chapter 2
I'd only been to Avendor once before, skipping there more than twenty-five years earlier to learn how to grow gishi fruit. Now I was back and standing in a line of migratory workers who went from one grove to the next, offering their services to pick, pack, cull or ship the fruit. I was searching for a place that might hold peace, even if it did involve hard work. I'd always found picking fruit to be peaceful work; the trees held no judgment or betrayal. They never withheld information or love, either, with wind whispering through the leaves at times, giving silent thanks for the care they received.
"Name?" The grove supervisor was tired and out of sorts, I think, by the time I arrived in front of his makeshift desk.
"Reah Silver," I said.
"Have you worked the groves before?"
"Yes. In every aspect."
"Good. You'll start picking immediately. Sign here." The comp-vid was shoved across the small table; I used the stylus to sign my name and went to stand with the others who waited for the next bus to come along. I had both bags with me—I hadn't left anything behind on Refizan. If the doctor couldn't control his staff any better than he had, then I had no use for him. Nefrigar had difficulty coaxing me back the first time. I wouldn't go back there again.
The hovertruck pulled to a stop in front of us and we all loaded onto it. "We'll take you by the temporary housing first, so you can unload your belongings. Then you'll get your hoversteps and go to the fields." At least they had hoversteps. Hoversteps were round ladders you could operate with hand or foot controls to raise, lower or navigate around the tree to reach all the fruit. They were a great time saver, if you could afford them. Another crew would likely supply empty crates to replace the ones the pickers filled.
"Select a cube inside, leave your things and come back immediately," the driver dropped us off in front of rows of temporary housing. Long, single-story buildings lined up before us, each with a communal shower, restroom and laundry facilities. My coworkers ran toward the first two buildings. Not wishing to fight with the crowd, I walked toward the third and last of the buildings. Three others came with me.
Dumping my bags in a cubicle at the farthest end of the building, I made my way toward the hovertruck again. Only open seating was available on the back of the truck, with hard benches lined up on both sides to carry the workers. Our feet swung freely over the sides as the hovertruck glided through the groves, taking us toward the designated harvest spot. The trees we passed had already been picked.
"Here's where you start," the driver announced. "And this is supervisor Keedan, who will hand out your assignments."
Supervisor Keedan looked to be nearing two hundred, with nearly white hair, washed-out blue eyes and wrinkles that spelled character. I imagined that his eyes might crinkle nicely if he smiled. He wasn't smiling now.
"You're our replacement crew," he announced as we gathered around him. "The last crew was fired, every one of them, because they were stealing from the groves. If you think to do that, bear in mind we will prosecute. The last crew is sitting in jail at the moment, awaiting trial for high theft. Gishi fruit is expensive; I'm sure all of you know that. We don't tolerate theft or mistreatment of your fellow workers or harmful practical jokes. You will be assigned a hoverstep, and it will be your responsibility to maintain it and charge it every night. If it breaks down or malfunctions, it is your duty to take it to the repair shop located near your temporary barracks. Food will be supplied for your day meal, but you will prepare the evening meal yourselves. Ingredients for those meals will be provided—within reason. Each barracks has a kitchen and you are obligated to work out a rotating cooking schedule. Fights will not be tolerated and the sharing of duties is expected. Bear in mind that we will terminate your employment immediately if you disrupt the peace of the groves. Follow me."
We followed Keedan until we reached a place where hoversteps waited between seemingly endless rows of gishi fruit trees. Crates were also lined up at regular intervals between trees. "Choose your hoverstep," Keedan instructed. "You will be expected to finish your row by sunset. That is five clicks from now. I will be waiting at the end and checking the fruit that comes from your individual rows. If you can't pick fast enough, you will be released tonight. Go."
We went. Most went scrabbling after the hoversteps closest to us and began clipping fruit from the trees right away. I and the three who'd bunked in the same building went for the outer edge. I took the last row. Hand clips and other supplies were stuffed in pockets around the hoverstep, including a sealed container with plenty of cool water. At least they were prepared. I pulled my crate up, lifted the hand clip and began picking.
