The sounds of the children preparing for bed inside the Cargo Barge was cut-off as Major Marsh raised and locked the ramps. Jack however, insisted on going back to the Survey Ship to sleep, stating it was his ship and he wouldn’t leave it, but Luca didn’t want to brave the icy lake to get to the ship and was now in the barge’s crew quarters already asleep with Mr. Buckles at his side. “Is that really Jack’s ship, it seems odd to me that a twelve year old has his own spaceship?” asked Tan as he watched Jack heave himself out of the lake and into the airlock hatch. Captain Dagas stretched out in front of the campfire with his back against a log. “He’s not allowed to fly it yet, but it is his ship. Our cultures are different, there is a certain comfort in being assigned a job young and knowing that it is your job for the rest of your life.” “I’m not so sure about that,” said Tan. Margus smiled. “Really? When did you know you wanted to be a cook?” Tan sighed. “Okay, point taken. I’ve wanted to cook since I was big enough to help my mother in the kitchen. By the time I was twelve, I was cooking most of the family meals. So, are you going to be flying it until he’s old enough?” asked Tan. “No. I dropped some survivors off at the airfield before I came up here, one of them was a young Lieutenant. I told him to find a place for the evacuees he was in charge of before his ship went down in the ocean.” Margus held up a hand. “The crash wasn’t his fault. It was amazing he even got that thing off the flight deck in the first place. I drilled him pretty hard during the flight. He’s a very talented pilot and I’m going to assign him as the pilot to Jack’s ship. He’ll mentor Jack through pre-flight training.” “What does that consist of?” asked Tan. “Classroom work, and a lot of it. I think even Jack will find it challenging.” The side hatch to the Cargo Barge opened and Major Marsh stepped outside. He pushed the door shut behind himself and walked over to the campfire. “Okay, everyone is down for the night.” “Did you tell Mr. Bohth and Miss Janien that nobody is to leave the ship tonight” asked Tan. “I did, now are you going to tell me why?” Tan poked at the fire with a stick. “There’s a mountain lion that’s been stalking the camp since this afternoon. I was hoping it would realize that a bigger predator than itself has taken its territory and will go find somewhere else to live, but he’s being pretty stubborn. I might have to go deal with him tonight.” “I’ll go get the rifle,” said the Major. “I won’t need it,” said Tan. The Major stared at Tan for a moment. “From anyone else I’d call that a boast, but I don’t think it is from you.” “I’m not going to kill him,” said Tan. “We’ll just have a little scrap and hopefully I can convince him he doesn’t want to stay here.” Captain Dagas sat up. “As much as I would like to hear about your proposed slap-fight with a mountain lion, we have other pressing issues to discuss.” The Major sat down on a log and took out a pen and notepad to write on. “Yes Sir, I’m ready.” Tan glanced at the notepad, then pulled his stick out of the fire, broke off the blackened end, and then picked up a flat rock and set it on his lap as if he were going to take notes on it. Tan kept a straight face and looked at the Captain. “Okay, I’m ready.” The Captain grinned at the humor. “A field kitchen will be arriving some time tonight, but you’ll only have them for four days. You need to have the model town completely built in that time. How many residents do you think this area can support?” “You want me to build a town in four days?” asked Tan. “Tomorrow morning every carpenter and engineer I can scrape up will be arriving to help you design the model town.” Tan set his rock back on the ground. “I see where you’re going with this. You’re planning to bring everyone up here to the mountains.” The Captain nodded. “Yes.” Tan shook his head. “It won’t work, you’ll exhaust the natural resources in a few months.” The Captain smiled. He’d expected Tan to say exactly what he did. “What do you suggest?” Tan stood and walked around the campfire. He did his best thinking on his feet. “You squeezed an entire country onto a spaceship and left your dying world behind, but now that spaceship is gone and you’re going to need the same amount of land you had to begin with. We can put some towns up here, some down in the desert, some in the grasslands, and some on the coast. But we do need to spread them out and keep the population of each as small as possible.” Captain Dagas slapped his leg. “Well done, Tan.” “You’ve already thought of all this, haven’t you?” asked Tan. “I just needed someone with the vision to see what I see. Tan I’m appointing you as Director of Homeland Settlement, with the administrative rank of a Senior Master Chief. Make Sunaria a real country again, at least until the new RS-40 is built.” “You might find getting the genie back in the bottle difficult once you have the new RS-40.” “I’ll worry about that when the time comes.” “So, what exactly is it you need me to do?” “Tell us where the good places to put towns are.” Tan turned his head and looked out into the darkness of the forest. “We’re being watched.” “The mountain lion?” asked Major Marsh as his hand dropped to his sidearm. “No, the mountain lion is over next to the barge sniffing around,” replied Tan. “I already know who’s out there,” said Captain Dagas. “Tan, go take care of the mountain lion while I talk with our guest.” Captain Dagas walked out alone into the darkness of the trees. He couldn’t see anyone, but if Tan said someone was here, then they were here. “I didn’t expect you so soon, Master Dex’rathian.” “That’s because you have the brains of a rock lizard,” whispered a voice from the shadows. The voice sounded like it had been spoken a thousand years ago and was only just now arriving. “I haven’t had time to speak with their father yet.” “The lesser human has more sense than you, slug spit. Perhaps I should test him, he is more Ruk than any Ruk I have seen in a million years.” Captain Dagas shook his head. “The Aeden boys will tolerate your test, perhaps, but if you touch the human, they will hunt you. The older one has already killed two Great Trees, would you like to be the third?” “Jathu and his grand-daughter were fools.” Captain Dagas smiled. He hadn’t been certain whether Jathu had died in the fire. Dex’rathian just confirmed it. “When does the test begin?” “The test has already begun; they will wake in four days.” Captain Degas looked at the illuminated dials on his watch. “I doubt that. Half an hour, tops. You’ve met your match with those boys. Your iron grip over the Fleet is coming to an end.”