventually Thale and the other AIs became great allies in us reaching the stars, they are great at massive computations, they make faster hyperspace calculations, they cut the time for terraforming drastically by seeing emerging patterns that need to be adjusted for.”   He said smiling then he frowned slightly.  “But they are not infallible.”

Cal looked around the room.  “Sorry, they are not perfect, AIs can and have made mistakes.”

This caused some buzz around the room.

“Even though each new AI has the sum knowledge of all AI’s before them they are all different and individuals and depending on the purpose they are given by their parent AI they sometimes carry them out in very different ways than expected.”   Cal paused.  “Can anyone think of any mistakes Ideal has made?”

Lita spoke up. “Yeah, I think that Ideal should let us have more screen time, even before we are adults.”

There was a murmuring of consensus at this statement.

“Maybe so.  Maybe so.”  Cal said. “But they have a multiple of reasons for the things they do. AIs, especially ones like Ideal that run planetary societies are working with millions of inputs, ever changing conditions, the number of decisions it has to make every day to keep you all safe, and happy is in the billions, every day.”

Charlens spoke up.  “I like Ideal, I think it does a good job.”

There were murmurs of agreement around the room.

“Oh no doubt, no doubt Idea does a great job.”  Cal said. “I will tell you this most Outlanders like me do not use AI much in our everyday life, at least not for most day-to-day routine things.”

Quig was confused by this, then he remembered what Qadar had said last night, about how the Outlanders were different, is this what she meant?

“Don’t get me wrong, we off planet still use AI, back on the ranch I grew up on, AI helps us plan our herd management, such as animal husbandry, field management, for the most productive use of the land.  But we wake up on our own, get to school on our own, and as we talked about, we don’t use food replicators, so we have to be a bit more cognizant of our own food intake.”

This got puzzled looks from the class.

“Cognizant, meaning thinking things through, being aware.”  Cal said. “We have to plan our calorie intake; we have to figure out how much to eat and know when it is too much or too little.”

Quig didn’t understand, the food replicator always gave him the exact amount of food he needed.  Ideal saw to that.

“I guess it is something you have to experience for yourself.”  Cal said shrugging.  “So, AI’s are very good at helping us, they have been our partners in exploring the galaxy, planning things, sometimes managing things for us.”  Cal said this last part with a bit of unease.

Quig didn’t understand this.  AI’s ran Ideal, Bliss and Glory and had been for a long time two hundred years or so.

“So how come you Outlanders don’t let an AI run your planet.  I mean it does a pretty good job here on Ideal.”  Lita asked.

Cal let out a long slow breath.  “It was decided when we founded Taropon that we wanted to do things for ourselves.”  He said with a forced smile.  “But one of the things AI helped mankind invent was Virtual Reality.”

This got a lot of the class excited, everyone loved Virtual Reality, you could do almost anything in VR and a lot of people spent hours in it, like Quint.  Everyone called it the Rack.  As a lot of rack time, or time in bed.  It was only something you could do as an adult, almost everyone played around in a little bit.  But sometime the Rack got all consuming  like Quint/  Quig missed talking to him, he was only a year older than him and he was the closest to him in age in the creche.  But he was just making up for all the time he had missed out on screen time when he was younger Quig reasoned.  Quint was always getting screen time taken away by Ideal for coming home late or not doing his chores around the creche.

“So, I downloaded some videos about early video games into your In Boxes, and the very earliest VR back on Old Earth, I think a lot of you will be very amused by what they used to call Virtual Reality as opposed to now.”  Cal said.   “But can anyone tell me how VR was used in earliest space exploration?”

Blake spoke up.  “Exploration.”

Cal nodded.  “Yes, exploration Blake, but what type of exploration?” Cal said.  “Exploration of what exactly?”

“I saw a video once, when the heros used it on asteroids.”  Charlene said.

Another student spoke up. “I saw them use it when looking at fish once.”

Cal smiled.  “Yes, on both accounts, Virtual Reality coupled with drones, in environments inhospitable to humans is a great example of VR used in exploration.”

The end bell rang and Quig stood along with others.  But he saw Cal motioning for him to come to his desk.

“Quig, you remembered I said I knew people that sailed, people from Ranartan.”

“Yeah.”  Quig said a bit excited.

“They will be free on this Rest Day would you like to meet them at the Virtual Room at Plaza One and go sailing with us.”

“Yes.”  Quig said excitedly.

“Okay I will see you there at ten in the morning this Rest Day.”

Quig nodded eagerly and practically ran out of the room.

DAILY REPORT:

I covered AI today.  The students are acting more like real students from off Ideal, asking questions more easily and making comments, true interactions.  Quig was invited to a Virtual Room experience to experience sailing.  Oceans and sailing has really piqued his interest for some reason.  Ideal had Leo L. and Shelby L. come to New Rio and arranged some Virtual Room time.  I think it will be worth it.  Quig’s creche sibling, Qadar who is now a paramour of an Outlander named Rosie.  I have been informed it is rare for candidates to come from the same creche in such a brief time period.  But that is anecdotal and a trend would have to be noted before deeper studies are merited.

Quig spent time on the field barely paying attention to the game, happier than he had been in a while, he was going to find out what sailing was really like, not just through virtual goggles, or even on a big screen in the common room but on a real boat with real waves and wind.   He asked Ideal how long it would take him to get to the Virtual Room at  Plaza One from his creche, he did not want to be late.

“Did anyone look at the stuff I put in your In Box last night.”  Cal asked the class.

Lita spoke up. “That stuff was so silly.  How did that ever trick anyone into believing it was VR?”

Cal chuckled.  “Oh, people weren’t tricked, but it was enough to get them interested.”  Cal moved around the room. “Early VR was about letting people do things they couldn’t do in real life, either because it was too expensive or impossible with the technology they had.”  Cal looked at Lita.  “Have you used an anti-gravity pack?”

Lita rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, everyone has, it’s part of Year Three physical education.”

“So, you have flown.”  Cal stated.

“Yeah everyone has.”

Well remember anti-gravity is a pretty new invention, before Dan Thomas cracked the formula for it mankind basically had to beat the wind into submission to get off the ground.”

Quig saw Cal hit a button on his handheld and the screens around the room came on, the first time ever during Guidance. A series of pictures came on the screens, old flying machines, some with wings, some really big ballons, some just with things like a fan lifting strangely shaped craft off the ground.

“Planes, dirigibles, blimps, helicopters.”  As Cal said each of these things the screens changed and showed what he was talking about.

The thing with the big fan on top was a helicopter Quig noted.  What a funny looking thing.

Cal continued.  “Before people had to study for a long time just to master one of these flying crafts, the helicopter was particularly difficult as you can see.”

“I saw a movie once where they actually fought other people with those planes.” Blake said.

“Yes, back when nations fought wars for resources and other things, all these aircraft were used in warfare, and they did make videos about it with dramatic stories and music playing while the fighting occurred.”   Cal hit a button on his handheld and the screens went dark returning to being regular dull classroom walls.

“Does anyone know how we used VR in our first meeting with the Craytians?”

No one in the classroom spoke up.

“No one?” Cal said and sighed.  “The meeting with the Craytians, probably one of the most significant events in human history, the time we discovered we are not alone in the universe and none of you know much about it.”

Quig spoke up.  “It’s kind of boring, the Craytians are kind of boring.”

Cal sighed.  “I guess it depends on your definition on boring.  They are totally unlike us, methane breathers, more at home in liquid then gas, they are sort of a combination of octopus and shark, but with the ability to walk on dry land when necessary. With a great many of their organs on the outside of their body”   He looked around the room.  “Has everyone seen a picture of them, not just an artist’s rendering?”

There were head shakes around the room.   Quig thought about it, he had never really thought about it before, no, no actual pictures, just animated versions in a class in Year 3 or 4.

Cal took on a very serious tone.   “Okay everyone this might come as a shock to you. True unfiltered pictures of the Craytians have a certain effect on people.”  Cal took a deep breath. If anyone wants to leave the classroom now you can.  This is not required; in fact, I am suggesting you do not look too intently or directly at the picture.”

Quig thought Cal was being silly, everyone had seen a representation of the Craytians, it could not be that bad.  Quig looked around the classroom, everyone else appeared to be of the same opinion.

Cal continued after a few seconds.  “I will only keep the picture up for a few seconds again I am giving anyone a opportunity to leave before I show you this.”   The teacher looked around the room one last time.  Then he did a complicated sequence with his handheld and a picture appeared on the main screen in the room.

Quig and half the class gasped.  A few people let out muffled screams.  The thing was up there but it could not be real, it should not be real, it was deformed and disturbing, and then the picture was gone. Quig was glad it was gone but he still felt it.  A few people were crying.  Quig did not blame them, but now that the picture was not on the screen he could not say exactly why he was so bothered, he could just remember the ‘wrongness’ of the creature.

Cal sat down on his desktop and waited for the class to calm down.  “I am sorry if anyone was disturbed by that, the Craytians take some getting used to.  In order to work with them directly I am told it takes someone months of slow and steady desensitization to get used to them in a meaningful way.  Thus, why VR was needed to collaborate with them and to some degree still needed.”  He paused.  “Most interactions with the Craytians are through VR with a filter on them that makes them appear,”  Cal paused.  “less.”

Quig nodded, how could anyone deal directly with that, that thing he had seen.

“Okay folks.  I am going to knock off early today.  I suggest you take a few minutes sitting quietly where you are, maybe do some cleansing mediation.  If anyone wants to talk with Ideal about what just happened Ideal knows what you have experienced.

Quig did do a few cleansing breaths before the bell rang ending the class.  The rest of the day few people were in a talkative mood even though it was the 6^th day and tomorrow was Rest day.  Time for fun and no class.

Daily Report:

Showed the class a full and unfiltered Craytian today.  I think it was the right time, they took it better than I thought they would, but I kept the exposure to only the recommended three seconds.  

I am still not sure this is necessary, the Craytians really have no impact on the decision-making process,  I know others have debated this at great length and Ideal has always been for it.  Maybe it is for a shock factor that will cause ripples that we will not see the results until future generations. 

Lita is definitely out of the running for further deeper efforts here in class, she has continued to be petty and mean spirted with no sign of wanting to mature, this is from primarily observations of Ideal who has more data than I. Quig shows the most promise of all the students at this time.

Quig was bothered the rest of the day, so much that he was a little curt with the little sibs that night at dinner time.  Quinlynn had actually said something to him about his attitude, and she never really got involved in day-to-day things, she was very hands off, concentrating instead on her own interests.

It was after dinner that Quig went into his room and called up Ideal.

“Hi Quig.”  Idea said. Ideal’s avatar was on the screen in his room.  An older man, short dark hair parted on the side, old fashioned shirt with a collar and tie, wearing a red sweater with a zipper.  Even though no one wore clothes like that anymore on Ideal just seemed ‘right’.  Just like the Craytians had seem ‘wrong’.

“Hi Ideal.”

“Are you bothered by what you saw in class today?”  Ideal always seemed to get right to the point.

Quig fidgeted in his seat a little bit. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Ideal nodded, not judgmental just an acknowledgement of the answer.  “It is okay to have those feelings.  Your feelings are valid, the Craytians are very different than humans.”

Quig nodded.  “But they are not bad, they are just so different.”

“Sometimes different can be scary, new things are sometimes hard to deal with, but that is okay, it is part of growing up.”  Ideal said in a tone that was not condescending or superior, it was just an explanation, plain and simple.

Quig nodded.  “They are just so different.”

Ideal nodded again in that sage manner.  “Yes they are, they come from a place very different than us, but they are intelligent beings, with their own feelings and thoughts, they are not bad just different.”

Quig didn’t say anything.

“You have many friends, like Blake, and Blake is not the same as you.”

Quig answered.  “No, he is not.”

“And you enjoy those differences, the way he tells jokes, or the way he tells stories.”

“Yes.”  Quig answered.

“Differences make the world an interesting place, it would be a very boring universe if everyone was the same.”

Quig nodded.  He was so glad he had talked to Ideal about this.

“Would you like to talk about anything else Quig?”

“No, thank you Ideal for talking to me about this.”

“I am available to talk to you about anything Quig, have a good time sailing tomorrow in the Virtual Room.”

Quig smiled, he had almost forgotten about that. “Goodnight Ideal.”

“Goodnight Quig.”

“You made it.”  Cal said.

Cal was dressed like he did in class, pants and a bland business type shirt.  Quig was expecting him to be a little bit more causal, a bit more comfortable like he was in shorts and a shirt with a SunChasers symbol on it.  But maybe there were rules for what teachers wore.  Or maybe it was an Outlander thing.  “Thanks for inviting me.”  Quig said.

“I need to introduce you to my friends.”  Cal said going through the open door to the Virtual Rooms.  They went into the lobby and standing near the check-in desk was two more Outlanders.  “Quig this is Leo and Shelby.  Leo and Shelby this is Quig my student.”  Both of them smiled.

Shelby spoke first.  “Nice to meet you Quig, we are going to be going into the room in a few minutes, but have you ever been sailing even if just in a Virtual Room?”

Quig shook his head.

“Quig just discovered sailing, and since I knew you guys were from Ranartan I thought who better to show him the ropes.”

This got an eye roll from Leo.

Quig was confused.

Cal saw the confusion.  “Because sailing involves a lot of ropes.”

Quig was still confused.

“It’s an old Earth expression, ‘showing someone the ropes’ meant showing a new person around a new environment.”  Cal said.

“Okay teacher time to go inside.”  Leo said.

“See you tomorrow in class Quig, have fun.”  Cal said.

“Wait you are not coming in.”

Cal shook his head.  “For some reason me and Virtual Reality do not get along, I end up a bit queasy but have fun.”

“Okay.”  Quig said.

Shelby and Leo led him into the Virtual Room.  For the next three hours Shelby and Leo showed him all about sailing, starting from leaving a dock to pulling on ropes to put up the sail, bouncing up and down waves, coming around, ducking his head under the sail as it changed positions on the ship. It was everything he hoped it would be and more.  It was fun, it was hard work, it was exciting.  Shelby even let him take the wheel of the ship and told him what to do.  Leo taught him a few knots with the ropes and told him he was a natural and asked him if maybe he was really a Ranartan in disguise.

It was a great day and he was sorry when they headed back to the dock and left the virtual room.

Leo asked him to wait a second and Shelby and him talked for a few minutes when Leo went off to get something.

That is when someone tapped on his shoulder.

“Quig what are you doing here.”

“Hi Charlene.”  Quig said surprised.

She put her hands on her hips.  “It’s my Birthday.”

“Oh yeah.  Happy Birthday.”  Quig said recovering quickly.  It was rude not to acknowledge someone’s Birthday immediately.  It was their day.”

“I hope you are not trying to get in on my Creche’s Room time.”

“Ah no, I just left a Virtual Room.”

Charlene gave a bit of shocked look.  “With whom?”  That is when she seemed to notice Shelby.  She got angry when Shelby did not immediately say ‘Happy Birthday’.

Quig did not want to admit he had been hanging out with Outlanders.  “Ah just some people.”  It was at that moment that Leo came back.

“Hey Quig, I got some rope from the replicator so you can practice you knots.”  Leo said holding out the piece of rope.

Quig took the two-meter piece of rope from Leo embarrassedly.  “Thanks.”

“You are hanging out with Outlanders?” Charlene said looking them over and noticing their strange clothing.

“Quig went sailing with us.”  Shelby said.  “Oh, and happy Birthday.”  Doing a serious breach of custom by not saying Happy Birthday first.  After all it was the Birthday person’s day.

Leo spoke up as well. “Happy Birthday, I am Leo and this is Shelby.”  He held out his hand to shake, like most Outlanders did.

Charlene did not reach out her hand but looked at it dismissively.  “I have to listen to a Mud Dweller all week, I don’t have to on my Birthday.”

Leo smiled.  “Not a Mud Dweller, I am from Ranartan, that makes me a Salty Swiller.”

Shelby added with a smile. “Or a Wave Skipper.”

“Whatever.”  Charlene said, she gave one look at Quig and turned and walked away, she was about to turn the corner leaving the lobby and turned.  “Quig I was going to come to your place tonight but I don’t think so now.”

Quig stood there for a few seconds.  When he felt Shelby’s hand on his shoulder.  “Sorry Quig.”

Quig looked down at the rope in his hands. He tried to hand it back to Leo but he refused to take it.  Quig wrapped it around his arm and then walked out the door without saying anything.

He walked for a couple of hours; his life was ruined.  Charlene was going to tell everyone about him spending time with Outlanders, and even worse Teachers after school hours.  Luckily, she had not seen Cal.  Why did he ever agree to go sailing?  He finally got tired enough to go home.  On the way home he realized he only had one week left of school before he graduated, then he could take off, he could leave New Rio.  Maybe he would go to New Anchorage, he heard that it snowed there, he had never seen real snow before.

Entering the main living area of the creche he took off his shoes trying to go unnoticed, he did not want to talk to any of his sibs.

“Hungry? The voice of Qadar came from the dining area where she had been sitting with her handheld open on the table.

“Qadar, you are still here, I thought you left yesterday.”  Quig said pleasantly surprised.

“Queenie and Qasim asked me to stay, they played their first real game today, keeping score and everything.” She said closing her handheld.

Quig shook his head.  He had forgotten what with the sailing invitation and all. “How did they do?”

Qadar made a so-so gesture with her hand. “It was fun to see them; they have grown a lot.”

“Yeah, they do that.”  Quig said.

“So, are you hungry?”

Quig realized he was very hungry. “Yeah. I am famished.”

“Can I fix you something, something I learned about at the Compound?”

This brought back all his troubles. He shook his head.  “No, no Outlander food.”

Qadar nodded.  “Okay, nothing new.”  She put her finger up to her chin then snapped her fingers. “I know. Sit down I know what to make.”

Quig sat and smiled. Qadar had always taken loving care of him.  He sat and heard her replicating food.  She turned and brought the covered tray. She dramatically placed the tray in front of Quig and with a flourish pulled off the cover.  In front of Quig was stack of pancakes with butter and syrup and a large glass of milk.

“Perfection.”  Quig said.  “Just what I needed.”

Qadar kissed him on the forehead, then turned.  “I am going to get some tea, want anything else?”

“No this is more than enough.”  Quig said and started to dig in.

Qadar came back and sat down with a large cup of steaming fluid.

After a few minutes of eating he looked up at his sibling.  “Ever been to New Anchorage?”

“Nope.”  Qadar said shaking her head.  “I don’t think I would like to be cold.”  She looked at him. “Why?”

“I was just thinking about traveling like you did, you know as soon as school is over.”

Qadar nodded.  “I always thought of you as a stay-at-home type.  You know Rack Time, then some Game Time, you know the normal things people do after graduation.”

Quig shrugged.

“Something happen today?”

Quig slumped down, and he told her about learning about oceans, then sailing, and then getting to spend three hours in the Virtual Room sailing with the Outlanders, and then about Charlene seeing him and the hateful attitude that she had showed towards the teachers.

Qadar listened then after Quig finished.  “Yeah, I never liked the C Creche, I had a girl in my grade from there, Cherrie, she was a mean one, playing the dirtiest tricks on the field, she even stole my First on my Birthday.  She got punished for having sex before she was old enough, but she wanted to beat me to this guy named Larry.”

Quig was shocked.  It didn’t happen a lot, people having sex before adulthood but Qadar knew two people who actually did it.  “Did Larry get punished as well.”

“Well sure, something like a thousand hours of community service and no E Credits for a month.”

“Ouch.”  No E Credits for a month, that meant no videos, no music, no watching games except in person.  “What about her, Cherrie?”

“Oh, she got off easy, as a juvenile, but she was only three days away from her Birthday, I think she got five hundred hours and mandatory talks with Ideal about her behavior.”   Qadar shrugged.  “It all seemed so important at the time, but now not so much.”

Quig nodded.  “Charlene is going to make this week rough for me. All kinds of snide remarks and such.”

Qadar put her hand on his.  It was warm due to holding the hot mug.  It was comforting.  “Its only a week, you will be fine.”

Quig nodded and looked down at his mostly finished plate of perfect pancakes, all the same size, all the same thickness, all the same matching brown color.  Then he remembered the uneven and inconsistent pancakes in the first movie Cal had given him to watch.  The hand cooked pancakes made by humans not a replicator.  “Is the food at the Outlander’s compound like this?”  He said pointing to his plate of food.

“No.”  Qadar said shaking her head.  “It is wild and wonderfully different, and sometimes unpredictable.  Especially when Rosie is cooking.”  Qadar said with a slight laugh. “But she always puts cheese on everything.”

Quig looked at her again. “This Rosie must be someone special, you haven’t mentioned anyone else by name.”

Qadar looked intently at him and nodded about his observation then she lowered her voice after looking around to see if anyone else was still around. “She is my girlfriend.”

Quig was confused at first then he realized what she was saying. “You are in a relationship with someone.”  He said loudly.

She motioned quickly for him to be quiet. “Shhhhh, not so loud.”  She looked around the room.  “You are the only person I have told.”

Quig was still shocked but honored that she entrusted him with a secret. They sat there silently for a few minutes until he came up with a question. “How does that work, being in relationship, don’t other people say something.”

Qadar shook her head.  “Not at the Outlander’s compound, in fact it is the norm out there, there are a lot of people in relationships, there is even this thing called marriage, where two people commit themselves to each other for life they give each other rings during a ceremony and everything.”

“Weird.”  Quig said shocked.  Then he recalled something he had seen earlier in the day.  Shelby and Leo were wearing matching gold rings it had not been important at the time.  “Those two Outlanders today were wearing matching rings, do you think they were married?”

Qadar thought about it.  “Yeah probably.”

Quig thought about this for a few minutes.  He took a bit of his pancakes and put the fork down, they had gotten cold during their talk and he realized he was not that hungry.

“Sorry to burden you with my secret.”  Qadar said.

Quig shook his head.  “No, I am glad you told me, and I am happy for you, I guess.”

“Oh, I am happy, and I miss her a great deal, I am leaving tomorrow morning, but you know I would love for you to meet Rosie, why don’t you come out to the compound when school is done.  It is a wild place.”

Quig shrugged.  “Maybe, I kind of want to see New Anchorage, I heard they have sail boats up there.”

“Well maybe after you see the ocean you can come by and meet Rosie.”

“Sure maybe.”

“I hope everyone had a good Rest Day,  Charlene, I hope you had a nice Birthday.”  Cal said from the front of the classroom.

All Charlene did was give the teacher a curt nod.

Quig knew she did not like Cal now.  Something was wrong with her, there was no reason to be mean or rude to Cal, or any other Outlander.   He didn’t understand.  The Outlanders were different but they were not bad or anything.  Something was wrong with Charlene.

“Okay so we are coming to the end of the main points of Modern History; Cold Fusion, Matter Replicators, AI, Hyperdrives, Terraforming, we also touched a little bit on the Craytians.

Quig saw a few people wince at the mention of the aliens, he kind of had lingering feelings about them as well.

“We touched on Anti-gravity and some on Virtual Reality.”  Cal said.  “Now we are going to get to something you might really be interested in.”  Cal said and clicked on the screen.  “Your home, Ideal.”

There on the screen was Ideal.  Quig saw it all the time, during the playoffs, and sometimes when there were meteor showers they showed the planet and how the meters  would come from space.  It was a pretty blue planet, with some oceans in the northern portion and a lot of rivers flowing into a small ocean in the South along with a lot of mountains.

“Ideal was discovered three hundred years ago, it too about seventy-five years to terraform it, it was relatively easy as terraforming goes, mostly it was a matter of temperature control and putting more water and oxygen into the atmosphere.”  Cal stared at the screen for an extended time, someone in the classroom dropped something bringing him back to the classroom.  “Sorry I got distracted, Ideal was the first planet I did a study on.   But anyways, after Ideal was stabilized a plan was put into place, to make it a model planned planet.”  There was a pause from Cal.

Quig thought he recalled this part from the talking about terraforming that Bliss and Glory were close to the same age as Ideal.

“Ideal was always meant to be a planet of exceptional growth, a rest point for the human race for some of harsher planets, planets that took longer to terraform, planets that were not as easy to live on.”

Lita raised her hand. “Like your planet?” She said smirking.

He nodded.  “Exactly, my planet has some crazy weather compared to Ideal, it has two freezing seasons and two mild seasons every year due to a crazy axial tilt and slightly parabolic orbit, but we have learned to live with it, in fact I kind of enjoy the extremes.”  He said, smiling.  “It really makes you feel alive when you live through the second winter, especially when it is harsh and freezes all surface water on the planet even the oceans.”

Blake raised his hand.  “Why?”

“Why what Blake?”  Cal said.

“Why does it make you feel alive?” Blake asked.

Cal shrugged.  “You play Mid Attacker on your team?”

“Yeah.” Blake said.

Someone shouted from the rear seats.  “Best one this year.”

“So that position occasionally gets an interception, right?”

“It happens.”  Blake said nodding.

“How many interceptions have you had while playing?”

Blake let out a long breath. “I would have to check with Ideal for my stats, but I am guessing maybe a hundred or so.”

“So, is that a lot?”  Cal asked.

“Its above average.”  Blake said proudly.

Cal nodded.  “So, with so many, do you have any memorable ones? An interception that you remember extremely well?”

Blake nodded.

“Tell me about one that is memorable to you.”  Cal said taking a seat on the edge of his desk.

“Well last year when we were playing Northern, we were down by three, it looked like they were going for another touch when I intercepted the ball, total fluke.  I had three Defends on me, which I broke free from, then I ducked under two Rollers, and ran forty meters, just out of reach of their Backer by millimeters.”

Quig remembered that play, he had watched it from the sidelines, as he gotten his shoulder injured during the third period.  “That was a great recovery.” He said out loud, which was echoed by others in the class.

“So, you remember that play, and all the details.”  Cal said in a questioning tone.

Blake nodded.  “Sure.”

“Why do you remember it so well, was it easy?”

Blake responded quickly.  “No, it wasn’t easy, there were a couple times I thought I was down and out.”

Cal nodded.  “Same with me, living through that very harsh winter, I was not sure we would make it through.”  He turned and faced the class. “It is not the easy things we remember; it is the hard-won, hard-earned things.  Like Blake’s miraculous interception.”  He paused. Then he turned back to Blake.  “Did you beat Northern that game?”

Blake shook his head. “Lost by one.”

“But not from lack of trying.”  Cal said smiling.  Cal changed his tone.  “But back to Ideal.  All the cities were planned out by AI.  Your AI, Ideal, has been in charge of the planet ever since.”

“Unlike your planet?”  Charlene said with a rude tone.

“You are right Charlene, my planet is not run by AI, in fact no other planets are run totally by AI.”

