Patriots of Griffin XIII, Page 3

  Chapter 3 - Tools for Civility and Law

  "Old Zeb Griffin wouldn't be proud."

  Kassie grumbled her people's most common phrase of frustration as she waited in her plastic apartment for Scott Lomax. They were supposed to have been in the open acres two hours ago to gather data required before assembling the light filters required to grow the next season's crop of lom-soy. The colony was now cut off from the United Systems' interstellar food shipments, and Kassie felt it foolish for any patriot to risk hunger because of procrastination.

  Kassie feared Scott did not share in such a sentiment as she cleaned the glass lenses and readjusted the light scanners for the third time that morning. Scott made no secret of his desire for her. Matters of love and marriage were practical concerns of Griffin's patriots. Yet courtship remained welcome, nor was romance scorned. It was only that settlers facing the harsh wilds of galactic colonization quickly forgave if the upkeep of fragile ecosystems trumped roses and chocolate valentines.

  Kassie needed neither flowers nor wine, but Scott faced a harsh lesson from her if he thought he could party all night after the Founding Ceremony and arrive late for the next morning's work. The drink had tasted as sweet upon Kassie's tongue as it had upon any other's, but she, unlike so many of the settlers, had not forgotten old Zeb's wisdom that taught the most vital labor required the most stringent discipline. Kassie had returned home from that party to prepare for the next workday, no matter that she too desired to dance longer and to sing more. Scott would learn a hard lesson, indeed, if he thought Kassie would ever accept any of his slack.

  She let Scott Lomax knock many times on her plastic apartment's door before she showed any indication of noticing his arrival.

  "Come on, Kassie," Scott moaned through the plastic. "I know. I know. I'm sorry I'm late. I just got swept up in the festivities. I have a present for you."

  Kassie stomped. "And you think you can smooth it all over with a gift? Do you not recognize me as a citizen of Griffin XIII? Do you not know I too am a follower of Zeb?"

  "That's not what I meant."

  Kassie appreciate the begging tone in Scott's voice.

  "A gift?"

  Scott chuckled. "A little something to help decorate your place."

  "I'll forgive you this once," Kassie unlatched her bolt, and a grinning Scott stepped across the threshold, "but you've still got a lot of ground to make up."

  Scott grinned. "So I have the chance to make amends?"

  Kassie dodged a kiss and smiled as Scott unravelled a painting for her consideration, a course canvas painted in the purples and golds of Giffin XIII's skies. Even settlers of that planet's stock appreciated a little color.

  Scott looked at the sensor equipment scattered about the floor and sighed.

  "You're still planning to take readings in the open acres today?"

  Kassie raised an eyebrow. "What did you expect to do? Why did you knock on my door if not to work as you promised? We need to tend to those readings as soon as possible. We're going to hunger for the lom-soy soon, Scott. We have to have those filters properly calibrated so that we don't waste the precious seed. We're a long way from home, and the rockets of the United Systems aren't going to go out of their way to check on us."

  Scott nodded. "Of course, Kassie. We'll tend to the light filters, but doing so will hardly take a full morning. I thought you might be more excited to receive that last payment from the United Systems. Most everybody else is staying in their apartments to be there when that delivery comes through."

  Kassie frowned. "I thought the others would be more interested in their work."

  "You know how important the deliver is for us, Kassie."

  "More important than food?"

  Scott's eyes narrowed. "Maybe so. That delivery will give us security, the ability to protect our families."

  Kassie sighed. It would do no good to debate with Scott. To accept one of Zeb Griffin's tenants was to accept them all.

  "People are flawed," though Kassie provided no argument, Scott still felt the need to preach. "No civilization was ever composed of perfect people. There will be those who would steal, who would feast on the efforts of others, who want so much and yet do nothing for themselves. We will need those tools to protect ourselves from such people. More importantly, those tools will dissuade our neighbors from going astray. And as old Zeb preached, we must always be vigilant against tyranny. What would we do if the United Systems returned to crush us beneath their giant space boot?"

  "We would fight with whatever weapon we had," Kassie growled, "but tell me, Scott, how it makes any sense for the United Systems to supply us with such tools if they had any inclination at all to conquer us?"

