Chapter 32:
With a yawn, Bill Mertens slipped his legs out of bed, finding the sheets still warm. Sleeping with Olesia was like sleeping with an electric blanket—warm and comforting, though sometimes a little too much. Of course, she'd been up a couple of times through the night with his daughter, so neither of them had been able to sleep straight through.
Rising, the big man headed for the shower, knowing exactly where his wife would be at this time. There was a good bit to get done, so likely she'd gone to make breakfast for them both.
After gathering on his clothes, Billy joined Olesia in the spacious salon that his family had in the palace. His own space was closed off at the moment to save resources for the people on the shore, so he and O had spent the night in Phoebe's room.
Moments after he'd sat himself, Lollipop came out of her room. However, much to his surprise, another figure came out of Nadia's room.
The blonde woman was immediately familiar, though he struggled with the name. "Morning, 'Tasha," Lollipop announced, as she strolled over to the breakfast table. "Morning, Bill. When did you get in?"
"Late last night," Billy admitted. "Took a little longer than I thought to wrap things up in the south. Who's your friend?"
Before Lollipop could say a word, Fionna appeared, half-wearing her robe over a ratty t-shirt and shorts. "Hey, Bill," she yawned. Strolling past Lollipop, she gave the slender woman a peck on the cheek.
Approaching Billy, she threw her arms around him and hugged him. Billy was delighted to hug her back. It had only been a few months, but he was shocked to realize how much he missed her. A part of him hungered to see Star. He was losing contact with his family, and now he saw why his dad was sometimes kinda' down.
Moments later, a pack of servants came out of the kitchen. Billy was a little surprised and shocked to see several humans among them. Seeing where his eyes were going, Lollipop remarked, "just following Finn's orders to get as many of the humans employed in good-paying jobs as I can, Bill. I had some slots open up here, so I hired a few peeps to work as servants in the castle..."
Is it prejudice that I don't trust them, Billy thought? Honestly, he was used to candy-folk. Mostly their schemes were comical. Beyond Cherry and a couple of the uglier gangsters, Bonnie's efforts to keep her people dumbed-down and docile had mostly been successful.
Settling at the table, Bill opened with, "how've things been going?" "Quiet," Lollipop responded. "Lonely," Fi chuckled. "I've been getting an earful from Patrick. Peeps on the island were hoping for a little more time to see the world."
Billy's eyes flicked to Lollipop, who'd turned beet-red. "Maybe dad could have Bonnie take over for a bit," he suggested.
Showing a little of the backbone she'd gained, the ex-model replied, "this has to be taken care of, Bill. I'm fine." Grinning at the mayor's wife, she added, "Tasha here keeps me company."
"So what has you back here," Natasha Stanek queried? "Going to get the first shipment of stone sorted out," Fi responded. "Figure with four wizards, we can get enough stone to start putting up buildings and put enough to the side to sell to the grid-face peeps."
Lollipop moved the conversation onward. She wanted to hear about all the goings on with the family back in the east. Fionna regaled her with stories of the antics of the Privy Council as well as the family's newest members.
Hearing about Rosie and Young Bonnie's habit of drawing and quartering peeps had Lollipop howling laughter, though she was a little disturbed to hear about what had happened with Mireya. "We're gonna' find her," Fi asserted. "Even if I have to go sit on that little bitch on her island."
With breakfast wrapped up, the three visitors washed and gathered on clothing, with Fionna and Olesia 'dressing down' in scruffy jeans and tee-shirts. Lollipop herself gathered on a nice summer sun-dress for the trip over to the shore. Though the air on the water could still be a little chilly, it was quite nice on shore.
Billy was a little disturbed when Lollipop brought them down to the castle's water-gate. His stepmom was getting rather cozy with a woman who was married to a person his father didn't trust. Though he trusted that Thor had things under control here, he feared Lollipop would get hurt at least emotionally if not physically.
As they rode the boat to shore, Lollipop spent a fair bit of time on her phone. Pacing back and forth up at the bow of the boat, she gave orders to the various people who worked to keep King's Island running. While she worked, Billy watched her house guest. The more he looked at Natasha Stanek, the more his hackles went up.
Finally, the Royal Launch pulled up to the pier. Natasha was quick to pile off with her personal maid, while Lollipop hung back to say goodbye to Billy and Fionna.
Fionna hugged the slim woman hard enough to hurt before sauntering off. Motioning for Olesia to go ahead, Billy turned to his stepmother. "I don't trust her," he muttered. "I... want you to be careful around her."
The ex-model gave him a look that suggested he teach his grandma to suck eggs. "Dinner's at six sharp, Bill," she told him. "If you two aren't back, I might come looking."
With no further word, she went sauntering up the pier, skirt dancing around her slim hips with every step. The little sundress she wore reminded him of how nice the weather was here—warm enough now to feel good, but not as unpleasantly warm as Tequila Kingdom could be.