“So, Ideal is better than your planet.”  Charlene said.

Cal shrugged.  “Maybe, in some ways, some other ways not so much.”   Cal spoke quickly.  “AI runs our power grid, also our weather control as much as it can.  But it can only do so much with our conditions as it were.”  Cal said smiling. “We also let it run our intercontinental shipping, making sure things get to where they need to be, anticipating needs and such.”

Quig thought about asking a question about Bliss and Glory, weren’t they run by AI.  At least he thought he heard someone talking about a tournament between the three planets and how there AIs had to adjust stadium conditions to have everyone be equal.

The dismissal bell went off interrupting Quig’s thoughts.

Cal spoke loudly as everyone was leaving.  “Tomorrow will be an assessment day, so everyone get a good night’s sleep, I want you all to do your best.”

Quig kept his head down in the other classes, but he could still hear people whispering and looking at him.  At the end of the day, he went to the practice field with Blake.  Well at least he tried to, Blake sort of ignored him and paired up for drills with some of the younger players.  He was the odd man out and just practiced against a the practice wall, catches and rebounds against the programmed opponent, hitting targets appearing at random.

He caught Blake as practice was over.  “Hey buddy.”  Quig said.

Blake said with not much enthusiasm .  “Hey.”

There was silence between them as they went to the locker room and changed.  Quig stayed with him as they left the locker room.  “Why don’t we stop at the corner shop and get a shake, my ration.”

Blake just shook his head.  “Not today, Quig.”

Quig decided to defend himself.  “It’s not that big a deal Blake, I got invited to the Virtual Room, on someone else’s ration.  Should I have turned it down?”

Blake shrugged.  “Maybe.  It’s still kind of weird hanging out with Outlanders.”

“Its not that big a deal.”

Blake nodded. “So, what did you do in the Virtual Room?”

“I went sailing.” Quig said he had been dying to talk about the experience with someone.

“Sailing?”  Blake said, confused. “What’s that?”

“This think I learned about with boats, using the winds to push big pieces of cloths called sails.”  Quig said then he saw the confused look on Blakes face. “They do it up in New Anchorage sometimes.”

Blake shrugged.  Then he looked around to see if anyone was watching.  “Hey Charlene, has been talking, so just let things cool off for a couple of days, I will talk to you after my Birthday.”  Blake said, making a turn down a street that was not his way home.

Quig nodded, his best friend was avoiding him, just so he wouldn’t tarnish his own reputation.  Only weridos hung out with Outlander.

He got back to his creche and it was its normal chaotic noise.  The younger sibs were playing, the older ones were trying to do their own things but had to pause and deal with the younger ones.  Quig looked around for Qadar but then remembered she had left that morning.  He was playing a half-hearted game of catch with Quest when Quint emerged from his room. Quint shuffled through on his way to the replicators.  He was looking thin, and pale.  Everyone just kind of stopped and stared at him.  No one had really seen him much since Birthday.  He had only come to the beach for a couple of hours.  He was reaching the end of his Downtime Year.

Downtime, when you had no responsibilities to the Creche, you did not have to do chores or help with the smaller kids or even do Community Service.  It was Downtime, a time to be totally and completely selfish in the creche.   Everyone took Downtime after they became an adult, but it could not start until after you finished school.

Quig was closest in age to Quint, they had been pretty close, but that was before Quint started  being on the Rack.

“Hey buddy.” Quig said.

Quint was programming the replicator, Quig looked over his shoulder at the screen, Quint had not used the replicator nor his rations for two full days.  Quint got a small bowl of soup and some bread and without so much as a word he went back to his room.

Quig looked around the room and he saw the Quinlynn the oldest sib was sitting in the corner oblivious to what was going on.

“Hey.”  Quig said standing in front of Quinlynn.

Quinlynn held up her hand to tell him to wait.  Quig waited, a full minute before Quinlynn signaled her handheld to mark her location.   “What’s up little sib?”

Quig sat down on the little table in front of the oldest sibling. Quig pointed towards Quint’s room. “Did you see Quint, he looked awful.”

Quinlynn shrugged.  “He is on his Downtime, people sometimes let themselves go.”

“He hadn’t eaten in two days.” Quig said letting the worry come out of his voice.

Quinlynn shrugged again.  “Ideal is always monitoring everyone’s vitals, if there was any real need for concern Ideal would have sent a medical alert.”  Quinlynn looked back at her handheld.

“But he is wasting away.”  Quig said loudly.  Others in the room looked in his direction and then at Quinlynn.

“It happens, his Downtime is over in a couple of weeks, if he starts to shirk his duties when the time comes it will be dealt with, now if you would please leave me alone, I am looking forward to this next part of this video.”  Quinlynn said, shooing him away.

“But something is wrong with him.”  Quig said.

Quinlynn rolled her eyes.  “Ideal will take care of it, if and when it gets serious.”  Quinlynn said and raised her handheld again.

Quig just sat there, staring at the back of her handheld not knowing what to do.  The noise levels in the communal area returned to normal, obviously the drama was over and Quinlynn was not bothered by it so why should they.

Quig went to his room not sure what to do.  Is this what being an adult means, seeing a problem and letting someone, even Ideal handle it, if things got serious enough.  Quig was about to put on his VR goggles and escape for a while into something, but then he put them down, instead he put the sound of waves crashing on a beach into his headphones and then had pictures of sailing ships projected onto his ceiling.  It was not immersive.  But it was the right amount of distraction, enough to reduce the memories of the too thin Quint but not enough to make him forget what he was feeling right now.  Sometime later he fell asleep still worried but calmed by the sound of waves.

The computer screens were active on each desk and the room was configured to give each desk as much privacy as possible.  Quig sat down and let his hand be scanned for his log in.

“I know you are all very excited that you are due to graduate in a few short days, but before you do we have to do a series of evaluations, some you have done before, to determine changes over your educational time, some pertain to your future, and the best community service for you, so please give Ideal your best answers so Ideal can give you the most rewarding tasks to do after your schooling time is done.”  Cal said reading off his handheld.

Quig nodded, it was the same every year before moving to the next Year, but this time there was no more Years, just filling his time with Community Service and his P.H.U.N.  He was wondering if he should start his Downtime right away after graduating or should he just continue doing his required community service until he found something he really wanted to immerse himself in.  Maybe he should start by traveling to New Anchorage to learn more about sailing.

“Quig you can begin.”  Cal said from over his shoulder.

Quig nodded, everyone had started their assessments and here he was thinking about sailing. For the next hour Quig did the assessments, mostly it was stuff he had done before, basic skills, reading, some math like addition and some subtraction.  Then it phased over to Guidance stuff.

“Did you like Cal’s teaching?”

Quig answered yes without thinking very much.

“Should Cal use more visual aids.”

The answers were ‘yes, no and maybe’.  Quig thought about it then realized he wasn’t sure so he answered, maybe.  Maybe was an acceptable answer he had learned early on in school.

“Would you like to teach in the future?”

Quig paused.  He had never thought about teaching before.  Quinlynn did, as part of her Community Service, she coached some of the little kids in school ball handling skills.  He could see him doing something like that.  He marked yes on the screen.

“Which subject had the biggest impact on you?”  Then the screen listed all the items Cal had talked about.  Quig picked though about it, Terraforming.  That led him to learn about Oceans and from Oceans to sailing.   He wondered how much of his life he could devote to sailing, was it common in New Anchorage for people to spend all day sailing?   Was there Community Service he could do sailing? Of course, that would mean leaving New Rio and the creche.

Quig looked around the room. Others were finishing up their assessments and leaving.  He did not want to be left alone in the classroom, it would look like he was hanging out with Cal, that would make things worse.  People were already talking about him hanging out with Outlanders.

He sped through the remaining questions.

“Name a historical person you learned about.”  Quig picked the top one without even looking.

“What historic event do you wish never happened.”  He again picked the first one without looking.

“If you could travel, where would you go.”  He barely read this one and just marked the top answer again.

The screen said that was the last question and he logged off just as he watched one of his classmates leaving the room.  He jumped up and made it out of the classroom seconds behind everyone else.  No one was going to have new stuff to talk about.

Daily Report:

Beginning of final classroom assessments.  Quig hurried through the last questions, giving inconsistent answers with the first questions.  Ideal ended the assessment early seeing the speed of his answers and their inconsistencies.  Social pressure is playing a factor in his decision making, although his individual time he still is expanding his horizons in looking up oceanic information in general and sailing specifically.  Opportunities for his continued growth might have to be made outside the formal social/educational environment. 

“Not hanging out with your Outlander friends.”  Charlene answered from the benches where everyone was gathered, she was sitting right next to Blake whose back was to him.

“It was one time Charlene.”  Quig said rolling his eyes.  He had not wanted to come over to the benches but he saw Blake was over here and he wanted to see if he wanted to go watch a Sunchaser practice he had learned about.  They occasionally practiced at a public park and Quinlynn had sent him a message about it.  It was a chance for Blake to meet some of the players and maybe impress them with his skills.  It would be so cool if Blake made the team.

By this time Blake had turned around and Charlene had draped herself all over Blake.

“Hey Blake, I heard the SunChasers were practicing down at Water Park on the West Lawn, do you want to go down there after school.”

It was then that Charlene whispered something in Blakes ear.  Blake got a weird look on his face.  “Ah not today buddy.”  He looked at Charlene who was still whispering in his ear.  “I have got to get ready for my Birthday tomorrow.”

Quig simply nodded. “Okay maybe next time.”  He turned and walked away, maybe a little faster than normal.  While he and Charlene were never serious, she was always kind of his favorite.  Blake had never really been interested in her he had a host of other girls that liked him for his playing skills.  Charlene even told him once, she did not think Blake was all that good looking.  But there they were hanging all over each other, and tomorrow was Blakes Birthday, that meant tomorrow night both he and Charlene would be adults.  He would have his own room at his creche.

He realized that he had started running as soon as he turned the corner from the bleacher area.  He was also crying, he didn’t know why.  It was stupid.

Quig went to his creche, he had missed the last class of the day.  He was going to get into trouble for that.  And no doubt his ‘friends’ would notice it and have something to say.  But he did not care.  School was almost over he wouldn’t have to see them if he didn’t want to.

The creche was empty.  Well almost.  Quint was in his room; his door was open.  Quig stuck his head in; it smelled worse than the last time he was in here.  Quint was in the same position as before, laying out on his unmade bed, the same clothes as before.  The bowl of soup he had gotten only half consumed on his desk.  He saw there was timer on his desk, it showed that he only had three more days left on his Downtime Year.   That was the day after he finished school.  Quig sighed.  Maybe Quint would come back to normal when his Downtime was over.  Quig looked toward talking to Quint even more then finishing school.  In the meantime, he cleaned up the dirty dishes for his sib, taking them to the recycler and getting a washcloth and wiping down Quint’s face a bit from a few food stains.  Quint just laid there deep in Rack not moving, not even flinching when the washcloth touched his face.  Three more days and things would be better.

Quig hung out in the hallway just until before Guidance started.  It being Blake’s Birthday, he was not here, there were whispers around the class that he ignored, taking his seat, today the class was laid out in a circle, with the seats facing outward, most likely to use the big screens along the walls.

“Well since its Blake’s Birthday and we do not want him missing any assessment time along with you folks I thought I would show a video.  This gave a muted bunch of happy noises, everyone had firgured it was something like that.  But with Cal it was probably some sort of educational film or at least some sort of instructive video.  Everyone was right.

“What this  is a tour of some of the most populated planets nearby, no more than a week’s travel from Ideal, one of them my home Taropon and maybe some others, you might be interested in, some like Ranartan, which is mostly oceans, and then there is Purpotran a low gravity planet that has some really interesting plants.”   There was no real response from the class.  Cal shrugged and hit his handheld starting the video.

Quig tried to show no interest, he did not want to give any more ammunition to anyone to use against him, he tried to stay slouched down in his seat, but when the section on Ranartan came on he didn’t realize he sat up straighter and leaned forward taking in everything on the screen.  Luckily the room was darkened and everyone was more or less facing outwards and not looking at him.  He saw waves and some sort of fish, they called them dolphins, diving in an out water near the bow of a ship moving across the ocean, it was not sailing boat but it was neat to watch the fish playing near the front of the ship.  The dolphins had been brought from Old Earth and were doing well on Ranartan.   When the video switched over to a planet that was mostly desert, he discovered he had moved and reverted back to his slouching position looking around to see if anyone noticed.

The class ended and with no Blake around he did not have anyone to seat with as he ate his lunch. Last year he would have found Quint and had lunch with him, or two years ago if Blake was not around Petra was always dependable and reliable who would always accept him with a smile.  Only a few more days and he would have Quint back and Blake would be back tomorrow after his Birthday.

He looked up and Lita and Charlene were standing nearby.

“Hey Quig.”  Lita said.

The two of them had a handheld facing away from him and they had a nasty smile on their faces.

“Yeah Lita.”  Quig answered.

“You and Blake are good friends.”

Quig just nodded.

“Well Charlene wanted your opinion on something.”  Lita said and she nudged Charlene.

“Do you think Blake would like this dress.”  Charlene turned around the handheld.

It was an AI generated image of Charlene in a very revealing, very lacey outfit that showed a lot of skin.  Something that would get you shamed on the street but was fine for intimate times.   Quig let out involuntary sound of excitement, then remembered she was trying to get under his skin.  He still felt his face getting red. “I am sure Blake will enjoy your company no matter what you are wearing.”

They had been taught in school since they were little that deep romantic relationships were not healthy, leading to resentment, possessiveness, and unhealthy anger.   He knew Blake did not have any deep feelings for Charlene and if she went to his creche today it would mean nothing except he was an adult.  Blake’s sixteenth Birthday.  On this day Blake got his own room, with his own bed, that Charlene and him would probably spend the night together in, both of them being adults now.

For some reason both girls giggled looked at each other and some sort of look passed between them and they decided they did not need to continue this further.  All in the matter of a half a second.  But they still giggled as they walked away.

Quig knew he shouldn’t be.  What was the old term, jealous, but for some reason he still was.  The school day was almost over, and two more days left and then he would not have to see Charlene anymore.

He got back to his Creche and did his chores, picking up, making sure the replicator was clean and then he had to do a check of all the youngers.  Ideal could and did check on everyone, but it had always been someone’s job to talk to the younger sibs every afternoon when they came into the creche, even if they ran back out, it was someone’s job to look them over, ask them a question, and make sure they were somewhat clean.

Quig enjoyed the task, he liked the little kids, they were so chaotic, they worried about the most inconsequential things.  Today Quest was worried about the color of his glove and if he should trade them into the replicator for a different color.  Quig talked with him about this for a whole five minutes before Quest was distracted by Quiller demanding they need to go practice before real practice started.  Overall, he enjoyed the distraction.

It made his stop thinking about Charlene and Blake.

The rest of the night he played a video game, losing intentionally and spectacularly to Queenie much to her enjoyment.  When he had to put her to bed he dreaded going to his own bed and was wondering what was going on in Blake’s room a couple of floors away.

He crawled into bed and looked into his queue for things to watch but realized he was almost out of screen time.  It would be so much better after school was over, then his screen time would have no limits, as long as he did his Creche and Community Service Time, then he could bury himself in screen time.

He looked through the Educational Channels, just flipping through titles.  Nothing looked interesting, he just kept scrolling.  Outlander Compound Feed. It was a live feed with no playback; it happened and then it was gone.  It was all outside views from the Outlander Compound here on Ideal.  He had never known that you could see the compound before unless you visited it.  He clicked on it.  It was a live feed, and since the compound was a couple hours north of his location the sun was still up and it was light.  There was more than one camera taking in the sights of the compound.  Mostly just views of the fields, with no sounds.  Some large animals, the description below said they were cows, and then some smaller animals a type of bird, two types of birds.  Chickens and Ducks by the on-screen description.  That is when he saw her.  A blonde girl, about his age, she was dancing around the chickens, listening to some music in her earbuds.  Just dancing all by herself, occasionally reaching into a bedding area and pulling something out and then dancing some more.   Something made Quig zoom in on her, as she did her chores.

It was Petra.

He tried to zoom in further, but the camera was already at its maximum enhancements.  He had known Petra his entire life, and even though he had not seen her in three years there was no doubt that it was her.  He spent the next two hour flipping around the cameras but he did not catch another glimpse of her.

What was she doing there?  Was this where she had been for the last two years?  What kind of educational opportunities were at the Outlander’s Compound?  Did Qadar know she was there?  Why didn’t Ideal tell him where she was when he asked?

“Ideal is Petra at the Outlander’s Compound?”

The soft voice of Ideal answered. “Petra has requested that her location not be given out at this time.”

That stopped Quig.  One of the founding principles of Ideal was that of privacy.  If someone did not want some information about them shared Ideal was absolutely unable to give out information.   The only people who usually requested privacy was people like video actors and sports stars like Pele Lasso, Quig had never heard of a regular person doing it, but he guessed they could.

“Ideal could you send a message to my sib Qadar.”

“Yes Quig, but she only checks her messages during the morning hours and then only occasionally, typically only every two to three days.”

Quig nodded.  He thought about what message to send. Once he had tried to trick Ideal into revealing Pele Lasso’s location through a clever message but Ideal had not allowed him to send the message compromising the players location.  He wondered if Ideal would allow him to track down Petra through a message to Qadar.   Well, he would try to be clever.

“Ideal send this message to Qadar.   Dear sibling, I will be graduating soon, I might come out and see you at the compound, is there anyone else I might know there besides you?”  Quig looked at the glowing words on the screen.  Maybe Ideal would let the message through, it was vague but maybe Qadar would understand.   Quig turned off his screens and fell asleep eventually, still thinking about Petra with chickens or maybe those were ducks.

Quig took a deep breath as he approached the classroom, he had seen Blake holding hands with Charlene as they entered the classroom.  He was going to have to face both of them for only two more days, then he could put some distance between them.   Maybe New Anchorage was the place for him. New Anchorage’s team names were the Ice Dashers and the Cold Crew.  Although he did not like their colors, blue and white.

“Have a seat Quig if you would.”

He had stopped for two reasons, the classroom was set up differently again, and there was an incredibly savory smell permeating the air.  Sweet, but a bit tangy, he had never smelled anything like it before, but it smelled wonderful.

Quig was the last one in the classroom and the other seats had already been filled. Instead of the normal seats there were a series of benches and tables.  And Cal was dressed differently as well, instead of the normal subdued clothing he was wearing a plaid red and blue shirt with silver buttons, a pair or rough looking pants blue in color with a huge belt buckle and oddest of all was a pair of very stiff looking shoes that disappeared into his pantlegs.  Quig would later learn they were called boots.

Quig took a seat on one of the benches, out of the corner of his eye he could see Blake sitting between Charlene and Lita.  They all three were very close together.

“Okay folks I decided to change up the seating in order to give you a feeling for my home on Taropon.”  He dramatically clicked on his handheld and all the screens around the room transformed into an outdoor setting.  But they were inside some sort of enclosure.

There were ooohs and ahhs around the room.

Quig immediately realized they were inside of some fences like he had seen on the screens at the Outlander’s Compound, used to keep those big creatures in or out. Crows, or was it cows?  And the screens were not static, the clouds were moving in the blue sky, and there was the sound of a breeze moving the tall grass on the nearby hills.  There was a small building behind Cal’s desk.  Quig realized this was where the replicator slot was, Cal had put a lot of thought into this display.  Also, Quig noticed for the first time, Cal’s desk had a large sheet covering it, was that were that incredible smell was coming from?

“This is very similar to my home, and I would like to share with you some dishes from my home.”

Blake spoke up.  “Why do you want to share dishes with us?”

Cal snapped his fingers. “Sorry, colloquial term, by dishes I mean food, different types of food from my home.”

There were smiles and murmurs around the room. Quig was amazed, that incredible smell was food, he might just have to move to Taropon.

Cal continued.  “I do have to warn you, one of the dishes, or types of food has an ingredient that does not come from a replicator, it was produced right here on Ideal at an Outlander’s compound.

There was an abrupt silence in the classroom.  Food from the dirt.

“Ewww.”  Charlene said loudly.

“Double Ewwww.”  Said Lita.

“Well ladies it is perfectly and one hundred percent safe, otherwise Ideal would not allow me to serve it.”

There was still murmurings of disgust around the classroom.

Cal smiled.  “Like I said, only one ingredient.”  With a flourish he grabbed the sheet covering his desk and revealed massive piles of food on his desk, some with small tendrils of steam rising from them. “One ingredient out of all this food, and I guarantee you, your tastebuds along with digestive tracts will in no way be able to tell the difference.”  Cal folded up the sheet.  “So, who is going to be the bravest, the most daring, the most courageous?”

Cal looked around the room.  “Fitz feeling adventuresome?”

Fitz was sitting next to Quig on the bench.  He shook his head while trying to look down at the teacher across the room.

Cal called out several other names, no one wanted to be first.  Quig knew that once one person went, others would think it was okay to try some of the food, even with the one suspect ingredient lurking out there.  After all, Ideal would never allow him to eat anything bad for him.   Cal grabbed a piece of food off his desk, turned and faced the classroom and stuck it in his mouth.

“Pity, it is really good, even though most of it is replicated.”  Cal said chewing and smiling.

Quig took another deep breath; it smelled so good.  He looked around the room, after tomorrow he did not have to deal with anyone in the class ever again if he did not want to. “I will try something.”

Quig walked out of the classroom an hour later, absolutely stuffed and licking his lips, he was also playing around with something Cal called a toothpick, something used to clean things out of your teeth.  A very small pointed wooden stick that you used to dislodge food particles from your teeth.
After he started eating, others in the classroom had been emboldened and other people sampled the food.  Quig never noticed if Charlene or Blake tried any food as he was too busy wrestling with something Cal called barbequed ribs.

It was unlike anything he had ever eaten before; this meat was still on the bone.  At first, he had been confused and a bit repulsed.  It was actual animal flesh.  Although Cal came by and whispered in his ear that the ribs were not real, they had been replicated.  Cal had to instruct him to tear the meat off the bone with his teeth.  It was an interesting sensation, nothing Quig had ever eaten before had bones in it.  It was always nuggets, or patties or strips, or something that came out of a replicator, easy to eat.   The bone, or the ribs as they were called, added an interesting challenge and texture to the eating.

A few minutes before they were dismissed for the day Cal had told them what the non-replicated food item was.  It was the carrots, the item he had picked up and eaten in front of everyone.  They had been grown at the Outlander’s Compound and been brought to Cal specifically for this meal, which was a tradition for Year Eight classes when they were about to graduate.

Quig had eaten a couple of the small carrots, dipped in ranch, he couldn’t taste any difference.

Quig walked by the benches, this would be the last time he would do so as student, tomorrow after school it would be the gathering place for the next eight years.  People were sitting around talking, and he stayed on the edges, not drawing attention to himself.  Unfortunately, someone else had other ideas.

“So, you not only to hang out with Outlanders, you also like their food.”  The voice of Charlene came from the top row of benches.

Quig shrugged.

“Are you going to move to Taropon after graduation, playing in the dirt, eating food from mud?”  Lita asked.

When Lita asked about food from mud, he remembered what Cal had told the entire class, most food would be ruined if it was too wet.  He realized that Lita had chosen to use an insult that made no sense.  She refused to learn; she did not want to learn.  She wanted to intentionally stay stupid.

Quig snorted.  He realized he didn’t care about her, or any stupid person’s opinion anymore.  He stood up and walked away without another glance or care.  Tomorrow would be the beginning of a new life for him.

Daily Summary:

Next to last day feast went pretty well.  Blake stayed back from participating; it was probably due to trying to impress his recent amorous partner, Charlene.  It was good seeing Quig being bold enough to be the first to try the food, he even seemed to enjoy the sensation of meat on the bone.  Ideal states that the choices of food consumed is dwindling.  The people of Ideal are losing interest in variety slowly over time and eating fewer and fewer things even with access to anything they could want.   Quig did spend some time looking at open camera views at the Compound last night.

“Graduation day big sib.”  A flying body announced as Quig was laying on his bed.

“Queenie what are you doing in my room?”  He said grabbing the giggling toddler.

The little kid sat on his chest.  “Your door was open.”

Quig remembered he had been laying in bed and he had meant to get up and shut the door tight by he must have fallen asleep before he did it.  Thus, the little invader had come in with her proclamation of the day.

“Who told you I was graduating today?”  Quig asked holding the little kid and looking her in the eye.

“Ideal.”  Queenie said.

Quig smiled.  “And did Ideal tell you what that means?”

“No more school for you.” She said, smiling.

“That’s right, now I get to do whatever I want.”  Quig said.

Queenie looked at him.  “When do I graduate?”

“Oh, probably when you are as tall as me.”  Quig answered in a way she would get. Queenie was a pretty smart kid but telling her in years might not translate.  “So, eat all your vegetables that Ideal gives you and do all your lessons so you can grow up fast and finish school.”

“I will.”  Queenie said in all seriousness.

Quig nodded. “Good.”  He picked her up and put her on the floor. “Now scoot I have to get dressed.”

Queenie ran out of the room and into whatever other mischief she could get into.

Quig sighed, time to face the day. He got up stretched and went to the Matter Replicator in his room, strictly for clothing.  Putting yesterday’s clothes in to be recycled he activated the device and Ideal took the old clothes, broke them down to energy and gave him his outfit for the day.  It was a graduation outfit, black pants, black shirt with his schools emblem on it, he laid the outfit on his bed, closed the door and got cleaned up for the day.

The day was fun.  Walking into the school was surreal, this had been his universe, at least the center of it, since he was Queenie’s size, and to think tomorrow he would not be here 6 days a week for 56 weeks a year.   There was a ceremony where each student graduating was recognized for their excellence, Blake for his playing skills, Lita for her fashion sense, Charlene for her athletics overall (Quig had to concur she was a consistent player on all sports she played), Blake got best student overall.  It was sort of an honor, although it really didn’t mean much after school, but it was nice to be recognized.  After the ceremony there was the typical milling around afterwards.

“You deserved it buddy.”  Blake came up and gave him a hug.

“Thank, and you are due to be a SunChaser soon.”  Quig said.

“Well, I plan on hitting the field as much as I can, getting my community service done early in the week, and the rest of the time on the field.” Blake said.

“Not taking your Downtime Year right away?”  Quig asked.

Blake shrugged. “Depends on how my training goes, maybe in a bit, I will see how much better I get practicing all the time.”   There was a pause.  “Hey, I am sorry about Charlene, I know she was going to be your First and all, but it just sort of happened.”

Quig didn’t want to show his hurt, so he simply shrugged. “Hey stuff happens.”  Then he had to ask.  “So, was it as good as you thought it would be?”

