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**iMac722** · July 6, 2000, 22:07

Chapter 2

After I woke up from being knocked out in the crash, George seemed to have had the entire crowd under control for some time, it looked like it took him hours to get all 300 of them under control.

“Hey Robert, good the you just got up, we would all like to tell you something.” George told me with a smile that gave me the creeps.

“Yeah what?” I said.

“We have all talked it over, and decided that you were the one who led us all in here and nearly killed us. So we made it our decision to make you our leader as your punishment, President Robert Cunningham.

Oh crud I thought to myself, I was the leader of a human population of 300 in a large cargo bay that was shattered from the Unity about oh I have no idea how long ago. About a few hours later George and I managed to gather the entire crowd together into getting all the sleeping bags, supplies, and building materials organized and they slept for the night. While they were dozing, we were figuring out what we were going to do tomorrow.

“We need to build structures outside the cargo bay Rob” George said.

“Ok, how bout a hydroponic bay like they had on the Unity or Living Quarters.” I suggested.

“How about both? I mean we have enough materials to build fifty of each practically.” George said.

“Alright, we’ll do that how long will it take?” I replied.

“ Well if everyone pitches in, a few days for each it think, but it could be longer.”

“Ok, we begin tomorrow.” I said and we both fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up and got the “townspeople” gathered and George and I delivered our plan for the day.

“Okay, today we are going to build living quarters inside here in the cargo bay.” I declared.

“Inside? I thought outside Rob why inside?” George asked.

“Well it would shave a lot of time off our hands, and help our supplies last a bit longer, and besides the bay is large enough to hold 300 10x10 rooms built on 3 5x20 room floors, of course they would be a bit big.....ger oh crap I forgot to take the corridors and stairwells into account! Oh never mind people we’re doing it outside!!!”

Then the entire crowd started chuckling.

“I thought so, even if we did build it inside, it would take up 80% of all the available space in the bay, barely leaving enough to store everything.” George said and I felt so dumb back there but I sometimes do that sort of thing, thank goodness not very often.

Fortunately we both got the best designers we could find there in the crowd and started designing how and where we should build the “apartment complex”.

“I think we should build the structure about a few yards from one of the 4 entrances connected by some sort of umbilicus or tunnel in laymans terms.” One of the builders said and we agreed, the new living quarters would be place right outside the north entrance to the cargo bay and soon after we decided to put the hydroponic garden right beside the complex to create the first of many communities on planet.

We all got the plans drawn out, the people suited up and stepped outside for out first sight of planet from the outside.

**iMac722** · July 7, 2000, 02:25

Chapter 3

It must have been dawn, because the suns were rising over the horizon to the east. As we all stepped out in our pressure suits several people brought out the building materials and laid them out in front of the north entrance in a clearing in a square shape. then large sheets of metal, possibly titanium or aluminum were laid out within the square shape and then laser-welded to the frame.

“This is where we’ll place the complex Rob.” George said and began directing the workers to their task.

However, there were four people left out of the project, they said George told them to await “exploration” orders from me. So I sent them out to check out a unity pod about a hundred meters away from here. I knew it was there because I noticed a bright blinking light some distance away from the cargo bay so I immediately deducted that it was a pod. It took them a while to navigate through the red stuff that was blocking their way but came back an half hour later with a fast unity rover.

“Where do you want this boss?” Said the driver of the rover acting like a funky Negro cowboy. So I smiled and said:

“Use that to explore the area out to a few miles, and be sure to come back by the end of the day Alright?”

“Okay boss” The driver hopped back in and drove off and I went back over to George and talked with him to see ho we were going.

“Well Rob we got four wall frames set up, laser welded and lifted up and attached to the foundation we should have the inner wall sheets and doors up and welded into place and the walls ready to be wired by the end of the day.”

“Excellent George, then what?” I asked.

“Then we wire the walls, put in the plastic plumbing, and insulation, finally we weld the sheets of metal on the outer frame and finish up the stairs and we have one floor all set up by the day after tomorrow if we keep up the pace.” George answered.

At the end of the day my scout patrol came back with another unity rover and they were both pulling three unity pods behind them, the driver came out and walked up to me.

“Well Boss, we got a data pod, a materials pod, and another pod that's got a robot wondering where we should have our solar collectors built, I say we had a pretty darn good exploration trip today.’”

“That's great, but where did you get the other rover?” I asked

“I though you’d never ask, you see we found anther pod that turned into this incredibly bright light that literally cloned our rover down to every detail and thats how we mangaged to get all this booty down back home. By the way, my name’s Bob.” He said.

“Robert, but you can call me Rob.” I replied.

After we introduced each other, I went over to see how the new hab area was comming and it was just as george said.

“Sir, what to we do with all these empty crates here?” A worker asked me.