  Scott's face paled. "I can hardly believe what I'm hearing. You almost sound like you don't even want the tool."

  Exasperated, Kassie tossed her hands over her head. "I'm only trying to be practical. If we hope to resist United Systems' starships, we're going to need tools far more powerful."

  "I hadn't thought of that," Scott stammered. "Of course you're right. You're always right. It's one of the things I love most about you."

  Scott suddenly lifted Kassie up into his strong arms. He twirled her about the room, and Kassie laughed. Though work was waiting, she couldn't resist smiling. Scott was also right. Calibrating the light filters would hardly take long. They could afford to relax on the day following the Founding Ceremony. Let them rest, and love, and sleep until the hangovers seeped out of their skulls. They could wait for that last, special delivery from the United Systems to arrive.

  "The open acres can wait. We'll stay in."

  Scott beamed. "And in the meantime?"

  "Keep twirling me!"

  Kassie's computer monitor chimed several hours later to notify them that the United Systems' data stream had arrived through interstellar beam. It would only take a few minutes for the settlement's receiving dish to download the delivered code and disseminate its numbers to each of the settlement's plastic apartments.

  Kassie and Scott hurried to the three-dimensional printer installed above the apartment's dishwasher. The printer sprung to life with the whirl of internal servomotors and gears. They peeked through the appliance's glass window and watched, spellbound, as fine lasers sliced through the block of composite from which their creation would be carved. The lasers carved and buzzed, shaved and filed. Lights flashed. The printer grabbed invisible numbers from the air and transformed their sum into an actual shape, a substance, a settler could feel in his hand. To the patriots of Griffin XIII, that printer was a rare magic capable of thrilling their souls.

  The lasers blinked dark and withdrew into the printer's housing. The servo-motors and gears silenced. A bell chimed, and the glass door swung smoothly open.

  "Careful, Scott. It's still hot."

  Scott gripped the tool and reverently pulled it from the printer. "It's not so hot that it will burn me. Praise Zeb Griffin. It feels so right in my hand. It's balanced just so. It's made from simple printer composite, but it's still put together so perfectly."

  Kassie took one, instinctual, step back. "Be careful with it. It's pretty to look at, but you'll blow the roof right off my apartment if you're careless."

  "Isn't it something?" Scott slowly waved the tool in front of him. "It makes the mind swoon to think about the power of this thing. And to know that everyone else in the colony has just got one just like it, carved out of the same composite in three-dimensional printers just like our own. Each one with the same weight, the same form, the same potential. Our colony is the real thing, Kassie. We're the thirteenth colony named Griffin, and this tool is going to guarantee that this time we'll stand tall and last."

  "Well, don't get too attached to that particular tool," Kassie winked. "That one is mine."

  Scott carefully placed the thing upon Kassie's kitchen counter. "I better get back to my place, Kassie. You know, just to make sure my printer didn't botch the job, so I can
make sure to get my tool in a safe place."

  Kassie winked. "Whatever you say. Don't let a simple girl keep you from your new tool. We have tomorrow, and I expect you in the open acres with me first thing come morning hour."

  Scott left with the promise to promptly meet her the next day in the open acres beneath the settlement's ceiling of glass. Kassie waited several hours before returning to her kitchen to face the tool that waited for her on the counter. Though she knew that everyone in the colony now possessed a tool identical to hers, Kassie could've sworn the United Systems had designed the thing specifically for her. The handle fit so snugly against her palm. It's barrel extended so gracefully beyond her hand. Zeb Griffin taught that such tools protected civility and law, that such tools provided security and motivated humankind to achieve the virtue promised in each of their hearts. All the same, Kassie shuddered to think of the tool's power to destroy and to kill. It was a small package but one she knew the United Systems had invested with terrible power.

  She dimmed the lights and placed the tool on the nightstand next to her pillow. Everyone in the colony would sleep more contently knowing such a tool was within quick, easy reach while they dreamed.

  Yet sleep did not easily visit Kassie Mayhap, and the dreams that finally whispered to her drifted into to nightmare.

  Kassie chided herself each time those dark dreams woke her. She was not a girl. She was a colonist of Griffin XIII, a proud student of old Zeb, and she had no excuse for the trepidation she felt so close to her new gun.

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