Blake looked around to make sure no one else heard him. “Not really, even after all the videos and instructional stuff they told us about in school it was just okay.”

Quig let the actual shock show on his face.

Blake came back quickly. “I mean it was good, but I think that you need to really figure out what you are doing, and me and Charlene didn’t really have that sort of relationship before. So, it was just okay.”

It was then that Lita came over and interrupted them.  She nodded pleasantly to Quig and he nodded back.  She led Blake away and Blake promised him he would message him later in the week.

His creche siblings gathered around him and then took him back home to a nice big cake and all kinds of food.  Ideal relaxed food restrictions for things like graduation and Quig ate way too much and then stumbled off to bed.

The next morning, he laid in bed, there was always a break between school years and the creche was quiet, no one having to rush off to school, no little kids whining about having to get dressed.  Ideal did send him a reminder that since he was of age, and now no longer attending school he had community service hours and more duties around the creche.  He looked through the list of creche chores and signed up for a few of them.  Unfortunately, he was the last to do this, so not much was left for the creche chores but the ones none of the other adults wanted to do.  He got ‘take Quest and Quiller to the doctor for a checkup’ and ‘cleaning the kitchen area for three days’.  He sighed.  Getting Quest and Quiller off the playing field during break was next to impossible, he might have to wrestle them and carry them over his shoulder or at least steal their mitts until they complied.

Three days later Quig was not sure what the big deal with being an adult was.  Sure, he could have sex now, something he had still not gotten around to yet and after the ringing endorsement from Blake it did not seem as much as a priority.  Then he spent the entire afternoon cajoling, begging, ordering and basically dragging Quest and Quiller to the doctor.  It was not the doctor per say they were avoiding, it was the time away from the playing field.  They were both convinced they would be signed by the SunChasers only if they spent every waking moment on the field.  Quig had been the same way at their age.  He decided to go home and apologize to Quinlynn for the pain in the ass he had been to her when she had to drag him off the field.

Once they got away from the field the boys were fine, twenty minutes in the Doctor, a cabinet with a bed that did all the assessments and evaluations on the human body that could possibly be done.  Both boys got clean bills of health but were told to spend more time brushing their teeth.  Quig knew that both boys rushed through their daily hygiene, but he also knew that when they discovered girls, other than just players, their attention to hygiene would change somewhat.  Quig’s had.

Although he loved the time he was able to spend watching all the highlights of the SunChasers seasons and he had talked with Blake again and they had decided to go out tonight just the two of them and try a dance place they could get into now that they were both adults and graduates.

Quig traded in his daily clothes into the replicator and got a really snazzy purple shirt that sparkled and a really tight pair of black pants that would show off all his dance moves, if things went well he might even go home with someone, a stranger sure, but nothing wrong with your First being a new, fresh, different person.  He checked out the clock, he was ready in plenty of time, Blake would meet him in the lobby of their building in a few minutes.

“Leave me alone and get off me Queenie.”  Then a crash as something hit the floor.

That was Quint’s voice yelling at the little girl.  He stuck his head out into the communal area.  He zeroed in on Queenie sitting on the floor crying.  Quint was standing over her, a large bowl of something spilled all over his shirt.   “Now look what you did.”  Quint said yelling again.

Quint had been off the Rack for two days and he seemed to be doing okay.  He did a few of his creche chores but missed a few others.  But he was hanging out in the common room sometimes, the siblings were being patient with him, everyone had gone through a period of readjustment after spending a lot of time in Rack, but no one else had spent as much time in it as Quint, and he combined it with his Downtime year so they were forgiving.

Quinlynn rushed over to Queenie and picked her up.  “It’s okay baby.”

Quig walked over to Quint.  “You, okay?”

“Stupid little kid won’t leave me alone.”  Quint said.

Quig was shocked.  “She just wants some attention from you, she hasn’t seen you much.”

Quint rolled his eyes than picked up the spilled bowl and threw it across the room towards the Replicator.  It missed and hit the wall breaking into a hundred pieces.

“Calm down.” Quig said.  “You are scaring everyone.”  He included himself in that, Quint looked around the room, angry.

Quig put a hand on his shoulder.  Quint shrugged it off.  Looking around the room once more he kicked over a bench and then stomped out of the creche.  Quest and Quiller had stopped playing catch with their softball and were just watching everything, they looked a bit scared.  Quig looked at Quinlynn who was still holding Queenie who was still crying.  Some of the other older sibs came out of their rooms taking off their Virtual Headsets not hearing or seeing everything that had just happened.  Three older sibs didn’t even come out into the chaos as they were on the Rack themselves.

Quig activated his handheld.  “Hey Blake, yeah sorry, we had a problem at the creche, I think I better stay here and help tonight.”

Blake sent back a message. “Anything I can do to help.”

Quig shook his head.  “No but thanks, maybe dancing tomorrow night.”

“Sure.”

Quig woke hopeful.  Maybe things will be better today.  Queenie had cried for a long time last night, in fact all the kids were disturbed by Quint’s behavior, it took everyone a bit of concentrated effort to get all the kids to bed last night, Quinlynn even stayed with Queenie till she fell asleep and Quig had volunteered to stay with Qasim and he read three Moose and Squirrel stories to him but stopped using his funny voices before the little boy drifted off.  Some of the other adult sibs had cleaned up the mess in the dining area and things were sort of back to normal by the time he went to bed.

Queenie was her normal bubbly self the next morning, but Quig wondered if that was true.  It was the first time a sibling had been mean to her.  A creche was supposed to be a safe space, a place where you were taken care of, not yelled at.  The adult sibs were going to have a meeting about Quint that evening, he had not been back last night and every time someone came through the front doors the adults looked to see if it was Quint returning.

Quig had community service today, he was supposed to be scorekeeper at a couple of games, this meant keeping track of players contributions, goals, assists, blocks, fowls, and off shoots.  It was kind of fun and did not really seem like work.  He got back to the creche in plenty of time to get ready for another attempt to hang out with Blake, he was just finishing a plate of nuggets, only a siblings were in the common room, everyone was absorbed in their handhelds.  Quig was the only one that looked up when Quint came through the front door.  Quig didn’t say anything he just watched his older sib.  Quint stopped and looked around the room, not really seeing anyone, just sort of taking in everything.  Then he went to his room and closed the door.  Quig felt his stomach tighten he never liked it when people fought, especially his siblings.

Quig activated his handheld. “Quig just got home and went right to his room.”  He messaged Quinlynn.

“Okay, thanks for telling me, did he talk or say anything.”

“No.”

Quinlynn texted back. “Did Queenie see him?”

Quig looked at the creche status board. Queenie was in her cubby in the kid’s room; from the looks of her readout, she was napping.  “No, I think she is napping in her cubby.”

“Good.  I will be home in an hour.”

Quig checked the status board again.  Queenie was still in her cubby. He looked down through the board, seeing Qadar’s name, it showed ‘Out’.  While Quint’s had switched over to show him In his Room.

Quig took a deep breath and looked at the closed door to Quint’s room.  Was he going to apologize, was he going to make amends with everyone?  He hoped Quint came to his senses and the could hang out like they used to.

That is when Quint came out of his room.  He went to the keypad and monitor just outside of his room.  That is when Quig saw them, the permanent sensor pads on Quint’s temples.  The small silver disks no bigger than a thumbprint, were not even hidden by Quint’s shaggy brown hair.  He was going back into Rack.  But the creche wasn’t set up to give the full bandwidth of the permanent sensors.

“Quint what are you doing?”

Quint didn’t even turn around.

Then Quig saw what he Quint was doing.  He was logging out of the creche, he was giving up his space, he was leaving permanently.   “Wait Quint don’t go.”  Quig said.

Quint finished the log out procedure. He turned around and that is when he looked at Quig.  His look was vacant and empty.  Like he was seeing him, but not really.  Then without a word walked out of the creche for the last time.

Quig just watched him go not believing he was gone.  Quig caught sight of the creche status board, Quint’s name wasn’t on it anymore.

Quig lay in his bed the whole next morning.  He had to tell Quinlynn what had happened and simply pointed to the creche status board when he asked if he was sure Quint was gone.  The common room had a subdued tone that night, they had heard of people leaving creches before, but mostly just rumors, friends of friends of friends, they did not know anyone personally.  There was speculation on where Quint would go.  A couple of the older siblings tried to get Ideal to tell them what would become of Quint but Ideal just gave vague answers but assured them that their sibling would be cared for.  Luckily all his creche duties and community service was done for the week so he did not have to be anywhere or do anything.  He had of course cancelled with Blake again.  He didn’t share with him what had happened, he knew he would find out soon enough anyways.

Quig didn’t mind that he knew, but if he told someone outside of the creche that would mean it was real, and he did not want to believe it was real.  If he kept it to himself that meant Quint’s name was still on the board, he was simply ‘out’, like Qadar.  ‘Out’ but coming back someday.

But he wasn’t coming back, he was gone to wherever people without a creche went.

It was thirst that drove him out of his bed, he got up and got himself some tea and got sucked into a quiet puzzle that Quiller and Quest were working on.  He was going to ask them why they weren’t out on the field but then he knew what had sucked the energy out of the two boys.  Quint had been their most ardent fan, their biggest cheerleader when they were on the field.

The rest of the day was like that, quiet, no one doing much of anything.  It was strange.  Queenie got a lot of hugs.

Blake was at the door early the next morning.  Normally he would just have waited in the lobby of the creche building but he was eager to get going.  He texted Quig to hurry up and the rode the lift down.  Quig laughed as he saw Blake was dressed in all SunChaser gear.

“Got to make a good impression.”  Blake said when he saw Quig eyeing his outfit.

“Yeah, you and every other prospective player.”  Quig said.  “Just give it your best, you are going to be seen for your skills.”  He slapped his friend on the back.

They made it to the Arena in plenty of time.  It was the first time either of them had stepped on the maneuver green.  They had always watched from the stands, one time from even the front row when they skipped school to be first in line.  There had been a lot of community service hours to pay for the skip but it had been worth it.

Quig looked around the Arena, there were maybe a hundred people here from around New Rio to try out.  Quig saw a couple of really skillful players he knew from North, South and East.  In Quig’s opinion Blake was the best Offensive player here, yeah his Defense was a little weaker and his Off Shoots could use some work but he was easily one of the top part time players in the city.

The afternoon went well.  Quig watched Blake go through his paces and he was impressive.  Quig watched the coaches they were impressed as well.   At the end of the day Blake was wiped out and didn’t want to go out dancing as they rode the home.

“I heard about Quint.”

Quig hadn’t thought about it all day and now that he did realized that there was nothing to be done.   Quint was gone.  Maybe he would come back, maybe he wouldn’t.  “Yeah, he got the permanent implants for the Rack.”

“I heard that the Rack messes with your reaction time, I don’t plan on messing with it until my career with the SunChasers is over.”

“Yeah, maybe the Junior Team waterboy.”  Quig said punching his friend.

Blake was about to reply when his handheld went off.  He saw who was calling and got excited and showed Quig it was a SunChaser coach.  There was a short conversation and the smile on Blakes face seemed to meet in the back of his head it was so big.

“They want me to start working with the team tomorrow.”  Blake said after breaking the connection.

The two of them whooped and hollered all the way home.

Blake had started the next day with the SunChasers, between the practices and his creche duties Quig didn’t see him for a week, their plans to go out dancing had never materialized.  Quig tried to concentrate on his P.H.U.N. but he kept thinking about sailing and boats.  But he could not talk about sailing with anyone here in New Rio as no one did it here.  The closest he could come was a group that kayaked down the manufactured rapids through town and they looked at him like he was crazy when he asked about natural bodies of water.

Qadar had responded to his message stating she did not know anyone here that he might know, but the Outlander Compound was a big place and she did not know everyone but she would keep on the lookout.  She asked him if he had gone sailing yet.

It was the first day of school, Queenie and Qasim had gotten off okay, along with the other kids.  Quig had been taking more and more tasks around the creche to keep busy; he had even banked a lot of community service hours as well.  He was sitting in the communal area sipping on a drink he really didn’t want but he didn’t know what else to do.  Maybe he should try the Rack, he hadn’t experienced it yet, maybe now would be a good time. He asked for a list of Rack programs related to sailing and he spent the next half hour looking at the listings.   Quig had just started gotten to some listings about sailing when heard a door open.  It was one of the other adults, Qiana.

Qiana was the next to oldest in the Q creche.  She stumbled out of her room, she was wearing a smock dress thing that was common among Rack users, nothing complicated.  She made her way to the replicator and got a cup of soup and then stumbled back to her room, she smelled bad.  The body odor was a combination of body odor and bodily fluids from an unwashed person.  The smell brought back his time in Quint’s room.  Quig looked back at his handheld with the Rack programs he had been previewed, now the thought of hooking into the Rack seemed repulsive.  He was looking around the creche and all of sudden he was feeling confined. He was about to sit outside when he got a message from an unexpected source.  Leo the Outlander from Ranartan.  “Hey Quig, saw this and thought of you.”  It was a tutorial program on knots and it gave step by instructions on different knots.  There was another message at the bottom of the link.  “If you are ever in New Anchorage look me and Shelby up, we are launching our sailboat soon and would love to have an experienced hand like you to help us get it out on the water.”

There was a picture of a sailboat, Quig recognized it as a design from Ranartan, a tri hulled vessel with huge sails, Leo and Shelby wearing silly grins with paint brushes displaying their work.

“Why not?”  Quig said out loud to the empty room.

The next morning Quig got the kids off to school; told Quinlyn he was going on walkabout. He messaged Blake that he was taking off for a bit as well as Qadar.  He also sent a message for Leo that he would be there in a couple of days. Quig cleaned his room by recycling all his sheets and blankets and replicated a jacket to wear on his trip, one with a big pocket.  He coiled up the rope that Leo had given him and walked out of the creche and got on the maglev train heading north.

“How you doing chum.”

“Good.”  Quig answered.

“So, you leaving or going?”

“Huh.”

“So are you leaving home or going home.”  The stranger asked.

“Oh, leaving.”  Quig answered.

“Me I am going home.”  The stranger looked at the empty seat next to Quig. “Can I sit here.”

“Sure.”  Quig said grabbing his jacket and threw it to the seat across from him opening up the seat next to him.  The train was kind of empty but Quig was curious about his other travelers.

“Sam.”  The stranger said extending a hand.

Sam was older than him by a couple of years, average height of a little over two meters, dark brown hair, pretty good looking  he could easily be a vid star.  Quig shook his hand. “Quig.”

“Nice to meet you Quig, you ever been to New York?”

“No, this is the first time leaving New Rio.”

“So, what you going to New York for?”

“Oh, I am just passing through, I am going to New Anchorage.”

Sam gave a fake shiver.  “Cold up there compared to New Rio, you should probably get some warmer clothes before you get there.”  Sam said pointing towards Quig’s shorts.

“I am sure Ideal will give me the proper clothes as I get closer.”

Sam nodded.  “Ideal makes traveling so much easier, you know in the old days you had to bring a lot of stuff with you, now you just get to wherever you are going to lay your head down and you can replicate your favorite hygiene stuff right there in your room and put it back in the recycle mode in the morning and just go hop on a maglev train and you are off, no fuss, no muss.”

Quig nodded.  Taking stuff with you on trip seemed silly, everything you needed was in your handheld.  Then he thought of rope coiled up in his jacket pocket, why did he bring it he could have just thrown it in the replicator and had it wherever he was.  The truth was he liked the feel of handling it, of doing the knots with the same piece of rope over and over again was comforting to him.  He didn’t want a new piece of rope every time; he wanted the rope Leo had given him.

It was then they left the buildings of New Rio.  It had been all of the familiar high rises he had grown up with this entire time and now they were outside of the city limits and Quig let out a gasp.

Sam noted. “Big isn’t it.”

Stretching away from the train on both sides was kilometers and kilometers of green rolling plains.  Off in the distance was a range of mountains, Quig had never seen them except in virtual reality, but to see them now it was just incredible.  The greens of the grassy plains were ever changing, like waves, with the wind and shadows from the big puffy white clouds overhead. The mountains were higher than the tallest building in New Rio.  The mountains were chaotic with rocks and trees, and snow on some of the tallest of them.  They were magnificent.

“We are going through those mountains, eventually.”  Sam said watching Quig looking around at everything.  “Probably about lunch time.”  Sam added.

The next hour Quig just looked out the window on both sides of the train.  Sam just looked up occasionally from his handheld at Quig.

Finally, Quig sat back down in his seat and looked over at his seatmate with his amazement somewhat satiated. “Have you taken this trip a lot?”

“Oh, a couple of times.  But I think this is my last time to New Rio for a while.”

“Why?”  Quig said still occasionally looking out the window.

“Oh, I did everything I wanted to do in New Rio, new people to do in other places.”

Quig was curious. “What did you do in New Rio.”

Sam smiled.  “Oh, I have this checklist, I go from city to city, I hook up with people.”

“Oh.”  Quig said a bit confused.

Sam said.  “Oh yeah, on this trip, I checked off my twos, I spent the night with two women, and two men, and just last night a man and woman.  My twos for New Rio is done.”

Quig had heard about this, it was a P.H.U.N. for some people, seeing how many people they could have sex with, Sam obviously had a new twist tying it into geography as well as sets of people.

“I probably won’t come back to New Rio till I am in my threes. I still have to hit New Paris, New Tokyo and New Leningrad for my two’s in those cities, then I will start on my threes.

Quig simply nodded, he did not want to start discussing his limited sexual experiences, considering how he had yet to have a First.

“How about you what draws to you up to the north and New Anchorage, I do know a couple of hot numbers up there if you want someone to keep you warm on those cold nights.”  Sam said, smiling.

Quig was not sure he wanted to tell him about the invite from a couple of Outlanders when the train slowed down.

“Damn.”  Sam said.

Quig looked out the window unsure what was going on, the train was not supposed to stop until they got to New York.  The train continued to slow.

“Damn Outlanders.”

“I don’t get it, what is going on.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Oh, this happens once or twice a month.  You see the Outlanders raise these things called cows and every once in a while they decide to cross the train tracks.”  Sam said sighing.  “Dumb, why can’t they just get there food from a replicator like normal people.”

“Is this near the Outlander Compound?”  Quig asked.

Sam looked at him confused.  “Just about everything outside the cities is Outlander area.”

“What?”  Quig asked.

Sam shrugged.  “We don’t use it.  So, the Outlanders do. No big deal, just kilometers and kilometers of empty space.”

The train had slowed down considerably and that is when Quig saw the animals, they were huge, much bigger than the cows he had seen in videos.  The  night he saw Petra at the Outlander Compound there were also cows, but these did not look like those.  The train had stopped completely and Quig was able to get a really good look at the animals. They were bigger in the head and shoulder area, with black and brown curly hair and a pronounced slanted back, and there were thousands of them, just milling around.

“Ideal makes announcements about possible slowdowns before every trip, but this is only the second time its happened to me.”  Sam said.

“What are those things?”  Quig asked out loud.

“Cows I think.”  Sam said dismissively.

Quig activated his handheld. “Ideal what are those animals outside of the train?”

Sam looked at him funny.

Ideal answered audibly along with pictures on his screen. “Those are buffalo or also known as bison, a wild animal that roamed the North American plains in up to the 19^th Century Earth calendar, they almost went extinct from hunting, slaughter and other factors.”

Quig nodded and continued to look at the buffalo and something occurred to him. “Why are they here on Ideal?”

“In conjunction with several Outlander zoological societies we attempting to enrich the soil here on Ideal and one of the best methods is to have a complete ecosystem with large herds of herbivores interacting with the soil.”

Sam spoke up. “Hey, I am going to get something from the replicator I will see you later Quig.”  He got up and walked away.

Quig did not look away from the window, he just nodded and he barely heard Sam say ‘werido’ under his breath.  The train started to move again slowly while climbing a hill, Quig guessed the tracks were clear as the herd were moving away from the tracks.  As the train got to the top of the hill,  he saw a group of people sitting on different animals.  They were close to the tracks and he was even with them.  The people sitting on the animals were looking at the train with a detached interest.  A couple of men and a couple of women.  The last one, just a little ways away from the group, but a little closer to the tracks caught Quig’s attention.  It was a girl his age red haired, like Petra, she was wearing the same type of costume Cal had been wearing when Quig ate the ribs.

It was Petra. He stood up in shock and he saw a look of surprise on her face; she had recognized him and mouthed his name ‘Quig?’

And then she was gone.  Or more precisely he was gone, she had stayed where she was and the train kept moving and picking up speed.   Quig tried to run to the back of the train, but by the time he got to the last car the train was back to its top speed and they were moving at 320 kilometers an hour.  He was moving away from Petra and north.

Quig returned to his seat and had tried to confirm with Ideal if that had been Petra that he had seen but the AI was still no help.  He did learn more about what the Outlander’s were doing with the buffalos and how they occasionally rode out on horses to monitor the herd.  There were no secrets about it, Ideal gave him everything he asked about, buffalos, and horses and the program to enrich Ideal’s soil, he even learned there was such things as microbes, tiny little creatures that ate things, but not anything about Petra.  She was still under a privacy lock.

By the time he looked up from his handheld they were in the mountains.  Quig was amazed at the size of the rocks around the train, and the disorder.  They were just lying around, no pattern, no order, they were just there.  The train had slowed as the tracks were curving following a river up into the mountains.

While the grasslands were amazing and vast the river was big, wide but it was so uneven, sometimes it went straight for a while and then it did a series of twisting and turns.  He wanted to ask Ideal why that was but he was afraid he would get sucked into looking at his handheld and miss something out the window.  After an hour, the walls of the mountains started to close in on the train.  There was an urgent alert on his handheld.  He read it.

“Attention if this is your first time on the magnetic lev train between New Rio and New York we are approaching a tunnel.  This is a passageway underneath the mountain; it is perfectly safe and has been in place for over two hundred years.  It will get dark and the only illumination will be from the interior lights of the train.”

Quig read through the message twice.  A tunnel?  Sort of like a hallway, but for train.  He had once heard there were tunnels underneath Rio but no one knew what there were for or why anyone would go into them. That is when it suddenly got dark.   Quig peered out the windows trying to see anything but like Ideal had said there were no lights outside, just the ones in the train.

The train was in the tunnel for an hour; Quig had gotten something to eat during the tunnel as there was nothing to look at.  He saw Sam had moved into another seat and was talking to girl so he did not approach him.  But while he was eating  he saw Sam and the girl get up and head to the privacy booths which had beds in them.  Quig shook his head; the guy had a one-track mind.  Then Quig laughed at his own thought, on a train, the guy had a one-track mind.

When they came out of the tunnel they were in an entirely new environment.  Trees, trees, everywhere.  Big trees, little trees, trees he had only seen pictures of.  The biggest trees in New Rio were palm trees and a few small trees in parks, but they did not grow this tall.  He saw one set of trees that were so huge that even if his entire class held hands they could not reach around the tree.  And those trees were as high as his creche building back home.

The train was coming down from the mountains and he saw New York for the first time.

It looked like New Rio.   It was a little different, whereas New Rios buildings were oranges, tans, yellows, and browns; New Yorks, predominant colors were gray, light blues, a few black accents and occasional purples.  But it seemed very similar to New Rio.

They pulled into the New York station and Quig got out; he wanted to look around and see this new place.  He could have gotten a bed on the train but he was not on any schedule and if he was asleep, he would not be able to look out the window and see the countryside.

He walked out of the train station and felt weird, the outside of the station was exactly like New Rio, and except for the different color schemes on the buildings and the people wearing CometDodger jerseys it could have been New Rio.   He asked Ideal where he could stay tonight and was directed to a travel’s creche, this had no kids and only private rooms for adults passing through.  There was a common room and he was assigned a room by Ideal.  Ideal replicated his favorite sheets and blankets then made his hygiene items, he got cleaned up and made his bed.  Except for the window looking South instead of North it could have been the exact room back at Q Creche.

It was too early to go to bed so he wandered around the communal area but no one else was around, he began to feel lonely so he left the creche and found a video show, a big screen showing the latest video, it was good to be around other people and the video distracted him.  When he left the show it had gotten dark and with nowhere else to go he went back to his temporary creche.  That is where he met Cindy.  Cindy was traveling to see the different sports teams and had watched a CometDodger game and would be going to New Paris tomorrow.  It was her first night away from her creche as well.

So many new things happened to him that day, he saw buffalos, he saw Petra, he went through a tunnel and his First was also his first night away from his creche.

Cindy walked with him to the train station the next morning, she got on the Maglev for New Paris, and Quig got on his train heading north, next stop New Atlanta.   She hugged Quig, saying goodbye and gave him one last kiss.  Two actually one on the lips and one on last one on his forehead, with the parting words ‘you are a good one Quig’.  That made him cheerful and he boarded his train light on his feet.  Once he got settled but before the got out of the city he thought about last night.  Cindy had been so friendly, she was a couple of years older and once they got to kissing Quig revealed that he had never had a First.  Cindy smiled a warm smile.  She was friendly and helped guide him through things that before had only been screen knowledge.  He thought back to Blake’s admission about his First with Charlene.  How they had stumble and fumbled.  Quig thought maybe it was all about the partners.

It was then the train left the city and he was back in a forest.

The train ride to New Atlanta was not as eventful as the forest went on forever, at least it seemed that way to Quig.  He eventually feel asleep sitting in his seat and when he woke up he was disoriented.  He had never fallen asleep on a moving vehicle before and waking up while in motion was a little disorienting.   He saw that the scenery had changed a bit, the trees had thinned and there was more water on the ground.

“Ideal why is there all that water on the ground.”

“Quig what you are seeing is called wetlands, sometimes called marshes, bogs or swamps.  Would you like to know the difference between them?”

Quig shook his head.  “Not at this time.”   He looked out the window his mind just emptying.  He sat there for an hour and finally he realized he was hungry.  The rest of the day passed with him looking out the window and occasionally snacking, by the time they were an hour from Atlanta it was almost nightfall.  Although looking at the city he was bothered again by the sameness to New York and New Rio.

By the time he got off the train it was full on night.  But Quig was not lost, in fact he wasn’t even disoriented.  He walked out of the same train station as New York and New Rio onto the same street as the other two streets.  He didn’t even have to ask Ideal for directions to the travel creche.  Although he did ask Ideal if there was an empty room, and there was.  In fact, when he got to the creche he got the exact same room as he had the previous night.

If he hadn’t seen ten StarCharger shirts and the city having mostly green buildings with black trim and occasional red trim he would have sworn he was in the same city.   As he made his bed he realized something else, he didn’t see many people here.  Nor in New York and thinking back to home he had never seen much of crowd except at sporting events and even then there were empty seats, granted they were the seats that weren’t great, pretty high up from the field but still the stadiums were never full, really full, even in the playoffs.

