《Project Dirt》


 Project Dirt chapters 1 A stranger in a strange place.

    Project dirt


    Book 1:


    Adam left the office feeling giddy. He walked towards the hangar as he read the contract for what must have been the hundredth time. He had done it. He had bought a whole solar system, costing him twenty-five million credits, but now he officially owned GKB-12658. It had a yellow sun, three planets, and two gas planets with two asteroid fields. The planets were just barren rocks; only one was within the habitable zone, and the atmosphere was weak. It was 1.003x the size of Earth, with two moons and a ring formation. The moons were half the size of Earth''s moon and locked in an eternal dance with each other. It was a beautiful sight to behold, but he did worry if they would collide at one point. But it was 20 lightyears from the nearest populated system, almost like buying a farm in the middle of nowhere; the nearest hyperplane was 6 lightyears away, and it currently had no stops there. Adam grinned.


    Currently was the keyword. He had spent half his winnings on the planet. He remembered how shocked he had been when he won the Earth''s golden ticket. He had spent 5 credits and won fifty million credits. He hadn¡¯t told anybody; there was nobody to tell, to be honest. Being raised in an orphanage with very few friends. Those he had as a kid had left Earth a long time ago. With his winnings, he knew he could spend money, live a good life, buy a house, and enjoy life. But he wanted something more. He wanted to be something more. He had spent one million on an old space hauler and learned how to fly it; he had bought five droids for protection, ten worker droids and two factory-version 3D printing robots. Leaving him with twenty-two million credits.


    He had a plan, and it was going to work. He had read about it when he was young, about people who made deserts bloom. He always wanted to do that, but now he could do it on a grander scale. Not just grand .. Planetary scale. He had the idea when he saw the article about that family that dumped organic waste in the desert and let nature do its thing. It was a way to fight desertification. He wanted to do that to a whole planet. He just needed to find a planet with a desert planet atmosphere, like the one they always show in the movies. That had turned out to be more difficult than he thought. Most desert planets have no atmosphere or are too cold or hot. He finally found one on the other side of the galaxy, far from everybody. It would have been colonized long ago if it had been closer to the hyperplane. He reached the hangar and looked for the job board. Yep, there it was, the most annoying and boring job in the universe: trash disposal. People thought space stations just recycled everything, but that was not true; with a constant influx of goods, there was no need to recycle, dump it in a crate, ship it near the sun, and waste problem solved. The problem was getting the waste from the station within the sun¡¯s gravity pull. And that¡¯s where he came in.


    He took the job and the next and the next. He filled his hauler up with all the trash he could. It was now his trash; he could keep it or dump it, just not in open space. Ships didn¡¯t like getting hit by a meteorite made out of other people''s waste. He had earned a few credits, too.


    It took him one week to reach his system; when he entered, it came up as owned by Adam Wrangler. He loved it and stared at the screen as the ship flew to the second planet, the most earth-like one. He looked at it. It was just a desert with two large white poles. He ran the scans, and there were traces of nitrogen and carbon. The atmosphere was very weak, with almost no ozone layer. He flew down to the equator, where a vast valley was, and dumped everything there. He looked over the scans and found a place to land. It was a plateau high enough not to end up underwater even if both poles melted but still not too high. He got into the suit and went to the secondary cargo hold where his droids and 3D printers were placed and unloaded.


    He went over the geographic scans and the programs. There was a base blueprint he had bought. It had cost him 2500 credits, a research base that looked like a forty-meter tall cylinder with a fifty-meter diameter and a small observation tower at the top; he had played with the design and added three football-field sized domes and a landing hanger. Those had only cost him 500 credits each. It would take the droids months to finish it, but they would work constantly until it was finished. He might have to buy a few more. Ten more would speed it up.


    He left four of the bodyguard droids to protect it, and then he flew off. He set the course for ¡°the galactic hub,¡± or hub as it was called. The biggest commercial space station in the sector. When he docked, he headed straight to the job board to find the waste disposal jobs. ¡°He leaves a few for us. That¡¯s easy money: just 30 minutes for a few hundred credits.¡± He turned towards the voice. The man was slightly taller and looked like a shaved dog with a pink mohawk. He was wearing what appeared to be blue jeans and a red T-shirt. He had a bandoleer that ended in a pistol; he thought the species was Tufons.


    ¡°How many do you want me to leave? I want the organics anyway,¡± Adam replied as he stepped away from the screen. He had managed to get 20 jobs, and his hauler would soon be full. ¡°Only organics? Why?¡± The alien reviewed the jobs and took four, mostly metal products. ¡°Science project, what about you? You seemed to go for the metal. ¡° Adam watched the alien curious. He had only met a few, though he had seen many.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know? You melt it down and resell it. It takes a lot of energy though, so most stations don¡¯t bother with it, and the crimelords don¡¯t care about the small changes. So what kind of science project?¡± The dogman looked at him now, tilting his head slightly. ¡°Well, just checking if it can turn into manure. Trying to make a farm.¡± It was a little lie, but he didn¡¯t feel like revealing his real plan.


    ¡°Well, then you should go to the farms and restaurants. It takes longer, but you will get organics and no metals then. Names Roks.¡± The alien offered a clawed hand to shake, and he took it. It was a firm grip.


    ¡°Adam Wrangler, nice to meet you. I was hoping to get in and out. How much more time are we talking about?¡±


    ¡°Well, if it¡¯s just for one time, then we are talking a few days, but if it¡¯s a regular job, then you can set it up, hire somebody to bring it down here to the waste storage, and then you don¡¯t even have to check the job board. It will truly be in and out.¡± Adam looked at Roks as he thought about it. He had to do some calculations, but yeah, it might actually work. He needed a lot of waste; he was, after all, planning to cover the whole planet in it, and he didn¡¯t have time to work on the atmosphere either. ¡°I have to think about it. Right now, I have to fill this one up and head out. Nice meeting you Roks.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He added a few more jobs to fill up the ship and headed out. He had enough money to hire a few. He needed one more ship and at least one more pilot. He stopped and looked at Roks. ¡°Do you work for somebody?¡±


    ¡°No, self-employed. Why? Are you hiring?¡± He had stopped as he asked him, halfway out the door.


    ¡°Maybe, my project needs a lot of organic waste. So, I might need to hire a pilot with a ship to do the job. But it¡¯s a week''s travel between here and the dumping place each way.¡± ¡°you better just buy a slave for that; no cargo hauler would do that for trash; a slave working for freedom will. Of course, they might steal the hauler and escape. But that¡¯s the risk you run with even a licensed pilot. Maybe a Clonedroid. Yeah, that could work.¡± ¡°A clone droid? What the hell is that?¡± Adam asked, confused; he hadn''t heard about those. Roks shrugged as he replied. ¡°Ethical clones, they call them, clones with a cybernetic brain. Basically, they will pass as alive, and they can access the common areas; it¡¯s an android brain inside a cloned body. So you won¡¯t have any ethical problems about using them for labor, unlike slaves. Some people, like me, don¡¯t agree with that practice.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious? They clone somebody and remove their brains to put in an android brain? That¡¯s like killing somebody to make a flesh android.¡± Adam was disgusted by the thought, Roks looked at him for a while.


    ¡°You''re human, right? They said your people were different. But yeah, you''re right. Hell, if you want to do the right thing, you buy a slave, set up a contract for servitude to freedom, and set aside some money for when they get freed. Then you roll the dice of fate and hope you bought an honest one. That¡¯s my goal, though. The damn law forbids you from freeing a slave you just bought.¡± Roks seemed a little frustrated as he said the last words.


    ¡°Wait, you''re trying to buy somebody to free them? Who?¡± Adam was curious now; this was an aspect of galactic culture he had not learned at school, the little he had.


    ¡°My sister and her husband were on the wrong side of my world''s civil war and were sold off as slaves. I have them on hold for three weeks: 30 grand for her and 55 for him. He is a biologist, and she is a nurse.¡±


    ¡°Biologist? How much are you missing?¡±


    ¡°I got 22500 saved up now. I might get 1000 more with these jobs, and the sale might give me another. I fear I can only get her out. She is going to hate me; luckily, he is so specialized that I might have another week before he is snatched up.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy them. I could use a biologist, and she can work as his aid for what? a year?¡± ¡°You sure? I mean, I don¡¯t even know you. And it has to be a minimum of 5 standard years.¡± ¡°Yeah, but with one condition. You work for me too, paid of course for 6 months. Yeah, that should do it. You seem to know your way around the business of hauling, and I need the help. What do you say?¡±


    ¡°I say, I want to see the contract and credit check first.¡± Adam smirked as he pressed his tab, and his spending credit was shown; he only had 2.1 million credits on it, and Roks whistled as he saw it.


    ¡°Why are you hauling? You''re rich enough to retire with that.¡±


    ¡°I have a bigger dream. Come, let''s find a lawyer and set up a contract.¡± He started walking and Roks followed him.


    ¡°You know a lawyer will cost credits, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯ll be honest with you. We just met, and this will be for my security as well as yours. If you screw me over, I can sue you, and if I screw you over, you can sue me. And It will protect us from outside interference as well. Companies get more protection.¡±


    It took them five hours, but Adam was the CEO and owner of Wrangler Company, HQ at the newly named Dirt system. Roks was his employee for one year and paid 50% of the income from each haul. They also set up a standard contract for slaves: five years of work for freedom and a 50,000 reward when they¡¯d served their time. An hour later, they all sat in a cafeteria. Roks, his sister Hara, and her husband Vorts just looked at him while Adam was trying out the food.


    ¡°Are you sure this is edible?¡± He looked at the plate. It looked like a T-bone steak, but the color was not correct. The meat was green, the bone was purple, and the potatoes were green. ¡°Uh, yes, it¡¯s quite safe. The scan you did when you arrived at the restaurant showed everything that would be poisonous on your menu," he replied, but he seemed still in shock. Adam looked up. ¡°What? Is it so strange to see a human eating?¡±


    ¡°No, it''s that you just gave us a chance of freedom. And that contract, you had us sign with a lawyer as a witness. I mean. What do you want from us?¡± Vorts replied to him as he held his wife''s hand.


    ¡°Look, I guess I have to explain it. I bought a solar system, and it has one planet with an atmosphere, a weak one so I need it thicker so It can become breathable. It''s within the habitable zone, but not enough gasses to make it breathable or give it a stable atmosphere. Fortunately, both poles have a large ice cap, mainly water.


    Now, it''s so far away from another system that I got it cheap. So we are going to terraform it unusually. I can''t afford the big terraform machines, so the plan is to collect as much bio waste as possible, spread it out, and melt the caps to release water vapor.¡± He spoke as he ate; the food was surprisingly good, and he sipped the water.


    ¡°Singlehandedly terraform? You must be crazy. But for the sake of argument, does the planet have a strong enough gravity pull to keep the atmosphere?¡± Vorts was a little more interested now.


    ¡°Yes, it is about the same size as my home world. That''s why I picked it. Look, it has potential. The system might have metal I can sell. The goal is first to terraform the planet and then make a profit from it. ¡° He leaned back and looked at them.


    ¡°Look, I can''t do it alone; few humans are this far out from Earth. Earth is on the other side of the galaxy. If not for the hyperplane, then I would never have been able to travel here. It takes a whole year in hyperspace to get here from Earth.¡±


    ¡°Are you running away from your kind?¡± Hara seemed a little worried, and Adam laughed. ¡°No, I¡¯m not running away. I just... it¡¯s a human thing. I wanted to go somewhere far away and start over. I have no family, so I had nothing to hold me back. Right now, you''re all I have.¡± They all looked at each other and back at him. ¡°You''re adopting us?¡± Roks looked confused, and Adam tapped his implant. It must have translated it wrong. ¡°Adopt?¡°


    ¡°Make us part of your family? Become our clan leader?¡± Roks tilts his head slightly, and Adam chuckles.


    ¡°Wow, let''s take it easy. Let''s first find out if you guys even like me. I don¡¯t know how it works out here. Right now, We work together, right?¡±


    Adam looked at them, hoping he didn¡¯t disappoint or offend them. They looked at each other with a strange look. So he continued. ¡°Look, I''m human; I don¡¯t mean to offend or cause trouble. I might have said something offensive. If I did, please accept my apologies.¡±


    ¡°No need to apologize; you own us. We cannot hope for such honor anyway. We will work hard and may be worthy one day.¡± Vorts bowed his head, and Adam smiled.


    ¡°Hey, just cut that master-owning stuff ¡ª your¡¯re employees with a five-year contract. Now, we need to buy a shelter for you guys as you will be working planetside. And some clothes as well. Okay, time to go shopping.¡±

 Project Dirt Chapter 2

    Dirt part 2 Shopping


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you hire a lawyer to find the jobs for you? Perhaps somebody less expensive?¡± Roks asked him as his sister and her husband was shopping for clothes and necessities. Adam had given them 1000 credits; it should be enough to get them cheap clothes. He and Roks sat in what he would describe as an alien fast-food restaurant.


    ¡°Expensive? What do you mean?¡± Adam looked at him, confused; he had paid 10,000 credits for the whole thing, and for it, he now had a company and official documents as well as new back accounts set up.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know, do you? Shit..¡± Roks looked around and leaned towards him, almost whispering as he.  ¡°You are so damn lucky you helped me. Look, I don¡¯t know what system or currency you''re used to, but let me lay it out for you so you don¡¯t get us both killed by some muggers, 1 credit is worth 1000 bits. One bit is divided into 10 bytes. You can buy a meal here for 10 bytes.¡± Then he took a bite of the snack he had bought. It looked like a meat cracker. And he leaned back as he spoke normally. ¡±Now, the other thing you need to understand is that I am not your kin. We have a very different culture.  You bought my sister and in my culture, I only have two solutions for this: hunt you down to kill you so I can free her or take her place if I find you too powerful to kill. My culture doesn¡¯t allow our kind to be female slaves to people outside our culture. And then you bound me in a contract, making it so you are my leader. This means I''m supposed to let you have her, even kill her husband if you wanted her, but with your contract, you prevented that from ever happening. It''s like you are playing my culture against me and making me win. It''s damn confusing. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m supposed to swear loyalty or what here. You¡¯re a damn peacemaker.¡° He chuckled as he spoke.


    Adam just looked at Roks as he ranted. He liked the guy. He was honest to a fault and carried himself like a soldier, a very confused soldier.


    Adam replied, ¡°Peacemaker, eh?¡± The man probably meant diplomate; the chip implanted behind his ear did not translate everything perfectly.


    Then he looked at his wrist where he had his watch; it contained access to his wealth, and he suddenly realized he was not carrying a few million. What the hell had he won? His mind started to race. Was he truly a complete idiot? 55 million credits times 1000, that would be 55 000 million, but that was bits, and it was not like cents as he had believed. No bits were the dollar. Shit, no, bytes were the Earth credits. And that was 10 more. Oh my god.. when they said he was rich. They were lying. He was filthy rich. He had thought it was one-to-one, but he had been a complete fool. Why did they call it credits? They should have called it Earth Credit and Galaxy credits.  His mind was racing. ¡°you. wait.. 100 I mean.. wow.. so Ahh.. wait¡­ Okey.  Sorry.. I got a little confused here. You''re not going to kill me, right?¡±


    Roks grinned at him. ¡°No, I''m not. I have a feeling you''re going to have a lot of those brain breaks out here. You seem to have no idea about the culture here. Hell.. How do you know the lawyers are not going to screw you over?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that is easy. I took intergalactic law in college. My original plan was to join the Marines and have the military pay for my law school in a colony. They let me join, and I stood guard at a gate for three years. However, I have two years of basic law and one year of Galactic Federation contracts.  I am lucky my last year and got some money, so I didn''t reenlist. I can always go back if this fails.  Anyway, that¡¯s why I decided to pick that lawyer. He had the credentials. Member of the Galactic Law Federation. He came up on the official station listing.¡±


    He got out his pad and checked it, and suddenly, it all made sense. The galactic lottery. He thought it was just a lottery for human colonies; it was a galactic-wide lottery. He searched for his winnings and found that he had split it with 257 others, one of the lowest splits in the last 1000 draws. He looked back at Roks.  ¡°So, I am good with you, right? No killing? What about Vorts? Will he try to kill me?¡±


    ¡°No, you wrote in the contract that he was married to Dara. So, they are now more legally married than they were at their wedding back home. Now, their marriage is documented in the galactic census. Like I said, it''s like you played our culture against us to protect your own skin. You''re good at writing contracts.¡±


    ¡°Just out of curiosity, if I had not signed the contract? What would have happened?¡±


    ¡°We would have killed you and taken your hauler.¡±  Roks said it so casually as if it was the most normal thing that would have happened. ¡°You don¡¯t have any protection with you. No weapons.¡±


    ¡°We are on a space station, the most civilized place in the sector. You would have been caught immediately.¡±


    ¡°We would have done it on your ship.¡±


    ¡°I have protection there.¡± Adam winked, and Roks looked at him as if trying to figure him out.