Then I got a fantastic Idea, I told him to place all those boxes with the lids up so when it rains, they can catch the water to be treated for drinking, bathing, and all the other needs we had for it. So then we had an unlimited supply of water as long as we didn’t use it up too fast. Later, George and I decided to have the collectors built at the east entrance to the cargo bay far enough so that they can collect sunlight all day but close enough so that we can perform maitenence duties quickly. This would provide enough power for us.

We decided to do all that stuff tomorrow. I could not believe that everything was going so well.

**iMac722** · July 12, 2000, 22:13

Chapter 4

During the next few days we finished construction on the first floor and halfway done on the second floor, I heard strange reports about strange worms coming in huge mounds around the fungal areas and even stranger reports about the red fungus actually producing the worms in the tubular shoots that make it up. But usually the worms just moved away unless we disturbed the fungus, in that case you had to grab a flame gun and protect yourself, lest you be killed and eaten. But no one’s been killed throughout this whole time we’ve been here nevertheless, I’ve had all scouting parties go armed with flame guns. Also I’ve been planning something big. Something along the lines of a Lewis and Clark expedition type thing.

I sent the two scout rovers with a team of four each armed with flame guns and enough supplies to last a whole year, their mission: to see if we are on an island, or a peninsula. They left last night, so they’ll be back in about six to eight months. Currently, the robot power pod has been setting up solar collectors in the place we want it to, our data pods have given us Industrial Base and Centauri Ecology so we have the necessary knowledge to build synthmetal building frames, armor and formers. We even decided to reinforce the buildings get done with synthmetal or whatever we come up with during that time. We also commissioned a tower to be built on top of the cargo bay with a very bright flashing light so that anyone who is lost can find their way home if they can see it.

Another day has passed and due to our hard work, we are almost done woth the second floor, we seem to take two days at least to get one floor done and we anticipated at least a week or three to get the hydroponic farms built, we seem to have lost the instructions for building one of them but we have the basic idea of it. Out water supplies that we came with have run out but our rain collectors have proven very fruitful being full just after a few rainstorms it seems we have crash landed on the promised planet, I feel like that Moses guy, hey he had been wandering for forty years and so have we. But, with good times there will inevitably bad times too, they just haven’t come yet.

“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” I heard a worker scream I spoke too soon.

“It seems we have a broken limb here I’ll go cast it.” One of George’s supervisiors said.

“Well it seems he fell from the top of the second floor while putting in the roof plate.” One of his co-workers said.

Fourtunately the fall didn’t crack his helmet or we would’ve had to get him inside ASAP or he would get nitrogen narcosis. That night I had a few people removed from construction and placed in my new Immediate Response Health Crew or the new IRHC group responsible for aiding anyone in pain. George helped out with the name and thier responsibilites, but I came up with the initial idea. Which also brings up another question, why was I chosen leader and not George, he would do a much better job, I guess they chose him after being at the crowd’s mercy and almost being killed by them but I guess I’ll never know until I ask him tonight.

**iMac722** · August 7, 2000, 15:30

Chapter 5: The Reason
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That night I asked George why I was chosen leader instead of him.

“Well, I was being overwhelmed by accusations of leading them to their deaths and threats of murder and suicide so I started screaming for them to shut up and listen to me and after about an hour and a half I finally managed to calmed them down enough so I can use what's left of my voice to tell them that it was you who led us into the cargo bay, so they chose to make you our leader to see how you would screw up but of course that backfired, but the people are doing good so they don’t care anymore. George explained.

“Well that explains a lot, I’m not sure whether I should quit or keep going” I said

“Well ummm I think you should keep going, no hard feelings right? George said with a worried tone in his voice.

“Okay, but don't screw me over anymore alright.? I asked George.

“Okay.” George said.

That morning work continued we had two more broken limbs but the IRHC always got there in time, we almost had someone get nitrogen narcosis but he’s ok now we hope. We finally have the third floor roof put in and laser welded to the building, the insulation’s sprayed in, the wiring put in windows cut and put into place, all we need to do now is put in the atmosphere processor and plug it into the ventilation system and we got ourselves a breathable atmosphere in here and people can live there without their suits. The temperature control units were put in afterward.

The greenhouse will be started in a week so people can get situated and furnish their small 10x10 rooms with what they brought from earth in those small bags they give you to put under your cryocell in that cabinet. Each room has a sleeping bag complete with a pillow on a raised plastic and metal platform made from leftover materials, a plastic crate put under a faucet for bathing, a small metal and plastic nightstand once again made from leftover building materials as was two small chairs and a table each room also had a light fixture and a sink protruding from the wall and ceiling. Quite clever engineering was used in the construction of this building, a true masterpiece.

During that week we created the first information network on planet by linking all the computers we found in the unopened crates we found in the cargo bay, afterward we opened small holes in each room and pulled network cables through each of them and connected them to the computers and the big network servers we also found in those crates, but not as many as we thought, I guess the University went a little overboard in stocking their colony pod with computer stuff.