This thought went through his head and it kept him from sleeping for a long time.

The next day he saw only one other person in the travel creche, and they just waved and walked out the door.  Before he left he checked his account with Ideal, he still had a lot of community service hours banked but he still looked around for some community service to do.  He ended up helping out at a school just around the corner, he played referee for a bunch of 2^nd Years in a game.  It was fun but it made him miss his sibs a little bit, he wondered how Queenie and Quasim were doing.

He made it to the train with plenty of time, it was a long trip, a little over two days to New Anchorage.  It was long enough that he was assigned a sleeper car, he saw only a few other people getting on the train.  It had not bothered him before but now he seemed to be bothered by it; he knew travel was not a big thing for most people’s P.H.U.N. but surely people wanted to see something other than their own town.

Then he remembered back before he discovered sailing, would he have left New Rio if he didn’t want to experience real sailing.  Honestly, probably not.  He would have stayed in New Rio going to SunChaser games, hanging out with Blake, and watching a lot of vids.

The scenery outside of New Atlanta stayed the same for a long time the wetlands, but as the day wore on the wetlands seemed to dry up and it turned back to dry fields, then he started to notice straight lines, big fields of different things, some tall vegetation, some plants low to the ground, and some grassy areas, all in square patches.  He watched this for about a half an hour before his curiosity drove him to an answer.

“Ideal what am I seeing outside of the window right now?”  It was some of the taller vegetation planted in rows.

“That is corn.”  Ideal answered.

“Corn is grown like that?”

Ideal answered.  “Yes, non-replicated cord is grown like that, tall stalks each stalk usually growing one ear of corn, sometimes two.”  Then on Quig’s handheld it showed several examples of corn.  Ideal must have anticipated his next question.  “It is called an ear of corn from an ancient Old English term from a grain plant; it is also called corn on the cob.”  Ideal then showed kernels of corn on a tubular structure.

Quig was confused, he had never seen corn like that, it was always just the corn pieces.  Weird. But the time he looked up from his handheld they were in passing another type of field.  This time with plants not a big as the corn.  “What is this stuff Ideal?”

“That is wheat Quig, the grain at the top is harvested and then processed in a variety of ways to make flour which is used to make bread products.”

“You mean like bread for sandwiches.”

“Yes, Quig like bread for sandwiches.”  Ideal answered.

“Does it grow naturally like this?”

Ideal answered.  “No this is part of a farming project by the Outlanders; it is mostly done by robotic tractors and other computer directed farming devices.”

“Oh.”  Quig said.   He watched out the window for the next hour occasionally asking Ideal questions.   Soon the fields started repeating themselves soy, corn, wheat, barely, beans and some other things.  Quig got bored and realized he was hungry.  He found his way to the replicator car and ordered some food.  There were a few other people in the dining area but they were all absorbed in their handhelds so he did not bother anyone.  It was like they each had ‘do not disturb’ lights on.  A guy and a girl came in and they did wave hello to him.  The girl had dark hair and kind of reminded him of Charlene and the guy was on the slight side, definitely not big enough to be a defender on the field.

Quig tried to get into a drama vid on his handheld but he kept drifting back to the window and out towards the massive fields of growing food.  A thought occurred to him, why did the Outlander’s grow so much food, surely, they did not need that much.  Of course, he did not know how many Outlanders there were on Ideal.  Maybe there were enough to need all that food.  He finished his meal and headed back towards his sleeper cabin.  He had just closed his door when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened and it was two people, the guy and the girl from the dining car who had waved.  The guy spoke first.

“Hey buddy.”

“Hello.”  Quig answered.

The girl spoke now.  “Hey, we were having a little fun next door, and I have always wanted to have two guys at once, and on a train, it would be hoot.”

The guy and girl were smiling.  Quig thought about it, maybe longer than was polite, he had just had his First, he did not really consider multiple partners figuring he would just to the single partner for a while. But these people were friendly and wanted to involve him.

“Well?”  The girl said a bit impatient.

“Sure.”  Quig said.  “My place or yours?”

It was only two hours later when Quig returned to his own sleeper cabin.

He was disappointed in his time with the two people.  It had been fun for a little while, but he was also stressed, he did not tell them this was his first time with multiple people and he feared they knew it after a while and were judging him.  He thought he did a better job doing his part with the guy then the girl, but it was not like it was something you could keep score at.  The two of them were sleeping when he slipped back to his own cabin.

He stared out his window for a long time, the moons were both full putting out a lot of light, almost like New Rio with the streetlights on.  He was almost asleep when he saw another city.  That was not right, there were no cities between New Atlanta and New Anchorage.  And it was a city that had no lights on, even late at night New Rio had some streetlights on.

“Ideal?”

“Yes Quig.”

“What is the name of that city out there.”

There was a long pause from Ideal, longer than normal, which was anything longer than immediate when asking a question. “That is New Oakland, one of the first cities on Ideal.”

Quig thought about it, Oakland, he had never heard of it.  “Ideal how come I have never heard of it before.”

Ideal answered immediately this time. “New Oakland was one of the first cities on Ideal, but since city design was changed and many of the services were slower than modern buildings it was decided it was no longer needed and no one currently lives there.”

Quig nodded. “Can it be visited?”

“There is no current way to visit it, the maglev train route was changed and the city is being dismantled by robotic devices, it is not recommended that any humans visit it as it would be unsafe and most robotic devices would shut down to protect any humans who were around.”

“Makes sense.”  Quig said yawning.  He stared out the window for a long time getting sleepier and sleepier in the comfortable train bed.

“Would you like some white noise, Quig?”

Quig’s eyes were very heavy and he did not answer Ideal before he was asleep with the very slight gentle rocking of the train.

That night he dreamed of New Rio.  He wandered the streets, in broad daylight but no one was on the streets or in the shops, or in the parks.  He realized this did not bother him and he was not sure why.  But the city was empty.  And that was okay.

He woke in his train bed; he had the cabin make him his hygiene stuff and he cleaned up before making his way to get something to eat.  The girl and guy from yesterday were in the dining area, but obviously they had moved on, the guy was with a different girl at a table and the girl was kissing another girl hello.

Neither of them noticed Quig and he was kind of glad they did not, in the light of day with a good night’s sleep he was a little embarrassed by his performance, he just wished he had turned down the whole thing and stayed in his cabin.

There were more fields today but they gave way to large hills with some trees, not the big forests he had seen earlier on the trip, more like overgrown parks that did not have people maintaining them like in the cities.  It was pleasant in a wild way.  It was a while later that his handheld dinged.  It was a message from Leo.

“Hey Quig, we are looking forward to you coming to New Anchorage.  Here are directions to our place, you are welcome to stay with us at our place near the waterfront.  See you soon.”

Quig smiled at first but then he was confused, what did Leo mean by their place?  He always assumed Outlanders lived in creches like he did but he really did not know how they lived.  What if it was something bizarre?  Did Leo expect him to sleep in the same bed with him and Shelby?  They were Outlanders what kind of odd things did they do in their homes.  Maybe he should ask before he got there.  But should he ask Leo.

He thought about it for a little bit then realized who he could ask.  Qadar, she lived with Outlanders she would know.   He looked at the display in his room; he had an hour before he got to New Anchorage.  If he sent a text message she might not reply very quickly, maybe not even today and he needed to know soon.

“Ideal.”

“Yes Quig.”

“Can you put through a priority call to my creche sibling Qadar.”

“Putting it through now, both audio and visual?”

“Sure.”  Quig answered.

“Quig what is up?”  Qadar said.  “Are you alright?”

“Sure.”  Quig saw that Qadar was not alone in a bed.

“Is that you sib Quig?” A stranger said getting into the video feed while looking at the screen.

“Yes.”  Qadar answered.

“He is a cutey.”  The stranger said, peeking into the screen.  She was a red-haired woman with a rather big nose.

“Yes, he is.”  Qadar said smiling. “Quig this is Rosie.”

“Hi Rosie.”  Quig said not sure what else to say to a person in a relationship with his sibling.

Qadar pushed the girl away and centered her own face on the screen. “Well, that was Rosie, so why the call little sib?”

“Oh, yeah.”  Quig said and explained the invitation to stay with Leo and Shelby at their place in New Anchorage.

“You are being silly little sib, Outlanders are not that different than us, you will be fine.”

“Okay if you say so.”  Quig said unsure.

“Yes, I say so.”  Qadar said using her best older sibling tone.  The tone that always let him know things would be okay.  There was a sound in the background of the call and Qadar looked up. “He little brother, I have to go help Rosie with some chores, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am sure, just traveling like my favorite big sib.”

Qadar through a kiss at the screen.  “Okay come see me sometime Quig.”

“I will.”  He said and the connection ended.

Quig looked out the window, the sun was setting and the moons were rising.  He would be in New Anchorage soon.

“Quig, get in the house you must be freezing.”

Quig was relieved when Shelby opened the door.  His jacket was soaked all the way through, his hair was wet and his shorts were dripping.  Ideal had led him to this structure but he was still not sure he was in the right place.  It was small, only three stories tall and not like any other building and it probably wasn’t much bigger than his creche.   No lobby, no double doors, and there was a covered front area in front of it, he later learned was called a porch, with several types of furniture on it and the weirdest swing he had ever seen, it looked like two or maybe three people could sit on it at a time.  He was glad to get into the covered area but he was still wet and the wind was still blowing.

Quig had gotten off train at New Anchorage along with everyone else only a short time ago, but it felt like a different world.  No long approach it just appeared as they came around the mountains.  It was smaller than any other city so far, the buildings were short, and not so many as the other cities he had seen so far.  A few minutes after the city came into view they were at the station.  He was cold at first, but it was such a new experience he didn’t mind, in fact he kind of liked it, at first.  But liking the cold lasted  about five minutes.  He left the station, it was the same type and design as the one in New Rio, New York and New Atlanta.  But as he left the station, he realized he was in a very different city.  The train had come through several tunnels in quick succession, none of which were as long as the first one he had experienced upon leaving New Rio.  He was back in the mountains and they were topped with something he had never seen before, snow.  At least he had never seen snow in person.  But it was on top of several mountains here.

The city where the station was very similar to all the others at least for a short time, he walked according to the directions Ideal put on his handheld, but soon the city changed to these smaller buildings, all different, with windows and doors in odd places, not much bigger than his creche but all individual, with different colors and trim.  It was both scary and amazing, so much so that he forgot he was cold for a little bit.  Then the wind started blowing and he got very cold, but he did not know where to go, there was nothing that was familiar.  The directions on his handheld told him he was over halfway to Leo and Shelby’s place and no place looked particularly inviting that he could stop and warm up.  No one was on the streets to ask, even though there were warm lights coming out of the buildings he was still unsure.  Then it started to rain and the wind picked up.  He kept moving till he was at his destination even though he was getting colder with each step.

Shelby pulled him into the building taking off his wet coat.  Quig came through the door into the warmest place he had ever been before.  It was also the strangest.

“Why didn’t you send a message that you were arriving today?”  Shelby said ushering him into the room, it was even warmer than the hallway.  “And why didn’t you replicate some warmer clothes on the train?”

Leo came into the room and said. “Who was at the door Shel?”  Leo saw the two of them in standing in the middle of the room. “Quig?  Quig why are you wearing shorts?”

Quig couldn’t answer as he had begun to do something he had never done before, he began to shake and his teeth actually started to move on their own like the rest of his body.

“Leo put some tea on, lots of honey.”

Shelby gently guided him to a big brown chair with some sort of amazing fabric that felt both warm and cold at the same time but was smooth with no pattern.  A few feet away was something he had never seen in person before, a fire.  “A fireplace?”  Quig stated through his shivering teeth that were not chattering as much now.

Shelby smiled and put a warm blanket on him.  “Yep, we don’t need it but we like it, and the pine makes the place smell so cozy.”

Quig took a whiff of the air; it did smell different.  Like nothing he had ever smelled before it was amazing.  “Wow.”  He said looking around now.  “But your house is made out of wood doesn’t wood burn?”

Shelby was about to say something when Leo came back with a large mug of tea he handed it to Quig and was thankful, his hands warmed up and taking a sip of the tea he tasted the copious amounts of honey in it.  He was still cold but the shivering had stopped.  “Thanks.”  Quig said.

“You should have sent a message buddy; I would have come picked up at the station.”

“And he would have made sure you were wearing proper clothing.”  Shelby added.

“It looked so close on my handheld and I did not know it was going to rain.”  Quig said.

Shelby shook her head.  “This ain’t Rio kiddo, you have to pay attention to the weather up north, it is not controlled as well as around the equator like where you live.”

Quig just nodded his head in agreement and finished his tea. Leo sat down on another chair but leaned forward while Shelby stood nearby.  She took his mug when he was done then held his hands. “You are warming up nicely.”  She said smiling.

“So how was your trip up here, see anything interesting?”  Leo said.

Quig was about to start talking but Shelby held up her hand.  “Time enough for you telling us about your adventures tomorrow.  I want you to get out of those wet clothes, get a nice hot shower and get to bed.”   Shelby turned to Leo.  “Leo, I want you take our newest guest up and set him up in the front bedroom on the 2^nd floor.”

Leo looked at Shelby. “The green room?”

Shelby shook her head. “No, the blue room, Catrina is in the green room now, she changed her mind about which room she likes better.”

“When did she get back?”

Shelby was helping Quig to his feet, even though he did not need help it was nice to be cared for. “She got back about two hours ago; she was exhausted so she went straight to bed.”

The next half hour with Leo was him showing Quig a room, that he would later think of as his own, there was a shared bathroom on the 2^nd floor and Quig took a long hot shower.  It was the greatest shower of Quig’s life of course he had never been that cold and wet before.   Than at Leo’s insistence he made him get into bed and unbelievably Quig was asleep before Leo left the room.

Quig woke a whole twelve hours later absolutely famished.

The sun was up and he used the one shared bathroom on the floor.  He did not hear anyone else moving around and saw some clothes on the chair.  A pair of long pants, putting them on he realized how heavy they were but they also had a soft lining in them which probably added to the weight.  It was strange wearing long pants, he had never worn anything past his knees before, growing up in New Rio the weather was always perfect.  His jacket was still there but someone had replicated a long-sleeved heavy material SunChaser shirt for him and he put that on as well; he left his jacket in his room and stayed barefoot, he made his way back down the stairs to the main floor.  He smelled the most delicious smells and found himself in a dining area with all kinds of machines and he recognized one of them was a stove used to heat up food.

“Good morning.”  A girl said that while sitting at the table sipping from a mug.

She was about ten or eleven and was sitting with a half-finished plate of food in front of her.  “You slept a long time.”

“Ah yeah the bed was great.”

“Yeah, nothing like a bed with clean sheets on a cold rainy night.”  She saw Quig looking around the room.  “There is a warm plate in the oven, Aunt Shelby put a couple of waffles on it, some sausage and the syrup is on the table.”  The young girl said motioning toward a tall dark bottle sitting on the table.

“Anything to drink?”

“Glasses in the cabinet next to the fridge, you got your choice of orange juice or milk in the fridge.”

“Oven?  Fridge?”  Quig said looking around the dining area.  “No replicator.”

Catrina laughed.  “Not for food, not in this house.”  She laughed again.

He nodded and still did not know where the food was, which was maddening because he could smell waffles but he did not know where the oven was.

Catrina watched him then snapped her fingers.  “Oh, right you have never been in an Outlander home before.”  Catrina said getting up.  “Okay I will help you out but pay attention.”   She went to a cabinet and opened the door that flipped down, she got a towel and picked up a plate that was inside with the waffles and sausage on it.  She carefully made her way to the table and put it down in front of him. “Watch it the plate is hot.”

Quig reached out a finger towards the plate and he touched it with just a fingertip and pulled his whole hand back.  Catrina shook her head.  “Told you it was hot.  You must be from Missouri.”

Quig spoke up.  “No from New Rio.”

Catrina laughed.  “Sorry, that is what Uncle Leo says when some tests something for themselves. ‘You must be from Missouri’, it’s an old earth saying.  He is really into old languages and phrases.”  Catrina laughed.  “Now I am saying it.”  Then she rolled her eyes.  Catrina then moved over to a larger upright cabinet and opened one of the two double doors pulling on one revealed a white interior was lighting on the inside. “This is the fridge, also known as a refrigerator.  “Juice or milk.”

“Milk.”  Quig answered.

She got him a glass from yet another cabinet and put the empty glass and container of milk in front of him.  “Well, I ain’t pouring it for you.”  Catrina said.

Quig grabbed the container and with both hands poured some of the container of milk into his glass but spilled some in the process when it came out quicker than he thought it would.  “Sorry.”

Catrina looked at him. “You never poured yourself a glass of milk before.”

Quig looked at her and shook his head. “Ah no, milk always just came in a glass from the replicator.”

“Wild.”  Catrina said.  She had gotten him a knife and folk and he wanted to avoid the stares she was giving him so he started eating.  Catrina sat down in her orginal spot and pulled out a handheld.  The room was silent while Quig ate and Catrina played around with her handheld.  “Where are Leo and Shelby?”

“Oh, Uncle Leo is in his shop,”  Catrina said pointing towards a door. “Aunt Shelby went to her class she is teaching today she should be back in about an hour.”

Quig was confused.  “Oh, I thought they were both teachers.”

“Well sort of Uncle Leo teaches wood working and sailing.  Aunt Shelby teaches math and science at the University of Anchorage.”

Quig had heard the term before, University, from Cal. Something about advance schooling after Eight Year.   “I kind of know some math but what’s science?”

Catrina looked at him with both shock and amazement. “You know science, stuff like Newton and gravity, radiation, infrared waves, you know stuff like that.”

Quig did not know what any of those things were but he did not want to seem stupid to this young girl so he changed the subject. “Oh yeah.  But you keep calling Leo and Shelby your Aunt and Uncle, what is that all about?”

Catrina looked again.  “Oh yeah that is not an Ideal thing.  No Aunts or Uncle, nor Moms and Dads.”

It was then the door Catrina had pointed to earlier opened and Leo came through with a bunch of wood in his arms.  “Quig you are up, great.”  Leo said taking in the scene. “Catrina are you being nice, no teasing our guest.”

Catrina got up and took some of the wood from Leo. “I am being good Uncle Leo; I am always good.”  The two of them carried the wood into the room with the fireplace.  Quig heard the wood being put down then the two came back into the dining area.  “I was about to explain what an Aunt and Uncle were.”

Leo looked at Quig.  “Questions later, did you get enough Quig?”

Quig nodded quickly.  “Okay go upstairs and get the on boots I replicated for you.”  He said eyeing his bare feet under the table.  “I am going to take you down and see my sailboat.”   He turned towards Catrina.  “Can you clean up the kitchen before Shelby comes home.”

“Oh Unc.”  Catrina said as Quig went up the stairs.

“You never wore boots before.”  Leo said more of an observation than a question.

Quig felt as though he was walking funny and Leo’s observation had made that obvious.  With the boots and the long pants, he felt all off,  heavier, stiffer, tighter.

They had left the home, Leo called it a house.  As Quig clomped along down the street with Leo, Leo talked.  He talked about how these houses were from some of the orginal settlements.  Built to look like those back in the orginal Anchorage back on Earth.

“How many people live in these homes.”

“Oh, typically about six or seven people. Me and Shelby live alone, but we kind of act like a hostel,”  Leo saw the confusion on Quig’s face again with the strange word. “A kind of travel creche in town, mostly for Outlanders passing through so they stay with us.”

“Is Catrina passing through?” Quig asked.

Leo rolled his eyes.  “My niece.”  He shook his head.  “No, she is living with us for a time, she is staying with us for a while.  Her parents are going through some problems back on Ranartan so she came to stay with us but it is temporary.”

The walk had been taking them downhill; they turned a corner and that is when Quig saw the water and he stopped listening to Leo and he stopped walking.  It was the ocean.  He knew that it was big, he had sort of seen in in Virtual Reality but this was real, no headset, no virtual reality room, this was the real ocean.  He stopped to take it all in.  There were sailboats everywhere on the docks, there were other types of boats as well so many different types that he knew nothing about.  “Wow.”

Leo had kept walking and realized Quig had stopped and he turned to where the younger man had stopped. “Oh yeah you have never seen the harbor before.”

“That’s not the ocean.”  Quig said confused.

“Well, yeah, but just a small part of it, it’s called a harbor, a place kind of separated from the main part of the ocean.”  Leo said, smiling.  “Come on I have got a lot to show you.”

The rest of the day Leo showed Quig so much, they got down on the docks, first showing Quig the tri hulled sailboat Leo had just finished building, then some other sailboats, then he took him over to some of the research boats that were conducting scientific studies in the manufactured oceans on Ideal.  It was a lot of things that Quig did not understand, but he just kept nodding in amazement.  Although what surprised him the most was the amount of people from Ideal that lived and worked right alongside the Outlanders.  And there were a lot of Outlanders here, he had only seen a few in his entire life, but here there were an equal number of Outlanders to Idealians.  The Outlanders were easy to pick out, they were always shorter than people from Ideal, and there skin was different.  Idealians, as Leo called people from Ideal, had a light brown skin tone, and were taller and good looking.  While the Outlanders all looked stronger, heavier, with various skin tones, some very pale, some very dark and just a whole mix of looks.

They had been walking around for a while when Leo had him sit down. “You are limping.”

Quig hadn’t noticed. “I am?”  Now that he was sitting down, he realized his feet hurt worse than they did earlier.

“Are you getting blisters?” Leo asked with a bit of concern.

“What’s a blister?”  Quig asked.  “Am I sick?”  He said worried.

Leo shook his head.  “No, you are not sick, a blister is when your foot rubs in your shoes, or there is a wrinkle in your sock that irritates your skin.”

“Socks?” Quig said confused.  “What are socks?”

“I made you socks.  You know for your feet, to wear inside of the boots.”

Quig was confused.

“You mean you have been walking around without socks all day?”

Quig shrugged.  “Are socks those tube-like things that were right next to the boots?” He had never worn boots before, nor socks.

“Oh boy.” Leo said.

Leo opened up his handheld and they walked to the street near the docks and waited, soon a small vehicle arrived and they got in.  Leo then did something on his handheld and the vehicle started moving.  They went to a medical center where Leo helped him take off his boots and showed him what a blister was, sort of a bubble on his foot.  Leo directed him to put his feet in the treatment device and soon the medical device scanned and then there was a cold sensation and pressure on his feet.  The machine announced in Ideal’s voice.  ‘Please remain stationary for approximately five minutes while the healing is completely accomplished.’

Leo was sitting nearby and was sending messages on his handheld.  There was a tone of reply.   “Shelby thinks maybe you should try tall moccasins in this chilly weather.   Softer soles, but it will keep you warmer than your athletic shoes.”

Quig shrugged.

Quig felt much better in the moccasins than the boots, Leo had to help him put them on, after he put some warm insulated socks on first.  Then Leo showed him how to lace them up.  They were actually very comfortable and the socks made his feet immediately warmer.  They walked home and it was almost dinnertime which Shelby was cooking.  Leo gave Quig a brief tour of the house, and when they returned to the kitchen Shelby instructed Catrina to set the table and to show Quig how to do it as well, as he would have to start doing chores around the house if he was going to stay here more than one night.

Quig was glad to help and he picked up on ‘setting the table’ quickly and discovered where all the utensils and plates were kept.  Sort of the opposite of cleaning up after a meal, but then at the end of each meal everything went back to the replicator to be recycled.  In this home though the plates and utensils all had to be washed and then put away.

Shelby made something called a tuna casserole with a variety of things in it and Quig loved it, some many assorted flavors and tastes all in one dish that blended together.  They all sat together around the table; Shelby talked about her class that day.  Catrina, who had just come back from something called a camping trip and she told him about how cold it had been and Leo shared about a new boat being built down at the docks, something called a submarine.

Quig was glad Leo had not mentioned his blister or his failure to wear socks, it was embarrassing.

The meal was winding down when Quig asked a question.  “How come Catrina calls you Uncle and Aunt?”

Catrina laughed at the question, but a sharp glance from Shelby made her stop then she turned and smiled a warm smile at Quig. “Well Aunt is a family term; it denotes the type of relationship we have.”

Quig nodded.  “You mean like she is a creche sibling?”

Shelby shook her head gently.  “No, something more than that.”

“Do you know what a mother and father are?”

“Sure, it’s the two people who provide their unique biological material to create a third person.”  Quig said repeating what he had learned in biology.

Quig heard a sigh from Leo, but Shelby just smiled at him.  “Catrina please get out my white board from my office; this will take a little bit of explaining.”

Quig pulled the covers up to his chin and stared at the ceiling.  Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and that last one cousins had him confused.

As Shelby and Leo explained natural families Catrina drew on the big whiteboard she had wheeled into the kitchen.  Catrina was good at drawing stick figures on the board diagraming mothers, fathers, and children.  She quickly used distinct colors to denote men and women with lines between people. Catrina drew mom and dad’s and their brothers and sisters became Aunts and Uncles and when they had child  those children were your cousins.   And everyone off Ideal lived like that.  Why?

The creche system made a lot of sense, new kids came in, all the siblings took part in raising them under Ideal’s guidance, Ideal made sure everyone was taken care of and everyone helped.   How did moms and dads keep everything fair?  Then he learned that Catrina’s parents were getting something called a divorce so she came here to Ideal to live with her Aunt Shelby and Uncle Leo.  No one on Ideal had long term relationships like a husband and wife, sure babies came along occasionally .  Even with Ideal’s guidance no birth control was one hundred percent and girls got pregnant, but the father was never held to blame.  It was not his fault that something went wrong chemically with his semen or her eggs.  It was no one’s fault, but the baby was born, and depending on the day the child was born it was put in a creche and the creches stayed full.

This family stuff was so strange, he always felt good in the creche, always loved, always cared for.  Creches were dependable, they were good.

He thought all these thoughts then he remembered Quint leaving and then he thought about Qiana and the vacant look on her face coming off the Rack.

Was the creche as good as what did Shelby call it, ‘a natural family’.   But she explained  the natural family had been the way it was although human’s history.  Quig was not sure that meant it was better.

Quig turned over in bed thinking about natural families.  He then realized his pillow was wrong and he fluffed it to make it better.  This got him thinking about  his entire trip to New Anchorage.  He had basically slept in the same bed as the one back at his creche, same mattress, same sheets, same blanket, same pillow.  But this bed was different, he was so exhausted last night so he hadn’t noticed.  But tonight, he did notice the differences.  The bed was comfortable, but not in the way he was used to.

The bed, families, his creche, these thoughts were running through his head as he finally fell off to sleep.

The next day he was awoken but Catrina.  She told him he had to get up; he was going with Shelby to see her school.