    ¡°What are you?¡± he finally said.


    ¡°I''m a human. I just want to avoid any trouble while I fulfill my dream.¡° Adam smiled as he saw the two others approach, each carrying two bags and a backpack.


    ¡°Did you buy the whole mall?¡± Roks stood up, shaking his head, as he walked over to his sister. She grinned.


    ¡°No, We just bought clothes and basics for a year.  He said we would be staying on his planet, so we needed a lot of stuff.¡± She looked between Roks and her husband before looking at Adam. ¡°Right?¡±


    Adam nodded. ¡°Yes, head to the hanger, Bay F46. I will call ahead. D01 will aid you. Roks and I need to take care of a few things.¡± Adam looked at Roks. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind?¡± Roks shook his head, and the couple grinned happily. After they left, Adam turned to Roks.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to need help from you. We are going droid shopping, and I need your knowledge of alien culture. As you said, I accidentally dodged a bullet with you guys, and I want to be more prepared. Like knowing if I hire the wrong guy, will I risk getting killed for breaking a taboo I didn¡¯t know about.¡±


    Roks chuckled, ¡°You just had a wake-up call, didn¡¯t you? Okay, I will help you since I like you. You sound crazy, but you saved my sister, and if she fulfills your contract, she will be well off and legally off the galactic slave census. So first off, don¡¯t buy my kind as slaves unless you are going to put them under armed guard. If you are going to buy slaves to free them, I recommend Dushins, Wossirs, and Buginos. Their culture is more honored with such contracts with their lives. Even if they are not very religious, the cultural shame will make them at least be faithful for the duration of the contract. Stay away from my kind and Harans. They will kill you no matter what, or at least try to. We are mostly used as fighters; we are very bad slaves.¡±


    ¡°I wish I had known that before; what about second-hand goods? I have been buying brand new since I don¡¯t know how the market works out here. Back home, I would have gone to FindNet and checked for second-hand.¡° He glanced around and saw a pretty lady walking by; she looked like a humanoid; her skin was blue with red tiger stripes and long, loose, jet-black hair with some braids incorporated. She was dressed in a knee-long green slit skirt and a white blouse.  She noticed he stared, winked with emerald-green eyes, and grinned with ivory white sheets and four sharp fangs. Roks noticed and laughed.


    ¡°You truly are suicidal. That¡¯s a Haran. She would eat you for dinner.¡±


    The woman vanished past them into the crowd; she was beautiful and had an aura of danger.


    ¡°No harm in looking.¡± Adam grinned back, and Roks smirked.


    ¡°It is she if likes what she sees; then she would mark you. The Haran are crazy. Anyway, I don¡¯t know what FindNet is, but here we have the Market hub. We should go there. Just a friendly advice, never buy over the net. That¡¯s how they scam you. Only buy on the net on planets with strict online laws. Off-planet, you always go to the Market Hub so you can see the wares and check them. You should also look for the Hub credentials at the shop to ensure you get the real deal.¡±


    Adam nodded, looked after the lady, and then back to Roks. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go. We need more droids and an engineer, but I need somebody I can trust.¡±


    Roks laughed. ¡°Trust? In space? You only trust family and clan.¡±


    They headed to the Market Hub, and on the way, he told D01 about the couple and had them store their stuff. The android responded affirmatively. They were halfway down when Roks got a message from his sister; he read it and turned to Adam. ¡°You have a Destroyer droid as a guardian? That¡¯s military-grade shit!¡±


    ¡°What? D01? Yeah, I got a few of them. I bought them off the company. One of my few friends helped me. He worked for the company. Why?¡±


    ¡°You wait... Destroyer droids are made by Ares company. He works for them?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, half my country does. The HQ is on earth.¡± Adam didn¡¯t understand why it was a big deal. It was just the top-of-the-line bodyguard droid. Harold was one of the few friends, well, kind of friend he had. Fuck, he had lied to him when he said it was the standard. Probably got himself a nice bonus for that sale. He smirked. He would have done the same thing. Harold probably thought he scammed him and instead rescued his ass. They had grown up in the same orphanages; he had been his bunkmate and was kind of like a little brother, not that he would ever tell him.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.Roks nodded and quickly returned a message to his sister. ¡°It¡¯s safe, right? ¡°


    ¡°Yeah, he was told to take care of them and make them settle in,¡± he replied as they stepped out of the lift and entered the Market Hub. It was not what he had suspected. It was a large open area filled with booths, but it looked clean and tidy. By the entrance, there was an interactive map. Adam looked around at all the aliens. It took him a few seconds to get over the awe of the inhabitants.


    ¡°What? Still not used to all the different species?¡±  Roks smirked as he navigated the map.


    ¡°Yes, actually. I mean, back home, there were a few, but for some reason, other species tend to avoid Earth. I think we got a bad reputation.¡±


    ¡°Reputation? Yeah, you can say that. Humans are said to be made of chaos, tempered by war and violence, made for war, so you waged war against war. That¡¯s what I hear, and apparently, your world is filled with dangerous animals. But I never met one, and around here, nothing is more feared than the Haran and my kind. We are kind of the top dogs around.¡±


    ¡°So, I should fear you?¡± Adam smirked.


    ¡°Yeah, hell, to make it easier, let''s just say I''m your bodyguard. That way, we are less likely to get scammed, okay?¡±


    ¡°How much would that cost me? Bottle of whiskey?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea what that is, but sure. Let''s go. I found the droid sale. Booth 34, A Duskin seller.¡± Roks started to walk away, and Adam followed; it took him a while to regain composure and not stare at the goods like a kid in a candy store. He had expected aliens to be strange, but things were just bizarre here.


    Roks chuckled as he noticed. ¡°I can see you have just been at the upper levels, where the tourists go.  That is for the Ghorts. They are a half-gelatin species; half the things they sell there are unknown to most people here.  Ahh here we are.¡±  They entered a booth with several display screens and three droids on display. The salesman looked like a green-skinned bald dwarf with several tiny horns that formed a crown. His eyes were bright blue, and he had a short, blueish beard. He wore a bluish one-piece tracksuit with a sleeveless collar and a black vest. He had a pad in his hand. When he saw Adam, his eyes lit up, and his mouth opened in a grin, showing off small fangs. ¡°WELCOME HUMAN!¡± Both Adam and Roks looked at him surprised.


    ¡°Hello? Nice to meet you, too.¡± Adam looked surprised at Roks. ¡°I thought humans were rare here.¡±


    ¡°You are. The gods have blessed me with the sight of a real one. You are a human, right?¡± The Duskin moved closer, took out a glass, and scanned him.


    Adam was dumbfounded as he looked at him; it was something nagging him, something he should know. Something from school, something he had learned about them. Duskin, what was so special about them? They were one of Earth''s allies from that old butcher war. That was 150 years ago, so it can¡¯t be that.


    ¡°Yes, I''m human. I just arrived, and I need a few droids for a project¡ªconstruction droids,¡± Adam replied as he tried to get back to business.


    ¡°So human, you work with him? Damn, they say your Tufons are loyal; you know what they say about them?¡±  The salesman looked at Roks, who was getting more confused.


    ¡°Your best friend or your worst enemy. Children of Chaos.¡± Then he turned to Adam. ¡°My name is Soshu Qirl, but call me Soshu, and yes, I have droids. How many do you need? One? Two? Ten?¡°


    ¡°Depends on the quality. Did you get the Kalvis brand?¡± Roks eyes widened as he mentioned the brand, and the salesman laughed and looked at Roks.


    ¡°Kalvis brand? I got the x1, two of them, but they are expensive.¡± Soshu''s eyes gleamed at the prospect of selling his more expensive goods.


    ¡°How much?¡±


    ¡°1500 credits per droid, only used to stand guard in an office building. Over a nervous owner, had the highest security, and died from an attack. Family is selling off the redundant.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you 2500 for both.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Soshu looked around for something to attack him with, and Roks stepped between them.


    ¡°Easy. I don¡¯t think he knows the rules; it''s his first time in the hub.¡± Roks had one open hand towards the salesman and the other hovering over his pistol. Then, without taking his eyes off the now furious Duskin, he spoke to Adam.¡± Apologies to him; you can''t do that here. The price is always finally in the Hub! And especially with the Duskins.¡±


    Adam looked between them. ¡°I''m sorry. I misunderstood the whole thing. Back home, this would just be the start of a haggling session. My apologies. Of course, I will pay full price. Please accept my ignorance.¡± He looked Soshu in his eyes while holding both hands up disarmingly. It seemed to work as he calmed down.


    ¡°So, you buy both? 3000?¡± He stared at him, still a little wary.


    ¡°Yes. I will, of course, want to see them and your other goods.¡± He tried to sound as friendly as he could, and Roks sighed.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t know; he probably means something else than what you think.¡±  Roks quickly interjected as he was still between them. Soshu closes his fist and grits his teeth.


    ¡°What?¡± Adam was getting confused, and Roks looked at him.


    ¡°You''re insulting his honor; he would never dream of selling something that¡¯s not in excellent condition. That¡¯s why I chose this shop.¡±


    Adam facepalmed at his own ignorance. ¡°Again, I''m so sorry. Okay, let me see your catalogue, and I will pick the ones I want unless you want me to leave?¡±


    Soshu looked at him, confused now. ¡°Leave? I want your respect and your money. How can I get that if you leave?¡± He looked at Rooks. ¡°You need to train him, get him a travel guide or ten, perhaps some history of the species.  He is going to get you killed if you don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m starting to think so, too; he tried to flirt with a Haran earlier.¡± Roks said as he shook his head in disbelief at the memory. Soshu laughed as he handed Adam a pad, apparently calming down from his insults.


    ¡°A Haran? He does have a death wish. Was it a warrior?¡± He got on another pad and looked at what Adam was ordering, then back at Roks with a ¡®Is this guy real? look.¡¯


    ¡°Naw, she looked like a businesswoman. If it were a warrior, he would probably be at dinner about now.¡± Then he noticed the look and smirked. ¡°He is opening a company. So yeah, he is probably going to empty out your storage.¡±


    Adam handed back the pad. ¡°I guess that should be enough for now. If you don''t mind, I will drop by in a few months and check if you have anything else I need. You actually had something I was planning to buy later, so you saved me one trip. I can store it in the warehouse. ¡°


    ¡°You are aware that the list will end at 245,000 credits. And you bought two different maintenance droids for two different ships. They are not comparative.¡± Soshu looked at him, calculating.


    Adam nodded. ¡°Yes. For a Fareview ZE12 hauler and a Gnusu 2000 hauler.  I need both.¡°


    Roks looked at Adam and then back to Soshu, acting normal. Adam just smiled. ¡°Of course, if you do not want to sell them to me.¡±


    ¡°Shut up, human,¡± Soshu grumbled as he took out the tab for him to pay. You''re going to give me a heart attack.¡± Roks was ready to jump between them at the new insult but relaxed as Adam paid with a smile.


    ¡°Nice doing business with you.¡±


    Soshu stared at him. ¡°Not so much for me; you come here, insult me and my honor, then buy my whole inventory. You¡¯re a menace. God damn child of Chaos. Don¡¯t come back unless you want to buy stuff. Now, where do you want me to deliver it? And when?¡±


    ¡°I''m sorry you feel that way, Hangerbay F46. And as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°It will be done within two hours. Now, get lost. You are stressing me out, ape!¡± There was a smile hidden behind the insult, and Adam smirked and walked away. Roks followed, slightly confused.


    ¡°You bought me a maintenance droid? ¡° He whispered as they were out of the booth. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I bought it for me.¡± He handed him his own pad with the list of droids. ¡°He had three mining droids. The system has an asteroid field, and the Gnusu 2000 is the cheapest reliable hauler. I''m going to buy one and install the mining system on it. The maintenance droid is for that one; of course, my employees, like you, are free to use it when they are in the system.  We need to buy more blueprints for my 3D printers. It''s an investment.¡±


    ¡°Wait, why buy a new one when I got one? You can buy it from me. I only bought it to earn money to buy my sister and brother-in-law, it was so had a line of work I could claim they would work in.¡± Roks stopped him as he replied, looking at him.


    ¡°Well, what are you going to do then? If I buy it and put the system in, it won''t even need a pilot; it''s just a giant drone.¡± Adam looked at him, a little confused.


    ¡°Your ship. You need me to help navigate society, remember. I¡¯m a better bodyguard anyway. You could have gotten yourself in serious trouble back there. You can buy another ship when you learn the ropes, and I fly that. That way, if your project fails, you will still have a small mining operation.¡±  Roks spoke fast, and Adam thought about it. It made sense; he definitely needed a partner who knew about the different cultures here. Besides, Roks seemed to be honest.


    ¡°Okay.¡± He looked for an information screen, and Roks looked at him, confused.


    ¡°Okay? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean, Okay. That makes sense. Now, Soshu said something about travel guides, and we still need to find an engineer.¡± Adam smiled slightly at his confused friend. Yeah. Roks might be a friend. Perhaps his first ever that was not involved in his past.

 Project Dirt 3 Lawyers

    ¡°So, let''s go down and get another slave then,¡± Roks replied as they walked, stopped, and checked a screen. ¡°But first books, right?¡± He looked at Adam.


    ¡°Eh. Yes, books first, and why buy a slave? I bought your sister to help you so you would help me. I''m actually against slavery. It''s illegal where I''m from for a damn good reason. That¡¯s why I wrote the contract as I did. They are as free as I could make them.¡± He ignored the screen and looked at Roks, who looked very confused now.


    ¡°Slavery illegal? What do you do with criminals? Captured enemy combatants? And people who can''t pay their debts?¡± He had forgotten all about the books and engineers they needed.


    ¡°We put them in prison. You don¡¯t have prisons? And there are other ways. Besides, we normally hire people who want to be hired.¡± Adam looked at him as if Roks made no sense, and Roks laughed.


    ¡°Wow, you earthlings. Okay, we can hire somebody straight from school, but we might have to wait a while. Hiring somebody takes a long time. We can talk about human ways later.  Man. Prison for every criminal? That¡¯s barbaric. Remind me never to go to a human world?¡± He turned back to the screen and found the shop. Adam wondered if something had been lost in translation. The prison wasn¡¯t that bad; it couldn''t be worse than slavery; he followed Roks to the shop, and as they were about to enter, Roks stopped him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do the talking, okay? Next time we return, you can buy the books; I don¡¯t want another situation like with Soshu. You okay with that?¡± He was quite serious, but when Adam nodded in agreement, he grinned and went inside. Adam turned his attention to his pad and asked to talk to Vorts.


    ¡°Yes, sir. What can I help you with?¡± Vorts sounded a little worried and looked at the screen.


