The Children of Hamlin - Carmen Carter [30]
“Can’t you stop the cycle again?” asked Wesley.
“Not without a high fatality rate,” said Dnnys. “Wes, I’ve got to know. Is there any chance we’ll reach New Oregon before we start decanting?”
Wesley shook his head. He couldn’t explain the cause for the detour, but the schedule delay would be obvious to the colonists soon enough.
“Well,” said the Farmer. “You’re going to be hip-deep in pigs and sheep, not to mention dogs and chickens. I hope your captain likes animals.”
“I think I’d better call the bridge,” answered Wesley. With luck, he could explain the problem to Commander Riker first.
Chapter Seven
“WILL THE LIVESTOCK be jettisoned into space?” asked Patrisha with dismay.
“Definitely not,” said Riker. Surely she couldn’t have expected such a drastic reaction. “We have no intention of harming the decanted animals.”
“But then where will we put them all?”
Picard had asked the same question with considerably more force and the inclusion of an expletive. As befitted a competent first officer, Riker had prepared an answer before letting either the captain or the Farmer know of the problem brewing in the cargo bay. “The ship’s holodecks can be reprogrammed for pasture and farmland, including barns and corrals. Wesley Crusher is working out the computer instructions now.”
The captain had insisted on the assignment, as if blaming the messenger for bad news. However, the young ensign was delighted at the chance to alter the simulation parameters. With Dnnys serving as a consultant for the Farmers’ requirements, the task was closer to play than work.
Patrisha’s face was still taut with anxiety. “A holodeck. Oh, dear.”
“Is something wrong?” asked Riker. Dnnys had accepted the solution with relief, but his mother looked even more worried than before.
“It’s the only way, really. I can see that,” said the Farmer. “However, holodecks are… ” She shrugged helplessly.
“Works of the devil?” suggested Riker with an irreverence he hadn’t meant to voice.
“We’re not superstitious, Mr. Riker.” Patrisha’s annoyance was obvious, but fortunately she wasn’t gravely offended. “As Farmers we try to avoid unnecessary technology, to lessen our dependence on machinery.”
“But your credo allows stasis chambers,” Riker pointed out. Of all the colonists, this woman seemed the least likely to take offense, but he should have brought Troi along to warn him if he pushed Patrisha too far.
“Only because our need is so great,” she said. “We had no other choice. Despite that pressing urgency, many Farmers have opposed the use of such an unfamiliar method of transport for the animals. The stasis malfunction has strengthened the force of their arguments. So many arguments.”
Riker sensed a lowering of Patrisha’s reserve, as if she were too tired to maintain her distance. For the first time, she motioned him to sit down on the suite’s couch. She perched on a smaller chair, tense but much less defensive.
“We are wanderers, Commander. Ziedorf, the oldest among us, was born on Titan nearly two hundred years ago. My mother and my aunt were born on Yonada, and I was born during the voyage to Grzydc. Each world was deemed a perfect place, so we would adopt some smattering of the local customs, alter our names to fit the native language, but always the changes were superficial. First and foremost we were Oregon Farmers and eventually the differences forced a departure. With each move to a new planet our community and our possessions grew smaller.”
“And New Oregon is to be another home.”
“The final one, I hope.” She smiled sadly. “Though my mother said the same of Grzydc.” She shook herself and continued more briskly. “My daughter Krn is waiting for us on the terraformed land, making the final arrangements for our settlement. We named it after our original home, a place on Earth called Oregon. Nearly a thousand people left there some three centuries past. We’re all that remains of that group. And the animal