Page 20 of Thalen

I scratched the back of my neck thoughtfully. I needed to speak with Bob and Johree desperately. The machines obviously used combustion engines, so they would require conversion to use our crystals so as to not pollute the air, not to mention the chemicals they used as fuel were not readily available out here and, by all accounts, were quite combustible. Jesse’s truck had been successfully converted, so I knew it was possible. While less efficient than setting my Farm Pro Select-a-matic 26A to work without me having to supervise it every second, I didn’t see why he couldn’t use properly converted machinery of the sort he dreamed about in a field or two set aside just for him. I had five fields I was using at the moment, and two of them held experimental crops - one with newly planted maize and the second with yerpa, a variety of legume from our homeworld that could be steamed or boiled to eat as a side accompaniment or roasted and ground up to use as a condiment or sandwich spread. Of the other three, one I’d just harvested oats from, and the others were growing wheat. The near constant temperature and even rainfall meant a year round growing season where you could grow whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. I had another two fields that had never been plowed and were nothing but prairie grass. An idea was forming in my head about giving those two to him after securing him two of those machines and getting them converted.

“What kind of fruit trees are there here? Are there any native ones like, there are, those walnut things, and are there other nut trees? What about flowering ornamentals? I always wanted a weeping willow tree and maybe a flowering cherry. Maybe this planet has something kind of like those. They’d look real nice in the yard.”

I put his datapad back on the counter. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen any, but Bob would know if any have been found. The walnut trees just kinda appeared and had accelerated growth. The ancient observation post on the moon occasionally gifts us containers of seed. We’re pretty sure there is something here on the planet we haven’t found yet that’s similar, and it planted the trees and gave them some kind of growth stimulant. They were full size in less than two years and laden with nuts. The saplings you saw that Bob had planted in Walnut Grove were only about as tall as you when they went in, and they aren’t growing nearly as fast as that, but they are pretty quick.”

“That’s right! I forgot about that episode where Jesse talked about that and showed us some guys planting a few more of those along the side streets. That video was only about six months ago, and now those trees are at least twelve feet tall and as big around as you instead of little itty bitty baby trees!”

I nodded. "I reckon the ones in town will be full size in three or four years instead of two and bearing nuts. They’ll be so many that everyone will be able to gather them for free for their own use.”

“That is just so awesome! I hope the ancient alien whatever or whoever plants apples next. Ohhh, you have a greenhouse? Do you think I’d be allowed to grow pineapples? Or will they grow outside since it doesn’t get cold here really at all? What about bananas?”

“That’s something you can check with Bob about,” I told him, chuckling.

“Okay, let’s run the glasses through a rinse and dry in the dishwasher before we put them away,” he said, opening another box. “They’re all wrapped up nicely in paper, but paper isn’t super duper clean. It gets dirty sitting on the rolls at the factory, so I’d feel better giving them at least a rinse. Or a wash, if that won’t take too long.”

“There’s a thirty minute wash and dry cycle.”

“Awesome!” He opened the dishwasher and began loading it. “Um, do we have any detergent for it?”

“The machine generates it, adjusting for load size, type of stuff being cleaned, and how dirty it all is. It will scan what’s there and do it automatically.”

“And I suppose it’s all eco friendly too.”

“The wash and rinse water, and everything it removes, is converted into base matter after being emptied into the catchment tank in the base. The base matter is then used to create more soap and rinse aid as required, with the food particulates that were converted into base matter being fed into the household base matter tank for the replicator to reuse.”

“Okay, wow. That’s really cool, but I did not need to think about my old spaghetti getting washed and then turned into chicken nuggets and fries, thanks.”

“Okay. I won’t mention it again,” I told him solemnly.

“D.D., Dad! One of the kilt-ha let me pet it! It came right up to the fence and went ‘rurghhh’ at me and acted like it wanted me to scratch its nose, so I did, and then petted it!”

“They are quite docile creatures, and once they know scratches and pets are to be had, you’ll find them coming up to you quite often,” I told him. “Just mind the hop-a-longs.”

“Why?” he asked, tilting his head, his eyes lit with curiosity.

“Sometimes they get flighty and will suddenly do a jumping spin and kick out with their back feet. They are surprisingly powerful.”

“Okay, don’t go near those until D.D. can introduce you and show you how to handle them.”

“Okay,” came the slightly dejected reply.

“Your box of stuff is in your bedroom, you should go put it away,” Evan told him.

“Aw, man,” Jason complained, but went to do as he was told, with Benny and Duke right behind him.

“Unghhh,” Evan moaned, stretching. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get this finished today.” He peered at the display panel on the dishwasher. “I just choose quick?”

“Yes, and then press the start button.”

“Okay, wow, that was easy. I’m liking this. No worrying about forgetting to buy dish soap or dishwasher pods or rinse aid because we don’t need to buy it!”

“You’ve unpacked your clothes and put them away, and the furniture is all in place, so why don’t you go take a hot bath and relax until supper? I’ll replicate us a meal.”

“You’re on! I’d forgotten how much hard work moving could be.”

I watched as he ambled off towards our room, then once I was certain he was out of earshot, I used my wrist comm to speak with Bob about those machines my mate dreamed of owning.

“Combustion engine machines are already covered in our regulations for importation, so as long as you get them converted first, there’s no issue,” Bob replied.