    ¡°I just wanted you to review the delivered goods and let me know if we need anything. I will grant you access to the library computer. There are some files there. Besides the fertile earth, the first goal is to gain a functional atmosphere, so anything that can help there would be good. ¡°


    ¡°Yes, sir. I don¡¯t think your droid will allow me to look at those files in your quarters.¡± He looked off-screen again to the same point, and it clicked for Adam.


    ¡°D01? ¡°He chuckled and addressed the droid. ¡° D01! They are allowed into the general quarters and access to open files. You do not need to follow them around.¡± Adam said with a slight smirk. He forgot droids take everything literally.


    He heard an ¡°Affirmative!¡± on the screen and the sound of metal boots leaving. Vorts seemed to calm down. ¡°Thank you, sir. I will get right to it. What should I do if I notice something we need?¡±


    ¡°Make a list and send it to me. The ship should have 163 cubic meters left.¡± He checked the ship''s status on the pad. And I want it filled up before we leave.¡±


    ¡°Do you want me to fill the cargo hold with organics? I don¡¯t think we should mix the organic trash with your goods. And you have 13 cubic meters left in the cargo hold 1. Do you want to fill that up with organics? That will leave cargo hold 2, 3, and 4 free for other goods, or you can fill more of them up.¡±


    ¡°Fill up cargo hold 1 and let me know how much is left after the goods are delivered. Can you also check out the files on Project Dirt? We are going to be busy here. We have to find and hire an engineer as well. ¡°


    ¡°Engineer? There was one in the pen; he was a Bugino with a baby boy.¡± Vorts replied. ¡°I doubt people would buy him, so he will probably still be there.¡±


    ¡°Why? Because of the baby boy?¡± Adam felt his stomach knotted at the description. A baby was held as a slave.


    ¡°The Buginos are mostly peaceful and loyal, very loyal to their family, but he is special. Somebody killed the mother, so he went on a rampage and killed the fools with his bare hands. He will probably kill anybody who tries to separate him from his child, and nobody wants a Baby that needs extra care. They are probably trying to find ways to separate them.¡± He could hear Vorts starting up the library computer as he spoke.


    ¡°Pretty sad, too. The baby is quite cute, " Dara commented from the side, and Adam smirked. He had an idea¡ªprobably a bad idea, but this might work.


    ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡±


    ¡°Jork Wirt. He''s a level 5 engineer, so he''s expensive. But you have to take his baby, too.¡± Dara had taken over the speaking now; she seemed a little eager now.


    ¡°Well, babies need medical supervision. I¡¯m just glad I already got a nurse. Make a list of what we need for that as well. I got to go now, and I see Roks coming.¡± He hung up as he came over to him.


    ¡°So, what now? Oh, you owe me 850 bits.¡± He handed him a small bag filled with memory crystals, and Adam smiled as he accepted them.


    ¡°You know you''re right; let''s just do it easily and get an engineer from the slave pen. But first, we need to drop by the lawyer again. I need a new contract.¡± He started to walk, but Roks looked confused at him.


    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t like slaves.¡±


    ¡°I have nothing against slaves; I have something against slavery. I spoke with your sister, and she told me of somebody who needs our help and might be able to help us as well.¡± Adam walked faster, starting to feel a need to fix this. They quickly got to the law office and were greeted by the avian-looking secretary.


    ¡°Back already? Mr Heri-ro-ro will be quite pleased. I will let him know you¡¯re here.¡± She almost sang the words, and They sat down. Roks looked quite uncomfortable where he was sitting. Adam felt more relaxed here; the room was light with an artificial air freshener that smelled of fruit. An android came over with refreshments, and after a minute, the door to the lawyer gilded open, and they were invited in.


    Adam smiled at the lawyer, gave him a small nod, and then stopped a little confused. Next to him sat a lady he had seen earlier; Roks showed his teeth for a second before realizing where he was and controlling himself. Next to Mr. Heri-ro-ro sat the Haran lady they had seen earlier the day. She looked at Roks but did not say anything.  Adam looked between them and back at Mr. Heri-ro-ro. ¡°I''m so sorry; I didn¡¯t know you were with a client. I feel embarrassed now. We can leave and return later.¡±


    The old Avian man laughed. ¡°No, no. This is Mrs Min-na, my colleague and partner. Of course, If your friend is uncomfortable, he can wait outside if he prefers?¡±


    Adam looked at Roks, who controlled himself. ¡°Of course not. I''m sorry for my outburst. I was just surprised. I should have expected a Haran in the law business.¡± Roks replied, a little ashamed, and Mrs Min-Na slowly nodded quite felinely.


    ¡°Apologize accepted.¡± She replied as she ignored him and turned her attention back to Adam. ¡°I was impressed by the raw contract you set up. You must have some law practice?¡±


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.¡°Thank you, and you are correct. I need another contract for a slave with a child. I want the child to be registered as a free person if possible. Only the father should be in my service for the minimum needed time.  The rest should be like we discussed earlier. This person will take on the position of engineer in my company.¡±  They all seemed to study him as he spoke, but he ignored it and focused on what he was setting up as he took out his pad, loaded up the contract, and handed it over.


    Mrs. Min-Na took the pad as she studied him and then turned to Roks. ¡°Is this like the contract he sat up? Is he for real?¡± Mr. Heri-ro-ro laughs delightfully as he gets up, walks over to a screen, and activates it. Going through the search history and finding the slave-market and turns to Adam. ¡°You have a name for this engineer?¡±


    Roks nods to her and then shakes his head while muttering, ¡°Humans, children of chaos, and apparently peacemakers. ¡°


    ¡°Jork Wirt, I was told he was a Level 5 engineer. It''s the same firm as the last one.¡± He walked over to the screen, and the man came up there. ¡°Is that a Buginos?¡±


    The man in the picture was about two meters tall, a muscular man with yellow skin and grey dots going down his arms. He had four blue eyes and large floppy ears and was almost entirely bald with two green-knotted braids hanging down his back. In his arm was a small version of him. It was a small bundle that nearly fitted completely in his arms.  The man was an engineer, as he had been told. He had a sentence of 150 years for killing fifteen members of a street gang as vengeance, and he had been given 20 years extra for taking the law into his own hands.  Heri-ro-ro looked at the intel and back to Adam.


    ¡°You can never release him, but you can free the child immediately.¡±


    Adam nodded. ¡°That¡¯s his only crime as well. I think he will appreciate a second chance.¡±


    Mrs. Min-Na got up and handed him the contract. ¡°Let me know if you need a wife. I can get him a good one.¡±


    Adam looked at her as his jaw dropped. ¡°Wife? For whom? I''m not going to force somebody to marry him.¡±


    Roks laughed at his reaction. ¡±For you. She is asking if you want a wife.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± Adam got blustered. ¡°No... I don¡¯t need one. But thank you for the offer. I think we will be going now... I will transfer the money now.¡° He hurried out the door, stopped, bowed, and said his goodbye before leaving there as he paid for their services. Mrs Min-Na looked confused after him as Roks laughingly followed after Adam.


    ¡°You impressed her.  I have never seen a Haran offering up one of their own before. You were smart to say no. She was probably looking forward to eating you.¡± Roks could hardly contain his laughter as they headed to the slave market. Adam just tried to forget the whole incident, and after 30 minutes, he stood outside the market with his now third slave. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought and didn¡¯t notice the look from Jork. Adam felt like a creep as he walked towards the ship. He could hear Roks and Jork speaking behind him, and he shut it out. This was not what he wanted to use his money on. If he could buy his freedom and set him free, he would accept it, but now he was burdened with being a slaveowner for the rest of Jorks life, maybe even his own. He could not even kill himself. If he died, Jork would automatically become a slave to the government again. His plan had backfired, and he didn¡¯t like it. They got to the ships, and he walked inside, telling D01 who the new crewmates were and their roles. Then he said he needed to retire for the night. He apologized to Roks and the other; he avoided looking at Jork as he could not look him in the eyes. He simply turned and went to his room.


    Adam woke up from that nightmare he had not had for a few years. He hit the wall and screamed in frustration. This was not going to be fun. This place would remind him of that nightmare. He sat up, went to shower, and then dressed. He looked at the cabin door and took a deep breath. He needed to talk to Jork and make him understand.


    When he left his room, he heard laughter and singing. He smelled food also. He slowly walked to the sound, expecting it to stop as he stepped inside, and it did.


    ¡°I hope my singing didn¡¯t disturb you, Master?¡± Jorks said with a smile as he held a frying pan with what looked like a purple pancake being cocked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t call me Master. I''m not your master. I simply gave you a second chance. I... You''re not a slave in my eyes. Understand that. I''m not your Master.¡±


    ¡°If you say so. But you did save me and my son. Little Miker will have a chance to grow up because of you. So, you might see yourself as my master, but You are my Master. And his second father.¡± Jork¡¯s voice was still filled with joy and defiance at not being allowed to call him master. Adam looked at him and the little bundle in Dara''s arms. She looked at him, then back at the bay, and smiled.  Vorts smirked as he chewed on one of the purple pancakes.


    ¡°Second father?¡± Adam looked surprised and sat down, rubbing his temple.¡± I can''t deal with this now. Did you make the list of what we need?¡± He turned to Vorts, who nodded and handed him the pad.


    ¡°I looked at the planetary scans. The dumping of organic is not going to work. The atmosphere is too thin, and the heat evaporates too quickly. The night temperatures reach minus 40 degrees, while the day temperatures can reach boiling points. You need to focus on the atmosphere first. So, you need to melt at least 30 percent of both poles. That will give you water vapors, but there are other gasses you need as well.  You should dump the organics in one of those domes in your building. That way, you can make some dirt, and once you fix the atmosphere, you can return to your waste project.¡± Vorts seemed to understand that Adam needed to focus on something other than the current situation, and he explained as simply as he could what needed to be done.


    Adam looked at the list. ¡°What¡¯s a sun generator? And why do we need 5 of them?¡±


    ¡°They are ice melters. Miners use them to melt away the ice to access minerals in asteroids. You need two for each pole; the last is spare parts.¡±  Jorks replied as he put a plate in front of him.  ¡°They are effective, but there is always a chance they break down.¡±


    Adam looked at him, and the plate grabbed a pancake. He chewed on it as he looked over the list. ¡°Three speeders? No. Just buy the print design. I have factory printers.¡± He changed it on the list.


    ¡°Same here, and this and this. ¡° He changed three more items, then accessed his account and opened a company account.  He put in 50 000 credits and handed it to Vorts. ¡°You and Roks can get this. Once Jork has fixed Roks ships, we will fill up the cargo hold and leave. I need to study the books he got me.¡± He grabbed the plate and got up. ¡°Good pancakes, by the way.¡±


    ¡°What are pancakes?¡±

 Project Dirt Part 4 Reality check

    Adam didn¡¯t leave his room before the evening; he only found Dara and the baby on the ship. The others were shopping and talking about getting satellites and probes. He checked his wrist and saw a few messages, mostly lists of needed things. He had absentmindedly accepted those throughout the day as he had been absorbing more about the different cultures.  He had searched for a civilization in this galaxy sector that didn¡¯t have slavery and found none; the four Fushan and Haran wars had been epic.


    To him, it seemed more like cats and dogs fighting. The two cultures also had several peaceful colonizers and the largest number of cross-species marriages. What he was left with was to use common sense and remember that most people here don¡¯t understand humor or human culture.


    Dara looked up from a pad as he entered the main room. ¡°Are you hungry, mas¡­ what should I call you, by the way? I mean, if you don¡¯t like Master?¡± She asked, and he replied quickly.¡¯


    ¡°Adam, I''m just Adam. If you want to be formal, it''s Mr. Wrangler, but nobody outside a business meeting would call me that.¡± He smiled to her as he went to make himself some food, when she moved to help he had to stop her.


    ¡°I do know how to make food. I''m not a child.¡± He tried to say it as friendly and non-treating as possible. She stepped back, a little confused.


    ¡°I read that Tufons feels comfortable serving others, and I know why you are here and not free to wander the galaxy, but you don¡¯t have to serve me dinner. I¡¯m not a child. ¡° He explained as he continued making himself some food. He saw there were some blue pancakes left and grabbed one.


    She looked at him as she slowly sat down. She had been up the moment she had asked him. Like an eager puppy. ¡°I never got to thank you properly.¡± She said, looking at him, and he chuckled.


    ¡°There''s no need to thank me. I''ll be at the bridge. Where is Jork?¡± he replied as he was getting ready to leave.


    ¡°He is installing the drone drive in my brother''s ship. My brother said you wanted to do that.¡± She replied, slightly confused, and wondered Adam if he had missed something.


    ¡°Oh, thank you. Let me know when they are finished, and send Vorts up to the bridge when he returns.¡± He replied as he went up and sat down in the pilot chair. He turned on the screen while drinking a cup of what he hoped was coffee. He put the plate with blue pancakes and chicken legs on the small table next to the chair.


    ¡°Computer, run check up on all systems and check all reports. No audio, screen only.¡± He stretched slowly so as not to spill the cup as he had given the instructions. He suddenly had an urge for chocolate but remembered eating the last stash weeks ago. Good, he needed to find a way to order some from Earth.  Or find out how to make some here.  He drank the coffee while he went over the reports. He barely heard Vorts come into the bridge and stop next to him.


    ¡°You asked for me, sir?¡± He said while putting his hand behind his back. Adam glanced at him and nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, I know you''re not a Terraformer, but you should know more about this than me. What do you think about the plan?¡± he asked as he leaned on the arm of his chair.  ¡°And please speak honestly.¡±


    ¡°Honestly? Are you sure?¡± He replied, clearly uncomfortable.


    ¡°Yes, if you can see a flaw, then I would like to know before we try. I don¡¯t want to waste unnecessary credits here. I¡¯m not made out of money.¡± Adam smiled as he replied, trying to calm him down.


    ¡°To be honest, It won''t work, sir.  There is a reason why nobody cares about full terraforming. It¡¯s a waste of resources, and there are so many planets around where you only need to change the atmosphere by introducing some invasive oxygen algae and wait a hundred years.  You plan to make it into a breathable planet within ten years. You are aware that the atmosphere is too thin, right? There is not enough nitrogen; only traces of oxygen and argon exist. The Carbon level is way too high; the pressure is too low, so your little atmosphere is slowly leaking out. The lack of a proper atmosphere destroys your other project of making organic waste into dirt. The current atmosphere can''t hold the heat during the night, so it''s like the days are summer and nights are winter.  Hold the waste until the domes are built and dump it there. Then buy fertilizer and spread over them, and within a year, you will have a field there. ¡° Vorts spoke carefully, but when he noticed Adam didn¡¯t get upset but merely listened, he seemed to be more relaxed.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Okay, so we melt the poles; water vapor should help release more gasses.¡° Adam replied. ¡°Look, I know this is unusual, but just because people don¡¯t do it doesn''t mean it can''t be done.¡±


    ¡°You should record everything; maybe get a research droid to keep a record. If it works, I''m sure many would be interested in how it was done.¡± Vorts replied, and Adam nodded.


    ¡°And how much would that cost?¡± Adam asked as he checked his spending that day. He had 71,000 credits. He needed to go over the receipts when they took off.


    ¡°Those are cheap, and 500 bits will get you top of the line with the above security.  Most students buy used ones and tinker with them to adjust their research results. A new one will ensure you have not tinkered with it.¡± Vorts replied that he had still not moved. Adam looked at him.


    ¡°Then get one, and make sure we have food for everybody, at least six months'' food for everybody,¡±  Adam replied, then looked back at the screen and back at Vorts. ¡°Oh, and thank you.¡±


    Vorts was still standing there, and Adam tilted his head as he asked. ¡°Yes? Anything I can help you with?¡±


    Vorts looked at him for a second, then shook his head as he replied. ¡°No, You meant I can go?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I will see you later.¡± Adam replied and he watched as Vorts left. He was wondering if he insulted him in some way, and for a second, he wondered where D01 was.


