~*T*~

Harry flipped to a fresh page, wrote "Rule Brockton Bay with an Iron Fist" in the middle again, and circled it.

He wrote, and circled, Gangs, Cops, PR, and Economy around the page.

"What's next?"

~*i*~

Harry sat, feet over the edge, on the crumbling seawall, looking at the rust-streaked hulk blocking the channel. Luna leaned on her right shoulder, and Hermione sat behind them, legs spread wide, arms wrapped about the other two. Luna traced slow circles on Hermione's hand, and Hermione slow circles on Luna's tummy.

"So, the question is," Harry said, "How to get rid of it without causing too much uproar."

"Float it out," Luna said, "It's been scuttled, so it should be mostly intact. Seal it up, re-inflate it, and pull it up on land for scrapping."

"Can we just use it as a ship?" Harry asked.

"Too much damage, it'd cost as much to fix as a good used ship, and it's small by modern standards."

"Floating base?"

"Eh," Luna shrugs, "Maybe?"

"How much to buy it?"

"Since it's sunk, and has been sunk for a while, we can claim it as salvage. The lawyers should cost less than the scrap value."

"OK," Hermione said, "Any legal crap to take care of before we float it?"

"Nope."

Hermione stood up, and climbed down far enough to dip her toe in the water.

"It'll be up in a couple days."

"Is it going to go anywhere?"

"The anchor chains are down."

"We should probably," Luna starts, "Yeah, like that."

"The channels are silted," Harry said, "and all the little islands."

"Yeah, I'm taking care of them, too," Hermione smiled, "That's the last of the ones on the bottom."

~*i*~

"What's happening?" Piggot asked, looking over Armsmaster's shoulder as he worked the drone.

"Some sort of plant matter has filled the holes, and the ship was filled with a carbon-dioxide filled cellulose foam, from what I can tell from the air. It is in no way seaworthy, but it is now possible to tow, or push. Two, or maybe three, big tugs and the main channel could be cleared."

"Who?"

"The Dockworker's Association still has tugs, but I do not know if they are still seaworthy."

"No, who could have filled the ship with breadfruit?"

"It is not," Armsmaster laughed, "That is a good pun, and an apt description. No one, or no one known. Blasto might be able to do it, if he managed to shift his focus off useless things like human cloning."

"But he is obsessed," Piggot sighs, "Could someone have paid him? Bought breadfruit seeds?"

"If the breadfruit grew, covering the light sources, then inflated? No one would have noticed until the first ship popped to the surface."

"Or it may be a new bio-tinker, trying to advertise," Armsmaster mentioned, "Float the boat graveyard, let someone salvage the steel and brass, then sell breadfruit seeds to salvage operations. I do not have the numbers for the profitability of such a venture, and thus cannot comment on its likelihood."

"Continue to monitor, and see who collects the hulks."

"I will."

~*i*~

"I didn't," Hermione looked up from the newspaper, stricken, "Why are they doing this?"

Harry glanced at the paper, shrugged one shoulder, "You broke their favorite dream, probably," she said.

"Favorite dream?" Hermione tilted her head, and raised one eyebrow questioningly.

"That the arsehole they married would finally die and leave them in peace," She paused, "Or they'd die, and still be in peace."

"How many?"

"Thousands, probably," Luna answered, "Stateside. There's already been a few hundred, and there's always been people who think murder is better than divorce for whatever reason."

Hermione's face fell further, and Luna followed Harry and wrapped her arms around them both.

~*i*~

"All these ships are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there," the big banner on the barnacle-covered side of the small, 45-ton, ship tied up to the Dockworker's small pier read.

"Someone's read Asimov," Wilson said.

"Or seen the movie," Haedly offered, "Is there even a Europa in the graveyard?"

"Yes, actually,' Hebert said, "And her owners are current on her docking fees."

Wilson broke out laughing.

~*i*~

"Um," the mate called up, "I'm reading ten fathoms."

"Impossible, it's low tide," the skipper called back, "There's obviously something wrong. Throw a line."

"Eleven fathoms, which matches the sonar," The mate called back a moment later.

"Ahead slow, keep checking."

"We're missing another island," The mate called up, "Six fathoms where it used to be, says the sonar."

~*i*~

"What's that?" Hermione asked, only half caring.

"Season three of Initial D," Luna answered, showing her the box.

"Put something happy on," Hermione said, flopping onto the couch in Luna's edifice, "We'll watch that when Harry gets back from school."

Luna fussed with the computer attached to the TV, then sat.

Hermione curled up beside her, and pressed her face to Luna's belly. She stroked Hermione's hair, and didn't pay much attention to the TV at all.

~*i*~

The tugs were snugged up, and the prize crew climbed over, checked the capstans for the anchor chains, and sighed. They could be driven manually. That was going to be hard, slow work, but forty tons of steel chain and anchors, even with a decade's rust, is still valuable enough to justify the labor cost.

The levers are unshipped, mounted, and the first capstan slowly starts to turn under the hands of eight men.

~*T*~

Note: This Brockton Bay is located in New Hampshire, where Hampton, Hampton Falls, Seabrook, and Hampton Beach are located, just north of the border with Massachusetts.

PatB's Brockton Bay is Portsmouth, and one of the issues there (which I didn't make explicit, but should have) is that the PRT Headquarters and downtown are on the New Hampshire side, and the docks and trainyard are in Maine . . .

The author has been reminded that 2010: Odyssey Two is by Arther C. Clarke, not Asimov.

The author says this is Wilson's mistake, despite the fact that the Author read the book in middle school, and hasn't re-watched the movie in two or three years ^_^