Culls were dropped to the ground and the fruit without blemishes went into individual trays inside each crate. The trays were formed to fit gishi fruit and protected the harvested fruit when the next tray was set atop it. I worked as I always did, swiftly and steadily.
With more than twenty turns of experience handpicking gishi fruit on Kifirin, I knew what I was doing. When the trackers learned that I needed more crates than had been left, they stepped up their pace, leaving me as many as necessary to keep up with my picking. I paid no attention to those harvesting around me, humming softly as I settled into the work.
The three who'd gone to the outer edge just as I had, finished shortly after I did. I knew they had experience, whereas some of the others didn't. Gishi fruit harvests generally paid much better than any other type of fruit crop, and good, experienced pickers were often easy to spot. The fruit was much more rare and expensive than nannas, oranges or peaches in any case, and required a certain type of handling as well. You didn't squeeze gishi fruit when you clipped the stem. It would bruise if handled too roughly and cut the price of the fruit by more than half.
My three bunkmates and I were sent to a nearby tent after we finished, where cold water, fruit juice and sliced melon waited. I ate what I could, knowing that soon the pregnancy would progress to the point where I'd become ill if I didn't keep something in my stomach. I'd go looking soon for health bars or something similar that I could carry on my hoverstep.
"Garthe," the first of my bunkmates held out a hand. His hair was nearly blond from the sun, looked to be in his fifties and in his prime, had pitted scars on both cheeks, brown eyes and a nice smile.
"Reah," I took his hand and squeezed his fingers as was appropriate. "You've done this before."
"I have," he agreed, turning to watch as two more joined us beneath the tent. They went right for the food and drinks, just as we had. "I thought to go north to Adrixx and do repair work, but I discovered I didn't like the city all that much."
"I think the trees sometimes sigh with relief when we remove the weight of the fruit," I said.
"I get that, too," Garthe smiled. "Plus, I get to think my own thoughts while I pick fruit. I don't have a customer standing over me, telling me how to fix what he couldn't fix in the first place."
"I know someone who loves to do repairs, but he hates it if someone tries to interfere with his work," I said, smiling and thinking of Nenzi. "He knows exactly what he's doing, so it's a good thing he works with his brothers. They sort of run interference for him."
"Then it's too bad I didn't have brothers," Garthe laughed.
"Yendah," my female bunkmate moved over next to Garthe and held out her hand. She was much older than Garthe, I could see that, but truly not that old. Perhaps a hundred or so. Still in her prime, she had long brown hair held atop her head with a clip she hid beneath a floppy-brimmed hat. Her brown eyes coolly assessed Garthe. She would learn soon enough he had no interest in women. His eyes had followed our other bunkmate, a man, who had yet to introduce himself.
"Who's going home tonight?" A young man flopped onto the ground near Yendah's feet, a cup of fruit juice in his hand. Sunset was very close and several still hadn't come in. He grinned up at Yendah, who gave a tight smile in return. She didn't like the young ones, I saw that right away. I agreed with her. They tended to be interested in sex and little else.
"I'd say anyone not here in the next ten ticks," my third bunkmate came to join our group. He held a comp-vid in his hand, likely checking the sunset time. Garthe watched him covertly as the newcomer settled beside the young man on the ground at our feet. "Name's Calde," he introduced himself. "Who's cooking tonight? I'm starved." He had black hair, gray eyes, looked to be around forty and was handsome in a rough sort of way. He was staring at the younger male, who offered his hand and said his name was Landor. At least Garthe stood a chance, now. I didn't think Landor was interested at all in Calde.
"I'll cook, if they have something decent to fix," I offered.
"Good. That's settled," Calde grinned.
"Time," Keedan shouted. "Everyone gather round. If you haven't finished your row, someone will take you back to the entrance, you'll collect a chip for today's wages and leave. The rest of you, step forward." All of us rose and made a circle around Keedan.