But we also have enough materials left from that pod we found to build one fully functioning network node, linking all the servers into a information center which we put alongside the atmosphere processor in the “closet”, a small room we created outside the cargo bay right beside and connected to the hab area for all colony essentials. We converted the cargo bay into a general recreation area with tables and chairs made from leftover materials as usual. Our computer programmers which actually intended to join the University, created chat rooms and message boards for our people to talk and exchange ideas without leaving their rooms, isn't technology wonderful? I wonder how the other factions are doing without all the goodies they left us.

Well we finally got started on the tower and the greenhouse farm, since we’re splitting our labor, things will go slower, but we should get things done within three weeks.

**iMac722** · August 26, 2000, 21:50

Chapter 6-The Greenhouse, and the Tower
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As usual we had broken limbs as we constructed the greenhouse and the tower but the IRHC was always there, abut a week into the construction we had the floor and frame of the greenhouse done we that we could do real farming instead of building a greenhouse, so we dismantled the framework and stored them back in the cargo bay, this would prove useful, as the extra materials would help us do a lot more stuff in the future. Building a farm would be a lot faster than building a greenhouse because we had a spare former in the cargo bay, something the Gaians left behind. Firing up the former and pulling it out of the bay, we immediately tilled the soil and planted the wheat, soybeans, tomatoes, and apple trees in the plot we laid out by the south entrance of the cargo bay. Tilling was easy with the giant drill on the front of the former. Afterwards we built sprinklers to automatically water the crops because human labor would be at an extreme premium and only able to harvest the crops.

We had enough food planted to feed 1000 people and we needed the surplus because we expected population growth by the end of the decade, so we would need to expand the hab complex, the farm and inevitably create a new town somewhere outside the capital. We already began coming up with names for the next town: New Indianapolis, New McCordsville, New Washington, etc. One of these would be he name of our second town from our capital, New Houston. Nothing much to say from here the tower will be completed within the week with the additional manpower we have so I close my journal on this day.

Eight months later

Our expeditionary team came home today, and inside the main hall we held a ceremony in their honor. As it turns out we are on a large island big enough for several cities. As for town expansion we expanded the hab complex, nearly doubling its size, built two more farms, solar collectors and a science lab where we moved newly built computers made with manufacturing equipment we found in the last of the cargo crates we finally opened two months ago, and the network node also. We recently began research on the lost technologies that only the other factions have such as biogenetics, and social psych. We should have our first discovery in a year to a decade.

In a few days I’ll send the explorration teams out to explore the interior of our continent, searching for more unity pods, and city sites for expansion. We decided on a name for the next five cities we’ll have by the end of the century which, thanks to the longevity vaccine, developed on earth fifty years ago me and most of the original colonists will be able to see, and thos five names are: New Indianapolis, New Fortville, New McCordsville, New Haven, New Beginning.

**iMac722** · September 29, 2000, 18:52

Chapter-7 Schools and Expansion
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30 years later

We established the first school and named it after the minister of internal affairs whom I nominated George. So the George Leonard Public School was established a few months after the first pregnancies were reported about twenty two years ago, it took years for us to make the school large enough, to have enough seating, computers, and rules for the children of the future.
It was done by the time the first class was ready to be put into kindergarten. We let the kids wear their own clothes to enhance creativity in the atmosphere of the classroom and to encourage individuality. We eliminated several of the rules as dictated by the U.N charter of education such as mandatory school uniforms. A few were harsh.

About fifteen years later those same kids were succeeded by many more as the families and hab facilities grew. George took upon the same job his great-grandfather took over a hundred years ago: teaching. He became a third level teacher or high school teacher as it was known a century ago. He was a superb educator and was widely known for a quote that his great grandfather used at the end of every week:

“Guys stay out of trouble
Girls say no
See you next week
For a brand new show!”

So far our schools were a very positive learning environment and most of the children got very good grades, this was possible because the kids had no outside influences, very few if any fads, and the parents were very good friends. However we estimated that sine all 145 women got pregnant and had an average of about one to five kids and we only had enough room for about 1200 people on the entire settlement, we would have to expand within four years. Fourtunately we had enough supplies from the cargo bay and food from our farms for 2000.

We spent two weeks planning for own new town, we chose the name to be New Beginning and that we would start off by sending a group of fromers out to build a road to the town site, construct farms, solar collectors, and even a mine or two for when our children begin to work. Meanwhile, we would send workers out to construct a main commons, hab complex, and beacon tower. We would also instruct the workers and former operators to keep in radio contact at all times since we cleared out patches of fungus to expand New Houston and the worms didn’t take kindly to that. We’ll also send a group of armed colonists with flame guns and we’ll arm the workers too, just incase the worms get restless.

About seven years later, or now New Beginning has a population of 234 people born from the origonal 150 movers and we’ve had a few worm attacks because we’ve cleared out fungus and planted forests but we’ve been able to hold our own. This continent seems to be somewhere in the northern hemisphere because of the mineral contents we found by analysing the soil last week so our mining ventures in the future should be adequete. My mind always seems to be going back to the Unity factions, where are they?

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The Ordinary People: Improved Edition

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