    ¡°Computer Locate D01!¡±  He didn¡¯t know why he had given the instruction, but D01 was just outside the bridge. He immediately stepped inside and, with a cold computer voice, reported in. It made Adam a little calmer, and he turned back to the screen.


    ¡°Computer! Show the current budget and compare the cost of today''s spending to the average costs. Show on my screen.¡± He asked, and he leaned towards the screen to check. Most were the same price. But he saw that Vorts seemed to not care so much about the costs, shopping with other people''s money. Roks seemed to be much more frugal. It was clear that Roks would be doing the shopping for now.


    Three hours later, Roks and Jork returned, and they reviewed everything. Only one cubic meter of cargo hold was left, and it was divided between both ships. Adam was eager to get on the way. He paid for the hangar, and then they took off. He loved this part. He flew the ship out, and Rok''s hauler followed perfectly. They quickly made it to the hyperplane and set the course and drop-out point then.


    ¡°Let''s go!¡± He said as he punched in the drive, and both ships vanished into the vastness of space. The autopilot immediately took off, and Adam checked the status of the ship''s connection. Roks stood next to him and seemed impressed.


    ¡°You know your way around the ship. That was some nice flying.¡±


    ¡°Well, I got a level 6 freight certificate. It took me a year and 600 hours of flying along with a six-month course in everything they thought we could encounter out here.¡± He replied as he got up and went to check on the navigation. ¡°The ship is supposed to be flown by three with two engineers in cargo. The most effective crew is ten; that¡¯s why I¡¯m so heavily reliant on the computer. I had it upgraded.¡±


    ¡°Your people don¡¯t sound like Chaos, more like the Kunitos. Rules for everything. ¡° Roke replied, and Adam chuckled.


    ¡°That¡¯s the insectoids, right? They sound like an autistic species. The certificate is just for my safety. Some never get them and stay off the radar while doing odd jobs. Anyway. Everything looks secure, and the alarm is set.  It will be a week before we get to my system. So, I¡¯m planning to study those books you got me.¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll check up on the others,¡± Roks replied as he headed out.


    Adam found out he enjoyed the company, mainly of Roks and Jorks. Dara was nice and grateful; Vorts was a little cold but never unfriendly; in fact, he was very professional. Dara had told him that Vorts just needed time. The little baby had become the focus of most of the small crew''s attention, from his attempts to join his father in singing to crawling anywhere. In the end, Vorts placed a tracker on him just to be sure.


    Adam was ready when they dropped out of the hyperplane and set the course for the system. It would take three more days before they arrived. Jorks was mainly down in the workstation, programming some drones they had bought. They would be launched and study the system as the original scans had not been very thorough. When they entered the system on the second day, Jork asked permission to launch the drones.  Adam gave the clearance, and as they flew towards the planet, he launched them when they approached points of interest. The gas planets and their moons were all assigned a drone; several drones were sent to scan the asteroid field, and the inner planet got two.


    When they went into orbit over Dirt they launched the satellites. Adam checked up on the building''s progress. The station was 30% finished, but with the droids and heavy machinery he had bought, they would cut down the factory times by at least two, and it would have liveable sections within a few days. He looked down on the planet and smiled.


    ¡°Yes, this can work!¡±

 Project Dirt Part 5: When to speak up.

    Adam looked at his screen at the updated information about the build-up. 30% finished off the three-month-long estimate, which was ten worker droids. Now he could add two more Kalvis worker droids , but only x1, which should reduce the speed quickly. The fifteen others he bought would help, too, but he was worried they would not be compatible. He should give them specific jobs to avoid potential trouble. He needed an external backup energy source. Ten should be able to build a reactor and some power lines, and he had planned for one of the domes. Roks and Vorts had suggested making them all into fields for growing food, but he needed a pool. He had frozen fish eggs from Earth and 500 kilos of different seeds stored in his private storage room. He would be able to grow several different trees, fruit, and grains. He also needed to get hold of a clone machine; then, he could raise chickens, cows, and lambs. But for that, he needed grass. He looked up at the sky. He needed that atmosphere. He had looked at artificial atmospheric shields; it would be a short-term solution, and he would need to litter the planet with power reactors. The cost alone would eat up most of his fortune.


    ¡°Let¡¯s land the ship; there is no need to dump anything yet, " he told them as the ships dived through the atmosphere. He turned to Roks and was told to land the ship remotely on a nearby field so they could unload it before sending it to the asteroid field to search for minerals to mine. Soon, both ships had landed, and they all got suited up before leaving the ship.


    When they left the ship, they were greeted by two of his security droids, which gave Vorts and Dara a slight shock. Adam realized he had forgotten to tell them how many he had. He smiled slightly and walked toward the construction field. They could clearly see the framework of the base, and Vorts leaned over to him and asked, ¡°Are you planning to staff this with more slaves, or are you going to hire?¡±


    Adam looked at him, confused as he replied. ¡°What do you mean? This is going to be my home and workplace. When it''s done, we will find a suitable place to build for you guys. The droids will be enough for the daily operation.¡±


    ¡°Daily operation? This is a scientific none-atmospheric base made for surveying a whole planet. One of this size is made for hundreds of people. May I see the blueprint, please?¡± Vort tried hard to hide his condescending tone, which went over Adams''s head as he handed him his pad with the blueprint. He studied it confused and handed it back.


    Dara leaned over to him as she asked. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°It can apparently operate fully automated. The crew is from 0 to 500. Who the hell makes a drone science base?¡± he replied as he looked at the construction. Jork slapped him on the shoulder as he walked past him towards the building as he said. ¡°Humans, we all know they are crazy.¡±


    Adam laughed and joined him; a droid walked out. It was vaguely humanoid, two meters tall, with a bulky body. ¡°Sir! Welcome back. The first floor will be operational within 12 hours. Unless you want us to stop and unload the ships?¡± It said Adam looked back at the ships and shook his head.


    ¡°Continue the work, WD-01. I just want to inform you that we have bought two more of your brand, but they are the X1 variant, as well as fifteen more of a different variant. They are secondhand, and Jork here will be in charge of integrating them into your workforce. For now, we will keep the different brands separately. So please work with him. I want dome three to be made into a pool area, simple design.¡± He uploaded a pool design as he spoke. There were three pools, one of which was a regular swimming pool, while the other had more natural forms, with a river snaking between them. Jork looked at the design after WD-01 had uploaded it.


    ¡°I want the new brand droids to work on this project. It should keep them out of your way until we can properly integrate them.¡± Adam said, then he looked at Vorts. ¡°I have some genetic material with me from Earth, so I can clone some Earth animals. ¡°


    Vorts studied the design with Jork and replied, ¡°Well, I¡¯m guessing something aquatic. Have you thought of food?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but for that, we need the atmosphere. So, until that problem is fixed, the pools will be for recreational.¡± Adam winked as he replied, started walking back to the ship, and called out, ¡°Roks! I need a hand!¡±


    Roks looked at his hand and back at him as he replied. ¡°Only the hand, and does it have to be mine?¡±


    Adam laughed as he waved him over. ¡°Earth saying means I need some help. I need you to help me unload the X1 droids so they can start unloading the rest.¡±


    Then Adam looked at Jork, ready to give him his instructions. It felt strange; he felt like a boss giving his men their task, and that¡¯s how he would handle it. Tomorrow night, they could rest in their own rooms, and later, he would have the droids build their houses. ¡°And you start to get the drone program for the Sun generators, two at each pole. Find the best position. I want them launched tomorrow.¡±


    Jork returned to the ship, and Dara stood slightly confused with little Miker before she followed. Vorts kneeled down and picked up some sand, letting it slip through his fingers, then he looked at the droids, the base and then after Adam before following him as well. Adam and Roks quickly got the droids operational and gave them the instructions before joining the other inside the ship. The droids were all working and unloading the ships for a few hours.


    They focused on Roks ship first so it could take off for the asteroid field. It took off as the sun went down. Adam and Roks went back into Adam¡¯s ship.


    ¡°You should name it,¡± Roks said as they got inside and got out of their suits.


    Adam sat down and thought about it. ¡°Name the base?¡±


    Roks chuckled. ¡°That too, but this ship. Don¡¯t humans name their ship?¡±


    ¡°Of course we do.¡± He looked at the wall and pondered. ¡°The Ark is the first that comes to mind, but it doesn¡¯t fit. I¡¯m not surviving a disaster. I''m coming here to fulfil a dream. That¡¯s a good name. Dream.¡±


    ¡°Dream? Yeah, it suits you,¡± Roks chuckled as he hung the suit away. ¡°You have to name the base, too. But you have time for that. You know it must be registered, right? ¡±


    Adam hung his suit up as he replied, ¡°Yeah, but I was warned to do it late. They told me pirates tend to attack new settlements.¡±


    Roks nodded. ¡°Jupp, that¡¯s why the most common job for my kind is bodyguards and pirate hunters.¡±


    Adam chuckled. ¡°I get that you are a soldier, but Vorts and Dara don¡¯t strike me as one. I want you to make a plan for the defense from pirates.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°Yeah, they are civilians. Vorts can handle a gun and know how to bite, but my sister is useless in a fight. Damn effective after to heal you up, but during a firefight, we hide her. Anyway, why not buy more of those droids? Do that, and we will have a basic defense ready.¡±  Roks replied.


    ¡°It takes one year to travel just to get there. So, that means it¡¯s two years before we get the delivery, and I don¡¯t want to leave the place for such a long time,¡± Adam said as they walked toward the common room.


    ¡°Well, the Shinutza has FTL communication. So you might be able to cut it in half. That¡¯s a one-year delivery.¡° Roks replied, and Adam slapped his own forehead at his stupidity.


    ¡°Of course. Okay, I need to make a list of things we need.¡± Adam felt so stupid. He had used the Shinutza FTL communication to find and set up the contract for the system. He even bought Dream through it. Vorts was sitting by a screen working; he looked frustrated.


    ¡°Everything okay?¡± Adam asked, and Vorts nodded. Jork was still going over the construction site, working on the droids.


    ¡°Yeah, I''m good. Jork told me to get the suns ready as he is also dealing with the droids. It is simple and all set for tomorrow. We need to use the ship to launch them.¡± He replied, and Miker crawled around the floor, flustered, so Adam picked him up.


    ¡°Where is Jork?¡± he asked. Dara came running to take Miker, but Adam kept him as Miker seemed to snuggle into his shoulder. ¡°It''s okay. I can hold him for a while.¡±


    ¡°He is still working, Sir! " She replied. Adam looked at her and then went to the bridge, where they could see the construction site.


    ¡°Let''s call your dad home, okay? It''s time for some father-son time, don¡¯t you agree?¡± He looked at Miker, who stared at him with big brown eyes, and then hugged him. Adam felt strange as he gently patted the little alien hanging around his shoulder. ¡°Goo,¡± Miker said as he almost fell asleep. Adam took a few extra minutes walking around the bridge, looking out the large port window, before he called Jork up.


    ¡°Hey, Jork, what are you still doing out there? It''s time to come back and eat. Besides, Miker is missing you, " he told him, and there was a silence before he replied.


    ¡°But you need this done. I can''t leave it now, " he replied, and Adam smiled to himself; Jork was a workaholic; he would need to keep an eye on him.


    ¡°You can''t stop because it is sensitive and will break or because you want to please me?¡± He asked, halfway knowing the answer already.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want it finished tonight?¡± He replied, confused, and Adam laughed.


    ¡°Come take care of your son, I don¡¯t want you to work yourself to death. You can continue tomorrow. We can stop construction for a day if that is needed. One day to and from won''t make much difference in this part of the project.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, sir. Give me ten minutes to fix this, and I will stop.¡± Adam could hear a joyful confusion in his voice as he gently patted Miker on his shoulder and told him about the swimming pool he was making.


    Jork returned one hour later and found Miker and Adam sleeping in the captain¡¯s chair. Dara joined him as they saw the two; they looked at each other and made sure to take a photo of them.


    The next day, the droid had finished several rooms and living quarters on the ground level. Dara and Miker were in charge of the moving-in process, while the other spent the days setting off the solar generators. The rest of the day was spent making their living quarters more comfortable. Adams''s room was temporary as his personal quarters had not been built yet. At the dinner, they celebrated with wine and whiskey as they watched the update on the polar melting on the screen. They would not see any results in at least one month, and even then, it would just be a slight change in atmosphere.


    The first dome took a week to finish, and they filled it with the organic waste they had stored. In the second week, the two other domes were finished, and they transported ice to the Aqua dome, as it was nicknamed. Adam had spent most of his free time reviewing ideas and decided to check if he could order droids from Earth as well as goods.


    So, he and Roks decided to head back to the Hub to make the order. He had a list of things he wanted; when they arrived, they first took more organic waste jobs and bought fertilizer and different types of animal food that might work as fish food. After that they went to the Shinutza FTL communication company, where they spent several days finding the correct companies and conducting negotiations. In the end, he had spent one million on five construction droids, DNA samples, a Cloning machine, four science droids, ten cubic meters of earth food and entertainment, and updated blueprints for the 3d Printers, among them a few short-range transport ships.


    The human companies were willing to sell goods and transport goods, but weapons had to be sold face to face. He could, however, do this from the closest human colony, five months travel away. Adam immediately started to inquire how he could register as a human colony, which led them to spend a whole day going through the bureaucracy; among the requirements was an inspection from the Earth navy and a human population of at least 45 % of the total population and the colony had to have at least 500 inhabitants. Adam had applied for it anyway, but setting a date for inspection in 5 years'' time. He needed time to get 224 humans to join him out here. He could allow a refugee ship but would have no control over who they sent. He could get lucky, or one mega-corporation would see it as a way to humanely empty one of their prisons. He needed people who were motivated to come and not just escape a life sentence. Roks had suggested cloning, but Adam hated that idea. It had been what they had debated on the way back. Roks had even jokingly suggested raiding a human world; Adam had jokingly made that the last-ditch plan.


    When they landed, they were greeted by Jork. The base had grown more, and the second floor and secondary energy generator were now finished. The pool had also been finished, and they had also managed to fill it with water. Adam was grateful for the update but was more interested in the result of the atmosphere project. When they got to the command center, they found Vorts going over the reports, seemingly working hard to try different scenarios on the computer.


    ¡°Damn, it didn¡¯t work, did it?¡± Adam said as he walked up to him; Vorts almost jumped out of his skin at that.


    ¡°I''m sorry, sir; I am trying to run other scenarios for you. I take full responsibility for my incompetence,¡± Vorts replied. Adam looked at him and leaned on the desk. The apology was a rehearsed one. Even if he tried hard to pretend, there was no sincerity behind it.


    ¡°This is not your fault; I gave the instruction, so I''m to blame. I''m just curious. Why didn¡¯t you run these scenarios before we launched? That would have told you it would fail beforehand, right? Saved us time.¡±


    ¡°Because you had made up your mind, Sir!¡± He replied, and Adam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose at his reply.


    ¡°Look, if you know it would fail but don¡¯t tell me, then it is your fault.¡± Adam looked straight at him.


    Vorts was getting confused, and suddenly, he snapped. ¡°HOW! I DID AS YOU SAID!¡±  There was a dangerous growl in his throat, and D01 and DO2 immediately entered the room. Adam was shocked by his reaction and moved a step away as he held out a hand to make the droids stop.


    ¡°Wow, calm down, Vorts! I''m trying to teach you something!¡± Adam spoke as calmly as he could. The others made their way to the room and looked between them.


    Vorts paced the room as he tried to calm down. ¡°I took the blame, and you forgave me! Now you''re giving me the blame? Why?¡±


    ¡°There is a difference between making a mistake and doing as you are told, and it leads to a failed attempt. Knowing it will fail but not telling us about it so we can fix it without first failing is completely different. So, calm down and tell me why you suspect it would fail.¡± Adam spoke calmly, ignoring the others, who seemed very confused.