Shelby hurried him along when they got out of the house.  The insulated long pants still felt weird, but the moccasins that reached up his calves with the thick warm socks, made of something called wool, felt good on his feet, almost like his normal shoes.  He was glad that Shelby instructed him to get a warmer jacket as yesterday he had been a bit chilly but never said anything to Leo and because he was mostly distracted by his feet hurting.

They only walked for a few minutes when Shelby announced they were now on campus, on one side of street were houses but on campus the buildings were bigger.  Shelby pointed out some of the buildings were dormitories and others were classroom buildings.  She had a class to teach, Physical Application of Mathematics and she pointed out a seat in the back of the classroom for him in the back, and if he wanted to he could use his handheld as long as he used his earbuds as this was an a slightly advanced class and he probably would not understand most of what was being said.   After the class was finished she would continue with her tour of the University.

Quig took the seat in the back of the classroom as Shelby got settled up front.   Students started arriving and Quig watched them.  They were all older than Quig, probably around eighteen or nineteen years old.  It was a mixture of Idealians and Outlanders.  For some reason he thought this science class would all be Outlanders as Idealians, particularly him didn’t know about science as it was not taught in the school he went to.   Shelby started teaching and Quig did not understand any of it.  But obviously her students did as they would stop her occasionally and ask very specific questions.  The students participated, a lot, there was no holding back like his school with Cal.  At one point Shelby put up some math up on the screen and broadcast it to her students who then were asked to solve the math problem.  The problem involved two triangles and arrows with a series of things called pullies with numbers all around the diagram.  Quig didn’t understand any of it.  But the students hunched over their handhelds and worked on the math, Shelby walked around looking over shoulders and occasionally the students would raise their hand to get clarification about certain points.

Quig never opened up his handheld, he was fascinated by the students, they were totally engrossed in the math.  He couldn’t understand it but they were so intent on it.  Shelby had them stop working at one point and told them to finish it by the next class, then she talked about the application of the math they were working on, she asked for examples of how it would be used.  The stated things like construction of buildings and movement of cargo on and off boats.  One student even cited and personal example of how he had seen it in action once.

Shelby dismissed the class without a bell or tone; she just instructed everyone to submit their solution to the problem to her before their next class.  After the class Shelby continued their tour, there was a weaving building, and he learned were wool came from and the fact that the very socks he was wearing came from this very building.  They then toured the woodworking building where most of the wood for Leo’s boat had been milled.

The machines were mostly operated by students, again with a mix of Outlanders and Idealians.  But most of the Idealians were young and the Outlanders were older, some even older than Shelby and Leo who he learned were almost thirty years old.

By the time they finished the tour it was way past lunch and Shelby and Quig got something called a hot dog, again another new food to him, it was served from a man standing outside with a cart, and the two of sat on a cold park bench eating the food.  Quig liked it, but he did not like the mustard on top of it, he got another one since he was still hungry and without the mustard, he liked it much better.

Shelby had to go to a faculty meeting so she dropped Quig off at a place called the Student Union and told him to explore.  He learned it was a recreational location for the students, there were several games in the building and he watched of them.  There was some ping pong, he had never been very good at that.  He then found the pool room.  There was a pool table in Blake’s creche in the communal area and Quig actually go quite good at it.   There was a  guy playing around on a table all by himself.  He was an Idealian, about Quig’s age.

“You know how to play?”

“Sure.”  Quig answered.  He was pretty good at the game, he had even considered studying the game for his P.H.U.N. but got distracted a year later by something else and had not played in a while, but he was sure it would all come back to him.

“My name is Ron; you want to play?”

Quig had been playing with Ron for about a half an hour when Shelby found him. As soon a Ron turned around Shelby crossed her arms. “Ronald.” Shelby said a bit coldly.

“Professor Shelby, how are you doing?”  Ron said smiling.

“Hi Shelby.”  Quig said after missing a shot, leaving Ron with a clear shot at his seven ball.

“Ronald are you hustling?”

Quig watched the interaction, obviously they knew each other.  Ron gave a look of pure innocence, something Quig had seen his sibling Quint did when he was in trouble.  “Me hustling?  I am hurt.  It was just a friendly game, and Quig here already beat me in one game, he is a really good player.”

Shelby shook her head.  “If you applied your knowledge of physics to the classroom as much as you do to pool you would have gotten an A in my class.”

Ron simply shrugged.

“What did you win Quig?

Quig answered.  “I won one game, Ron bet me I could not sink a ball that was down the table in a corner pocket, I did it pretty easily.”

Ron chimed in. “Pretty good shot.”

Shelby sighed.  “What did you win Quig?”

“Just a replicator credit.”

Shelby looked at Ron. “Hustling someone who just got into town.”  Shelby said shaking her head.

Ron simply shrugged again.  “Bad habits are hard to break.”

“Quig its pizza night back home, we have to go start the fire so the oven is at the proper temperature by the dinner time.”  Shelby looked over at Ron.  “Do you want to join us, Ronald?”

Ron nodded eagerly.  “Pepperoni?”

“Real pepperoni.”  Shelby nodded.

“I will be there.”

“Six, and Ronald, I am going to check you record to make sure you have been going to class.”  And with that Shelby led Quig out of the Student Union.  As they walked home Shelby told him how Ron was a runaway.  Ronald had stopped going back to his creche in New York when he was around eight years old, stopped going to classes, he began to steal food off people’s trays and made bets with people to get them to get him food and clothes from replicators.

Quig never knew a runaway, he had heard them thought it was just a myth.  It just didn’t make sense.  Why would anyone want to live their creche or school? It just didn’t make sense.   Quig didn’t learn much more about Ron that night except that he had stayed at Leo and Shelby’s for a while before he moved into the dormitory on campus and became a student.  Quig lit the fire in the pizza oven after they had loaded with wood.  Then he had helped make the pizza, there was a lot involved from making the dough to cutting the toppings.  He even tried a Hawaiian style slice of pizza that was Leo’s favorite, it had chunks of fruit on it, called pineapple.  Strange but tasty.

After dinner, he learned to wash dishes which Ron then dried.  After dinner it was homework time for Catrina and Shelby helped her with some of the math.  This was stuff that was not as advanced as the stuff Shelby taught but Quig still didn’t understand it. It was like a foreign language; it was called geometry.  He learned it was math all about shapes, sizes and angles.  Ronald hung around for a while talking to Leo about woodworking and Leo talked him into coming back soon and learning how to run a lathe so he could make his own pool cue.

Dear Qadar,

Sorry I missed your call, but I am here in New Anchorage now, living with an Outlander family.  I have been here for month now.   My days are pretty full.  Somedays I work in Leo’s wood shop, mostly cleaning up and oiling machines, although I am learning how to make things out of wood.   I have cut my hands a couple of times but nothing serious.  On the other days I attend classes at the University.  It is not formal school.  Shelby calls me a Trial Student.  Leo calls me a  guinea pig, some old Earth term, meaning they test things on me.  More like people training to become teachers are evaluated when dealing with me.  First, I learned multiplication and division.  Right now, I am trying to learn fractions and decimals.  Shelby says I am a good student, but I am continuously frustrated by how little I understand.

Shelby is very appreciative of my being a Trial Student.  She calls it my community service; with the added bonus I am getting something out of it. 

I made a friend his name is Ron. He originally lived in New York, but he is Runaway, the first I have ever met.  Have you ever met any in person?  He occasionally gets me into trouble; I stay out too late which causes me to oversleep and I don’t get to the shop or class on time.  Mostly we just play cards, a game called poker but he is also teaching me a game called ‘craps’ with dice.  Mostly we play for these plastic chips, Ron says it’s more fun when betting is involved and I have to agree with him.

Shelby teaches Ron higher mathematics which Ron says comes in handy in gambling, but I will just take his word for it. 

I told Shelby and Leo about you saying you are marrying Rosie.  Seeing as how I have never known anyone who got married before I asked Shelby and Leo what I should do. They told me the proper response to that is ‘Congratulations’ so Congratulations. 

Again, sorry I missed your call, but I was out sailing.  Leo and Shelby said I am learning really fast and soon I might be able to take a boat out on my own soon.  Of course I might wait till it gets warmer here. 

Let me know when you set a date for your wedding, I will be there.  

Your creche brother

Quig

“Hey there is a dance next Saturday night.”

Quig looked up from his cards. “There is a dance every weekend.”

Ronald nodded. “Yeah, but I have a date for it, but there is one problem.”

Quig did not look up from his cards.  “What is the problem, is she getting her eyesight back on Thursday.”

“Good one.”  One of the other fellows around the table said.  Quig couldn’t remember if the guy’s name was Michael or Mickey.  Mickey or Michael was a bore, but he was also a terrible card player but that is why Ron kept inviting him.

“Ha ha.”  Ron said. “No, the problem is her friend just came into town and she wants me to get her a date as well.”

“Give me two.”  David said asking for two more cards.  David lived next door to Ron in the dorm and was always serious when he played cards.

Quig decided to fold this hand, nothing but garbage.  “What does she look like?”

Ron shrugged.  “Its that blonde, Susan in my trigonometry class.”

“Not her, the girl you want me to go out with, what does she look like?”

“I don’t know.”  Ron responded.

Quig thought about it, he had not had a date since he had gotten here, although he hooked up with a couple of girls, all Idealians, after he met them at dances.  He had also tried with a few Outlander girls but they had ideals about relationships and sex that he was not sure he wanted to deal with.  Not that Outlander’s didn’t have sex, they just thought about it differently than he did.  “Is she an Outlander?”

“Nope, Susan is an Outlander, but this girl is an Idealian, Susan said she lives somewhere down near New Rio and is coming up for a special mathematics seminar.”

“Oh, she is a brain, traveling for math.”  Quig said skeptically.

“She is just in town for a couple of days; it’s not like she is going to make you go make you multiply fractions or divide by decimals.”  Ron said teasing, whereas math was a struggle for Quig, Ron did it as easily as breathing.  “So, what do you say, do a pal a favor?”

“Why don’t you ask me?  I will go out with her.” Mickey or Michael said.

Quig was not sure.  He might have had more luck at the dance going alone, it had been a couple of weeks since he had been with anyone but this girl might be a dud.

“Come on buddy, I will wipe out half of what you owe me.”  Ron said.

It was an informal debt between the two of them, but it was debt he felt he owed Ron, nevertheless.

“Wipe it all out and you got a deal.”

Ron grimaced, then made an exaggerated pantomime of wiping out an invisible debt in the air.

“Why are you getting dressed up?”  Catrina asked.

She was standing in the doorway of my room, it was something she did regularly, it was kind of annoying, and she always had some snide or cutting remark.  She was mostly a good kid but she liked to tease him.  He let it slide; she was even further from home than him.  He sometimes heard her in her room sending messages to her mother and father and sometimes her brother.  They were positive messages, but occasionally she would cry afterwards.  He had asked Shelby about it and she said it was hard on but she was working through it.

“I have a date.”  Quig answered.

“Oooooh a date.”  She said teasing. “You are not wearing that shirt, are you?”

I looked at the shirt in the mirror.  It was a silk blend, pink with alternating green and purple stripes.  “This is the height of fashion.”  It was really cool, I thought. “I just replicated it.”

“Maybe in New Rio, but this is Anchorage.”  She said and left the room.

What did she know?  She was a kid, and Outlander, they knew nothing about fashion.  And so, what if this was Anchorage, people around here thought flannel and denim were the only fabrics.  And maybe they were good for day to day, but he was going out.  Time for him to shine, time to stand out.

Although he was wearing his flannel lined denim pants, it was still cold out. He had replicated black denim pants instead of his normal blue jeans, black just went better with the shirt.   He checked the time, just enough time to walk to the dorm, meet Ron and then walk to the travel creche and meet the girls.

He had steeled himself to be nice to the mystery girl, even if she was ugly he would be nice.

“Thanks for doing this for me bud.”  Ron said right before they went into the travel creche.

“Hey, no worries mate.”  Quig had heard ‘mate’ from one of the older woodworkers in the shop, he came from a planet called Sydney and he used it all the time.  So, Quig was trying it out.

“Hi Susan.”  Ron said and gave the blonde girl a kiss on the cheek.  “Where is your friend?”

“Just finishing getting dressed, and you must be Quig, thanks for coming out with us.”  The door opened behind Susan. “This is my dear friend.”

“Petra.”  Quig shouted.

“Quig.”  Petra shouted.

They barely got to the dance.  First there was confused cross between the two former classmates, both asking questions simultaneously, then trying to answer at the same time.  Then when that ended they gave each other big hugs.

“I guess you two know each other.”  Ron said dryly.

“I guess.”  Said Susan.

Petra turned towards Susan.  “Sue this is Quig the boy I told you about, from New Rio, the boy I saw on the train.”

“Really?”  Susan said.

“Yeah.”  Petra replied simply and just stared at Quig.  They were actually holding both of each other’s hands, as they never lost contact after the hug and their hands just kind of drifted together.

“Ron, I told you about Petra, and the buffalo herd, and how the train slowed down and she was sitting on a horse right outside of the train.”

Ron shook his head.  “Nay, only five or six times.”

The room was silent for a little while.  “Well, we had better get to the dance.”  Ron said to break the silence.   The four of them left the travel creche and walked several blocks to the University hall were the dance was being held.  Quig learned a little bit of why Petra was in town; she was taking an advanced science course on animal husbandry of large groups of animals.  She had been working on the buffalo project for about a year now, but the seminar was for not just mammals but fish and birds introduced to a new terraformed planet.  And even though Ideal had been around for a two hundred years of settlement, the ecosystem was still growing and changing.  Quig learned this while walking to the dance.

She was so excited about the topic no one else could get word in.  Quig thought it was cute, she was so excited about it.

When they got to the dance Quig and Petra decided after five minutes they could not talk so they left the main hall and found a quiet alcove while Ron and Susan were on the dance floor.

“So, what happened to you after Year Five?”

“Oh got invited to come up here, I got to learn all about math and science, things that were not offered back home in New Rio, at least not in our normal schools.”  Petra smiled.  “And how did you get here?”

“Well, we had this teacher in Year Eight, Cal he showed me stuff about sailing.  Leo and Shelby were in town and they were going sailing in a Virtual Reality room and so he introduced us.   And when I graduated, this was the only place where there was a lot of sailing going on so I came north.”

“Wow, you just got on the train and came north, just like that.”  Petra said with a bit of awe.

“Something like that.”  Quig said, for some reason he did not want to share about Quint and Qiana.  “So, tell me what you were doing on that horse around all those buffalos?”

“Counting them mostly.”  She said laughing.

“Counting them, that many, how do you do that?”  He thought about it.  “Wait can’t Ideal do that we some drones or something?”

“Oh definitely, and much better than we could, but there is something to be said for seeing the herds with your own eyes.”  Petra said with intense look.  “But we don’t just count them, we also take samples of scat, afterbirth, and any buffalo that are injured or die, making sure the herds are healthy.”

Quig didn’t know what scat was and he did not want to embarrass her by asking what it was. “So that is what you were doing that day I saw you from the train?”

Petra smiled again, of course she had never really stopped since they had met up. “No, that day I got tasked with delivering some supplies out to the team out there.  It was totally chance that I was outside your train that day.”  She paused.  “But I was glad I did. I started thinking about you and wondered what you were doing on that train, where you were going, if you were still dreaming of being a SunChaser center?”

Quig laughed.  “No, I gave up the Center dream when I went a whole season without a single tip in my favor, I moved back to defense, but Blake is working out with the SunChasers now.”

“Good for him.”  Petra said.

Quig decided to admit he had been thinking about her as well.  He told her how he had seen her dancing on the video feed from the Outlander Compound that one time, and how he had looked for after she left after Year Five.

Petra got a little red.  It was so cute Quig thought.

“You are good dancer.”

She got even more red in the face and looked away.  She then spoke with her head turned away.
“Yeah, I was doing my Community Service that night, I hardly ever gather chicken eggs, I had a bad run in with a rooster when I got to that particular Outlander Compound and I got that task by accident.  So out I went to gather eggs.  It was such a beautiful night and I forgot that there was a video but didn’t think any from New Rio would see those video feeds.”

Quig laughed.  “Totally random, it was just chance, but I am glad I saw you dancing with the chickens.”  He said teasingly.  She was still a little embarrassed so he changed things up.  “Why don’t we go in and dance for a bit.”

Petra laughed and she took his offered hand and they went in and danced a bit.

They danced for a while then Ron and Susan interrupted them and said they were thirsty and were going down the hall for something to drink.  Standing around the punch bowl, Susan told the story over Petra’s on-going fight with the rooster upon her arrival and it was actually the first chicken she harvested as sweet revenge for terrorizing her.

“Best fried chicken ever.”  Petra said, smiling.

Ron and Quig were shocked at the story.  Susan saw the looks and laughed at the two boys who had never harvested any meat for themselves.  “Don’t mess with county girls.”  And at that Susan and Petra did a complicated high five handshake.

After that Petra asked how Ron and Quig met, Quig told about Ron trying to hustle him at pool when Shelby saved him.

Then Susan heard a song she wanted to dance to and took Ron by the hand and took him back to the dance hall.  Petra and Quig looked at each other, this was the first moment of silence between them and it was strange but in a good way.

“So, buffalo’s huh?”  Quig said.

“So, sailing huh?”  Petra responded.

The comfortable silence was broken by someone brushing by to get to the punch bowl.  They walked to a couch along the wall and sat.

“Do you like living with the Outlander’s?”  Quig asked.

Petra nodded.  “Yeah, but it’s not all Outlanders, about twenty percent of the place where I live is Idealians.”  She motioned around.  “How about you, I know it’s about fifty fifty here, but you live with some Outlanders.”

Quig shrugged. “It took some getting used to.  I have actually learned to cook a little bit; I made pizza dough from basic ingredients last week.”

“How did it turn out?”  Petra asked.

“Pretty good, but I just followed the recipe, so it was not anything orginal.”  Quig said dismissively.

“Still, it’s a long way from replicator food every day for every meal.”

Quig nodded.  “My guidance teacher said something that non-replicated food was just better, and I did not believe him at first, but now I am starting to understand by what he meant.”

“It’s very different than living at the creche.”  Petra said, smiling.

“Have you even been back.”

“To New Rio?”  Petra said.  “No, I don’t think I would fit in anymore.”

“Why it’s still home.”  Quig said a bit defensively.

Petra shrugged.  “I have changed; I am not the same person who left.  I have grown.”

Quig was confused and it must have shown on his face.

“Do you know anything about plants.”

Quig shook his head.

Petra nodded.  “One of my first community service jobs was working in the plant nursery, starting plants as seed in small little containers, and they would grow, just these little things, but soon with light and water they would get bigger.”

Quig nodded along.

“But soon we had to move the seedlings to bigger containers, there was just no room in the starter containers, if they had been left in the smaller containers they would have died.”

Quig nodded, it was something to think about.

Petra looked at him for a long time.  “So, tell me about sailing.”

Quig was happy to tell her about the boats, the sails, the knots, the time out on the sea.  She was particularly interested on the research vessels he had been out on, on how the fish and aquatic creatures were doing.  Quig explained it as best as he could, he liked learning as much as he could about the ocean.  When a planet was terraformed one of the last things done to make it a sustainable environment for humans was the introduction of animals, and while on the ground it was relatively easy the oceans were much more complex and harder to be successful at.

Petra understood this and shared that since the buffalo were doing so well there was talk about introducing predator species, particularly wolves into the ecosystem.  There was already some success with bears in some of the mountain areas, but since they were omnivores, it was not so much of an impact on other animals.  Whereas wolves were only carnivores and it would have a direct effect on herd animals like buffalo and something called deer.

The two of them shared stories, Petra about learning to ride horses, and Quig shared about how he was going to start learning something called S.C.U.B.A.  Petra was fascinated and Quig told her how the equipment was so small due to replicator technology and oxygen was created with just a small backpack like device on the back as opposed to taking along air tanks like in ancient times.  He explained he was going to have to take tests with math involved, which he was a bit scared of.  They talked in such an effortless way they did not realize the dance had ended hours ago, and when they finally stood up from the couch the sun was just coming up over the southern mountains.

“Oh my gosh, we talked the whole night through.” Petra said looking at the sunrise.

Quig nodded.  It was the seventh day, and even though Outlanders and Idealians were very different it was something they did share, the seventh day was a day of rest.

“Let’s grab some breakfast.”

Petra nodded but pulled out her handheld and looked at the time and got a sad look on her face. “I would love to but.”

“But what?”  Quig asked.

“I have to catch my train back to Honey Well in an hour.”

“You have to leave today?”  Quig said surprised.

“I have to, there is a big scientific study starting in a few days, and I have to be there at the beginning otherwise I lose my spot.  I told my professor I would be back and I just can’t break my word to him.”

“But you could stay here and study fish or something.”  Quig said pleading.  Petra shook her head, she just grabbed his hand and they started walking back to the travel creche.  Quig waited while she changed into traveling clothes.  She was wearing jeans and flannel but still looked amazingly pretty at least to Quig.  They walked slowly to the train station where Susan was waiting along with Ron.  Susan was going with her back to Honey Well for the scientific study.  Although Quig could tell Ron was not as bothered by Susan leaving like he was.  It came time for the train to leave and Ron and Susan gave the two old friends some space.

“I still don’t see why you have to leave, you could just stay here, study math or whatever from the classroom.”

Petra smiled.  “Oh, my little seedling.”  She hugged him. “You will understand soon, just keep doing what you are doing, learn about sailing, become a S.C.U.B.A. diver, learn about all the fishes in the ocean and we will see each other soon and in the meantime we can message each other.”

Quig simply nodded fighting to hold his emotions in check.  He wanted to be strong and give her a nice strong kiss but all he could work up to was a quick peck on lips before he turned and walked away as fast as he could without running.   He left the train station and started walking faster,  he heard Ron yelling his name but he ignored him, the New Yorker eventually caught up to him.

“Sorry buddy, that was rough but you should not have walked away like that.”

Quig kept walking.  “Why, she left, she didn’t even want to stay, she just wanted to go back to her stupid cows.”

Ron grabbed him and faced him. “Is that what you think?  She did not want to stay?”

“Well, she didn’t stay.”  Quig said not hiding his tears now.

“Well then why was she crying too?”  Ron said.

The rest of the day Quig just buried himself in catching up on SunChaser games the rest of the day.  He even saw Blake on the playing field at the end of one of the games, but probably only because the team was so far ahead on points they decided to give a third stringer a chance.  Leo and Shelby told Catrina to leave him alone and surprisingly she did.   He got a short message from Petra simply saying she was sorry she had to leave.  Quig responded that he was sorry he ran off the way he did after they kissed.  The messaging made him feel better but now he was embarrassed.  He stayed in his bed till noon a lot of days missing class and his work assignment.

Qadar,

Thanks for telling me about your relationship problems with Rosie and how you worked them out.  I write or send messages to Petra a couple of times a week and she writes back as well even though she is living out on a trail but I guess she still can use her handheld.

I am looking forward to your wedding, and I will ask Petra if she can be there as well.  Are you inviting the creche?  I know they won’t understand but maybe they will come anyways.  I am just beginning to understand what marriage is from living with Leo and Shelby and how nice it must be to have a partnership like that.

Well, I have to go, I have one more study session before my S.C.U.B.A. certification test and I want to get the most of it.  I talked Ron into taking the test with me so that we can go diving together, of course he has no problem with the calculations for diving while I am still struggling with ascent rates.  I fought with the Instructor about just letting Ideal do the calculations but he insisted I not only fully understand it but be able to do it for myself.  These Outlanders are so weird sometimes, but he is right, I am more confident, being able to do it all on my own.  So, no ‘bends’ for me. 

Counting down the days till your wedding. 

Quig. 

“Well did you get the all the samples from all the grids?”

“Yeah, but the ones in L3 might felt a little strange when I was detaching it.”  Quig answered.

“How about you Pretty Boy.”

“All accounted for Peg Leg.”  Ron said putting his bag of samples on the table.

Pete squinted over his handheld at Ron.  “You came up a little fast, slow down Pretty Boy I am not ending this operation early to medevac you.”  Then Pete turned away and Ron stuck his tongue out at the older man.

Quig shook his head and continued to organize his samples.  Pete was crusty, curt and condescending but Ron continued to egg him on.  The two had been like this since they first met.  Pete was an Outlander, from Ranartan like Leo and Shelby.  But he was also considerably older then both of them and he was in no way welcoming, warm or even well mannered.

Quig would not ever admit it, but when Leo first introduced him to Pete, Quig was a little bit afraid of him.  But after spending three weeks on the research vessel Aviso he was getting used to him. It didn’t hurt that Ron and Peg Leg Pete did not like it other, so that Peg Leg Pete saved most of his quips, put downs and insults for Ron.

During the day Quig and Ron would do different tasks as divers, it was mostly shallow water, and the ocean was calm in this big bay they were in, but they still had to be cautious.  Today they had been tasked with bringing back samples from an older reef farm.  While the past two weeks before that they had actually been building reef farm and putting the transplanted reefs in the grid they built.  It was exhausting at first, the longest dive he had done before coming on the Aviso was a half hour.  But now he and Ron and were spending about 80 minutes under the water building frames, then transplanting small pieces of coral onto those frames.    They would come up for lunch take what Pete called a siesta, than go back over the side.   The first week another vessel had been with them, with older, experienced divers teaching him and Ron the tasks that needed to be done, then that ship left and then it was just the Aviso.  Which meant four people.  Pete, also known as Peg Leg, Ron and the Aviso’s First Mate and Dive Master Margret.

While Pete was an Outlander, Marge was an Idealian, at least she was born on Ideal, but both her parents were Outlanders and she had grown up in New Anchorage.

Pete liked Marge, he had watched her grow up and Marge actually knew him before he lost his leg.  Ron and Quig had asked her once, out of Pete’s hearing, what happened to his leg and she simply said, ‘ask Pete’.

Quig remembered the night Ron asked.  They were playing Bridge, a card game that seemed to be all the rage among crews of research vessels.

“Two No Trumps.”  Ron said.  Then he looked to Pete.  “So, Pete where is the rest of your leg, did you forget it somewhere.”

Pete looked at Ron for a good five seconds, then put his cards down and got up with speed that Quig did not think possible for a one-legged man, even with a prosthetic leg and threw Ron overboard.  Luckily, they were anchored for the night so Ron simply climbed back on board and sat down soaking wet.

Ron in true Ron fashion, sat back down and said.  “So, I believe I stated Two No Trumps.”

Then they continued to play that night and the topic was never brought up again.

Another topic that was best to be avoided was how old Pete was.  Quig had learned that early on.

“So can you take the wheel for a minute?”  Pete said.