"Now, I'll identify you first by your hoverstep number," he said. Those had been left at the end of our rows as instructed. "Where is hoverstep three?" Landor held up a hand. "You left good fruit hanging on at least eight trees. Do better tomorrow or you'll be out. Where's number eleven?" A woman held up her hand. "You dumped good fruit on the ground with the culls. You're out as of now. Go to the entrance and collect your pay." The woman turned and left. Keedan went through several others, voicing his concerns about their harvesting skills, bruising of fruit or running their hoverstep into the trunk of a tree. That could damage the tree and leave it open to insect infestation or other diseases. "Do that again," Keedan admonished, "and you'll be fined and asked to leave." The young male hung his head and nodded.
"Now," he said, "who is hoverstep number sixteen?" That one was mine. I raised my hand. "What's your name?" Keedan asked.
"Reah," I said.
"Reah, I couldn't find anything wrong with your work and you finished first, even though you started last. You've done this before."
"Yes," I nodded. "Several years." I wasn't about to tell him how many.
"Good work," Keedan smiled the smile I'd waited all day to see. His eyes did indeed crinkle nicely at the corners. I smiled back at him. "You're dismissed, load your hoversteps on the truck over there and don't forget to charge them tonight. Sleep well; the trucks will be by to pick you up at first light. Be late and you'll be taken to the gate," he grinned.
Hitting the lifter on my hoverstep, I slid it into place on the truck and then climbed onto the seat next to it. We rode back to the barracks that way, many of us leaning our elbows tiredly on our hoversteps as we made the trip.
After getting the hoverstep into my cubicle and hooked up to the power supply, I walked toward the kitchen, where my three bunkmates waited. I'd offered to cook and they were all sitting around the kitchen, waiting. Opening the fridge, I assessed what we'd been left to prepare. We had fowl, so I pulled it out, washed it and went looking for flour, spices and seasonings.
"This may be the best thing I've ever eaten in the fields," Calde said later. I'd served the fowl with a sauce using the meager ingredients I had, plus sautéed vegetables, sliced cheese and fresh fruit for dessert.
"I don't think I've gotten food this good anywhere," Yendah acknowledged.
"I'll cook every night," I offered, "if someone else will do cleanup. Four isn't hard to prepare meals for."
"We'll get sandwiches or something for a noon meal while we're picking," Garthe bit into the cheese. "This goes well with the grapes."
"Yes, it does. I find it surprising that they brought us something that was such good quality."
"People usually melt this cheese over bread or something," Calde pointed out.
"I like it better this way," I said.
"Me, too," he agreed.
Knowing that I had to rise early, I went to bed soon after dinner. At least my cube had a door that I could lock. My days settled into a routine, after that. The harvest was demanding and there were no days off during picking season. Other crews worked the groves, but we seldom saw them. A truck came through each mid-day, handing out a packed meal of some sort. Usually it was sandwiches--those could be finished quickly, allowing us to get back to picking. Keedan showed up at our barracks on the tenth day while I was serving dinner.
"Are you hungry?" I asked, setting food in front of Garthe, who gave me a lovely smile before lifting his fork.
"Of course," Keedan grinned. I'd gotten a comp-vid to order food and supplies, and I'd asked for fish as one of our choices. I was serving it now. Keedan got the extra bit of fish I'd cooked.
"Does she always cook this well?" Keedan asked, stunned after his first bite.
"Every night," Yendah smiled. "We clean up, Reah cooks. Works great for us. I've never eaten this well."
"What about barracks one and two?" Keedan asked, cutting into the fish again.
"I'm not up to cooking for that many," I said. "I'm pregnant and I need as much rest as I can get." If I'd dropped a bomb on the floor, it might have caused less of a stir. Keedan was staring and Yendah was fussing suddenly. Garthe and Calde were staring at one another.