    ¡°I didn''t suspect, I knew. The atmosphere needs more than just water vapor. You need to increase the nitrogen and carbon. Right now, the water vapor rises above the solar generators and then cools down, becoming clouds and then rain down again.¡±  Vorts looked at him angrily.


    ¡°Good,¡± Adam replied. ¡°That is your job, Vorts. Tell me I''m an idiot before I make a mistake, not after. Your second job is to find a solution to my stupid ideas. My stupid idea now is to find a way to pump those gases into the atmosphere, so find me a solution.¡±


    Dara looked at him, confused but relieved. ¡°You''re not going to punish him?¡±


    ¡°Why the hell would I punish him for being correct?¡± Adam shook his head as he turned to walk out. ¡°I¡¯m going to check the pool and maybe go for a swim. I will see you for dinner.¡±


    Dara ran to her husband''s arms, and her worries about him getting harshly punished vanished. Roks just smirked as he went to check out the new parts of the base.

 Project Dirt 6: Volcanoes and Pizza

    Vorts spent five days running simulations before Adam came and ordered him to bed. Vorts had a wild look in his eyes but did as he was told. Jork laughed and tried to teach Vorts that Adam did not allow him to work himself to death.


    Adam changed his focus on the asteroid field. Some of the blueprints he had bought demanded lots of different metals, and the more he could mine himself, the cheaper it would be to build. Jork was constantly tweaking the droids, and they had already started on the tower that would have Adam''s living quarters.  Roks was getting a little restless but calmed when he was told to go to Soshu and check up on new droids and check with the lawyers to see if they could find some new crew members and have them go over the earth requirements for colony status. He had also been told to get hold of a satellite launcher and a list of different satellites Adam wanted. He had been given a budget of 1.5 million credits, but he must show the receipts.


    Adam was teaching little Miker to swim while the others were working. Jork had initially been worried, but Miker seemed to love it. It was becoming a daily routine fairly quickly, and Miker could swim the whole distance on his own with his doggy paddling.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Adam said as he felt the ground shake slightly, not enough to create more than a few ripples in the water. Miker looked at him, shrugged, and giggled as he jumped into the pool again. Adam helped him up for the hundredth time as he contacted Vorts and asked. ¡°Vorts? I just felt a weak shake, and the water rippled. Did anything happen?¡±


    ¡°Let me check. There are no accident reports. Wait. Ahh, I see it. There was an earthquake 457 kilometers southeast of us. It was a pretty big one, measuring 9.7. But we are quite safe here." He replied. Adam thought about it and called Miker over. ¡°We are coming up. Tell Dara that it''s time for Mikers Lunch.¡±


    ¡°Piz-za Piz-za piz-za¡± Miker started to chant as Adam carried him towards the main building. The large Aqua dome had a pleasant temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and a soft wind. Miker always sat on his shoulder as they walked, and after getting ready, Adam handed him over to Dara and went to the control room where Vorts was already reviewing the information. He seemed nervous as Adam came up.  Jork was running some programs on his terminal and was quiet as well. Adam could feel they were both nervous.


    ¡°Okay. I want to know all we can about the earthquake. Check for volcanos while we are at it as well as the chances of new ones.¡±


    He sat down on what he had called the Admin chair. It was in the middle of the room and had several screens in front of him, but best of all, it twirled so he could see the whole room. Most of the science posts were empty. The screens before him sprang to life with all the intel they had. He saw a drone moving toward the area, and he looked at Vorts and asked, ¡°Did you launch that droid?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Sir!¡± He answered as he swallowed hard. Adam only saw his back, but he could see he was tense; he looked over at Jork, who was just as tense. ¡°Whose idea was it?¡±


    ¡°I take full responsibility Sir! Jork said it might be a good idea when I asked him if I should. But I made the final decision.¡± Vorts replied, Jork nodded slowly.


    Adam started to laugh. ¡°Oh my god. Calm down, boys. You did good! This is exactly what I want from you. Later, you will run the project by yourself and make all the decisions.¡±


    They both seemed to smile at the praise as if a heavy load had fallen off their backs. ¡°Thank you, sir. I will turn on the visual now on the main screen,¡± Vorts replied, and Jork continued his work. The world map came up with all fault lines marked up and their positions shown as a green dot that was safely placed in the middle of a tectonic plate; then, red dots emerged at where potential volcanos could emerge. At the moment, they were all inactive. Adam looked at them.


    ¡°I have an extremely stupid idea.¡± He said


    ¡°No!¡±  Vorts answered, and Jork and Adam started to laugh.


    ¡°But?¡± Adam said.


    ¡°Still no!¡±  Vorts replied as he turned to look at him. He was grinning now, and Jork was trying to calm down.


    ¡°Still I? " said Adam with a big grin on his face, and Vort put a finger on his lips and said,


    ¡°Sshhh. No! No extremely stupid ideas.¡± At this, they all burst out laughing, and it took them ten minutes to calm down.


    Adam was still chuckling as he finally got enough self-control to speak again. ¡°Okay, quick question then. Volcanos spew out gasses, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Jork replied, and he looked at Vorts. ¡°I think I know what his insane idea is.¡±


    ¡°Insane? Not extremely stupid?¡± He replied, looked at Adam, and sighted him as he asked him. ¡°Okey, what is this insanely, extremely stupid idea?¡±


    ¡°Well, volcanoes spew out gasses, right? We need more gasses in the atmosphere, so why don¡¯t we burst a few on the other side of the planet? Safely away from us?¡±


    ¡°He is insane,¡± Vorts told Jork as he turned his attention back to Adam. We need Nitrogen, and you won''t get much of that from a volcano. It''s mostly water and water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but you said water, and we also need Carbon dioxides for the planet that hopefully will come later, right? So if we start now, we can find Nitrogen later and add that. I''m not talking about a supervolcano. ¡° Adam replied. The more he spoke, the more he liked the idea. He had read something about volcanos and the formation of the Earth. ¡° Besides, what''s the worst that can happen?¡±


    Vorts was about to counter but then stopped himself. ¡°Yeah, well, it''s early in the terra-forming stage, so yeah, you can try it. It will fail, but it won''t cost you more than a few shots from the ship''s defense system. It will be a nice sight. ¡° He started to go over the screens. ¡°I should have a few potential targets available within an hour.  But just for the record. This is insanity.¡±


    Adam let out a mock maniacal laughter. ¡°Mwhha ha ha ha?¡±


    The two looked at him strangely as the joke went over their heads and Adam''s sight. ¡°I need a cat to stroke when I laugh, " he said as he looked at the other reports. There was a message from Roks, and he looked at it. ¡°When did we get a communication satellite?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want it,¡± Jork replied, and Adam looked at him.


    ¡°No, I want one. I just didn¡¯t know we had one. I haven¡¯t bought one yet since we could not find one that was secure. I don¡¯t want pirates to find this place.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Jork replied. ¡°I will take it offline then and work on the security. It should not be too difficult to fix. We only need a GHS 5.6 security program. Can you ask Roks to pick it up?¡± Then Jork went back to his screen, and Adam looked between them. Vorts would never reply like this but it seemed to be natural for Jork. Both tried to do their best for him, but Jork would surpass expectations, while Vorts was scared to take that initiative.


    ¡°Let me reply to him; then you can take it offline until it''s fixed,¡± Adam replied. Jorks turned back to him.


    ¡°He can send that through the current system. That way, we don¡¯t have to wait a week for him. Just a suggestion.¡± He replied, and Adam thought about it.


    ¡°Yeah, but no. I want it down as quickly as possible, and don¡¯t open it before it''s secured, okay?¡± He told him and then opened the message. It was a written text; it was safer with long-distance messages.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°I obtained what you requested. I found new employees with the same five-year contract, and they requested to bring the family. Please confirm. Found three students who would like to study your project; Miss Min-Na vets them. Awaiting approval from you.¡±


    He looked at the message and thought for a moment. They had enough space, and Mirker would not be alone then. He quickly wrote down a reply.


    ¡°All Approved. Buy the GHS 5.6 security program before returning, and use the remaining credits to buy as much soil as possible. This line will be closed until we install that security program.¡±


    He pressed send and turned to Jork, ¡°Follow the message. When it''s received, you turn off the satellite. Next time, ask me about anything that involves contact with the outside until we have it secured. We must sit down and make a few rules when Roks returns.¡±


    They both looked at him. ¡°We make? What do you mean? You¡¯re the boss. You make the rules.¡± Jork said, and Vorts nodded in agreement. Dara came in with Miker, who squirmed out of her arms and ran to his father. Adam smiled at the sight before replying.


    ¡°I want to hear your opinions at least, and maybe you guys have some good ideas as well, but yes, I will have the final say. That doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t want to hear what you guys think. I don¡¯t want to make rules that go against your culture or nature.¡±


    They looked at him as if he had just confused them more, and Dara broke the silence. ¡°He is human. This must be a human thing. They seem to care about their slaves, " she said, and they agreed with her. Adam sighted.


    ¡°You''re not Slaves! It''s just the damn contracts. Your employees. I have hired you, and unfortunately, I got you in a way that would have gotten me tossed in jail back home.¡± Adam burst out, annoyed, and Dara looked shocked at him.


    ¡°Illegal? Is slavery illegal in the human world? Is that why you want this to be a Human colony?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Yes, if we become a human colony, all slaves are automatically freed. Even Jork, I could even grant him amnesty for his crimes if the human court feels his action to be justified or his sentence already served.¡± He replied, and Jork thought for a moment as Miker climbed up on his lap.


    ¡°What about you? You would be arrested for having slaves. Since you knew about the law of the human colonies?¡± Vorts said as he looked at him worried, and Adam nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going to need a damn good lawyer. Anyway, we have a few volcanoes to blow up, so let''s focus on that now. We need to have the droids print a transport with a cannon attached, and I think that is also technically illegal.¡± He replied, and for a few seconds, they were quiet.


    Then Dara realized what he had just said.¡°Blow up a Volcano? Are you crazy?¡±


    Vorts replied that she had forgotten about the other part. ¡°A medium-sized one on the other side of the planet, we won''t even notice. It''s one of his insane ideas.¡±


    Jork put his son on his shoulder and turned to the screen. ¡°Now watch as Daddy makes Adam a flying cannon. I will teach you when you grow up.¡± Miker giggled and pulled his father''s ears as he worked. Adam watched them with a smile as he wondered if this was what it meant to have a family. He accessed a science screen and checked on domes 1 and 2. Both showed signs of decomposition. One small step closer.


    The next day, they all stood in the control room looking at the screen, which showed a large dormant volcano. They had five lined up, and then Adam kneeled down to Miker and handed him a small pad with a red button on the screen. ¡°Press the button, Miker.¡±


    The little toddler pressed it again and again as he giggled. Each press turned a drone into a fireball that flew straight into the volcanoes. Then, nothing happened, and Vorts looked at Adam. ¡°I told you it was an insane idea.¡± He said, Adam shrugged.


    ¡°Yeah, you did. Oh well, let¡¯s find another solution. At least Miker had fun.¡± He walked towards the kitchen for lunch and the other followed.


    ¡°Maybe a drill would work better?¡± Jork said, and Adam snapped his finger in agreement.


    ¡°Yeah, we''ll try that, but let''s do one first. There''s no point in wasting too many resources. Oh, and make ten more of those drones. They would be great for defense.¡± Adam replied as he took out the plates, to Dara¡¯s annoyance. Jork chuckled.


    ¡°I have a solution to the kitchen problem!¡± Jork said.


    ¡°What kitchen problem?¡¯ Dara said as she tried to set the table, taking the glass out of Adam''s hands.


    ¡°A maid droid. It''s easy to program, and he already has the basic design in the 3D printer.¡± Jork replied as Vorts laughed, looking at Dara.


    ¡°There is no kitchen problem, and it¡¯s a boss problem. We have a boss who doesn¡¯t know how to be a boss! Sit down, Adam, and that¡¯s an order.¡± Adam sat down as ordered.


    She pointed at him. ¡°See! He doesn¡¯t know he is the boss!¡±  She said, slightly frustrated, as she finished setting the table and bringing out the food. ¡°He even tries to cook if I don¡¯t stop him!¡±


    ¡°His cooking isn¡¯t that bad; he taught you how to make what''s it called Piz-za?¡± Vorts said as he picked up the pad and started looking at the report coming in. Miker immediately turned towards Vorts. ¡°Piz-za? Piz-za!¡± he said, and everybody groaned.


    ¡°You had to say the word,¡± Dara said, and she started to get some pizza out of the fridge, much to Miker¡¯s excitement. Jork turned to Adam. ¡°You made him a monster!¡±


    Adam would have replied if not for Vorts'' exciting cursing.


    ¡°What?¡± Adam asked, and Jork sent his report to a screen on the wall screen with a swift motion.


    ¡°It almost worked.¡± He said. ¡°Volcano Five has only a seven-meter crust, preventing it from bursting, and there is a build-up. It might go active. The others are reacting as well. But number five is the most likely to burst. Just need a nudge. ¡°


    Jork got up, placed Miker on Adams''s lap, and grabbed a slice. ¡°I will start production. We should have one ready within an hour. The flight will take a few hours. You should think about getting atmospheric transport.¡±


    Adam nodded. ¡°That¡¯s in the program; we don¡¯t have enough material for it; if we don¡¯t find a vast amount of iridium, then we have to buy one.¡± He grabbed Miker, who used the chance to stand on his knees and lean at the table, trying to grab a slice.


    ¡°I will look into that after this. Save a few slices for me. ¡° as he headed out.


    Roks entered the orbit of Dirt and looked down at the planet. There were clouds now, black clouds and white clouds over the pools. The woman next to him checked the reading. ¡°I thought you said they had a weak atmosphere, about 30 percent of standard M-class? This one is 42 percent. Whatever they did must have worked.¡±


    Roks checked his scanners. ¡°Looks like they set off a bunch of Volcanos on the other side of the planet. Tell the others we are going to land.¡± The lady nodded and walked back to the common area.


    Adam saw the ship land with three fighters escorting it, two light and one heavy; he also knew he had not asked him to buy those. D01 approached his side, and Adam had the four others getting ready. This might be their first pirate attack. Then the door opened, and Roks came. Behind him was a large group of people; Adam counted at least 20, most of them small, like children.


    ¡°What''s with the ships, Roks?¡± He asked, and Roks chuckled. ¡°Those are my employees. I''m now the CEO of Rocks¡¯ Escort agency, which is part of your company.  And don¡¯t worry, I pay for them, they are my old wing. Meet Kina, Surn, Barro, and that¡¯s Kunna.¡±  Four Tufons raised their hands, and Adam calmed down a little but felt the need to regain control.


    ¡°Hi there, Nice to meet you guys.¡± Then he turned his attention back to Roks. ¡±I will take over the paychecks if you don¡¯t mind, and we need to set up a contract.¡±


    Roks agreed, and Adam waved them toward the base. ¡°So, how did you find them? And can you send me their contracts?¡±  Adam looked at the rest of the group as he led them toward the base.


    ¡°I bought; some pirates kidnapped them when they were fleeing the destruction of their colony and sold them into slavery. So, the same contract as with my sister. And they are farmers and engineers, but they came with families, so I got them cheap.¡±  Roks smiled, and Adam sighted.


    ¡°You bought them? Why? I don¡¯t want to buy slaves. Okay, they were taken by pirates, so that¡¯s illegal capture. I can free them immediately!¡±


    A lady behind him replied. ¡°Only if you had freed them from the pirates, but when they went into the slaver pen, they became officially slaves, and now you have to keep them for a minimum of five years.¡± Adam turned to look at her, and she held out a hand; the helmet hid her face, so he had no idea who she was. Two arms and two legs, at least. ¡°¡¯ I¡¯m Mir-na. You have met my grandmother. She suggested I should study your project for my studies. I''m studying planetology.¡± Adam shook her hand, confused.