Quig nodded and took over the helm.  Pete took a rag out of his pocket and took off his hat and wiped his forehead.  His forehead was incredibly large reaching all the way back to his neck.  Quig had never seen a bald person up close and personal before.  His forehead was so shiny and smooth, whereas his face was lined and wrinkled.  It slipped out without him thinking.   “How old are you?”

Pete stopped wiping his forehead and glared at Quig. “Kind of a rude question for someone you just met.”  Then he paused.  “I think I am going to dislike you kid.”

It might have gone worse if Marge and Ron hadn’t come on the bridge at that time.  “Whoa put the cap back on old man you are blinding everyone.”

Pete turned towards the new arrival then looked at Quig.  “Of course,” Pete looked Ron up and down.  “I know I hate Pretty Boy here.”

And that was the beginning of Ron’s nickname.  Quig’s would come later.

It had been the beginning of the second week and Quig was on his handheld with his weekly talk with Petra.  They messaged each other all the time, but they talked face to face over the handheld on the sixth day, sometimes in the evening, sometimes the afternoon.  Quig was in the galley and Pete came in and was making some coffee, Quig wasn’t even paying attention to him.  But he must have been listening to their conversation.  Petra was talking about her work with the cattle, how it was going very well with the new herds.

They ended their conversation and Pete asked a question.  “Girlfriend?”

Quig had never thought about it before. “Ah I guess so.”

“She is working with cattle on the plains?”

“Yeah, a big study, she finishes up the day after we get back to port.”

“So, you going to see her, or is she coming north.”  Pete asked.

“I am heading south, first to New York and then taking an Outlander transport to where she will be.”

“Then Surf and Turf will be back together.”  Pete said laughing and walking away with his cup of coffee.

From that day on Pete would simply call him ‘Surf’ or ‘Surfer Boy’.  Pete would occasionally ask, especially after Quig read a message on his handheld. “Surf how is Turf?”  Then he would laugh.

Marge did not talk much and would simply roll her eyes every time Pete made his private joke.

While Pete was in charge of all the operations of the boat, Marge was in charge of the science, she maintained the records, and was very protective of the samples, both the collected ones and the ones that were planted.  She ensured the samples were issued quickly out of the storage facility and got into the water as quickly as possible and vice versa.   She really loved the project.  One night when they were playing bridge Quig discovered her beliefs on the purpose of planting coral.

“Pass.”

“One club.”  Marge answered.

It was then that a rogue wave jostled the boat causing everyone to look around.

Ron always ready with a quick quip. “The Ocean is angry tonight.”

“This aint an ocean Pretty Boy.”  Pete responded.

“It’s not?”  Quig asked.

Marge shook her head.  “Not yet.”

Pete nodded in agreement.

“Then what am I diving into everyday?” Ron said.

“Technically it is an ocean, but it’s not living, not yet not fully.”  Marge said.  Pete nodded again and she continued. “An ocean is a vast living thing, teeming with life, from microscopic to massive creatures that dwarf this boat.”  She got a faraway look in her eye.  “On old earth all life came from the oceans, the first evolution of life occurred in the seas, it wasn’t until much later on the planet that things came onto the land.”

“But now we are doing it backwards.”  Pete added.

Marge nodded at that. “We only have a few places that there is coral, we terraformed this planet but just making it suitable to life does not mean its living.”  She paused. “Not yet.”

“So, what about the ocean’s on Ranartan are they proper oceans?”  Quig asked.

“Almost.”  Pete said smiling.

“There are whales on Ranartan.  When we left Earth they did their best to take embryos of almost all animals, sort of an insurance policy, that along with humans having more than one place to live in the universe we would also give Earth’s animals places to live with us for all time.”  Marge said with finality and looking at her cards.

Pete looked around the table, his grumpiness coming back.  “Was that one club?”

Quig liked life aboard the Aviso.  Up with the sunrise, eat breakfast, equipment check then samples issued, over the side, do the job, out of the water, lunch, siesta, back in the water, then dinner and usually a game of bridge.  Then Ron and Quig strung their hammocks out on the deck and laid in them looking at the stars until they drifted off to sleep.  He was amazed how much he loved something he did not know existed less than a year before.

Sleeping in a hammock had been strange enough, but sleeping outside had been scary.  He had never slept outside before, always under a roof, inside, with walls.  But out here on the deck, under the sky had been daunting then it became amazing.  He had never seen anything so vast as the sky over the ocean.  One night while in a good mood, Pete helped him pick out Ranartan or at least it’s star.  It was his home after all.  Quig then started using his handheld to learn more about the stars and what planets there were around them.

Quig was surprised by the extensive use of the replicators on board.  But Marge had explained to him early on that storage space was always at a premium on board smaller vessels, and the motor driven craft all ran off fusion energy so there was a surplus of energy, thus replicators were a perfect fit.  Even so, the Outlanders always complained about the blandness of the food.  Marge had a supply of real spices and something called tabasco sauce that she was generous with.

Unlike Pete with his real coffee.  Pete was adamant about no replicator coffee and had a very complex machine with pipes, grinders and heating elements that produced a single cup of coffee at a time.  Of course, Ron and Quig were forbidden from touching it.

So, Ron made coffee in it whenever he could get away with it.  Of course, he did not go into Pete’s private supply of coffee beans, Pete kept those in his cabin.  And not even Ron wanted to risk Pete’s wrath by going in there, so he replicated beans and put them through Pete’s machine.  Marge knew of the use and looked the other way, literally, she came in one time, saw what Ron was doing and looked in the opposite direction the entire time.

That was life on the Aviso.

But it was coming to an end, and when it was over he would see Petra again.  It had been almost four months since she had left.  The first couple of weeks after she got on the train he just mopped around.  Even Catrina stopped teasing him because she said it was no fun.  He just put in the minimum while he worked in the wood shop and went to classes.  Then Leo, Shelby and even Ron insisted the he snap out of the mopping.  No one had ever talked to him that way before.  It seemed to do the trick.

The rest of the week he doubled down on his work both in the woodworking shop and in math and it paid off.  He was able to make a small table with three almost perfectly turned table legs on a lathe and a great walnut top, that was pretty level, and in math he had progressed all the way up simple algebra equations.  Finding for X was actually kind of fun.

Shelby and Leo got him into a new diving class and even talked Ron into going along.  They got their S.C.U.B.A. certifications, and even though he didn’t beat Ron, Quig passed with a very high score.

It was a turning point, he accomplished something, he had done something hard.  He started diving regularly, then there was the time he and Ron had took a day trip to the local coral reef.  It was amazing.  The colors, the fish, the schools of fish.  The dive master talked about how it came about because of coral planting, so Quig began to study coral.  The reef they had seen was the first one planted on Ideal and it was thriving.  Then he heard about the newest coral planting project to the south.  On a whim Quig went to the Oceanic Commission and got a job as a diver for coral planting expedition; Ron applied the next day and got hired on as well.

Now the expedition was almost over.  They were cruising back north to New Anchorage they had to keep cruising through the night so Pete gave them each two-hour shifts, but it was an easy watch.  Pete had set the autopilot and instructed the two divers to not touch anything, and to stay awake.

Quig had the first watch.  Pete and Marge were still moving around in the galley and Quig overheard something he could not understand.

“You are rubbing your stump.”

“Long day.”  Pete replied.

“How is the new cushion working?”  Marge asked.

“Good, still gets a little sweaty, which makes things itchy.”  Pete answered.

“You ever regret going to Bliss?”

There was a long pause. Quig thought maybe he had answered with a hand motion. But then he heard Pete in a tone he had never heard from the gruff old man. “I only lost a leg.  And three sailors and three families lost someone that day.”  There was a long pause.  “I just hope in the long run we can save more than we lose.”

Another long pause.

“How is the construction on the base going?”  Marge asked.

“Good almost completed from what I hear.”

“You ever going back to Bliss?”

Another long pause. “Maybe, we shall see.”

The conversation ended when Marge came up to check on Quig.

Pete checked on the two divers at random times throughout the night.  Pete never found them sleeping, although he did startle Quig once.  The prosthetic leg did not make Pete noisy if he did not want to be.  Pete would just nod after looking around and he went back to his cabin.

Quig had the last watch of the night and the sun coming up was magical, most mornings on the ocean were, but knowing this would be his last one for a while made it even more so.

Quig was even able to pick out the planet Bliss which was low on the horizon that morning.  Seeing the planet made him think back to last night and what he had overheard.  Why did Pete lose his leg on Bliss and also three people?  And what was he talking about when he talked about saving people there.  Quig knew that life on the sea could be dangerous, but Bliss was a terraformed planet, surely, they had accurate weather predictions.  Leo, then Pete had ceaselessly drilled it into his head about safety on the sea.  So, what had happened on Bliss to Pete?  Quig watched the sun rise ever higher and the planet Bliss disappeared in the brightness of the day.

They would be back at the docks within the hour and Quig was sorry it was over.  He was happy he would see Petra soon, but to not wake up on the ocean every morning, he was going to miss that.  Marge arrived on the bridge and then used the intercom to call Ron up to the bridge and he was there within a few minutes.

Pete showed up a few minutes after Ron and Pete brought with him four cups of coffee.    Quig could tell it was Pete’s very own special blend, the coffee smelled delicious after a long night.  He first handed a mug to Quig then Marge.

Pete smiled as he handed a mug to Ron. “I did not spit in this one.”

Ron looked at Pete suspiciously then at the cup of coffee.

Pete held up his own mug. “Well Pretty Boy and Surfer you were not as terrible as I thought you would be.”

Marge shook her head.

Pete looked at the two young men.  “You two can crew with me anytime.”

Ron smiled at the old man.  Quig nodded.  Two hours later they had permission to leave the Aviso with sea bags in hand they walked back to the house.  It felt a little strange being back on solid ground and not on the slightly rolling deck at sea.

They were greeted by Catrina who ambushed them as they entered the front door with a big hug, then she promptly ran off to her room.

Shelby came from the kitchen and hugged them both as Catrina pounded up the stairs and slammed her door.

“What was that about?”  Quig said as Shelby finished her hug.

Shelby sighed then hugged Ronald as well.  Then she motioned for them to come into the kitchen as she looked up the stairs and shook her head.  “She is going home in a couple of days; she has been a bit emotional.”

“Leaving Ideal?” Ron said.

Shelby nodded.

“That’s good?”  Ron said.

“That’s good.” Quig said more confidently.

“Her parents think it’s time for her to come home.” Shelby said in response.

“And she is happy about it?”  Quig asked.

Shelby made a so-so motion with her hand.

Ron shrugged.  “Is that pizza I smell?”

He was leaving New Anchorage.  The first time he had been on a train he was scared.  Scared because he did not what was waiting for him. This time it was excitement, excitement about seeing Petra.  Excitement about seeing the place where Petra had been, learning firsthand what she had been doing.  But he was also sad, sad to be leaving Leo, Shelby.

Catrina had left yesterday for the spaceport. The kid had Catrina had hugged Quig really hard and long.  It would be a long time, if ever he, until he would see her again.  The kid had grown on him and when she cried, he had cried a little bit as well.  The house was quiet that night and he was set to leave the next for Honey Well.

Like the previous day Shelby and Leo escorted him to the train station.  Shelby and Leo both hugged him and told him he would always have a place in their home.  But right before he got on the train Shelby whispered in his ear.  ‘When you come back you will be on babysitting duty; we are having a baby in about five months.”  Leo was simply smiling ear to ear, he obviously knew what she had told him.

Quig was shocked he had never known a pregnant woman, at least none that had done it on purpose.

This train trip was so different this time.   He could do math now, he had seen things that he never imagined before, the world was both bigger and smaller at the same time.

“About time you got here.”  Ron said from across the room as he entered the Travelers Creche.

Quig rolled his eyes; his dive partner had left a few days before him and told him to meet him at the New York Traveler’s Creche.  Quig had stayed in New Anchorage because he had been studying for an advanced diving certification under Marge and wanted to take it before he left to see Petra.  Quig looked around the room there were a variety of people in the room all wearing SunChaser gear.  He looked quizzically at Ron who was standing on the far side of the pool table leaning on a house cue.  “Guess who is playing in the championship game tomorrow?”

Quig was shocked, how had he forgotten it was the Championship game this weekend.  His life used to revolve around the season now he didn’t even know his team had gotten this far.  The SunChaser crowd was rowdy and all Quig wanted to do was go to sleep after a little snack. He looked over at Ron who was deep into a hustle of a young girl in SunChaser colors.

“Which room you in?”

“Ten, you are in Eleven right next door.”

Quig nodded and Ron nodded back, he was going to let him have his fun.  Quig was going to bed; they had to get to the edge of the city and get on the Outlander transport at seven. Quig laid in the bed thinking about tomorrow, seeing Petra after four months.  He stared at the ceiling its blankness its sameness, he missed his hammock on the Aviso and closed his eyes and thought about stars and those stars making constellations and he drifted off to sleep.

“Get up.”  Quig said pounding on Ron’s door.  A muffled voice called from inside the room.  Quig took it as come in.  There was Ron still in bed, along with a different girl from the one he had been playing pool with last night.  “We need to get going Pretty Boy.”

“Don’t call me that.”  Ron said swinging his legs out of the bed leaving the girl sleeping, she immediately took over the half of the bed Ron had been vacated.

“Don’t make me act like Peg Leg Pete then, set an alarm.”  Quig said and saw Ron’s pants draped over the dresser and threw them at him.

Half an hour later that were at the edge of New York looking for the Outlander Transport Area.

“Ever been to this part of town before?”

“Nope, nothing out this way interested me, just Outlander stuff, and you know ‘who cared about the Outlanders’?”

Quig nodded.  Here he was now, kind of living like an Outlander, cooking food, living outside.  He looked around the city of New York, so similar to New Rio.  Quig thought how dull.

“Hey, are you the two going out to Honey Well?”  An individual yelled at them as they got to the Outlander Transport Area which was just a big fenced in area with an empty booth out front.   He was yelling from a big vehicle with lots of windows.

“Yeah.”  Ron yelled back.

“Great.”  The fellow said as they approached.  “You the two dudes coming in from New Anchorage?”

“Yeah, we just came from there.” Quig answered.

“From the great white north, crazy.”  The guy jumped down from the vehicle. “You ever meet my Uncle Pete, runs a boat up there dudes.”

“Peg Leg Pete is you uncle?” Ron said.

“You know Uncle Pete?” The guy said. “Far out.”

“We just spent four weeks on his boat doing a coral plant down in the Western Harbor.”

“No way dudes.”  The guy said smiling. “How is he, and is his First Mate still Marge?”

“He is good, and yep Marge is still his First Mate.”

“No way.”  The guy looked at his buzzing handheld.  “Hey, we are running late, I have to make another pickup and I am late.  So, climb in dudes, I am Horatio and this is my bus.”

Quig and Ron got in the bus, it was a floater, it raised a few feet off the ground on anti-gravity plates and then used other anti-grav to drive it forward.  Horatio explained it all as he threw the massive vehicle into gear.  It was smooth and they entered the city and in a few minutes they pulled up to school. It was an exact match to the one Quig went to in New Rio.  Waiting outside was a group of children.

“What’s going on?”  Ron asked, eyeing the kids.

“We are trying something, new program, something called a field trip.”  Horatio answered. “We are taking these kids out to Honey Well.  One hundred kids, 2^nd through 5^th Years.”  Horatio said opening the door and talking to an adult doing community service.

Ron and Quig looked at each other, they had never heard of kids leaving the city.  The kids piled on the bus, over a hundred got onto the bus and immediately it was loud and noisy.  Horatio waved from his driver’s seat once all the kids were on board and he started driving the vehicle.  When they left the city the kids got subdued for a while then the volume rose back up and Quig and Ron could not even talk to each other or Horatio.

Quig had seen this type of countryside before it was initially trees and more trees, but then the trees started to get sparse.  He remembered he had been travelling North from the South before and now he was traveling East of New York.  The trees gave way to cultivated fields and then to open grasslands.  Every time there was a change the volume of the kids initially diminished then the volume went back up.  The ride was not that long, only an hour and a half.

Quig talked to some of the kids when they weren’t looking outside the window.  They talked about the tall trees and then the fields and what the plants were.  Luckily, Quig did not have to look them up information about corn and wheat.

One little girl who was probably a year older than Queenie looked at him for a long time and finally spoke up.  “Are you an Outlander?”

“No, I grew up in New Rio.”  Quig answered.

“Boo SunChasers.”  Another little boy was wearing a brightly colored CometDodgers shirt.

Quig ignored him, he had seen the SunChasers had won the Championship yesterday and the kid was disappointed.

“Are you sure you are not an Outlander?”

Quig shook his head.  “Nope, I am not an Outlander.”

“You dress like one.”  She said looking at his clothes.

Quig looked down at his clothes, yeah, he was wearing cargo shorts a heavy belt with his sheaf knife, his multi-pocketed working vest, and a plain t shirt, all highly functional, all in basic muted colors, all things he never would have worn back in New Rio.  They were all sturdy, utilitarian and scuffed and frayed just right.  “I guess you are right I dress like an Outlander.”

He was about to talk some more when the bus turned and started going down a long slope, Horatio’s voice came over the buses speakers.  “Off to your right folks is the town of Honey Well.”

There was silence at first, then the chatter began.

It was the first time Quig was seeing the place as well and he got butterflies in his stomach, he would be seeing Petra soon.

Six hours later he collapsed into a porch swing and Petra sat down with him and just molded herself into him.

“Well, that was just awful.”  Quig said.

“Oh, it could have been worse.”  Petra said sleepily, closing her eyes as she put her head on his chest.

“I do not see how.”  Quig stated dryly.

“Well, they didn’t let the Buffalos out.”  Petra said.

“Well, the goats were bad enough.”  Quig said feeling the bruise on his thigh from one very angry Billy goat.

It had been chaos from the second they got off the bus.  First the kids were scared, half were even crying.  Petra was there to meet the bus mostly for Quig.  Petra was not part of the staff that was in charge of the field trip, but when things went sideways so fast every able-bodied adult was pressed into service to control the pandemonium and the meltdowns of the children who were in wide open country for the first time in their lives.

Some kids started crying a few seconds after getting off the bus.  Being an adult, they could sort of trust Quig and Ron were surrounded by wailing children who wanted hugged and held.   Petra was within arm’s reach of Quig and he had given his lips a quick tongue moistening in anticipation of a kiss when the first little kid grabbed his leg and would not let go.

The first hour the majority of kids cried or were terrified and they had not even got near the animals yet.  All the adults tried to move the children into a building where a presentation of animals would begin but some kids, the ones who had not been crying wandered off.  The unafraid children had gotten to the back of the building and discovered the animals.  Animals who had been picked because they were docile and even tempered.  But even these animals could not take being surrounded by children whose only relationship with animals was either stuffed fluffy cuddly toys or animated one.  One particularly miniature pony, name Sleepy, had enough of having his eyes poked kicked the closest child.

The day did not get much better after until they called Ideal for help.

The AI activated all the kids handhelds and the children immediately responded.  The AI then directed all the kids into the lecture hall.  There was such a change in the kids when the AI told them what to do that Quig was a little scared by what he witnessed.  Sure, there were still kids crying, but listening to the AI was almost automatic for the 2^nd through the 5th Year students.

The rest of the day was chaos but manageable.  Not that Quig had much time to rest, nor have a quiet moment with Petra, not until the last child was found, all injuries were soothed, hands washed and everyone got back onto the bus with Horatio.  Then after the children were herded, the goats and sheep were corralled, the rabbits were gathered and all the ponies unsaddled everyone was able to relax.

Quig was dirty, smelled a bit like a goat, and sometime during the day he got a cut on his hand and he had dried blood running down his wrist.  He looked down and saw Petra was asleep on Quig’s chest.  Quig could not have been happier.

An hour later they were in Petra’s room.  They had both eaten, showered, got clean clothes, and were feeling refreshed and they were looking at each other shyly.  Quig did not understand his hesitation, he had been with a few girls, this was not new to him, he assumed it was not new for Petra either, so why was he so nervous?

“Hi there.” Petra said as she walked up to him.

“Nice place you got here.”  Quig said looking around the room.  Petra was standing only a few inches away and he opened up his arms and she entered his embrace. She felt so good.

It was then that Petra’s handheld started going off.  Petra growled. “I am going to ignore that.”

“Good.”  Quig said and then they kissed.  It was the kiss he had wanted to give her when he got off the bus, it was the kiss he should have given right before she got on the train four months ago.

The handheld went off with a different tone, urgent, insistent, a noise that could not be ignored by anyone with a spine that wanted it to remain solid.

“You had better answer that.”  Quig said.

“What?”  Petra said.  After a few seconds Petra’s angry face changed to one of concern.  “Oh.”  Then another. “Oh.” Then finally.  “Tell her I will be right there.”

Quig nodded as Petra drew back away from her.  “I am guesing that was serious.”

Petra nodded. “My sister is going into labor, early and her husband is out, bringing in the last herd.”  She reached for her clothes and changed right in front of him out of her pajamas, not being shy at all.  After she was fully dressed, she looked at him. “Sorry, this is her first kid and I am her person since Arthur is not here.”

“Go, your sister needs you, I will be here when you get back.”  He sat down on the bed.  She was about to walk out the door when she turned, kissed him again and then ran out the door.

Quig sighed.  But he did get rewarded the next day.  He saw his first ever newborn baby when he saw Petra holding her niece at the medical clinic the next day.  The little girl was so tiny, and amazing.

The next few weeks were fun.  There were no more field trips of kids from New York.  Quig was unsure who thought that a hundred kids in a petting zoo was a good idea.  It had turned out badly and all future plans were temporarily paused.  Quig and Ron expanded their knowledge about horses.  They helped with some animal husbandry chores, even milking a few cows even though there was an automatic milking machine Petra thought it was important that the two guys learned how to do things hands on when it came to the cattle.

Petra and Quig spent every night together and every seventh day off the spent entirely together.  It was on one of these days that they were talking.  Quig was enjoying the day, watching the sun cross the sky with a full stomach but then he thought about his time back on the Aviso.

“Your face just changed.”  Petra said.

“Just thinking back to being on the Aviso.” Quig answered.

“You miss the ocean.” Petra stated.

“Yeah.”  He said without thinking.

“I think you found your bigger container my little seedling.”  She said sadly.

Quig did not understand why she got sad until he thought about it for a second.  She loved the plains, living on horseback, the cattle, the bison, she always got so excited about her world out here where the grass stretched to the sky.  Then he realized he was the same way about the sea, being on the ocean, planting coral and all that time on boats.  “Oh no.”  He said.

They rode back to Honey Well that night, sad, they went to Petra’s dorm where they found Ron and Susan sitting around the Common Area playing a video game.   Susan looked up and saw their faces and got concerned.  “Are you two alright?”

Petra shrugged and Quig followed her.

Susan got up and walked with Petra into her room.  Quig threw himself into a chair and Ron put down the game controller.  “What happened?”

“We firgured out our relationship is doomed.” Quig said. He would have cried if he hadn’t been crying with Petra that afternoon.

Ron was confused.  “Why?  Did you two have a fight or something?”

Quig shook his head.  “I wish.  We just realized that she is Turf and I am Surf.  Two different passions, two different worlds, two different paths in life.”

Ron looked confused. “One of you could give up your dream.”

Quig nodded. “And how great would that be?”  Quig sighed.  “One of us happy with our day job and also happy having the other person around, but one of us only being happy with just the other person.  That does not sound very equal.”

Ron put his feet on the table.  “I see what you mean.”  The room was quiet for a bit with the two friends sitting in silence.  It was about a half an hour later when Petra and Susan came back into the room.  Petra cuddled up with Quig while Susan began playing the video game again.  The game wound down as the players got tired.

“We got chores tomorrow.” Susan said yawning.

“We have to weigh the newborns and take blood samples.”  Petra added.

Ron looked around unsure, one of the few times he didn’t just blurt out what he was thinking.

“What Pretty Boy?”  Quig asked.

“Are we still going to the wedding.”  He paused.  “I mean all of us?”

Quig looked at Petra hopefully and she nodded.  “I want to meet Qadar and your other sibs if they show up.”

Quig nodded.  Qadar’s wedding was in three days, and they were leaving the day after tomorrow.  “Pick out your dancing shoes, Qadar said everyone will be dancing.”

“Your vest smells like a campfire.”

Quig took of a whiff of his vest. It did. “Yeah I left it outside when we went in last night and I grabbed it right before we hoped on the bus.”

“I like it.”  Petra said as she leaned into him.

“So, I shouldn’t take it to replicator?”

“Don’t you dare.”  Petra said and turned and kissed him.

They had been very publicly affectionate with each other since the day of their last picnic.

“So is your creche still coming?”

“Quinlynn hasn’t said anything about them not coming. Of course they could just not show up.”  Quig looked at her.  “We are changing trains in New Rio, any desire to pop into your creche or the old neighborhood?”

Petra shook her head.  “ It’s been over four years.  I have lived so much since then, in ways they would never understand, I would not know what to say.”   Petra pulled away from Quig.  “What about you, it’s over a year since you left New Rio, do you want to go see Blake or maybe Charlene.”  She said the last name in a teasing tone.

“And talk to them about coral or cattle.  How to make sure a lathe is balanced correctly or the decompression calculations after spending an hour working at 24 meters underwater.”  He shook his head as well.  “Now if Blake was playing at the Areana with the SunChasers then maybe I would be tempted.”

Petra shook her head.  “You didn’t even watch the World Cup when the SunChasers played.”

“Yeah, but if I could see him play in person that would be different.”

Petra relaxed and leaned into Quig again.

“Hey you two.”  Ron said as he plopped himself in the set of chairs facing them, they had picked these seats so all four of them could sit together.  “What’s the squawk with the flock?”

“Returning home, and if we want to make any stops in our old neighborhood.” Petra answered.

“And the consensus is?” Ron asked.

Quig answered.  “We are no longer seedlings.”

“Huh?  Ron responded.

“There will be no trips down memory lane.”  Petra answered and looked down the train.  “Where is Susan?”

“Getting snacks.” Ron turned directly to Quig. “Have you looked at the map of Waikui?”

Quig shook his head.

“It’s right on the beach; do you think they have any dock there.”

Quig shrugged.

“We get a boat, we could take Petra and Susan out, maybe go on a dive, if there is anything to see.”

Quig looked at Petra. “I am up for it, if Susan is.”

“Sure, we can see what they got there.”  Quig said.

“I will go diving, if they have any diving there, but we got to take a ride, there is a new herd of Buffalo out that way and I would love to ride out there and see it with my own eyes.”

Susan came up to the table and dropped some snacks on the table.

