The landing was unremarkable. The loading gate slammed down before I got to the debarking port, and I saw John waving out the motorized portions of the freight, which wasn't much this trip, though he had managed to snag a couple jeeps buried in back of one motor pool shed before we finished up at Hawaii.

A couple of John's troopers trundled Henry out of the ship on a litter. He was shifting his shoulders around and wincing,obviously uncomfortable and irritated. We had no wheelchairs, and while he could probably have made do by now with a couple crutches, the medic had nixed that, for getting around in the confines of the ship, up and down ramps, so being portaged about was for now the remaining choice.

I felt guilty about not spending time with him on board, but was happy he'd been there. At the least, it had meant some sort of mentoring besides what Clacks could offer, and he was someone the counsel would listen to when questions came up. He waved me over.

“Tomas,you need to call the counsel together, and go over what we have done so far. Don't take Clacks, he has to do something similar with the other Kreeb right now. Probably best anyway, considering some of what You'll be telling them. I spoke with John. After unloading, He'll start looking into setting up defense perimeters and organizing supplies. You need to bug the counsel to initiate mapping out construction sites for permanent structures, and get crews organized to clear land, cut trees, and start stockpiling materials. Don't dwell on the military.”

My head swam. “I, Isn't that something you should be doing?”

Henry smiled beatifically up at me. “Once I'm back up on my pegs, I will.” He looked up at the two soldiers. “Unless you two want to spend the day carting me all over camp?”

One trooper gave me a dirty look. “You two done? The man's a bit heavy.”

Henry smirked. “just tell 'em and listen good. I gotta talk to Christa, and see how the election is shaping up. Till then you get to talk and chew gum, all at the same time. Swing by my tent later and tell me how it went, mister Diplomat.” He waved the litter on before I could think up some good excuse.

Reems blinked up at me. “Ich to hunt now, Tomas. Not interested in crowded tents.”

The counsel tent was crowded, considering its modest size. Really just a ten man cabin tent, and hot from the complement of campers. Everyone squatted on the floor, looking every bit as uncomfortable as I was.

I reported on the Kreeb situation first. The reaction was mixed, but generally similar to Henrys. They didn't whack me up, accepting me for the messenger I was, not as a responsible administrator.

The the extra military supplies drew head nods, the jeeps even more approval. Moving qickly on, I summarized the start of the save the earth program, but referred them to Reb about details.

The fun began when I breached Henry's suggestions that they get going on improving the camp and stocks. Someone “elected” Rouk to survey sites, which was an obvious choice, as he'd mapped the current encampment. A cadre of George's supporters put him up as supervisor for supplies and general crew boss, since he knew most of the machine operators and had a construction background, which he peremptorily accepted, which started an argument with another group.

Arguments began over zoning and I suddely understood why dwelling on our nascent military would have been bad. John had enough to do without civie interference. In the end, George would boss crews, and another member, Sam Fuller, was put in charge of inventory. Everyone wanted to know what Henry thought, where he was, why Henry wasn't here to address all this.

I got the feeling that Henry would not be having too much trouble getting elected to head the council. I left at that point, not being an actual member, luckily.

Henry was surprised they got as much done as they did. He propped himself up off the cot and groused, “Probably felt guilty seeing all that equipment laying around, and not doing anything with it. There a good bunch once you kick em' in the ass and point though. Thanks for helping out. Christa's out seeing what she can find so's I can roll around on my own.”

Later, I got tagged as a shovel operator, and put to work at the latrines, where I half sprained my back.

After a shower-up, I went to see if Lisa would like company for chow. We sat outside her tent, where I was startled to see the big spaceship relaunch.

Lisa passed me a camp plate and seemed undisturbed by this.

“Clacks said he delegated another Kreeb to do the survey while he organized stuff here.”

“Oh. Makes sense. Nobody told me. I feel a little left out of the loop somehow."

Lisa snickered. “I just told you. You are the most in-the-loop guy in camp, Save maybe Henry. He wants to make sure you get word about everything. Wants you to be a regular information kiosk, eventually, Yah?”

I groaned and complained about my sore back, which netted me a nice massage, and fell asleep during it.

Lisa shook me awake. It was dark, the long period dark I'd come to love about this place, and tried to ignore the shaking.

“Tomas, get up! Clacks wants ta see ya.” Something about the survey.”

That got my motor running. The survey? I couldn't have been asleep that long. Clacks said the survey would take days.

Clacks was at the dome. Several of his juniors were bustling in and out of it, while he crouched in State, surrounded by tables piled with paper and small devices not familiar to me.

“ So whats up, Clacks? Thought the survey would take a while.”

“Not complete is, yet. But Henry said I wass to tell you of anything important right away.”

“And?”

“The sship a second colony site found.”