“No.” Terra Nova didn’t use multi-communication devices, and her tech tab had been left behind, along with everything else she’d owned.
“You can use the terminals at the library in the admin building.”
“Terminals?”
“To access the HyperSphere and the Refuge intranet. Lucento didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“Did that man tell you anything about how things work around here?” Darmaine planted her hands on her hips and shook her head. “The library is our link to outside worlds. Communications are encrypted, so they can’t be traced to Refuge. If you want to research dyeing, I’d appreciate it. It would save me a lot of time.”
I think I got myself a new assignment.“I’d be happy to.”
“For security reasons—not to mention cost—you won’t be able to order dye from another planet and ship it here, but you might get ideas about natural resources to use as coloring agents. All the data about Refuge, its flora and fauna, the minerals and so forth, is on the intranet.” Her lips quirked. “The biggest challenge will be the translation to your own language. Some concepts get lost in translation.”
“Like candle and torch.”
“Exactly.”
They laughed.
Amity looked forward to getting started. It reassured her they weren’t completely isolated on Refuge—not that she’d felt that way. Being married to Marshall, having friends, learning new skills, enjoying her work—how could life get any better?
“I’ll check that out soon. First, I’d better finish weaving the bolt of cloth I’m working on before my boss catches me goofing off.”
“I hear your boss is a real slave driver.” Darmaine smiled. “I’ll let you get started here. I need to dash out on an errand. I won’t be gone long.”
* * * *
Marshall entered the woodshop and hung his coat on the hook.
Bragg hooted. “What are you wearing?”
“The sweater Amity made me for my birthday.”
Bragg wiped the laughter from his face. “It looks great.”
“Beautiful,” said Tailless. Backside bandaged, he’d returned to work.
“Lovely,” said Zhara, the female alien who worked with them.
The shoulders were a tad uneven, and the left sleeve hung longer than the right, but he didn’t care. He loved it. She had made it special for him. Last night had been the best birthdayhe’d ever had—theonlyone he’d ever had—but he couldn’t imagine one better.
“What do we have going today?” he asked Chartreuse. More determined than ever to build a sofa for Amity, he hoped to have some free time to get to work on it.
“Tables. What else? Bragg and Zhara will be on the saws. I want you and Tailless to laminate the tabletop strips. We need to get them set. After that, there are still legs to be attached to the finished tabletops.”
Working together, he and Tailless made short work of applying adhesive to wood strips and clamping them together to dry overnight to form the wide tabletop planks. After completing ten of them, they moved to finish the previous project— attaching legs to dried tops.
They’d just gotten started when Marshall felt a gust of frigid air.
Darmaine swept into the shop. “Lucento said you wished to speak to me?”
“Can you handle this by yourself for a few minutes?” he asked Tailless.
“No problem!”
He beckoned to Amity’s boss. “Thanks for coming. Let’s go where it’s a little quieter.” He led the way to the break room, away from the hammering and the whine of the saws. They could still hear the shop noise, but they wouldn’t have to yell.