    ¡°My colleagues are Kinita Sumina, who is studying geology, and Ced-dry Miga, who is studying Meteorology and Climatology. We won''t be in your way.¡± She said as the two waved behind her. Adam waved awkwardly back.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I will probably put you to work if I can.¡± Then, he addressed the whole group. ¡°I will get you all settled then. Dara will give you all a check-up, and Maidy will show you where you can stay.¡± He replied as they all got inside. A humanoid droid that looked like she was made of white plastic, wearing a long black dress and face made of rubber. She spoke with a pleasant voice. ¡°Please follow me, and I will get you all settled in.¡±


    Adam held Roks and his crew back as the other left.


    ¡°Next time, let me know you bringing in an armed crew, okay?¡± He said and Roks nodded.


    ¡°Sorry, sir. I knew you would disapprove of it if I asked, and you need protection. What idiot set that communication satellite without a security program? That¡¯s when I reached out to them. And they agreed.¡±


    Adam looked over them. ¡°You have to do more work than just escort here. I need transport pilots as well. Are you okay with that?¡±


    They agreed, and Adam felt a little better. ¡°Do well, and I will reward you.¡± He said, and Roks chuckled.


    ¡°Do well, and this crazy guy will have you bless the ground he is walking on; fail him, and I will personally toss you into the sun.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± they said; Adam stared at him and shook his head.


    ¡°No, you''re not; come, let''s get you a room and pizza.¡± He replied as he walked out of the room, wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

 Project Dirt 7: Students

    ¡°What is He doing here?¡± Surn, one of Roks crew, pointed at Vorts, his hand went to his sidearm. Adam looked between them and immediately got between them.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on, Roks?¡± He asked as he looked at Surn, and he heard a soft growl.


    ¡°Stand down, Surn; you knew he was my sister''s husband,¡±  Roks replied, his eyes fixed on his colleague.


    ¡°He was the leader of the rebellion. I thought he got the death penalty; we barely avoided a freaking civil war because of him.¡± Surn replied, and the other crew members seemed to agree with the sentiment.


    ¡°What''s going on here, Roks? Vorts?¡± Adam repeated the question as he turned to Vorts, who seemed frozen, looking at the four pilots.


    ¡°Well? Can somebody explain?¡± Adam continued.


    ¡°Vorts led an organization that spoke up against our nobility. There were a few demonstrations, so his people were sold into slavery. That¡¯s the short version of it.¡± Roks explained, and Adam tried remembering what he had read about the Tufons culture.


    ¡°Wait, wait. Vorts spoke out against the nobility. Did he take up arms against them?¡± He looked past Roks at Surn, who looked confused for a second.


    ¡°No, he spoke up and gathered people; they openly showed disdain for them.¡± He replied, and Adam grinned then chuckled.


    ¡°I know the military service on your kingdom is for life unless you go on self-exile. Aren''t all of you on self-exile? It doesn¡¯t seem like any of you like the nobles either?¡± He said, trying to act as calm as possible.


    Surn''s brain quickly malfunctioned as he thought about it, and Roks started to laugh. ¡°He got you. You hate those bastards more than Vorts. Vorts was only stupid enough to speak up.¡±  Surn hand left his pistol, and laughing and teasingly shoving Surn around teasingly. Roks came over to Adam.


    ¡°This is why I call you peacemaker. Thank you. I was wondering how to get that part into their thinking heads, then I remembered I got you.¡± He laughed and went over to his crew.


    Adam smiled and turned to Vorts. ¡°Are you okay?¡± He asked him. Vorts nodded slowly as he looked at him before returning the question. ¡°You have no problem with this? About my past crime?¡±


    ¡°Naw, It sounds like you were politicians in a world that doesn¡¯t allow it. We had tons of people like you, some even got elected to be leaders. You have to befriend those guys, though. None of us wants the hostility.¡° He replied, and Vorts thought about it for a second and then walked over to them. Adam watched them for a while, making sure they didn¡¯t kill each other, but to his joy, they seemed to bond over it. None of them seemed to like their nobles and being free from their grasp seemed to relieved them.  He thought for a second if he should track down the others of his ¡®revolution¡¯ who got sold into slavery but stopped himself. He didn¡¯t have the resources to do this, money yes but not the manpower and it might attract the attention of the Tufon nobility. Something he definitely did not want unless he had a dreadnaught between him and them.


    He headed into the base to the kitchen and found a beautiful Haran woman standing with two aliens he could not place.  One looked like she was made out of plastic with a reddish gel floating inside. The plastic blurred most of the inside, but there was something else moving inside; it looked like a female, purely out of the feminine shape it had on the outer shell.  The other was a green humanoid with short golden hair and four brown eyes; he had sharp nails and was the same size as Adam.  It was when he first moved that Adam could see the difference; his legs had an extra joint, almost like a rabbit''s.  The Haran lady turned to him as he came in.


    ¡°Thank you for letting us come, Mr. Wrangler. Let me introduce us again a little more properly. I am Mir-na, I think you have met my grandmother, and this is Mr Ced-dry Miga. He is a geologist, in the last year of his master''s, and a very good dancer, and the last one is Ms. Kinita Sumina; she is doing her master''s, two of them in Meteorology and Climatology. She also likes swimming, and she was told there was a swimming pool. It''s such a strange thing to enjoy. ¡°She said as she smiled at him with all the youthfulness of an eager student.


    ¡°And what did you study again? Law like your grandmother?¡± Adam asked, slightly amused at the trio; they still had their bags with them and seemed lost.


    ¡°Oh, me. I¡¯m doing my masters in Planetology. I study the whole of a planet and how to study the planet''s usefulness for the federation. You know, like this planet. It was rated as a level 2 planet, useful for some automated mining operations. Still, no massive mineral deposits would justify the long-distance haul to sell the mining products. Basically, it was deemed not cost-effective.¡± She replied. ¡°Our university heard about your project and wanted to send somebody to investigate. If we report anything of interest they would want to send a whole team, with your blessing of course.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Adam chuckled. ¡°They view this planet as not cost-effective; that¡¯s just the way I wanted it. So, you want to check if that report was correct? Is that why you guys are here?¡±


    ¡°The report and scene were correct; it¡¯s just that something might have been overlooked.  What you''re doing here might change how we rate planets. Of course, you might also have been scammed and wasted your credits here.¡±  Kinita commented. His voice was surprisingly soft.


    Ced-dry seemed to be a little impatient. ¡°Do you know where we can put our stuff, by the way? I want to settle on and start checking out this place.¡±


    ¡°First off, you are guest, so of course we have space. I think they thought about placing you on the Third floor overlooking the Aquadome, there is a wing there you can use, it should be a few rooms and an office or two for you guys to use, but you will also have to wait to get full access to our work. I don¡¯t want to suddenly have some mega-corporation coming and take over what we are building here. So why don¡¯t you get settled in? Tomorrow after breakfast, I can go over the situation here.¡±


    They looked at him, confused, and Maid came into the room and offered to take them to their designated rooms.  Adam waited for them to leave, then went to his hidden blue pancake stash for a plate and went to the control room.


    The rest of the day went quietly as everybody was busy settling in, Jork was already at his place working. They discussed building speeders and transports but found out they lacked iridium and osmium, so they set a few of the drones in the asteroid field to search for them. Vorts came after a while and thanked him for taking the time to clear up the air with his fellow Tufons. It made sense for Adam now; Vorts had been a leader, and now he was a slave. He knew what it meant to be a slave and what to expect, so he behaved like one, and then he ended up with Adam, who did every wrong for a slave master. Who wanted him to act like an employee and speak to him as an equal. Adam wondered if he would have more trouble with the others.  When the evening came, they went over the reports; small lakes were now around both pools. Vorts wanted to investigate those pools for signs of biological life. They might get lucky and have a few bacteria or one-celled organisms or at the very least, the conditions for some.  The volcanos had done wonders for the atmosphere, though there was too much carbon in the air, it was a thicker one. The students was too busy going over their new location, apparently the wing had top of the line system and they had expected one room dorms not a small apartment.


    The following morning, Adam woke up to a base filled with life. As he exited the elevator, he could hear children laughing and parents desperately trying to keep their children in check. Roks came up to him. ¡°They have been waiting for you to give them tasks. Where should we do this?¡± He asked, and Adam thought for a second.


    ¡°Auditorium 5, it¡¯s a small one. Put the children in Auditorium 4, put on some movies, and have Maidy serve them food, " he replied. I think we need to have a meeting with everybody, your guys included.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡° Roks said and grinned. ¡°Time for you to step up and be more than a peacemaker.¡±


    He walked away to make sure everybody would come while Adam went to the auditorium and got the room ready. It was not the biggest one, only a place for 50, but with him, there would only be 21 adults, and in the other room, the 13 children would be mesmerized by funny movies while the grown-ups talked. Adam could not help but think that the place had grown up too quickly. It didn¡¯t take long before they had all arrived, and he stood in front of them, feeling nervous.


    ¡°Welcome, I am Adam Wrangler, the owner of this little place I like to call Dirt. I know some of you have come here by your own will, to learn what is happening here. ¡° He looked at the students, ¡°Some of you have come to help me protect this place. ¡° He looked at Roks and his crew. ¡°And some of you unfortunately had no choice in the matter. For that, I apologize. Dirt is not a place where you should be forced to go; it should be a safe haven where you can find a new future. A future we will build together. And for those of you who had no choice, when your time is up, I will personally make sure you are free and have a new start. I will not keep you here any longer than you have to, and I will do my best to make sure your time here is not negative. I will protect you, and I only ask that you work. I see you as my worker and only that. Your belongings are yours. Your children are already registered as free. The same goes for your bonds. I will not break them.  As for what I am trying to do here, my goal is that we can walk outside without protection and swim in oceans one day.¡°


    He stopped and looked over the audience. They looked at him, mostly shocked. He saw a couple that was Dushin, elf-like species with bright red skin, with fur instead of hair that stopped somewhere on the back; he could not see as they wore blue coveralls, but they all did.  They were smaller than him and had fangs and sharp claws but seemed to study him like a house cat. They didn¡¯t not really understand why they were so free.


    Then, there were five Wossir. Two couples and one single. They looked like walking turtles without shells, but the shell pattern on the body. They were teal or sandy in color and had beaks and holes for ears. They moved much faster than he had expected. They definitely didn¡¯t move like turtles. He could see their hands were slightly webbed, and they watched him thoughtfully as they listened but didn¡¯t say a word. The two last were probably the oldest of them.  Bylgyno Buginos like Mr.Heri-ro-ro, his lawyer. They nodded slowly and seemed to understand what he was talking about. Adam smiled as he looked at the rest of the group, Roks crew was just astounded and the students were taking notes. It made him smile.


    ¡°Any questions?¡± He asked.


    ¡°But they are slaves?¡± Kinita Sumina said, and Roks burst out laughing.


    ¡°I intend to free them all as soon as possible, so in my eyes, they are only employees, and you will treat them that way. Is that understood?¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Yes, sir. It''s your slaves. We are just guests, " he replied, and Adam sighed. This would take some time.

 Project Dirt Part 8: Call back home.

    Adam looked up at the police officer, and the man looked down at him, confused. ¡°What did you say?¡± the man said as he kneeled down to look him in the eyes, and Adam repeated the words. ¡°Please save us. They are going to take us to a bad place. I heard them talk about it.¡± Adam told him.


    The police officer scanned him with a pen-like device and looked surprised at the result. He looked at Adam worriedly, then stood up and called it in while he looked down at him, ¡°Hey! I got a kid here who says somebody is going sell him to bad places. He has no bio-ID and is not in the system. Can you send a car and social services for the kid?  Wait, I see somebody coming from the block the kid came from.¡±  The police officer said. Adam turned to look back, suddenly feeling wet in his hair. When he turned back to the police officer, he saw his head was gone, and his own hands were covered in blood. He tried to scream.


    Adam woke up with a scream; he sat up in the bed, looking at his hands as they were shaking, then he hit the wall again and again until it was bleeding. He screamed again, got out of bed, and showered. He was glad he had made the rooms soundproof; this was not a side of him he wanted them to know.


    When he got dressed, he got into the elevator and took it down to the second floor, where the kitchen was. It was still early, so nobody was up. He saw D03 quietly stalking him to make sure he was safe.  He had probably spotted his elevated stress. He ignored it and went to make himself some coffee.  He took the cup and went up to the control room on the third floor, found his desk, and sat down. Halfway through the coffee, he heard a noise and turned, expecting to see Jork or Vorts. Instead, he saw a Dushin boy about ten years old or older.  The boy had bright red skin and short yellow hair, wearing a white t-shirt that was too big, black sweatpants, and no socks or shoes. The boy held a cup of coffee and went to sit down at a desk, copying Adam.


    ¡°Are you ready to work?¡± Adam asked, a little amused, and the boy turned and nodded seriously.


    ¡°Yes, I''ve got to earn my keep; my brothers and sister think they can sleep the day away, " he replied, and Adam had to hide his laugh.


    ¡°Ahh, those lazy kids. So, since you are ready to work, let''s start. First, open up your screen. Put your hand on that green pad.¡± He told him, and the kid nodded slowly as if he had learned that everything should be answered with a nod. He put his little hand on the pad, and the screen appeared.


    Adam smiled. ¡°Now I need to say your name to the computer,¡± Adam said, and the boy nodded seriously.


    ¡°My name is Kywar Shishan, First son of Miwar Shishan; My mother is Pylla Shishan. I am twelve years old, Slave of, ¡° He said, and Adam stopped him.


    ¡°No! You are not a slave, Kywar! You are a free man! As is your brother and sister. Your parents will be free in a few years. They only work for me!¡± Adam felt panic rise again, and Kywar looked at him confused, so confused he forgot to nod.


    ¡°I''m free? So, I don¡¯t have to work?¡± He asked, and at that, Adam laughed.


    ¡°Yes, you don''t, but you can if you want.¡± Adam said with a smile, and the boy looked at Adam back at the screen and saw it spring to life. He lost all interest in Adam and grabbed his coffee cup with both hands, took a sip, and immediately put the cup away. Adam accessed the control, started a drone, and gave Kywar control over it. It was a simple observation drone with an anti-collider program installed, and when the control was activated, Kywar quickly started trying to control it as he laughed. Adam watched him for a few minutes and then called Maidy to bring some juice for the boy.


    An hour later, Vort and Jork came in and stopped at the door, watching the boy flying the drone around the edges of the northern pole.  ¡°Why is he flying a drone?¡± Virts asked, and Adam grinned.


    ¡°He is working. I have him scan all the lakes he can find. Apparently, that is easy work.¡± He replied.


    Kywar suddenly stopped and turned to Adam. ¡°Okay, the lazy people have woken up, so I''m going to find my brothers and sister now. Bye bye!¡± Then he ran off, and the two others watched him vanish down the hall as they found their place.  Maid came to clean up after the boy.


    ¡°I thought the students were going to join us?¡± Vorts asked as he turned his chair to face him, Jork turned his halfway so he could watch the screen simultaneously.


    ¡®Well, we have to go over a few things first.  We can¡¯t tell them everything. They are reporting back to the university, and I don¡¯t trust that too many people will know what we are doing here before we have set up a good defense. ¡° Adam explained as he sipped on his third cup of coffee.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Jork asked as the report from the asteroid field came up. Adam looked at it and suddenly whistled, " Wow.¡±


    Jork also turned to look at it, and his eyes went wide. Vorts leaned over. Then his jaw dropped at what he saw.


    ¡°I mean like that. If they report that back, what do you think will happen?¡± Adam said as he remotely closed the door to the room and pulled it up on the big screen. Two asteroids, both around 15 km in length, about 22 km wide, and 17 km deep, with a content of 74% and 81% iridium.


    They all just looked at it as the other reports came in. Most of the asteroid field was worthless, but one-quarter was filled with valuable materials.  Jork looked at him.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough for a large mining operation. We can mine all of that with what you have.¡± He said, and Adam nodded.


