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gift
of a kind God, the English called it “Goldilocks”, but to Johan it was a second
Eden. The decision to spread themselves further had cost the faithful dearly;
many amongst them had argued that the forced expulsion from Earth had been one
thing, after all, they had done all they could to resist that. But in taking
further steps to other planets they were not only complying with their exile,
but actually travelling further from the Earth and, some argued, further from
Grace. In the end a vote had been taken and a narrow majority had voted for the
right of a man to settle where he liked, at least until such time as it was
possible to return to Earth. As often happens when a movement of deep and
sincerely held beliefs comes to a crossroads and such a vote is taken, the
losing side elected to schism from the main body of the Amish, they were still
on the relatively hostile desert world they were first landed on, while the
authorities sought either to induce them to move or at least let them terra
form the dry planet into somewhere more conducive to life. Last Johan had
heard, his brothers were still refusing point blank to farm the sand and dust
in anything but the hard way. He couldn’t help but admire their firmness of
will and feel a little jealous of their strength of faith, even in the face of
a dreadful mortality rate.
     Johan
loved to work in this way, with Daniel toiling beside him, giving him the
comfort of a companion but the space to think his own big thoughts. And now
here were the children, using the break in their lessons to run over and see
the progress the channel was making.
     
     
     

Chapter 6
     
     
    Athena
looked up from the circuit she was assembling, Lana was standing before her and
Athena could tell that she had a request to make.
    “Hello,
dear. Have you managed to get some sleep yet?”
    Lana
smiled a washed-out smile. “Yes thanks Athena, I got about five hours after the
guys had been found. I just lay down and went out like a light.” Lana held up
something the size of a dinner plate. It was matt black and had one smooth
surface and one covered in indentations which looked random but were, Athena
knew, laid down in an extremely specific order. “Athena, I know we need every
one of these to help with the lifting now the shuttle’s gone, but I was
wondering, could we spare two? It would be in a very good cause I promise.”
    Athena
felt very dubious.  “We arrived with how many? A hundred or so?”
    “Two
hundred and ten.”
    “Oh.
How many did we lose at the quarry?”
    “One
hundred and forty-six, Thirty are out round the settlements. The rest are still
in storage right here. There’s a good chance there’ll be at least a few more in
private hands”
    “Hmm,
that’s a few more than I thought we had. What have you got in mind?”
    “When
I was a kid there was a mania for sky sports. I guess that’s what got me into
being a pilot. Anyway, we used to build our own sky canoes. It’s really simple,
all you do is build a simple frame, attach two A/G’s, one at either end, and
some sort of simple propulsion. Even a cooling fan will do. You mostly steer by
shifting your body mass round the cockpit.”
    “How
much can one of these carry?”
    “We
used to reckon on one A/G for the skyak, one for the pilot. But of course, A/G
technology’s got much better since I was a kid. Without doing the sums I would
say that it could carry two people in perfect safety, three people if you kept
it low and slow. My brother built one which could carry seven kids, but the
grown-ups stepped in and told him he would have to register it as an aircraft.
Dad took it apart while he was at school. But we did fly it a couple of times
before they stopped us.”
    “And
you’re sure you could make one?” Athena tapped the sealing tool she was holding
against her jaw.
    “Absolutely,
it would take a few days, but the Tech’s not hard at all. The really useful
thing is, you can tow things on a line behind