"I've done everything there is to do with gishi fruit while pregnant before," I said. "I'm just not cooking for nearly thirty people after a long day in the groves. Four I can handle. Maybe five or six, but that's it. I won't cook for more than that."
"How far along?" Keedan went back to his food.
"Close to three months. I'll have to see about getting energy bars or something to carry with me soon, so I won't get sick. Besides, the harvest should be done in another six eight-days. I'll find something else after that if you're uncomfortable with an expectant mother working in your groves." I gave Keedan a hard look. I'd picked gishi fruit while eight months pregnant with my middle twins. It certainly hadn't bothered Gardevik Rath that I'd done it. Or Kifirin or any one of my mates.
"Do you have a husband?" Yendah asked.
"I do, but we're not speaking right now. Harvesting gishi fruit gives me a bit of peace and quiet." I dumped the last of the fish sauce on Keedan's plate; he was scraping up the last of it and still had a third of his fish left. Turning back to my dinner, I took a bite of fish and chewed, wondering exactly what it was that Keedan had come to barracks three to say.
"I was hoping you'd work as my assistant," he said, as soon as he'd finished his meal. "You seem to know everything already, although I don't understand how that is. I've never seen you in the groves before, and I've worked with practically everybody, even the ones who work for our two competitors."
"I worked the Kifirini groves," I shrugged. There wasn't any reason to lie about it. "And I have done everything there is to do, including grafting, raising seedlings and pruning."
"Why did you leave Kifirin, then?" Keedan asked.
"New management," I said. "We couldn't seem to agree." That was certainly true. That bitch had stolen my rings and burned my stuff. Teeg could worry about getting his Tiralian crystal ring back—it was worth millions.
"You'll be running errands between me and the big house," Keedan said, leaning back and rubbing his stomach. "And it'll get you quarters closer in. It hurts to lose my best picker, but I think I can depend on you to know what I'm talking about when I send you to the boss. I don't have time to argue with him as much as he wants and still get this harvest in. You start tomorrow; somebody will be here to pick up your things early in the morning. You'll move into your new cottage tomorrow morning, then I'll pick you up and drive you to the big house for breakfast with the boss around nine bells. Got something a little nicer than what you're wearing now?" Keedan perused my jeans and sleeveless shirt.
"I do."
"Don't make it too fancy; we'll go straight to the groves afterward."
"All right."
True to his word, Keedan had someone at the barracks the following morning at dawn. Yendah almost wept when I left, and Garthe and Calde weren't happy either. Yendah hugged me as my bags were loaded onto the small hovertruck by the driver, who gave Yendah more than a cursory glance. He took me straight to a small cottage, from which I could see what Keedan termed "the big house." It was big. Farzi and Nenzi would likely swoon and fashion their next home after it. It rivaled Teeg's palace on Campiaa, with beautiful, curved windows and turrets on every corner. The rest was whitewashed, with blue and silver trim around the windows and doors. Surrounded by the green of gishi fruit groves, it was something out of a myth or legend.
"Ready?" Keedan called after knocking on my front door. My cottage held a small kitchen, a bedroom, private bath and a sitting room. I'd dumped my bags onto the bed but had no time to unpack them before Keedan arrived.
"I'm ready," I said, walking out of the bedroom to greet Keedan.
"Very nice," Keedan took in my outfit. A nicer blouse, black jeans and sandals made up my outfit, and I'd clipped my hair back, letting most of it hang loose instead of braiding it and covering my head with an old straw hat as I usually did. "Come on, the boss and the other three will be waiting." Keedan drove his personal hovercart to the big house, which sat, I discovered, on an artificially created hill so the owner could look over his groves for clicks.
"Is this a competition?" I muttered when Keedan brought me into a private dining room where three other supervisors sat, their assistants sitting beside them. All the assistants were women, and each was quite pretty.
"Maybe, but you're the only one who knows what she's doing, and the prettiest, on top of that," Keedan smiled, his eyes crinkling.