    ¡°Yes, and if I buy what we need, then somebody is bound to follow after and find this place. Do you think they will let me have it? ¡° Adam said as he asked the computer to assess the value quickly. It came up as 126 million credits if all were sold at the current price. Adam stared at the number and looked back at the two. ¡°This does not leave this room. Jork, you have to hide those Asteroids. Move them somewhere they won''t look for them.  This find has just made all of us very rich. Yes, I''m not so stupid to think I can keep this from you guys. Just don¡¯t tell anybody. Understand.¡± He looked between them, and they both nodded seriously.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°I''m not suicidal. They would kill everybody to make sure nobody found out.¡± Vorts said.


    ¡°Good, now clean this up. Let us find a trace of iridium later; we need some to print those speeders and transports. Two metrics should be enough. Don¡¯t overdo it.¡± Adam looked at Jork, who agreed. They all went to work, and the program was hidden one hour later.


    Adam sat silently, staring at the screen, thinking as Roks entered. ¡°What''s up, boss?¡±


    ¡°We need to try to buy more droids from Earth again. I need to get hold of Harold!¡±


    ¡°Harold? Wait, your friend from Earth, right? The one working for Ares?¡± Roks asked.


    ¡°Yeah, remember when we tried to get to droids last time? I completely forgot to call him. It¡¯s a long call. All the way to earth, but I need to make it. It''s going to cost me an arm and a leg. Anyway, do you want to go shopping?¡±  Adam asked.


    ¡°Sure, I just need a job for my crew, and if you call him, I want more of that earth whisky,¡± Roks replied. Adam got up and looked at Jork. ¡°Have the pilots run drills for pirate attacks and do a proper scan of the gas giants; I have a feeling the guys who surveyed this system were sloppy.¡±


    Jork looked at him and grinned. ¡°You don¡¯t trust them? What about the students?¡±


    ¡°Give them the project''s current status and plans, have them review it for flaws, and update the communication system, the security patch, and logs.  Now that we are growing, we might attract more unwanted attention.¡± Adam replied then left with Roks.  When they entered the elevator Roks turned to him. ¡°So, you called me partner when we met.  How much of a partner are we?¡±


    Adam chuckled.¡± That is why we are going to the hub. We have to set up a few things and make it official. I¡¯m suggesting 10% of the company, which land when the project is finished.¡±


    ¡°Only 10%? Well, I didn¡¯t invest anything, so I¡¯ll take it. I have a feeling it will make me very rich anyway. Right?¡± He winked, and Adam chuckled as the elevator door opened, and D03 was ready to escort them.


    ¡°Yes, my friend, you are correct as long as that mouth stays closed.¡± Adam winked, and Roks closed his mouth, showing his fangs. Apparently, it was his people''s way of showing they would not speak.


    They spent the week it took to get to the hub discussing what they should do. The more Adam thought about it, the more he knew he was making the right choice. Roks was the right man to have by his side¡ªsomebody who would call him an idiot to his face but still be loyal.


    Mr Heri-ro-ro looked over the contracts and back at Adam, then at Ms Min-Na, who looked between them. ¡°You do understand what you sign here, right?¡± she asked Adam, who had taken the contracts and signed the first and then gave it to Roks.


    ¡°Yes, I am very aware. Roks is not my second in command. He owns 10 % of the company and 10 square kilometers of his liking of the planet''s dirt. He would have a second choice after me, which basically is Homebase now.  And I am now officially ¡°as he signed the second contract. ¡°Founder of Clan Wrangler, with all the rights and duties that entitles in the galactic federation, and if Roks signs, he becomes my second in command.¡± He gave the second contract to Roks, who quickly signed it.


    Min-Na just looked at him with admiration. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want a wife?¡± She asked, and Adam laughed this time.


    ¡°No, but Roks might want one.¡± He replied, and Roks winked at Min-Na.


    Adam got serious. ¡°Yes, I know this is crazy, but I¡¯m alone here, and this is how I secure myself. I trust him. If he wanted my credits, he would have tried something long ago. He is an honest and honorable man. As for the last contract.¡° He looked at it and then at them. Mr Heri-ro-ro took it and signed quickly, handing it to Min-Na, who also signed it.  ¡°Good, I should have done this a long time ago.  You are now my representative on the hub, and I will contact you directly through our satellite system. It should be up and running by now.  Now, if you would excuse us, we have some long-distance communications. We will probably stay a few days this time around.¡±


    They said their goodbyes and left the office for the Shinutza FTL communication office. It was an expensive call, and it took three hours to get to Earth Ares company and then thirty minutes to contact Harold, who seemed excited when he popped up on the screen. He was a few years younger than Adam and beamed as he saw him. ¡°BRO! Where the hell are you?¡°


    ¡°Hey there, Harold. I''m safely located in sector N47, as I told you. How are things at the office? Did you ask that girl from accounting out for a date?¡± Adam said, and he could not help but smile. It had been a long time since he had seen a human face, and Harold had been the one he had been closest to back then.  His roommate at the orphanage was more like a little brother. He had always watched over him and the others but had never been close to any of them. There was only one other he felt close to from back then.


    ¡°Dina? Yeah, we¡¯re married. I wish you had been at the wedding, but it was kind of hard to get a hold of you.  Man, it''s good to see you. Everybody is asking about you, trying to find out your real name. I haven¡¯t told a soul, Not even Dina.¡± He replied, and Adam scratched his hair.


    ¡°Everybody?¡± He was confused about who else it could be.


    ¡°The whole batch. Come one. You just left, man. I thought you were kidding when you said you were going that far away.  Wait if you call from there. Are you in trouble? What do you need?¡± Harold suddenly got serious, and Adam looked at him.


    ¡°Hey, it''s my job to ensure you''re safe, not the other way around. Remember? But yeah, I need a few things,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°Well, you called the right man. So, what do you need? Name it, man.¡±  Harold replied.


    ¡°I need more droids; I might have a pirate problem. Your company said they don¡¯t want to sell to somebody this far out.¡±


    ¡°That is correct; if we sell this fare out, somebody has to follow the gods, so I need to find somebody to deliver it for you. Which won''t actually be a problem.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Oh? Why not. Who wants to take a year to come here?¡± He asked, and Harold grinned.


    ¡°I know somebody who will jump at the opportunity, and it will take this person six months from where she is right now, its you best bet. ¡°He replied.


    ¡°Who?¡± Then he realized who he was talking about. ¡°No. she won¡¯t. She isn¡¯t that crazy.¡±  Adam said, and Harold smiled while rubbing his hands with a grin.


    ¡° Oh Yes she is. So, send me a list, and I will give you a good price, but you have to pay for the transport. Are you okay with that? I can get around that one, but if you pay the transport, I can toss in a hell of a lot of extra goodies.¡± he said. Adam took a deep breath and then sent the list, and Harold looked at it. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s 1.5 million plus transport. Are you sure? That would be 1.6 in total.¡±


    Adam sent the credits. ¡°Yeah, and see if you can add a few crates of whiskey. Have a friend here who got addicted.¡±


    Harold looked shocked as the credit got through. ¡°Wow! You really stuck gold out there. Damn Bro. You just made me the top seller. I¡¯ll get you that whiskey, and I¡¯ll toss in a few company goods for VIP customers because you just got on that list. Your friend will be very happy. ¡° Then he got serious as he looked at him.¡° Please keep in contact. I miss you, man.¡±


    Adam smiled.  ¡°I miss you too, little bro. It is getting expensive here. I promise not to wait another year before I call. Take care now.¡°


    Adam hung up and started to cry. God, Harold was a married man now and not the little boy five-year-old he had comfort when he had nightmares, and here he was still fighting his own.

 Project Dirt Part 9: The priests and his wives

    Adam got out of the booth. He was glad the next call didn¡¯t need to be video or audio. He went to the restroom to clean himself up. Roks noticed and came over.


    ¡°You, okay?¡± He asked, Adam nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, we just walked down memory lane a bit. He was my roommate at the orphanage. I just realized he must have seen me as his big brother. I never knew. Anyway, let me clean up, and we are almost finished here. Did you check for the jobs? We can fill it up again. Make a few credits,¡± Adam jokingly replied.


    ¡°Well, there is a Buginos farming colony 15 lightyears away. We can pick up a load if you want, sell half here on the hub on the way back. Should earn you some pocket money.¡±


    Adam thought about it. ¡°How long will it take?¡±


    ¡°A week, different direction, might be smart now, in case somebody is trying to track you back to Dirt,¡± Roks replied, and Adam smiled.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it, and we can also check if they have a few plants we want. I don¡¯t want a complete copy of the Earth''s fauna and flora. Kinda want to make it exotic. Which reminds me, any plants or animals you want on Dirt from your home world?¡± Adam asked as he cleaned his face in the restroom, and Roks thought about it.


    ¡°The Hurnsa! But that means you need Busgan and Bolbska for their food. And they need Sashal to eat. So that¡¯s a plant. Damn so much to think of. Can I get back to you about it? I need Vorts to help me there.¡± Roks said, and Adam looked at him. Hurnsa? I think I remember that from your books. It looked like a mix of a tiger and a velociraptor but had yellow stripes and black fur instead. How big are they?¡±


    ¡°They won''t get big; the biggest ones are around my hip. We use them for hunting and guarding our home.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like our dogs. Good, I need to get you a book about Earth.¡± Adam replied as he went to reception to arrange for the next call, which was more of an email order of things he wanted, such as food. A hundred kilos of chocolate, he changed it to two when he remembered the children. Then, he added a library of entertainment and blueprints for toys. The last was a request to the Earth Administration about potential settlers. He gave a vague description of his location. He quickly got a reply that they would have to send an inspector to check before they could officially approve the planet open for colonization, or he could try the private organizations. Adam knew that was a hit-or-miss; he might end up with a religious zealot group that would take over, something he wanted to avoid. He felt a little better dealing with humans; he understood their hints so much better and didn¡¯t feel like a child among grown-ups. He approved the inspector and was told he would be there within eight months and expected to be picked up at the Hub. Adam had no problem with this, as it gave him time to set it up. He had mixed feelings when he left with Roks; he was both grateful and worried. He hoped this would be the correct thing; at the very least, he could free his friends. He stopped and thought about it. Yes, they are his friends. It made him smile.


    ¡°What are you smiling about?¡± Roks asked as he saw his grin.


    ¡°Oh, just realized something; anyway, let''s go eat and then find out what this colony has ordered to be delivered. I''m sure we can use that as an excuse to visit them.¡± He replied, and Roks gave him his pad.


    ¡°I already checked. There are lots of goods, and they will fill up your hauler almost completely, and we will end up with 5 K in pay.¡±


    ¡°Well, let''s see what they need: machinery and some closed boxes with private belongings. Wait. It also says six passengers.¡° Adam commented.


    ¡°We can cancel if you want.¡±


    ¡°Naw, it would be nice to have some guests along. Let''s help them settle.¡± Adam replied.


    They had a great meal overlooking the nebula outside the HUB, where Roks told him war stories that sounded more like exaggerated fishing stories. They were told several times to quiet down, though Adam''s check suddenly gave them lots of leeway and offers of female companions that they politely declined.


    ¡°My wife would kill me if she found out.¡± Roks commented as the waiter left after the offer.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°Wait.. what? You are married?¡± Adam looked at him, surprised. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me? When can I meet her?¡±


    Roks grinned. ¡°You already have. I''m married to Kina. Why do you think it was so easy to get them to come?¡±


    ¡°You''re allowed to marry within your troop? Wow, back on Earth, they would never allow that. Now I understand the story of the pirates on the ice planet. If she is your wife, then yeah.¡± Adam replied as he thought about it.


    ¡°Soldiers are not allowed to marry in human worlds?¡± Roks looked shocked, and Adam laughed.


    ¡°No, No. Soldiers can marry, but you can¡¯t be in the same troop. It¡¯s to avoid potential trouble. ¡° Adam replied.


    ¡°What about you? No wife or mate?¡± Roks said, and Adam thought about it.


    ¡°There was one. She grew up at the orphanage. She wasn¡¯t one of... never mind that. Well, she found somebody else. That¡¯s when I joined the military for a scholarship.¡± He emptied the glass, and Roks looked at him.


    ¡°What¡¯s an orphanage? You mention it a few times, and I thought it was a school, but I feel I''m mistaken.¡±


    Adam was glad for the change of question. ¡°It¡¯s a home for the orphans, children with no parents, either by a loss like Evelyn, abandoned by their parents, stuff like that. ¡° He said.


    Roks stared at him in disbelief. ¡°You abandon your children? Why? Is that what happened to you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why they do it; some people are crazy, and some are just evil. Some feel that they are giving their children a better chance of life by doing it. Tell you how bad their life has to be for them to do that.¡± Adam avoided answering about himself as it was not something he felt comfortable talking about around others. Roks seemed to notice but ignored it as he tried to wrap his head around it.


    ¡°You guys are crazy. You have prisons and can abandon your children. I have heard stories about your crazy military and hells, and your droids are illegal on several planets, which reminds me. You need a pistol for the colony. They will freak out at the sight of your droid, and you don¡¯t go to places like that unarmed.¡±


    ¡±I do have weapons on board. I knew I needed weapons when I traveled here.¡±


    ¡°I should have known; how many other secrets will I accidentally find out?¡± Roks replied.


    ¡°As many as you will let me accidentally find out, my friend; when are we picking up our passengers?¡± Adam said as he called for the bill. Twelve credits or twelve thousand earth credits.


    ¡°Tomorrow, it''s getting late, and we should check in with the others. See if the place is still standing,¡± Roks said, and Adam smiled.


    ¡°And you want to check in with Kina?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah. She and Dara need to hear about the clan and if they want to join.¡± He replied.


    At the ship, Adam went to his weapons locker and got out the pistol and belt. He left the spare pistol and the two rifles in the locker and checked the storage. The tech droid had stored all the goods and was running a maintenance check, so Adam went up to the bridge where Roks was talking to his wife.


    ¡°Are you sure he will allow us? But he doesn¡¯t know us. Of course, I will accept, and I''m sure the others will, too.¡± She said, and Adam leaned against the door frame.


    ¡°Am I disturbing?¡± He asked. Roks turned his head and shook it. ¡°Nope, can you please calm her down?¡±


    Adam came over. ¡°Hello Kina, Yes. I would be honoured if you joined my little clan. It''s not much, but we have great potential.¡±


    She looked at him on the screen, and he saw her smile.¡± I would be honoured, too. Should I ask the other if they want to join?¡±


    ¡°Sure, but no pressure. Nobody has to join. So what else is happening?¡± He asked.


    ¡°The students are working on a presentation for you, and Jork has built two speeders that they are using to inspect different parts of the planet. Vorts said you would be okay with it. He has been guiding them around.¡±


    Adam grinned. ¡°Yeah, I''m okay with that. So, you''re saying they spend most of the days outside the base? Good. Tell them we are taking a detour and will take two weeks, so we will be back in three weeks. I will send Jorks instructions on what I want him to build. He needs to find a place and start the project. The blueprints are in the server.¡± He looked at Roks and back to the screen. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you two alone and take an early night.¡±


    The next day, the six passengers arrived, and Adam looked at Roks as he saw them. One male and five females, all were dressed in conservative clothes, covering their full bodies.


    ¡°Thank you for the transport. My name is Fader Kungo Mytt, and this is my wives. They will not disturb you during the travels.¡± The elderly Buginos said as his young wife dutifully waited behind him. Adam tilted his head slightly.


    ¡°You have five wives? Well, I''m not the man to judge. Welcome onboard. Your goods have already been stored. We are leaving after the precheck.¡± Adam replied as he stepped aside to let them pass.


    ¡°Gurron has blessed me with many young wives; when we arrive on the colony, we will start our family.¡± The old man smiled friendly as he walked past. ¡°Come, my wives, we are leaving this den of sin now.¡± Adam looked past them at D03.


