Delphi Colony (Delphi in Space Book 8) by Bob Blanton

Author:Bob Blanton [Blanton, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Delphi Publishing
Published: 2020-10-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Artemis Mission Prep

“Hey, aren’t you coming to bed?” Samantha asked Marc. It was already past midnight, and she was tired of reading.

“I need to finish reviewing this,” Marc said.

“What are you reviewing?”

“The summary from Dr. Pramar on the plants from Artemis,” Marc replied.

“What does it say?”

“It catalogs all the plants and shows the results from the monitors in the greenhouses that they left. They have the bots maintaining them and reporting results.”

“So, what does it say about the plants?”

“It says that our plants grow well there, that they don’t cross-pollinate with the local plants. The local plants as a whole are not harmful if we eat them, and most of them are nutritious,” Marc said.

“What about the grasses?” Samantha asked. “If we take livestock, it would be nice if they could eat the local grass.”

“Most of it’s fine. But there this one grain that dominates most of the area where we want to start the colony. It’s like wheat, but we can’t digest it.”

“That’s too bad. Why can’t we digest it?”

“Well, I might have overstated that. We can digest it, but it takes a lot of energy and time, so it mostly just passes through our systems.”

“Don’t the bacteria in our gut break it down, so we at least get the minerals from it?”

“They have the same problem. It takes a long time and a lot of energy, so they don’t do that well on it,” Marc explained.

“Do we have any of it here?” Samantha asked.

“I think Dr. Pramar has about fifty kilos of it. Why?”

“Oh, just thinking. Don’t stay up too long, and don’t wake me up when you finally come to bed.”

“I wouldn’t think about it.”

“That’s the problem, you don’t think about it,” Samantha said, giving Marc a slap on the back of his head.

“Sorry.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“What time did you come to bed last night?” Samantha asked Marc when they sat down to breakfast.

“Two o’clock.”

“And you got up at six?”

“Sure. I’m usually up a lot earlier.”

“I thought those youth treatments would help me keep up with you,” Samantha said.

“You’re doing just fine; everyone needs a different amount of sleep. I’ve never needed much.”

“It’s not fair,” Samantha complained. “Anyway, what are you working on now?”

“I’m sorting through the list of applicants for the colony mission.”

“Anyone interesting?”

“I’ve got two artists who want to come along.”

“Artists?”

“Yes, they say they’ll do whatever clerical work we want them to do until they get established. They think people will be wanting art for their walls, a few portraits, things like that.”

“Are they together?”

“No, unrelated, but their applications are almost identical.”

“Well, as governor, you should commission a few paintings,” Samantha said.

“I guess so,” Marc said. “That reminds me. I should try to get a few professional painters.”

“Aren’t they professional?”

“No, building painters and car painters,” Marc said. “Blake and I painted our parents’ house once. Thought we did a nice job. Then Linda and I had our house painted by a professional; we were too busy by then. They did a much better job, less time, and a lot less paint.

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