I'd brought a comp-vid with me; in fact, it was the one I'd been given as a gift by Pripps Electronics on Surnath. I'd gotten it back from Lendill and kept it with me constantly. Schuul Enterprises had nothing to do with its manufacture, and I preferred it that way.
"And the western grove has arrived with his new assistant," one of the others commented, smiling at me.
"Drennen, of the eastern grove," Keedan introduced the man. "And his assistant, Annita. Crofford of the Southern Grove, and his assistant Retta, plus Phelpas of the Northern Grove, with his assistant Jadis." I was introduced to all the supervisors who ran EastStar Groves on Avendor, the smallest of the four gishi fruit farming concerns on the planet. Word had it that the owner was a recluse, refusing to attend most of the Governor's balls and banquets, as some of the other owners did.
I couldn't blame him; those things were something I'd come to loathe, having been to more than my share on Teeg's arm. President Drix had been injured during a meeting on Campiaa not long ago, but word had it that he was recovered and back to work at full efficiency, glad that the pirating problem had been eliminated.
"And this is Reah, my new assistant, who worked in the Kifirini Groves before moving here," Keedan introduced me as we sat down. The seat at the head of the table was empty, but servants were waiting in a wide doorway nearby, hovering in anticipation of their lord and master's arrival so breakfast could be served.
"What did you do for the Kifirini groves?" Drennen of the eastern groves asked.
"Everything," I said.
"Everything?" He lifted an eyebrow skeptically.
"Yes," I said. "I've even been known to lay new water pipes or repair the sprinkler system from time to time, although I don't like digging trenches to lay new lines. We didn't own a trencher for a while and digging by hand always makes my back ache."
"How can they sell their fruit as organic?" Crofford of the southern groves asked. "Surely they use insecticides for pests."
"I can assure you that they don't, they use a natural repellent," I said. Crofford huffed out his disbelief.
"Everyone here? Great." The boss had arrived. I stared at him. He was looking at the others at first, giving them a smile. Until he came to me. His mouth dropped open the moment his eyes rested on my face. He covered the gaffe quickly, however. I had no idea who he was, but my heart was suddenly pounding a click a tick, and that most certainly shouldn't be. He was tall—at least six feet. He had thick, dark-brown hair that curled slightly and bright, hazel eyes that would likely cause any girl to swoon, should those eyes smile in her direction.
Of course, his actual smile with beautiful, even white teeth would make her swoon again. A pale hint of freckles might have been on his face, too, but I was too busy staring at his eyes and smile. I think every female at the table was hoping to wiggle her way into the boss's good graces; I realized that right away.
With the way my heart was racing, I was frightened that I might have joined their ranks. Settling myself with a sigh, I pulled out my comp-vid and made ready to take notes if necessary. Pregnancy notwithstanding, I had too many mates already and none of them had thought to pay attention to me for a very long time. I wasn't prepared to take on another, who very likely would do exactly the same.
"This is Edward Pendley, owner of EastStar Groves," Keedan introduced the boss with a smile. I smiled at the boss as best I could, taking his hand when it was offered and giving him my name. We sat down after that, breakfast was served and we got right to business.
"We're caught up now," Keedan said. "We've hired a really good replacement crew and they've made up lost time after we fired the others." I learned that his previous assistant had been one of the terminated crew. Likely the ringleader, unless I missed my guess. I wasn't about to question Keedan about it. If he wanted me to know, he'd tell me.
"How did you do it so quickly?" Phelpas asked.
"Fired the slowest ones first day and then told the rest they had to keep up with the fastest picker," Keedan grinned. I mentally gulped. That had been me. I hadn't known he'd set me up as the example. I'd have to come out of my own thoughts more often. Plates of food were set in front of us, along with coffee, juice and water.
"Do you have decaf?" Keedan placed a hand over my coffee cup as he looked up at the server.
"We can make it," the young man said.