    ¡°Show them to the quarters, please.¡±


    It replied with an ¡°Affirmative!¡± As he guides them inside. Adam looked at Rooks. ¡°What?¡±


    Roks stared after them. ¡°Five wives? And that young? He only said it was him and his family. I thought those were his children.¡±


    ¡°Is it normal for the Buginos to have a harem of wives?¡± He asked, and Roks shook his head.


    ¡°No, it must be something religious; we got an hour. I¡¯ll run to grab some books about them. He said his god was Gurron?¡± Roks said, and when Adam nodded, he ran off. Adam went inside as he wondered how he should deal with this. He looked down the hallway and past the airlock with a distant look. Those girls better not be forced into this.

 Project Dirt part 10 A nice cup of coffee

    Adam guided Dream out of the hangar as Roks worked the secondary utilities. It became apparent to Adam that it was better to have two than one on the bridge. Once they had made it out and set the course, they turned to each other.


    ¡°So what now?¡± Roks said, ¡°I have two books, but I think we should also contact Jork. He might know something about this. It''s his people, after all.¡±


    Adam nodded and looked down the hall. ¡°Okay, keep them busy. I don¡¯t want them to hear us debating this. For now, you don¡¯t do anything. It might be completely normal in their culture.¡±


    Roks got up. ¡° Yeah, but five young and one old? It just feels wrong. I never heard of that in a good way before. But I guess there is a first time for everything.¡± Then he walked out, and Adam closed the door behind him and turned to the communicator; after a few minutes, he got it to work. He really should get somebody to deal with this. He had accidentally scanned the whole system for minerals and got a warning from the hub.


    ¡°Yes, sir. What can I help you with?¡± Jork was at his post as he answered.


    ¡°Hi there, I have a weird question. How many wives are permitted in your culture? We have a passenger with five wives.¡± Adam didn¡¯t want to small talk as he didn¡¯t know if the line would last after they reached the jump point. He guessed he would have at most ten minutes.


    ¡°Five wives? Is it a noble or a priest? Normally, we have enough with one. Nobles can afford more, but those would have their own ships. Some priests marry old widows to ensure they are well taken care of.¡± He replied, a little shocked.


    ¡°He seemed like a priest of Gurron. He said something about being blessed with many wives and that they were going to start a family. The wives looked young,  very young," he said, and Jork thought for a second as if he tried to recollect something, then sighed.


    ¡°He is a Gurron worshipper? That¡¯s a cult, so yeah, that is something I would not put past them. They are not very much liked. They claim it''s their duty to be bountiful and have many offspring they can make, so they do crazy stuff like this. Be careful. I don¡¯t want to seem prejudiced, but those guys have been known to be in league with criminals. The reputation is that they use their wives as prostitutes to help get them pregnant. It''s all about having many kids.¡± Jork said with a serious voice. ¡°But I only heard and read about them, never met any.¡±


    Adam nodded. ¡°So we are talking about religious zealots. Okay. Thank you for your help. Did you get my instructions, by the way?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I''m looking for areas; the students are building a map of potential sea levels we can experience later, so I''m trying to find a safe place. One of them mentioned it might be smart to build an aquatic base already since it is easier to build it while the land is still dry.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Sounds like this seems like a good idea. Find a safe location, start producing earthquake sensors, and deploy them along the fault lines. That way, we can monitor it and keep the students busy. Okay, I¡¯m getting to the jump point now. I will lose contact; if something important happens, call the lawyers. The hub has enough communications arrays to contact us in hyperlanes. Cya in a few weeks.¡± He hung up and got ready for the jump. It went smoothly, so he went to find the others. He found Roks and Fader Kungo Mytt in the mess hall.


    ¡°Where are your wives?¡± Adam asked as he entered, and Fader Kungo smiled at him. ¡° They are in the cabin, where they belong. I will bring them food later, " he replied, and Adam looked at him and then at Roks.


    ¡°I''m sorry, but why? Some religious reasons?¡± Adam said as he got out a bottle of dark fizzy drink and sat down.


    Fader Kungo nodded. ¡° You are strangers and I am alone. They would feel safer there. You are not Buginos. No offense but it¡¯s scary for young women to see such strange creatures.¡±


    ¡°Oh, they have nothing to fear from us. I''m a second father to one, Miker. He''s a beautiful little boy.¡± Adam replied, and Roks agreed.


    Fader Kungo smiled. ¡°Miker? It sounds like you have gained somebody''s trust. Who are the parents? And what denomination do they belong to?¡± He asked as he sipped the coffee that Roks had given him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know which denomination, and the father works for me; unfortunately, the mother has passed. He doesn¡¯t speak too much about his people. I know his late wife was the love of his life, and it broke his heart when she passed.¡± Adam replied as he studied the man in front of him.


    Fader Kungo drank more coffee. ¡°I''m sorry to hear about her passing; he should get more wives and spread the love. If you bring him to the colony, I might be able to help him with that. ¡°He sipped his coffee and smiled. ¡°This is good. I would love to buy more. It seems to give me energy.¡±


    Adam thought about it. He could actually plant beans. He had the seeds, and it would take at least ten years before he could get enough to sell. ¡°I will keep it in mind. But as you see, you don¡¯t need to lock your wives in the cabin. As you know, it will be seven days before we arrive, and the more, the better the company.¡±


    Roks smiled slightly. ¡°He told me he plans to open a Tavern on the colony. He already has friends there waiting for him.¡±


    Adam nodded to Roks. Something about this didn¡¯t sit right with him; they needed to get more information if he could only get the wives out of the cabin.


    ¡°Yes, company is always better,¡± Fader Kungo replied as he ignored Roks. ¡°But I''m worried since they are not properly trained yet.¡± He leaned a little forward. ¡°But maybe you could help me train them for a price, of course .¡±


    Adam looked at him, then at Roks and back to the Fader. ¡°I thought you said they were scared of us?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but they need to get used to it; of course, they will mostly deal with our people, but there are always some with strange urges.¡± The Fader replied. ¡°I''m too old to keep up with five young ones; I might as well earn some money on them as they increase the fold. Better to be pragmatic about such things. My lord commands me to ensure a big brood.¡±


    ¡°Well, we do not have such urges, but they are free to walk around and get used to strangers.¡° Adam said. This would work to their advantage, and they could find out if they were okay with what he felt was a horrible fate. He wanted to help if he could, but this might be completely normal for them, poor souls. Roks was tense, and Adam could sense it; everything he said went against his Tufon honor, but he held his tongue. Fader Kugo nodded. ¡°I see you won''t stop asking, but it will cost you 14 credits, even if it is just looking, but it is for seven days straight.¡± Adam sent him the money. Adam could see Roks would rather jump the Fader and tear him apart but restrained himself, and the old man left for the cabins. The moment he was out of hearing, Roks turned to Adam.


    ¡°What''s wrong with you? We should toss him out of the airlock. He is about to turn them into whores. And you are paying him!¡± The words were whispered with a growl, and Adam looked after the Fader,


    ¡°How else can we talk to them and find out if they want this? They might be religious zealots who want this. If we kill him, we will be branded as pirates; we need to find a way to rescue them and not be seen as pirates. Having them locked in the cabin will only make that harder. We need to separate them from him so we can get them to talk. If we find out they are held against their will, then we will rescue them.¡° Adam spoke quickly so they could finish this before they returned. ¡°Besides, you can look through the books and see if you can find anything we can use.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Roks calmed down a little and took a deep breath. He still wanted to kill the old man but tempered himself. Soon, the Fader returned with the wives, now dressed much more revealing clothes, leaving little to the fantasy.  They looked shyly around. Like Jork they had the spotted grey pattern going down their arms and back, but their skin was of different shades of yellow to green, and they had green to orange hair hanging loosely down or in complicated braids¡ªtheir four eyes color from blue to bright green. Their clothes were made of layers of silk that barely hid anything. They were as tall as Adam, and for a second, he just looked; it may have been the shock of the complete change from what he had seen at the hub. Then he caught himself and stood up.


    ¡°Welcome, ladies, make yourself at home. These are the common areas, and you are all welcome to relax and enjoy food and drink. There are two alcoves along the wall where you can watch entertainment or listen to music. Please ask before you go to the bridge, engine room, or storage. The rest of the ship you can walk around in.¡± He said with a smile and they all bowed, as they looked shyly around.


    ¡°They only paid for the company, nothing else. If they ask, they have to pay first. Remember that,¡± Fader Kungo said as he found himself a new cup of coffee without asking and sat down. Adam just smiled and showed them around. It felt like talking to teenage girls, which made him sick to his stomach. Only one of them seemed to be an adult. After the girls and the Fader retired, Roks and Adam sat down on the bridge to discuss it. They both wanted to toss him out of the airlock, and Adam started to think they could not make this trip without killing Fader.


    ¡°I hate this. I''m not a killer, but it''s testing my limits,¡± Adam said as he looked out the window; Roks sat at his station scanning the books.


    ¡°I have no problem with killing; just give the order, and he will be dead, " he replied, and Adam sighed.


    ¡°What if it''s all legal? Then, we are criminals and can be turned into slaves. Everything we have done goes away. If we do it, we need to do it legally.¡± Adam countered. He didn¡¯t like it, but he also had to think about the others.


    ¡°Well, nothing in the books stops it; any man can marry as many as he wants in their laws as long as the woman has come of age. And they have no laws against prostitution. It seems what he is doing is legal, even if it is disgusting.¡± Roks said as they turned the screen off.


    ¡°Woman of age? What does that mean? And can they be forced to?¡± Adam looked at him, and Roks opened the screen again and quickly searched the question.


    ¡°Coming of age for women is sixteen years old in their culture, and they are sold into marriage and have no rights to deny, though most seem to ignore that part. Remember Jork told us he proposed to Mike¡¯s mum after dating for two years? " He said as he read the laws.


    ¡°Looks like we got the good one back home and met the asshole version here. Okay, we need to talk to them without him being around?¡± Adam mused.


    ¡°Whiskey, we put it in his coffee, and he will fall asleep or get talkative. Remember, Jork can''t hold his liquor; he goes to sleep early.¡± Roks suggested, and Adam thought about it.


    ¡°Okay. Computer. When Fader Kugo orders coffee, I want you to add a little whiskey, not too much; I don¡¯t want him poisoned. Do not inform him about it, but start monitoring him so we can make sure we are not killing him with the coffee. Don¡¯t let him know.¡±


    ¡°Affirmative, starting protocol now.¡± The computer replied, and Roks looked at him.


    ¡°We are looking for a reason to kill him, so why be so careful? Happy accidents happen.¡± He said, and Adam chuckled.


    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m securing our ass as well so if anything does happen, we can prove we didn¡¯t intentionally try to kill him.¡±


    ¡°You are too kind. I''m going to bed,¡± Roks said and headed out. Adam sat down in the chair and looked out into the vastness of space as it flew by.


    The plan worked perfectly. The Fader really liked the new coffee even better, and he quickly fell asleep, leaving the girls alone with Adam and Roks. In the beginning, the girls seemed to fear what the men would do to them, but after a few days of Adam letting the youngest, who was only sixteen, watch movies and listen to music while they talked to the two eldest, they calmed down.


    The following days they got to know the girls better, the oldest was Skee Laf. She was 23 years old. Through her, they found out they are all sisters bought by the Fader when their family got into debt with a group of criminals. Skee had been studying at the university and had just finished her master''s in ocean biology. She returned home to the family farm when the criminals threatened to kill their parents and older brother if they didn¡¯t pay. Apparently, their parents had borrowed money to send her to the university. Then Fader Kugo suddenly showed up with money and told them he would pay the debt and give them some extra for the right to marry all the sisters. Her brother had tried to fight it, claiming Fader Kugo was part of the gang. The next day, he was beaten to an inch of his life by the gang by a chance encounter.


    ¡°That¡¯s it! I''m killing him.¡± Roks hand went to his pistol and Adam stopped him.


    ¡°Stop, let''s be smart about it. I want something on him; if we can get him to admit what he did, then we can arrest him and release them from their bondage.¡± Adam said, and then the second oldest. Maya shook her head; she had been sitting next to Skee and listened.


    ¡°No, they are waiting for him at the colony. He sent a message to them telling them about your ship. They are planning to steal it. That¡¯s why he wants us to distract you guys and wear these ridiculous clothes.¡± Maya said. Roks and Adam looked at each other, and then Adam looked back at her.


    ¡°When did he send the message?¡± Adam asked


    ¡°Yesterday, as we were getting closer, we arrived tomorrow, right?¡± she replied, and Skee looked at her.


    ¡°How do you know this?¡± She asked, confused.


    ¡°He always wants me to sleep in his bed, remember? He thought I was sleeping as he sent the message.¡± She replied, and Adam looked at the sleeping Fader.


    ¡°What system did he use? His own or the ship¡¯s?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Your ship¡¯s, he is so impressed by it. He wants it for himself.¡± She replied and Adam got up and walked over to a terminal.


    ¡°The computer showed me all the messages Fader Kugo sent, and three messages popped up. The first was about the girls with a clear indication of being put to work, and the second was the description of the ship and Adam and Roks. There was a reply from somebody about how they would get ready to take the ship; the last made it go cold down his back; not only were they planning to take the ship, but he asked them to get a crew ready so they could raid Dirt. He turned to Roks.


    ¡°Toss him into the airlock now while I stop the ship. We are not going there. He is a pirate, and now we got the evidence. I''m going to sentence him before we toss him out.¡± He said coldly, and Roks grinned. Then he immediately moved over, lifted up the drunk Fader, placed him in the airlock, injected him with sober medicine, and walked out, closing the Fader in the airlock. Adam stopped the ship in the dead of space, then went to the airlock, played the three messages over the loudspeaker as he looked at the Fader.


    The Fader looked at them as he stood up. ¡°Let me out and I will let you live.  If not then know they will find you and kill you for this. My son will have you killed! And they will find those bitches¡¯ families and kill them too. ¡°


    Adam looked at him for a while as the old man ranted, and then started cursing him. He  pressed the speaker and addressed the old man.


    ¡°In the name of the federation I, Adam Wrangler, captain of Dream and clan leader of the Wrangler clan, sentence you to death for planning to commit piracy on my ship and suspicion of extortion of the family Laf. We are confiscating your cargo, and the cargo that was supposed to be sent to your team, which we now know is waiting for us. We will inform the law when we return to the hub. May whatever gods you believe in have mercy on your soul. Because I don¡¯t, I curse you to the coldness of space forever.¡± With those words, he pressed the button, and The Fader vanished into the cold, dark space.


    ¡°Let''s get you girls safely home.¡± Adam turned and went up to the bridge to set the course for the hub.


    The girls looked surprised, and the younger panicked for a moment. Skee ran after him as Maya calmed her sister.


    ¡°What are you going to do with us? If you send us home, they will just kill us. You might have killed our parents by doing this. Those guys are not the forgiving type.¡± She seemed worried and on the brink of panicking.


    ¡°We must report it, or they can claim we are pirates.¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°I can''t believe I''m going to say this¡­ ¡°He turned to look at her. ¡°I know of a colony where you can be safe. It¡¯s a planet we are terraforming, so the atmosphere is not breathable yet, but we have space. Enough for your whole family. If you accept, you can travel there and be free from them. We can probably pick up your parents if it''s not too far away.¡± He looked at her, and she thought about it.


    ¡°It''s about two weeks to travel there; is that too far?¡± She looked at him with puppy eyes, and Adam cursed, then chuckled.


    ¡°Aww fuck it. Why not.¡±


    Two and a half months later, Dream landed on Dirt with a new family and a cargo filled with farming equipment. The record and some expert legal arguments from Minna had secured them the rights to the cargo and annulled the marriages of Fader Kugo. Adam saw the planet was covered with dark clouds. They got into view, and he immediately scanned the planet. The atmosphere was 70% of the desired goal, and five great lakes were being formed. However, the air was still not breathable.