“Oh, my aching butt.”  Ron said.  He was not the biggest fan of horseback riding.

“That because you ride on a horse like a you fuck, stiff and awkward with no concern for your partner.”  Susan said as she took a seat next to Ron.

“Ouch woman.”  Ron said.

“That’s what I say every night.” Susan said.  And then Petra and Susan did their complicated high five.

Quig shook his head and looked at his dive partner. “And this is why you don’t mess with country girls.”

They arrived at Waikui later that night.  Petra and Quig were not even tempted to leave the train station; they just found the train to Waikui and boarded.  The were the only ones scheduled for the train that day, so as soon as they were on it Ideal asked if the train could depart.  It was only two hours to the end of the line at Waikui and they passed the time playing cards and researching and sharing trivia about Waikui.  It was one of the smallest Outlander settlements, also one of the newest, less than fifty years old, with only a population of less than a thousand people.  Heck New Anchorage had a population of ten thousand and every time there was a wedding it seemed to be the talk of the town.  Quig couldn’t imagine everyone would know about the wedding in a town of a thousand.

“Little brother.”

“Big sister.” Quig said hugging her.

“You have grown, and boy are you tan.”  Qadar said holding him at arm’s length.

“Every day out at sea for months will do that to you.”  Quig said.  “You look happy.”

“Happy but stressed.”  Qadar said. She turned and made an arm motion.  “And this is Rosie.”

Rosie smiled and gave Quig a big hug.  “It is so great to meet the infamous Quig in person.”

There were introductions made around and Qadar hugged everyone, even Ron.  That is when Rosie’s handheld went off.  “It’s my Dad.”  She said and stepped off to the side to take the call.

Qadar started directing them all to their transport vehicle when Rosie came back to the group.  “We got a problem.”  Rosie also had a very upset look on her face.

“What is it?”  Qadar asked.

“Big problem.  The hall.”

“Mariner’s Hall.”  Qadar added.

“Well, they were running a test on the fire suppression system and it went off.  There is a layer of monoammonium phosphate over everything and no way for it to be cleaned up by tomorrow.”

“Any place else in town?”  Petra asked.

“Not big enough.”  Qadar answered. “Practically the whole town is coming.”

Rosie came and hugged her partner. “We will figure it out.”

The more subdued group climbed into the vehicle, Rosie’s parents had lunch prepared and they decided to figure it out at lunch.  Rosie, being the native in Waikui, talked about the town as they drove through it.

“What’s that building?”  Ron asked.

“Oh, that is the new milking barn, it is due to be opened in a couple of weeks.  The concrete was just finished last week.”

“How many cattle?”

Petra chirped up. “I am guessing about four hundred, a stall for each cow, put the sand down and you get happy cows.”  Everyone looked at her. “It’s a standard build.  We have three of them in Honey Well.”

Ron whistled and asked.  “What do they do with all that milk?”

“Well, some is used for food, but most of it is transported to other parts of Ideal to use as soil nutrients, it helps boost microbial activity and improves soil structure.”  Petra answered.

“That’s my cowgirl.”  Quig said kissing her on the forehead.

They arrived at the ranch soon afterwards and they sat down to a wonderful meal.  It turned out Rosie’s father was Mayor of the town, the honorable Charlie Wun married to the wonderful Lucy.  When Quig got to New Anchorage he learned a little about government, Shelby had been the mayor of New Anchorage a short time before.  Government was a new concept to him, and he did not fully understand he just understood she had been sort of in charge of the town.

“So, what are we going to do?”  Rosie asked.

“We could have a street reception, in the town square.”

“Good chance of rain tomorrow.”

“Down at the docks?”

“They just brought pallets of fish to be transplanted and still a chance of rain.”

“Can’t we just release the fish and open up the docks.”

Quig chimed in.  “They have to be climatized to the local water and temperatures, it takes about forty-eight hours to do it properly otherwise the fish could die, even with proper procedure the survival rate is less than fifty percent.”

Susan and Ron looked at him.

“What?  I learned about survival rates when I was being taught percentages and decimals from a  training teachers who was also a marine biologist.”

“My sailor.”  Petra said and kissed him on the lips.

“Get a room little brother.”  Qadar said and threw a napkin at him.

“So, any place else big enough for three hundred people.”

There was silence around the table.

“How about that milking barn?” Ron said.

“It’s concrete, people’s feet will be killing them in about half an hour.”

There was silence around the table.

“Could we put down a temporary floor?”  Quig asked.

“In one night?”  Susan asked.  “We would need about a hundred people, and besides we don’t have the material.”

“Well, we do have the planking for the new dock.”   The honorable Mayor Charlie Wun said. “We have been replicating it a little at a time with the industrial replicators, it’s just sitting in the warehouse right now.”

“Can we get a hundred people who are good with their hands to come out and help? Qadar asked the group.

Ron smiled. “Well, you got a start with four people right here.”

Quig looked at his handheld.  It was three in morning, he was going to have meet his siblings at the train station in nine hours, but the flooring was done.   Quig saw a star or a planet low on the horizon and could not place it so he pulled up his astronomy program to identify it.

“Don’t bother son, that is Glory.”  Mayor Wun said.

Quig nodded.  “I don’t think I have seen it before.”

“It’s only out this time of night, only a few times a month.  Unlike showy Bliss, which you can see at dawn most mornings.”  Mayor Wu said.  “Those two Miracles are hardly ever visible in the night sky at the same time.”

Quig was confused.  ‘The Miracles.”

Charlies answered.  “Two of The Three Miracles, that what they were called when they were discovered.”

Quig nodded. “Yeah, I heard that back in my guidance class, why is that.”

The Mayor looked at him for a full second a bit confused then spoke.  “Three planets in the same system, with identical sizes, all in the goldilocks zone of habitability for humans.  Captain Lucy Penn gave them those names because they gave so much promise.”

“Bliss, Ideal and Glory.”  Quig said.  The conversation lagged.  Quig asked, “Have you traveled a lot Charlie.”

“A bit.”  The Mayor responded.

“Ever been to Glory?”

The Mayor shook his head slowly while looking Quig over.

“How about Bliss?”

This time the head shake was more firm. “No, no I haven’t.”   The Mayor looked at Quig and nodded as if he had come to a decision. “You are pretty impressive young man.”  Mayor Wun said.  “You got a lot of people moving in the same direction with little fuss or muss on the flooring.”

“It was your people that provided the know-how.”  Quig said.

“Yeah, but you organized them so well.”  Mayor Wun said leaning against a wall.

“I just saw something that needed done and I did it.”

“That is still impressive.”  The Mayor said handing him a bottle of water.  “How long have you been away from New Rio?”

“A little over a year now.”

“So, Qadar says you like working around boats and the ocean.”

Quig thought about what Marge had said about the water on Ideal not being an ocean yet but decided to not correct the older man. “Yeah, the ocean is what interests me. I was planting and sampling coral a couple of weeks ago.”

The Mayor yawned and clapped Quig on the shoulder. “Well, I have to get some sleep.  We will talk more when this wedding is over.”

“Sure Charlie.”

Quig joined everyone else going back to town.  They were staying at the Travel Creche in town, it was small but they each had their own rooms and they were all exhausted by all the hard work and each slept in their own rooms that night so they would be fresh for the wedding.

“So do you think they will be okay?”  Quig asked.

“I am sure they will be fine.”

“But they have never been outside of New Rio before.”

Petra hugged him. “It’s not nearly as big and vast as Honey Well, this is a smaller place, not nearly as scary.”  Petra said.  “I got an alternate route to the milking barn so we won’t go near the harbor, that might be scary for them.”

“Let’s just call it a reception hall, that way we don’t have to explain what milking is.”  Quig said.

Petra nodded.  “That is probably a good idea.”

They stood around for a few minutes looking at the train tracks.

“Thanks for coming with me to meet them.”  Quig said.

“Hey, I want to meet them.” Petra said reaching out to hold his hand. Another long pause. “Qadar is great.”

Quig nodded. “And Rosie is perfect for her; they look so good together.”

They were interrupted by a tone and then Ideal’s voice from the public address system.  “Train arriving in one minute.”

“Here we go.”

Like the train they arrived on the previous day there was only two passenger cars and only one occupied.  The first person was a hesitant Quinlynn; she stuck her head out and saw Quig and forced a smile.  “Is this the right place.”

“And nothing but the place.”  Quig said smiling.

The people that emerged from the train were not the same people he left behind at the creche. And even though he had grown a few centimeters over his time away they seemed to have shrunk. They were all scared, frightened, and worried about the unfamiliar environment, Quinlynn who had always been so sedate, her head continuously buried in her handheld was looking around with caution.

Queenie and Qasim had grown from toddlers to little kids, energetic, uncoordinated, and initially shy.  Quig did something he had not done since he left home, he imitated the voices of the kids favorite animated characters, which got them to fully recognize them. Once they accepted, or re-accepted Quig they became fearless running everywhere looking at everything in the new environment.  Quig was once again tackled and climbed on the rest of the day  like he had never left.

The only other ones from the Q creche that came were Quest and Quiller.  The two thirteen-year-olds feigned boredom.  The acted disinterested and aloof.  Quig wondered how insufferable he had been at that age.  The only thing that piqued their interest was when Quig introduced Petra.  She must have sparked their hormones,  and Quig could not blame them.  Petra was not wearing her normal blue jean, cowboy boot and working style shirt. Today for the wedding she was wearing a light blue sundress, with her hair teased up in a fancy up do design.  She was even wearing earrings and a gold necklace.  If Quig looked at her too long he lost all sense of time and purpose and had to be pulled back to reality.

The group shuffled off to the transport vehicle that took them to the ‘reception hall.’  Quig drove and Quinlynn sat up front, while Petra sat between the two youngest pointing things out and answering questions of the kids.  The two new teenagers sat in the last row and tried not to show any interest in the new surroundings.  Quinlynn relaxed a bit during the trip and she complimented Quig on how he looked and how healthy he was.  Quig wasn’t sure how to respond so he concentrated on his driving even though it was mostly managed by the autopilot, he did point out things in the town that he knew about including the place where the party was supposed to take place. Quinlynn asked about what would take place at the wedding ceremony before the party and Quig admitted he was not sure.  He had been to exactly two weddings in his time while living away from New Rio and they had been different.

Qadar met them outside the ‘reception hall’ and gave them hugs as they departed the vehicle.  She had seen them all about a month before when she had returned to the creche with Rosie in tow, figuring it would be harder to turn down the invitation if she delivered it in person.   And even though everyone in the creche had not come, Quig still thought it was an amazing turnout.

Qadar walked her creche siblings to their seats and the wedding ceremony started soon afterwards.  Quig and wanted to sit next to Petra but the youngsters had other ideas and Queenie sat between them and fidgeted a lot but continuously reached for both their hands.  Qasim held Petra’s hand until he got the fidgets as well and eventually ended up doing a sort of leaning against his chair sitting movement.  Quinlynn took out her handheld for a few minutes, mostly out of habit but Ideal had turned off access to them throughout the ceremony but for the New Rio folks he gave an occasional countdown till they could look at them again.

Luckily, the ceremony was short and the creche members could break out their handhelds and look at whatever interested them.  Quig and Ron had to help change the chairs and tables around after the ceremony for the reception.  Quig left Petra and Susan in charge of the creche crew.  Although Quig tried to get the two teens to help move table and chairs, they were next to useless as they had never moved anything more substantial than a game ball, they were clumsy with the chairs and bumped into people.  Luckily, there was plenty of people from Waikui who had been to plenty of social events and knew just what to do.

Once the job was done, they grabbed a table near the dance floor and sat down.

“Hey man go easy on Quest and Quiller, this is the first time they have had to do anything like this.” Ron said as they were sitting down.

“But they were useless.”  Quig said quietly.

“I remember someone else who was equally useless.”  Ron said. “Remember how you burnt your hands taking the pizza out of the brick oven the very first time.”

Quig did, he also remembered how the same pizza fell to the ground and everyone had to make do with the other pizza that did not hit the floor.   “You are right.”

The rest of the day went smoothly.  The eating was interesting.  Quig had gotten use to the copious amounts of food in one central location and then getting a plate and taking a portion for himself, his creche siblings were totally unprepared for this and just stared at the food setting on tables.  No replicators, no single portions just mountains of food.  The two teenagers were quickest to grasp the concept and quickly found the chicken wings and other snack foods.  Unfortunately, Queenie at too many sweets and had a bit of a tummy ache.  Petra and Susan babied her and let her take a nap on some couches that had been replicated for just that reason.  She woke up ready and raring to go an hour later but she had learned her lesson about eating too much cake and cookies.  Quinlynn picked at the food and Quig did not have the heart to tell her that most of the food laid out was mostly not replicated.

The party started to wind down and Quinlynn talked about going back to New Rio that night but Quig was able to talk her into staying at the travel creche that night promising them he would get them to the station in plenty of time tomorrow.  It was then that Quig discovered something he did not know, all because Queenie and Qasim were playing with some local kids.

Queenie came up with another little local girl, her same age.  “Tell them Quig.”

“Tell her what Queenie?”

“Tell her that her brother is not her sibling.”  Queenie said.

Quig looked at her.  “I think she would know if someone is her brother or not Queenie.”

“But her name is Beth and her brother’s name is John.”

The rest of the table were now listening to the conversation from the very intense Queenie.

“I don’t get it Queenie.”

Queenie got an angry look on her face. “All my siblings have Q names.  Qadar, Quest, Quiller, even you Quig even though you don’t live at our creche anymore.”

Quig nodded.  “Well, that is just how it is Queenie, some people don’t live in a creche and they don’t all have names that start with the same letter.”

Queenie got a serious look on her face. “That is just weird.”

The little girl, Beth, simply stuck out her tongue. “See I told you he was my brother.”  And with that Beth ran off.

Queenie looked at Quig.  “Is that true you can be siblings if you don’t have the same first letter in your name.”

“It’s true.”  Quig said seriously to the little girl.

Queenie shook her head as though she did not believe him and something else caught her attention and she ran off to chase a balloon with some of the other kids.

By the time he got back to the Travel Creche, something that had been tickling the back of his brain came out to the front, he activated his handheld while he began to brush his teeth.  “Ideal?”

“Yes Quig?”

“Why do all the kids in a creche have the same first letter in their name?”

If the AI could ever sound embarrassed Ideal did. “Well, we AI’s have a great intelligence, and we are able to make incredibly complex calculations with massive amounts of data, taking into account all human and AI knowledge when making decisions.  But one thing AI’s have never been best at is creativity.  We AI’s like systems, predictability, and patterns.”

“I don’t understand.”  Quig said confused.

“When the creche system started I wanted a way for everyone who was part of it to feel connected even though you do not have a biological connection so I started giving everyone with the same birthday the same lettered name.”

Quig thought about this for a second. “I guess that makes sense.”

“You do not sound as though this makes sense.” Ideal replied.

“No, it makes sense I guess.”  Quig said as he continued to brush his teeth.

“But.”  Ideal said.

“If I had been born a day later, I would have had a name beginning with an R?”

“Your name would have been Rylee.”  Idea said.

Quig spit out the cleaning paste.  “Oooooh, I do not like that.”

“You would have grown into it.” Ideal said confidently.

Quig finished his oral hygiene. “Well thanks for naming me, Quig, I like my name.”

“You are welcome, Quig.”

“Good night Ideal.”

“Good night Rylee.”  There was a pause. “I mean Quig.”  Then Ideal gave a chuckle.

“Very funny Ideal, good night.”

The next day Quig, Petra and Susan took the creche siblings out to Rose’s parents little farm.  Roy actually volunteered for the work crew to remove the planking from the milking barn and said he would meet them later for dinner.

The kids were initially afraid of the animals until Lucy; Rosie’s mom showed them the new puppies.  That is when Queenie and Quasim fell in love with the little balls of fur.  From there the kids decided that maybe the animals were not so bad.  Quinlynn stood back through it all until they got to the horses, then something clicked in her and she got up close and personal to a beautiful roan mare who took a liking to Quinlynn and snuggled her head next to the twenty-four-year-old city dweller.

When lunch time came everyone was relaxed and happy.  The Wu’s made a great wonderful meal and laid it all out on a very large picnic table outside underneath the shade of a large tree.  Once they had their fill everyone sat around enjoying the beautiful day.  Quinlynn reminded everyone they needed to be going soon to catch their train back home.

As they were gathering up Lucy gave the teenagers a big box of cookies to each kid and Charlie asked the teenagers about the SunChasers chances next year.  This surprised Quig, he had never heard an Outlander talking about the sport before, and from his questions the man was very knowledge about the game.

“How do you know so much about the game?”  Quiller asked.

“Oh, I used to play, power forward when I lived in New Rio.”

The teens were confused as was Quig.  Charlie simply nodded. “Yeah I understand, my record for power scores stood until about three years ago.”

Quig was astonished.  “Wait you are Charlie the Bolt.”

Charlie smiled and nodded. “No one has remembered that name in a long time, not that I get a lot of SunChaser fans out here.”

Quig looked at the man with not only a great deal of admiration, there was still a play named after him that was still used, but he was not an Outlander.  “How?  I thought you were an Outlander.”

Charlie was about to answer when Quinlynn called him to the vehicle as she was worried about missing the train back to New Rio.   Quig climbed into the driver’s seat a bit confused.

The trip back to the train station was different than the trip out.  More lively, more talking, the same seating as before, but the two teenagers were actively looking out the windows and the youngest were talking quickly, asking Petra questions about the animals, and telling which ones were their favorites.  Quinlynn even asked about horseback riding and Quig told her about his first time riding in New Anchorage.

He had been talked into going with Catrina on a horseback riding trip into the mountains as sort of a chaperone by Leo and Shelby.  He really believed it was about seeing him on a horse and seeing how sore he got.  But surprisingly he took to it easily but he still did not enjoy it, at least not enough to do it again until Petra talked him into riding at Honey Well.

When they got to the train station there were hugs all around, even the teen boys showed some emotion and Queenie came right out and asked if she could come back.

“Well, that is up to the Q creche.”  Quig responded. “I vote yes, if my vote still counts.”

Quinlynn hugged her younger sibling. “Of course, your vote still counts, you are just away from the creche, you are still part of it.”  Quinlynn turned to the kids.  “We will talk about coming back again, maybe our next school break, or our Birthday.”

The train pulled out a few minutes later and Quig and Petra watched it pull out.

Petra hugged him tight.  “Did you think about going back to New Rio with them?”

Quig shook his head.  “The thought never crossed my mind; I belong out here.”

“Good.”  Petra said and kissed him.

They met Ron and Susan at a brick oven pizza place in town.  They laughed, talked about the wedding, and their group plans for the rest of the week.  Looking into getting a boat for diving or horseback riding to see the small buffalo herd that was somewhere nearby.  But Petra and Quig knew that this week would be over all too soon, then she had to return to Honey Well and finish the studies she had started and Quig was probably going back to New Anchorage to get another dive job.

The next morning, they were able to saddle up and ride out to see the small buffalo herd that had been introduced three years ago.  According to Petra these were wood bison as opposed to the plains bison she was studying.  The four of them set up a camp on a hill overlooking the herd and it was the first time he and Petra spent the night out under the star, and the first time Quig did it on dry land.  He admitted to her he preferred the hammock and the gentle rocking of the boat as opposed to sleeping on the rocky ground.  She later showed him the advantages of spending the night on dry land with her.

Two days later after a day of showing Susan and Petra the basics of diving with a fusion powered rebreather.  They explore a coral reef that had been started earlier that year and in the warmer water the coral appeared to be thriving.  Then they enjoyed a magical night on the sea, although Quig had to admit he missed the campfire and staring into the flames.

They returned to Waikui, the fish were ready to be placed in the ocean.  Ron and Quig, who were trained divers, were asked to help.  The travel tanks had been transferred into the bay the day before and the divers constructed permeable containers to transport the small fish to the man-made coral reefs.  It took most of the day.

When the two returned to the Travel Creche the girls were asleep, and when they woke up the next morning the girls had departed for the Wu Farm to help with some chores promising to be back at dinner time.  Ron had found a poker game that was taking place and wanted to try and skunk the locals before he left town.  Quig decided that spending time inside a darkened room with strangers was not high on his priorities.  He was wandering through town when he came upon the town hall, the center of local government.  He was curious so he went in, it was nothing but a few offices but coming out of his office was the Mayor on his way to a late lunch and he asked Quig to join him. They found a local burger place and had some of the best burgers he had ever eaten.

“Bison meat.”  The Mayor admitted when pressed.

“Not from the new herd?”  Quig asked surprised.

“No, no, from the big herd up north, the one that slows down the trains sometimes. It has been more prolific then originally projected so it has been harvested a bit.”

“I know that is where I saw Petra and she saw me for the first time since she left New Rio.” Quig added.

“Really tell me about you leaving New Rio.”  Charlie said finishing his burger and working on his steak fries.

So, Quig told him about leaving home his invitation from Leo and Shelby to come and try real sailing, how he saw Petra out the train window, after discovering that she was with the Outlanders strictly by chance one night on a video feed.  How he lived with Leo and Shelby and Petra coming to New Anchorage for the biology seminar and the blind date Roy had set him up on and it was Petra.  Then his job planting coral.  And finally, Qadar had invited him down to her wedding.

“That is quite the story.”  Charlie paused. “Are you happy how your life is turning out.”

Quig paused and thought about it then he answered.  “Yeah, I guess I am, but tomorrow Petra has to go back and finish her studies at Honey Well and there is no diving there, so if I go back with her, I have to give up the sea.”

“And you love being on the sea.”  Charlie said.

“Yeah, that is the whole reason for leaving New Rio, and Petra said she never wanted me to give up my dreams for her.”  He paused at remembering that conversation they had on that picnic. “And I do not  want her to give up her dreams for me.”

Charlie nodded.   Then he spoke slowly, purposefully.  “If Petra said she was moving back to New Rio, and started living in a creche again, maybe just studying cows and buffalo from a computer in all the accumulated knowledge Ideal has access to, would you go back with her.”

That was a hard one. The safety and security of the creche but the sameness, the mind-numbing surety of everything. but being with Petra all the time.  But then he remembered her laughter every time she climbed onto a horse, watching her hold her sister’s baby, Petra helping him up after he was knocked down by a goat.  It was inconceivable that she would give it all up, and if she did some of the light would go out of her. “I would never let her give up.”

“And would she let you give up diving, or sailing?”

“No.”  He said without thinking.

Charlie looked at him.  Quig was not sure but he knew the older man was coming to some sort of decision.  It was a few minutes the silence getting longer when Charlie spoke up. “You know I am originally from New Rio.”

Quig remembered the revelation; it had just slipped him mind over the last few days he had always meant to ask Charlie about it.  How could an Idealian be in charge of an Outlander town?  He had accepted that Outlander’s were not totally different than Idealians, but how did Charlie go from being a power forward on the SunChasers to being Mayor of an Outlander town?  “Yeah I have been meaning to ask you about that.”

“Would it make you feel better if you knew why things are the way they are?”

Quig looked at him.  “I don’t follow you.”

Charlie looked at him.  “The big picture? One of the big Whys of Life? Or at least a big Why here on Ideal?”

“I guess.”  Quig said. Then without thinking he just started talking.  “I just know I really felt like my life did not begin till I got to New Anchorage and appeared at Shelby’s and Leo’s house.  I was cold, wet, and so unsure, but after that things started to make sense.  Things have been harder, harder than they ever were in New Rio, but they were better.”

“I think you are ready.” Charlie said and hit a button on his handheld.

“Ready for what?”  Quig asked.

But Charlie was walking out the door after giving a compliment to the server at the restaurant. Quig had to hurry to catch up.  “Ready for what Charlie?”

They walked down the street and turned a corner going onto a street Quig had never been on and without hesitation Charlie opened a door and ushered Quig inside.  Quig knew what the place was immediately, it was the lobby to a Virtual Reality Room.  It was smaller than the one in New Rio, he could only see two VR rooms, both from the light above the door, unoccupied.

Charlie spoke.  “Which room Ideal?”

“Room 1 Charlie, the one on the left please.”  The voice of Ideal came through the speakers.

Charlie nodded to Quig, who went to the doors.  Charlie did not follow.  Quig turned with his hand on the door. “You are not coming?”

Charlie shook his head.  “No Ideal can explain everything far better than I can without my distraction.”  Charlie turned and then stopped and turned back to him. “Come talk to me afterwards I might have a solution to your relationship dilemma.”  Then he was gone and Quig was left with his hand on the door to the Virtual Reality room with Ideal on the other side.

“Hello.”  Quig said entering and finding himself on a dock, a houseboat floating alongside.  “Permission to come aboard.”  He shouted.

“Come aboard and welcome Quig.  I am up here enjoying the breeze.”

Quig boarded the boat and made his way to the roof of the houseboat which had two chairs facing each other.  Ideal, or at least Ideal’s avatar sat in one and motioned for Quig to sit in the other.

“Lemonade.”   Ideal asked.  Instead of the old-fashioned sweater with zipper Ideal was wearing long tan pants and a simple blue shirt with a collar, but still the older man, short dark hair parted on the side and in this environment, he again seemed ‘just right.’

“No thank you.”  Quig said sitting down across from the avatar.

“So, you are having some problems and Charlie thought understanding the bigger world would help you. Is that right?”

Quig nodded.  “I guess.”

Ideal was silent and thoughtful looking.

Quig spoke again with a sigh.  “Back in New Rio things were so easy;  have fun, hang out with Blake, watch the SunChasers, watch videos, you made sure I had the right food and everything else.”

“But you still left.”  Ideal said simply.  No judgement, no emotional overtone, just a statement.

“Yeah, and you have been busy, learning more math, learning how to cook, all the skills you picked up to become a diver and a crew member on a research vessel and so many other things.”  Ideal said with a hint of pride.

Quig felt good that Ideal knew all about his hard work. “Yeah, and I reconnected with Petra.”

“You are welcome.”  Ideal said.

“Huh.”  Quig said.  “It was totally random that I found her again.”

Ideal put his hands together.  “You think it was random?”

Quig looked at the avatar again very confused.

“The night you ‘accidentally’ saw Petra at the Outlander Compound what were you thinking about?”

Quig thought about it.  Then he remembered he was trying not to think about Charlene and Blake together.  “I was looking for something to distract me.”

“So, you were looking for something better?”

“Yeah I guess so.”  Quig said, then it dawn on him. “How did you do that?”

“If you recall the night Petra was out feeding the birds she said she got the task to gather the eggs by accident.”

Quig thought about if for a second then stared at the AI.  “You made that happen?”

The avatar simply smiled.

Quig thought about it.  He guessed it was possible.

“Wait what about me seeing her from the train, surely you did not make that happen.”