"Do it. She's pregnant," Keedan said. My cheeks went pink immediately. I was glad when they all started talking business again. I set my comp-vid on record so I could get all the information in case I needed it again. They spoke of how much fertilizer would be needed after the harvest, discussed new groves that had been planted and which trees required grafting to produce sooner. The discussion also turned to how many new employees to keep on the payroll to mulch, prune and spray.
"What did you use to fertilize on Kifirin?" Crofford asked. He seemed unnaturally interested in the Kifirini groves for some reason.
"Cow manure compost," I said, "after the harvests. We composted in between and added that mix when it was time. The Crown owns vast cattle herds, and as you know, the Crown also owns the gishi fruit groves. It was an easy exchange; the only cost was getting the manure to the groves. We worked compost into the soil and the trees thrived on it, with a little natural bean crop mixed in."
"I understand that most of the farms and ranches on Kifirin are owned by the Crown," Edward observed. He'd been quiet for the most part and seemed content to eat and listen to what his supervisors had to say.
"They are," I nodded, pushing the eggs around on my plate. The food was standard fare—nothing special. "A few people on Kifirin own land and grow their own crops, but most are employed by the Crown in some way or another. The exceptions are the artisans, weavers and such. Kifirin produces very good quality hand-woven cloth and handmade pottery and glass."
"And it's expensive," Keedan agreed. "I saw a bowl in Adrixx priced at five hundred credits. And it wasn't even their top of the line, according to the shop owner."
"You have to forgive the feudal system they have," I said. "It's much better now than it used to be. They're slowly making their way toward the light, I think."
"Sir, I hate to interrupt," a middle-aged man walked into the dining room. "But there's a fire in the southern grove."
Everybody was up and rushing toward the back of the house. A wide deck was there, overlooking the southern portion of EastStar's massive groves. Edward Pendley began to curse—in English. "I'm going down there," he shouted in common and disappeared, just like that.
"F*ck!" Keedan muttered beside me. "Somebody get a hovercar here. We need to be down there, too."
"I can take two," I said, grabbing Keedan and the first one of the others I could reach, (which turned out to be Crofford) and skipped directly to the spot in the groves where the smoke curled toward the sky.
"Get the sprinklers on!" I shouted, dumping Keedan and Crofford before racing toward the manual control. Those were located every quarter click or so within the groves. Turning the wheel as quickly as I could, the sprinklers came to life, spraying water everywhere while the smoke thickened, forcing me to cough in an attempt to get it out of my lungs.
I couldn't imagine what might have started a fire—the groves were moist enough from rain and the sprinklers that came on during the evening hours. Keedan and Crofford had raced in the opposite direction to get the sprinklers on the other side turned on. I had no idea where Edward had gone; he wasn't there when we arrived.
After only a few moments, we were left with a few smoldering trees, smoke that still hung knee-high above the ground and a mystery as to how the fire had started. Edward had finally shown up, looking angry. I understood that look—at least a dozen trees had been destroyed, and each gishi fruit tree was worth around a million credits over its lifetime.
"They were already gone," Edward muttered. He'd gone after the arsonists while we'd hurried to save the trees. We followed him, then, until we found the origin of the fire. Two trees were now reduced to cinders, and they shouldn't have burned that quickly unless they had help.
"Do you have warlocks or sorcerers for enemies?" I asked, crouching down to examine the white, ashy stump that remained of a gishi fruit tree.
"I wasn't aware of any," Edward said dryly, crouching next to me. "At least we got the fire out quickly."
"We?" I turned to look into his hazel eyes.
"All right, Keedan and Crofford." The hazel eyes twinkled with teasing mischief.
"Uh-huh," I muttered, standing up.
"How did you get us here?" Keedan asked while Crofford nodded in agreement.
"It's called skipping," I said.
"I've only heard of a handful of races that might be capable of that," Edward said, curling a hand around the back of his neck and watching me with a puzzled expression.
"I've only heard of one," I replied.
"Which one is that?"
"Mine," I said.