The route to Cho Hee's family farm took them south of the pit mine and the accompanying refinery area, then east toward the range of hills known as the divide. Seefra City was the largest of a handful of towns situated in what was known as the Great Basin. The basin was an area of nearly 500,000 square kilometers completely surrounded by mountains. Running across the basin was a range of hills that divided the area into two halves and was called rather unimaginatively 'the divide.' The hills themselves were a source of several valuable metals including nickel, which the company's mined as well. On the other side of the divide were a number of farms that provided food for the inhabitants of Seefra City. Cho Hee's stepfather owned one of those farms. The rare earth pit mine that was the reason for Seefra City's existence was located so close to the nickel mines that one bored miner was able to build a crude catapult and lob rocks from the hills into the pit mine.
A natural pass in the divide had been expanded and improved upon so that a trip from the farmlands to Seefra City was possible in less than a day… barely.
As there was nothing else to do on the trip the travelers spent most of the trip talking about themselves.
Cho Hee told how her father had died in the mines when she was quite young, and how her mother, Gweneth, married Avineri, who was a widower and needed someone to keep house for him and help look after his children. Between her siblings, Avineri's children by his first marriage, and the children Avineri had by Gweneth, Cho Hee was the fourth of 12 children. She also explained the origin of her name stating that she had been named after her great grandmother, who had been born on Seefra Five and that she used her stepfather's last name as her family name.
Orlund shared some tales of his days working in the mines, though mercifully not the story about the cave-in. Doyle and Trance had far fewer stories to share. Trance did however have one unexpected contribution to the entertainment. While she was unable to remember any details of her past prior to her arrival on Seefra, she still retained memory of dozens of songs. She also had an excellent singing voice.
They arrived at Cho Hee's farm just before sunset. Waiting for them was a somewhat overweight man wearing the broad hat and serape worn by most Seefran males. Upon seeing the man, Cho Hee let out a whoop that caused the robas to start. In reply, the man took off his hat and waved it in greeting, revealing a head that was as bald as an egg.
Cho Hee was off the wagon before Orlund had halted it.
"Da, these are my friends from town." She waved her hand in the direction of Trance and Doyle "That's Doyle and Trance; they work at the Oasis and are friends of the sheriff. And you remember Orlund. He's the man Matt Fairweather found. Trance, Doyle, Orlund, this is my stepdad, Avineri."
"You're looking better than the last time I saw you," said Avineri when Orlund stepped off the wagon.
"I fear that you have the advantage on me, sir," replied Orlund. "I can't recall our meeting,"
"That's not surprising," said Avineri. "You were half-dead at the time. I was at Matt's home having my shoulder looked at when Matt found you wandering about in his south quarter more dead than alive. You picked a good place to get lost 's what passes for a doctor in these parts. Before she married Matt and came out here Inara was a nurse in the territorial defense force. They're both inside. They'll be pleased to see you again."
He turned his attention to his stepdaughter. "Cho, why don't you take your friends inside and introduce them around. I'll have one of your brothers take care of the wagon and the robas."
Cho Hee ushered everyone inside to make introductions. Besides her mother and her siblings, there were representatives from about a dozen families. After a few moments, both Trance and Doyle were completely overwhelmed by the barrage of names. Orlund lasted marginally longer, probably because he had met a few of them while he was recuperating at the Fairweathers'.
The main room of Avineri's house looked more like a hunting lodge than a living and dining area. Mounted on the room's walls were the heads of suigu, a relative of the semi-domesticated robas with an even nastier disposition, those of a pair of akumas, and one of a feral pig. Mounted along with the trophies were a number of firearms. Some of the weapons had a decidedly military look to them.
"Souvenirs from my younger days," said Avineri, noticing where Doyle's eyes were focused.
"Da was a lieutenant colonel with the territorial defense force during the last war with Ehime," explained Cho Hee. "After the war, he settled down here when he couldn't find work after he had been discharged from the force."
"Me and a lot of other men and women," added Avineri. "The company made an offer that sounded good at the time."
In Cho Hee's home it seemed that politics came after dinner. After a few more minutes of small talk, Gweneth, Cho Hee, and the rest of the distaff side of the family went into the kitchen to start working on dinner. Doyle and Trance exchanged glances, then followed. Be the standards of the kitchens in Seefra, Cho Hee's kitchen was huge. The work table in the center of the kitchen was nearly as big as the entire kitchen in the home Trance shared with Doyle and Harper.
Lying on the center of the table near a mixing bowl and a bag of flower was a metal cylinder about twice the diameter of Trance's thumb and somewhat longer than her handspan in length. "What's that?" asked Trance, pointing to the object lying on the table.
"An EBD canister," answered Gweneth. Seeing the blank look on Trance's face, she expanded on her explanation. "It's a canister for an emergency breathing device. Most miners carry one with them. In case of a cave-in or a release of toxic gases, a miner can pull an EBD over his head and hopefully have enough air to get to someplace safe. Each of those canisters contains a half hour's worth of air. The canisters can be replaced while the miner is wearing the device, so theoretically he could survive indefinitely while wearing one."
Doyle gave the cylinders a thoughtful look. "The air must be under a lot of pressure. How dangerous are those things if the regulator fails?"
"Very," said Gweneth.
"You don't want to know," said Cho Hee.
"We lost one of Cho Hee's brothers when an air bottle ruptured while he was wearing his EBD," said Gweneth. "We only buried the lower half of his body. There wasn't enough of the upper half to bury."
Trance took a couple steps away from the canister.
"You don't have to worry about that one," said Gweneth, noticing Trance's reaction. "It's empty. The empty ones make good rolling pins. Why don't you use it to roll out the biscuit dough."
Cho Hee's recruitment speech took place once dinner was over and the dishes cleared away. Her audience was not only receptive, it was enthusiastic. The company tenant farmers were, if possible, even more unhappy with company policies than the miners. The majority of the talk became more of a planning session than a recruitment pitch as Avineri suggested that they start setting up facilities for the miners and their families in the event that they are forced out of their homes. He had a section of land that wasn't good for growing crops, but was relatively near a source of water, which would be ideal for a refugee center.
Not too surprisingly considering that several of the men present were veterans, there was also talk about military strategy just in case the company decided to move against the families. There was talk about logistics and tactics, but the general consensus was that if they could hold the pass, they could continue the strike indefinitely.
Avineri on the other hand wasn't so confident. He pointed out that the company and its sister organizations couldn't afford to let the umwa take root as the idea would spread to other areas, and that they would do whatever they felt necessary to crush the organization. He further added that with the provincial government firmly in the company's pocket, the company would be able to use any methods they felt necessary with no fear of legal reprisals. But it was his final remark that silenced the group.
"If we're going to pull this off, we're going to have to make it expensive for the company not just in money, but in blood. Theirs and ours."