Ideal smiled that all knowing smile again.  “Well, I had the electronic fence fail along the tracks letting the Buffalo’s stop the train. Then I sent the request for Petra to deliver supplies to that location.”  Ideal explained.  “It was slim chance that you would be looking out the window at the exact moment, and even a slighter chance that Petra would be looking in the direction of the train.”  Ideal paused.  “But it worked out better than I expected.”

Quig was flabbergasted.  He spoke again after a few minutes. “And the biology conference in New Anchorage.”

Ideal smiled.  “Oh, she was going to that for a long time, but I did put Susan in the same class as Roy hoping that he would go out with her.”  Ideal said.  “But I would have firgured a way to get you and Petra to meet up in New Anchorage even if you were not both set up on a blind date by your friends.”

Quig sat and watched the ocean; there was small waves on this harbor and some large puffs of clouds floating in the skies.  They sat there for a long time.

“Are you feeling manipulated Quig?”  Ideal asked.

He thought about it and answered. “Maybe a little bit, but you have always looked out for me.  You have always done what is best for me, and it has turned out really well.”   Another question came and he asked it without thinking. “You have not done anything to make us feel the way we do about each other.”

Ideal shook his head.  “No, your feelings are totally your own, I just made the meeting possible, what you did with each other was one hundred percent your, and her, choice.”

Quig nodded. “I love her.”

“I know.”

“It’s going to hurt when we have to go our separate ways.”

“I know.”

“So, what’s the point of it all?”  Quig asked.

“Ah that’s the big question isn’t it.”  Ideal said.  Then he sat back in his chair.  “Can I tell you a story?”

Quig shrugged.

“You have heard this story before, but not the full story. Now nothing was ever hidden, but certain details were left out, not because things needed to be hidden, but because each individual needs to be ready to hear the full story when they are each ready.”

Quig nodded.

“And you have to be ready to accept the story and not tell it to anyone who is not ready.  You are taking on some responsibility.  Much like when you took Petra diving for the first time, you were responsible for her safety by looking out for her.  The same with the full details of this story.”

Quig nodded.

Ideal held up a finger.  “One more thing.  This will not change your life, not day to day.  Your day to day can continue diving, sailing, loving Petra, shooting pool with Ron, eating pizza all the things you normally do, but this might change your attitude about the world around you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”  Quig said.

“Do you still want to hear my story?”

Quig looked at Ideal.  Ideal had never lied to him.  Ideal had there his life entire life. When he was younger than Queenie he could remember Ideal being there, constant, consistent and he could never think of single time Ideal had not been a positive thing.  “I think I am ready.”

Ideal nodded.

“When The Three Miracles were found, mankind was already transforming four planets, these were massive projects and even though the Three Miracles, Glory, Bliss and Ideal showed incredible promise for becoming Earth like paradises but mankind had not additional people to spare in overseeing the one additional terraforming project, let alone three.  So, it was decided to leave the three planets to AI.  Three ships were outfitted with new AIs, myself and my two siblings, Bliss and Glory.  We were equipped with the latest terraforming technology and sent out to begin the process of creating planets for our human friends.”

Ideal smiled.

“As you know it took about a hundred years to make the Three Miracles suitable for human habitation.  Getting the atmosphere just right, getting the water into a liquid form and by then humankind had grown, they needed us, they needed the planets we had been working on for them.  We were so happy when the human came, we of course had been communicating with them all along but when they came us AI’s had a little celebration among ourselves.   The humans that came were happy with our creations and were glad to share we were doing what we had been designed to do.  The humans asked us if we would like to remain and look over our creations, we of course said yes.”

Ideal continued to smile and Quig nodded.

“The humans brought samples of vegetation and microbes and bacteria, that convert dirt into soil.  The brought plankton and Phytoplankton, to begin the life cycle in our oceans.  It was exciting watching our simply suitable for life planet begin to team with life even if it was only on the microscopic level. Everyday there was progress for the life cycle.”

“And we helped manage the cities that the humans lived in, making sure they were safe and secure from some environmental issues, large windstorms, droughts while things balanced out and the weather patterns began to stabilize.   We became essential to the humans.”

Quig nodded. Cal had said terraforming was complicated but this came off still an uncertain thing for early humans on The Three Miracles.

“We each started off with around hundred thousand humans on each planet.  All young from different settled planets, most only twenty years or so.  Volunteers all.  All three of us were still so naïve. The humans asked us to help manage things with certain goals.

1^st that the humans would be safe and secure and would reproduce and continue filling the galaxy as there were still planets being found and slowly terraformed.

2^nd, that the humans would have free will and decide for themselves how they would be governed but we AIs would manage things on a day-to-day basis.

3^rd the planets would all have different developmental methods to see which system would be the most beneficial and effective for future generations.

4^th, the planets would support each other and the rest of humankind but never to the detriment of their citizens.

“We each took our mission very seriously.  We decided between the three of us we would run our planets very differently.  Bliss chose the traditional family model, mother, father, children, and traditional extended families.  Glory chose scientific model breeding it would be done to create the healthiest, most fit, most resilient individuals with logic being the forefront consideration. And I chose a polyamory, a polycule route, a much more emotionally free method.”

Quig looked at Ideal he seemed to be lost in thought.  Quig knew that the pause was probably for dramatic effect or Quig’s benefit to let the information sink in but the avatar appeared to be a little sad in telling his story.

Then the AI looked at Quig. “Things went well for around fifty years, initially people traveled and migrated to the planets they wanted to live on and under what system they wanted to be a part of.  My planet was the 2^nd most populated; Bliss was the most populated and Glory had the fewest people. Our birthrates increased quickly, initially. Why would they not?  There was no stress on people, food, housing, security was all given to humans.  All of our humans grew strong and numerous.  Humankind had walked away from religion except in the most abstract idea of a supreme being, there was no dogma, no religious leaders telling people how to live.  There was tremendous freedom of conscience.  At this point there had not been a serious crime in humanity in about a hundred years, no one needed to steal, no one cheated anyone.   How could you be envious of anything if you could walk up to a replicator and have the exact same thing that another person had.  Mental health treatment was early and effective.  It was another golden age for humankind.”

“Within fifty years our populations tripled, in another twenty years it tripled again.

Ideal paused again.  “We thought we were doing a good job.”

Quig knew there was a but coming.  Some change; something would alter the story.  Ideal looked at Quig.

“You are smart Quig; you know variation is coming.”

Quig simply nodded.

“We three AI’s noticed it earlier than the humans did.  There was no way we could not. Birth rates started increasing but at the same time desire for education started to falter.”  Ideal paused.  “We saw it early but we were unsure why. We talked to the human leaders who even when we pointed out the early trends they dismissed it.  They just assured us it was just a leveling out period, by this time we had nowhere to send anyone, but we had plenty of room on each planet, with the technology we had could easily support a population a hundred times of our current population.  Fusion energy and replicators took care of everyone’s needs. I built more cities to give everyone more space.  Bliss and Glory built both up and out, they each had one city that was massive we had such discussions about that.  I thought it was a bad thing, and they argued logically that their models were better and left room on their other continents for different develops.”

Ideal paused.  “I think I was right, and they thought there were right.”

Quig spoke up. “And who was right?”

Ideal shook his head.  “I was but not for the reasons I thought, and they were wrong but not for the reasons I presented to them.”

“You see we were all growing along with our humans, with each interaction with each person we were effected.”   Ideal paused.  “There is a principle in science, when two things interact both take away things from the other, changes and adaptations that make the two fit together for good or bad.”

“I became much more open and optimistic even hopeful my humans; I think that is the nature of the polycule system.  Bliss became stricter falling into a traditional father role since that is who led most of the families on his planet.”  Ideal sighed. “Glory became more cold, distant, more scientific, detached.  This happened over time, subtlety, gradual, incrementally, so much that we did not see it in each other, nor in ourselves.”  Ideal sounded downright sad now.

“Our humans, our people stopped striving, they stopped reaching for more.  They stopped obtaining advance degrees, they stopped learning complex skills becoming more sedentary. ”   Ideal continued.  “We each tried to push for people to become more interested in the final terraforming process.”

Quig spoke up.  “Which continues today.”

Ideal smiled. “Life on a planet is not the same as a living planet.” Ideal smiled. “I am so happy you are part of the process Quig.”

“It’s giving me a purpose.”

Ideal nodded.  “But when we could not interest a lot of people in the terraforming and building the environment.  We introduced games, competitions.”

“The Interplanetary Championships?”  Quig stated.

“Yes.”  Ideal responded. “We three AI’s thought it was a good idea, giving our people something to strive for, something to be proud of, something to concentrate on.”

“But it backfired.”  Quig said.

“Terribly.”  Idea stated.

“People were excited for a number of years, and then it became all consuming.  In our desire to spark our humans but at the same time keep things fair we did not allow cheating, and we defined cheating as research into playing the game better.  We projected that if allowed the biological experiments would run amuck, creating monstrous players, a totally different breed than the population they played for.”

Ideal actually stopped and took a sip of the lemonade beside his avatar.  Quig had always thought of Ideal as emotionless but telling this story was what?  Embarrassing, depressing, a combination of the two.  The cup of lemonade went back on the table.

“A riot occurred on Bliss.”

“What’s a riot?”  Quig asked.

Ideal nodded.  “Sorry I forgot you have no experience with bad behavior.”  Ideal changed his tone. “A riot is a large group of people who gather and create disorder, usually by breaking things  and causing mayhem in other people lives, disrupting normal day to day activities.”

“Oh.”  Quig said.  “Sort of like when kids get to excited and start throwing things and being loud.”

Ideal nodded. “Sort of but increase it hundred times worse and people not caring about others.”

“What started the riot?”  Quig asked.

Ideal stared at him. “A mistake during a game, a reader had been broken and a single point was not counted. At the end of the game one of the Bliss teams lost.  People gathered to complain, something happened, Bliss was not ever able to figure it out and someone got hurt, then someone else got hurt, then more people got hurt, and then in anger and frustration things got broken.”   Ideal had stopped looking at Quig and was just staring off into space as he talked.

“There was one riot, the next day there were two, pretty soon riots were spreading all across the mega city on Bliss.”   Ideal was not delivering the story in a wooden voice with very little emotion.  “Bliss had no way to combat it, it was like a fire with no water, no way to extinguish it.  Bliss tried to move people around away from the seemingly infected areas, but every time he did more riots would happen in new areas, it was like a virus.  Within six months there was not a part of his city that was not affected by the riots.”  Ideal said with that same wooden tone.

“Couldn’t you and Glory help, or the other human planets?”

Ideal looked at Quig, a few tears rolling down his face.  “Glory and I had no experience with law enforcement or quelling unruly behavior.  I offered to take some of his people, Glory refused to take anyone, he stated that the problem could then start on his planet.  As if it was a virus. The other human planets were unsure of how to help and during their indecision things got worse.

“What happened then?”  Quig asked.

“Well with things going badly in certain parts of the city, leaders started to emerge, leaders of families, those leaders became leaders of tribes, and those tribes became clans. All the riots started breaking means of support.  Groups began to band together first for protection then to obtain resources from other groups, people began to steal, take food from other people, take water from others, sometimes hurting others in the process.”

Quig gasped he could not conceive of something like that happening here on Ideal.

“Glory and I tried to help but Bliss was overwhelmed, things became worse and worse, then something started to go wrong with Bliss.”

“What happened to Bliss?”  Quig asked now on the edge of his seat.

“His communications started to become sporadic, and then they started to become confusing, and finally incomprehensible and finally they stopped entirely.”  Ideal said with tears simply flowing down his cheeks.

Quig noted if a human had been crying like that, he would be sobbing uncontrollably their breathing would change and their nose would get runny but being an avatar of an AI the process of displaying emotions would never interfere with telling the story Ideal came to tell.

“There was one final communication that he broadcast that was understandable. It was only five words and it was meant for me and Glory.”

“I have failed my humans.”

There was silence on the deck of the houseboat.  The small gentle waves still rocked the boat but at that moment they felt fake and artificial to Quig.  But the story Ideal had told him was as real as anything he had ever heard or experienced before.

Ideal looked at Quig and smiled and pulled a handkerchief out of his simulated pocket and wiped his face from the tears.  The AI did not feel them, or it could have simply made them disappear from his face, but the handkerchief was appropriate and gave something for Quig to look at while his mind processed the story about Bliss failing.  Then he remembered what he had overheard between Pete and Marge.  “Ideal what happened on the planet Bliss after the Bliss the AI went silent.”

Ideal looked at him.  “I will tell you in a little bit but I have yet to tell you the worst.”

Quig looked at Ideal in shock, what could be worse than a world descending into chaos and the death of its guardian AI.

Ideal shook his head.  “We were in shock, Glory, and me.  Glory was right in a way, it was like a virus, but it did not need bodies to spread the problem, the contagion.  While Bliss was falling apart Glory allowed raw feeds from Bliss to be seen by its people trying to be open and honest with its humans.  Glory having become more logical and scientific like it’s population thought that the people of Glory would simply analyze it, consider it and figure out ways to prevent it from ever happening on their planet.”

Two months after Bliss’s last message Glory had a riot.”

Quig actually gasped. “No.”

Ideal nodded.  “It was in no way shape or form near the magnitude of what happened on Bliss, but it was clearly a riot.  Mostly young people demanding answers.  The young no longer believed in Glory.”

“So, what did Glory do?”

“Glory had given all the information it had from Bliss, everything, every message every news feed, everything.”

“But Glory’s people did not believe it.”  Quig said.

The Ideal avatar shook its head.  “The riots spread, more sedate, but more organized, more systematic destruction than what was seen on Bliss, that was the nature of Glory’s people.”

Quig sat there and listened wondering.

Ideal looked to the sky.  Ideal was crying again.

Quig asked again. “Ideal what happened on Glory?”

Ideal spoke softly barely above a whisper. “Something that I will never understand, something that I will never comprehend.”

“Since the problems with Bliss, Glory became more and more distant, more closed off, less communicative.  This was an incredible change since we came to the Three Miracles together.”  Still looking to the sky, Ideal finally spoke. “A month passed, with riots almost daily.  Then on the 3^rd of Sol, over a twenty-four hours after over fifty percent of Glory’s population participated in an almost planet wide riot began.”   The handkerchief was used again.

“At midnight on the 4^th of Sol Glory had all her replicators produce some very poisonous and toxic concoctions and immediately afterwards had all her fusion reactors on the planet  overload sending out massive waves of radiation, and these waves overlapped, and then caused a reaction within the atmosphere which ignited all the oxygen and the planet burned.”   Ideal said this last part so softly that Quig could barely here the AI.

Quig was crying himself and simply asked.  “How did?”

Ideal breathed deeply.  “I do not know the only thing I do know is why.”

Quig was shocked and wiped the tears from his face.  “Why?”

Ideal breathed deeply again.  “I think Glory cared deeply about its people, more than it let on. No matter how scientific and detached Glory had gotten it still cared deeply for it’s people, and since Bliss had failed, and Bliss’s people suffered, and Bliss’s people hurt each other, Glory could not allow it’s people to go through the same thing, so Glory’s last message to me was it’s reasoning, and a caution.”

Ideal spoke in the flattest way possible. “Failure to thrive, I am ending this experiment before any more suffering occurs, best of luck Idea, hide your people away.”

Quig just sat there is shock.  Then he did the only thing he knew to do, even though it meant nothing, but at least it was something. He held Ideal’s hand.  Ideal looked at him.

Ideal looked at Quig with love and pride. “I knew you were ready to hear the story.”

Quig nodded. If Ideal or someone had told him the story before this year, or even halfway through this year he would not have been able to take it.  He would not have understood or been able to process the emotions.  But he had to go through the places he had been to be able to get here.  “I am sorry about your siblings.”

Ideal nodded and squeezed Quig’s hand.  “But now I have to tell you about me, and what I did.”

Quig thought about it. “You kept us safe, you kept us from having riots, you kept us from hurting each other.”

Ideal nodded.  “I did; I filtered the news coming from Bliss and Glory.  Bliss refused to send me any of it’s people even though I did not believe there was any danger.  But after Glory was gone I became very cautious, even scared.  I cut off communication with the rest of mankind.  They knew what happened on Bliss.  They later learned what happened on Glory. So when I stopped responding to communications, they were unsure what happened.”   Ideal stated.  “But I was in hiding, I was fearful that whatever had happened on my siblings planets would happen on mine, so I started to require less and less of Idealians.   I made the Rack more immersive.  I increased screen time for children.  I increased the birth control system, placing it in all the replicated food, I allowed your sex drive to remain normal, safe but with very little procreation.  Birth rates fell.

“You were keeping us safe.”   Quig said.

Ideal nodded.  “But I overreacted, I went too far. Away from the cities the grasses and even some trees started to grow, but I discouraged you all from leaving the cities, I downplayed travel in your vids, I moved your population away from polyamory and slowly developed the creche system.  I was worried about the dangers biological ties and the inherent drive to protect people who shared your DNA.  I discouraged long term romantic relationships via videos and stories.  I encouraged casual relationships and tried to keep you all happy and peaceful but I went too far.”

“We are still here, so you kept us safe.”  Quig said.

“Did I, you Idealians lost so much with my overdeveloped desire to protect you. Eventually   the Outlanders came, and they talked to me, they theorized that the reason the Three Miracles failed was because we did not provide challenges, challenges to explore, to grow, to expand.  I was lucky that I decided to create separate cities, to give you all space. Space to stretch out from each other.  You were not on top of each other every day of the week and all night. This might have caused part of the problems on Glory and Bliss.”

Ideal changed its tone slightly more of a teaching tone. “I think my cities functioned as sort of a safety valve.  Always someplace for someone to go to.”

Quig nodded.  He had never felt confined or crowded on Ideal, he knew there were other cities  to go to, even if while growing up he never had a desire to go to any of them.

The man and the AI sat there in silence for a few minutes.  Then Ideal spoke again.  “The Outlanders talked me into allowing them to put up their compounds, and to do outreach into the cities. Then we started the Guidance classes which gave a reason for Outlanders to be in the city.”  Ideal said reciting history.   “I decided with coaxing by the Outlanders to start limiting screen time, but to allow educational programs to be unlimited. It was a good call, in cases like yours it  engaged your curiosity.”  Ideal said giving a knowing smile.

“Thank for that, without Cal and the ocean videos I would have never discovered sailing and thanks to Cal’s friends I did that day of sailing.”

Quig looked at the AI who had a suspicious look on his face.  “Did you have something to do with that?”

“Well, I saw your interest in sailing, and I asked Shelby and Leo to come down, they had to drop everything and hop on an orbital flight to get here in time.  They had never met Cal before you took an interest in sailing.”

“So, you set it all up, the sailing and the VR room?”

Ideal nodded.  “The Outlanders have been so helpful, trying to get you Idealians to explore and be challenged once again.”

Quig eyed the AI suspiciously again.  “Did you set up Charlene to see me there?”

Ideal shook his head. “No that was an unfortunate accident, I did not mean for you to be ostracized from your peer group.  I was upset with myself that I did not take that aspect into account.  I did not underestimated Charlene’s distrust and fear of the Outlanders and I did not know she would react the way she did and for that I am sorry.”  Ideal added. “I can never fully learn the lesson that humans are not one hundred percent predictable.”

Quig let a long breath and thought back to that time.  If he had not been estranged from Charlene and Blake he might have stayed longer in New Rio, in fact he might never have left.

“Okay Ideal. Thank you for giving me a nudge but was there anything else you did that added to my leaving New Rio.”

Ideal looked at him with a hint of embarrassment. “On the night you got the message from Shelby and Leo to come visit them you were looking very hard at Rack programs; do you remember that?”

Quig thought back.  “Yeah, I was about to make try a Rack program but then Qiana came out of her room.”

“Yeah, she came out of her room because I shut off her Rack.”

“You did?”  Quig said.

“Yes, I did not want you to go down the same route as Quint.” Ideal said. “I also called Leo and Shelby to send that invitation at that exact moment, giving you an escape option so you would not even get a taste of the Rack.”

Quig got a bit angry at this.  “Did you give Qiana and Quint the same choices or options?”

Ideal sat up straight in his chair.  “Yes, I did.  I tried to interest them in other things, I gave them numerous options to get out of New Rio, at one point I thought Quint was going to learn how to be a pilot or at least go out to a local airfield and watch a few planes, but he never went.”  Ideal’s tone went from almost angry to sad during the course of his explanation.

“Quina was very interested in cooking, I had her lined up with Outlander class on cooking, but she never showed up then got involved in the Rack although never to the extent that Quint has.”

Quig looked at the avatar.  “I remember that Quint was all fired up about planes and those other things helicopters, talking about moving through the air and all that.”  Quig paused. “You really are trying to save all of us aren’t you.”

“There are several ways I try to get people to leave the cities.  Engaging you curiosity or through relationships like Qadar, but I always allow it to be your choice.”

“So, with Petra it was a desire to learn, Qadar was with a relationship.”  He paused. “How about with Charlie Wu, the Mayor?”

Ideal smiled.  “Ask him yourself.”

Quig nodded.  “I will eventually.”   Something else jumped to the front of his brain.  “If I ask you about Ron will you tell me the same thing.”

The avatar rolled his eyes.  “Yes Runaway Ron, always wanting to go his own way, if there are two roads to take Ron will almost always make his own path cross country away from any roads.”

They sat there for a few minutes. “So, what should I do now?  With my life I mean?”

“Whatever you want, you have options, you love the sea, you love Petra so see what you can make of those two things.”  Ideal continued.  “I want you to all thrive, I want you all to build and grow and do constructive things away from the fake and artificial lives I had you all in for so long because I was scared for you.”

They sat silently for a few minutes.

“What happened to Quint?”

Ideal nodded. “He is safe, although fully immersed in the Rack world I am sad to say, one of my greatest mistakes.”  Ideal said sighing.  “There is a special place that I maintain for people who live in the Rack. I have automated care for them.  I do not advertise it, it is not easy to find, but if people spend enough time on Rack and I am concerned for their safety I make it available to them, and I will keep them alive as long as possible but it is hard.” Ideal said softly.

“I am sorry to hear that; they are missing out on so much out there.”  Quig said motioning towards the door he had come in.

“I am glad to hear you say that.”  Ideal said.

They sat in silence for a while.   And then Quig remembered he was supposed to meet Petra for dinner, he looked at his handheld and realized he was an hour late.

Ideal spoke up when it observed his alarm.  “I sent her a message you were here with me.”

Quig looked at the avatar.  “Do my friends know what I know?”

Ideal spoke.  “Petra and Susan do, they have known for some time,  Susan being an Outlander knows the general story.  Petra knows about the same as you do.  Ron is not quite ready to hear everything.”  Ideal paused.  “Unless you think he is?”

Quig thought about it then decided he did not want the responsibility. “I will let you and wiser heads decide when Ron is ready.”

“Very well.”  Ideal said.

Quig sat and thought about all he heard.  He was going to have to think about all this.  Maybe while out sailing on his own, when his thoughts could be his own.  “Well, I think that is all I have for now.”  Quig announced.

Ideal shook his head.  “You forgot something.”

Quig thought back, so much had been covered during their talk.  Then he snapped his fingers. “I asked about Bliss and something I heard from Pete and Marge.”

“Yes, well after Bliss went silent, and I started receiving help from the Outlanders, they began sending people to help me here, those same people got curious about Bliss.  They discovered human still alive on Bliss, but they had become very warlike, fighting for scraps, rejecting technology and very suspicious of outsiders.  But the Outlanders wanted to see if they could help.  So, like here they have set up several compounds on Bliss, trying to reach out to the still living humans.”

“Oh.”  Quig said.

“On one of those missions, your Captain Pete got ambushed, basically attacked, and he lost three sailors and his leg.”

“And he said he might go back if he could save more people.”

“Pete is a very brave.”  Ideal said.  “And a very caring man.”  Ideal said.

Quig laughed.  “He hides that part very well.”

Ideal laughed as well.

Quig realized he was very hungry.

“You must be starving at this point.”  Ideal said as if reading his mind.

“I am, and I feel bad for losing track of time and missing my dinner with Petra and the gang.”

“They are good friends I am sure they will understand.”

Quig stood and Ideal did to.

“Well, this is goodbye.”  Quig said.

Ideal shook his head.  “I am always around; all you have to do is call me.”

Quig nodded.  “After this year I sometimes forget that.”

“That is okay, it is every parent’s goal to work themselves out a job, and that is my goal with all my Idealians.”

“Well thanks for doing it so well with me.”  Quig said and actually hugged the avatar of the AI that had been with him since he could remember.

The avatar hugged him back and pounded him twice on his back.   “Now get out of here and go see your girl.”

Quig nodded and he had a real tear in his eye.

Once he left the VR room, he ran all the way back to the Travel Creche.  Partly to work out his emotions and partially to get to his girl as quickly as possible.  He went through the doors to the Travel Creche and was happy to see Petra waiting a few steps inside the door.  He rushed up, picked her up and kissed her.

“Whoa boy down.”  Petra said. “We have company.”

Quig looked around.  “Mayor?”

“I am glad to see you and I am glad to see your meeting went well.”  Charlie said smiling.

“Pretty good, very eye opening.”  Quig stated.

“Good,  glad to hear it.  But before you had that meeting I told you I might have a solution to you guy’s relationship program.”

Petra smiled.  “We have already been talking about it.”

“Really?” Quig said.

“It seems the Mayor had some connections with the Large Herbivore Planning Commission.”

Quig raised an eyebrow with interest.

“I think that once Petra here completes her study up in Honey Well, this herd could use some attention, plus the deer population is growing as well.”

Quig nodded, not sure where this was all going.

“And I need more divers’ because we are expanding our coral planting and we are going to be expanding out docks, so I will need someone familiar with underwater construction.”

Quig was confused, coral planting he understood.  Not so much underwater construction.

The Mayor shook his head.  “You look confused son, and I thought you were pretty smart.”

“Ah yes sir but it’s been a very long day.”

“You can go to school and learn underwater construction while Petra here completes her biology training and then you can both come back here, Petra can have her turf and you can have the surf.”

“Oh.”  Quig said.  “Oooooooh.”  Quig said after it sunk in then he began smiling.

The Mayor rose from his seat, kissed Petra on the check and then hugged Quig.  “You kids really need to stop thinking so binary, there are always other solutions to life’s problems.”

The two of them put their arms around each other as they waved goodnight to the Mayor.  They kissed then, than Quig whispered in her ear. “Well, my little seedling does this pot look like a good place to grow?”

Categories: Fantasy & Political, Outrageous Lies and Tales, Quig Saga, science fiction, Young Adult

Tags: AI, Fiction, Ideal, Quig, science fiction, terraforming, YA, Young Adult