Shaking off the worry, Bill headed off up the pier himself. Taking a right turn, he headed up the beach towards a steel barge that was waiting on the shore there. Arriving at the barge, Billy found his wife and sister standing there getting ogled by a large group of men, who were loafing about under the watchful eyes of several dozen of Thor's soldiers.
"Hello," Billy greeted them. "I'm Prince William. Who's in charge here?" The strangers stared back at him, with some exchanging whispered conversation. Having dealt with his share of 'dues paying', Billy let them.
Finally, a short, stocky fellow strode forward, announcing, "I'm in charge. Dees guys're my crew. You want 'em t'work, you go tru me. I decide who gets hired on. I decide what the hours are..."
Elegant nose wrinkling, Fionna murmured, "you should pro'lly cut that out. Wicked Stepmomma'll smash you for doing dirt without paying her street-tax..."
"W-what," babbled the burly sandhog? "You plan on shakin' us down," Fionna remarked, "but Wicked Stepmom didn't tell us about authorizing any gangs here..."
Face flushed red, the stranger began to cuss. One of the others intervened, responding, "ain't a gang, sweet-cheeks. We're union. We usually don't work wi'd'out a contract. This here's d'head o'the union..."
"Ah," Billy responded. "We have unions here, too, but I don't think we have time to work a contract. My goal is to get peeps into houses..."
"William," Olesia interrupted, "you have two tasks. You were planning to harvest stone and wood for the settlement, but you were also going to harvest some for sale. We could focus on the materials for the settlement this week and put off harvesting saleable materials until next week. That would meet this gentleman in the middle. He could have time to negotiate for his people, while avoiding delays to putting folk in houses."
Turning back to the union boss, the plump woman asked, "well? How about that?" His talkative friend suggested, "lady's got a point, Phil. I t'ink all our families would like t'get out o'them tin cans..."
Scratching at his stubbly chin, the union boss, agreed, "ok, Y'er Highness. Deal." Extending a hand, Billy waited a moment. The chubby fellow grasped his hand firmly, his grip and the rough callouses on his palm suggesting that he wasn't just the leader of the union, he was a working member.
Under the guidance of Thor's guys, the construction workers climbed up the gangplanks and onto the barge. The whole process took a good half hour, but finally the barge shoved off from the shore and began to chug its way steadily north.
As the barge pushed through the swells, the workmen stared around them, some in worry and others in wonder. The world they'd grown up in wasn't nearly so big. The people who'd built the ark had modeled it on the old New York as much because it was easier to hide the lack of horizon as out of nostalgia.
Finally, two hours into the journey, the candy-person driving the barge swung in towards shore, where some of the trees had already been cut back, likely by the advanced scouts. Moments later, there was a jolt as the barge's heavy, squared-off bow buried itself in the soft sand.
The minute the barge was grounded, Fionna went into action. Calling on the soft sand of the beach, the leggy blonde made sure the barge was stuck fast and unlikely to shift, while the stone and other materials were getting loaded.
For his part, Billy went to work helping to get the gangplanks set in place, while he envisioned building up some sort of port or dock here to aid getting these barges loaded. If they were going to make a go of this, they needed to move as much stone and timber as possible.
Behind them, the New Yorkers stared and whistled at the sights they were seeing. Central Park had trees, though nothing like this.
Clambering down the gangplank, Billy found his brother-in-law standing there with a strange figure. The youth was tall and gangly, with a shock of blonde hair and eyes like chips of the sky. He might almost have been human, except that his features seemed a little unfinished.
"Van," Billy burbled. With a nod, the tall youth offered him a big smile. Reaching out, Billy hugged the young boy, murmuring, "wow! You've grown so much!"
Coming alongside them, Fionna chuckled. She'd had her surprise the previous day, when she'd landed. Van's blush suggested that the pair had shared one of Fionna's 'Wildly Inappropriate Greetings'.
Their little brother was wearing a short-sword, whose worn handle indicated that he'd been using it rather a lot. Billy couldn't help but wonder about that. Besides Fionna, Van had been one of the wort victims of the Quicksilver Curse. It didn't seem like such a good idea for him to be playing with a sword.
Shaking off his worry, Billy turned to Thor, saying, "how do, brother?" "Work-site's set up," he said. "We've been here the last couple days clearing out monsters and wild animals."
"Nothing serious," Billy asked? "No," Thor responded. "A few rogue bears and some wolves. Nothing like goo-bros..." Of course, Kara and Fried had suggested this area precisely because it hadn't been worked over with mushroom bombs.
"Alright," Billy said, "let's get at it." Turning to the construction workers, he said, "there's good granite here that we can turn into aggregate to make cement..."
The big man found he had everybody's attention. "You know how to turn stone into aggregate," one man burbled? It took a moment for Billy to realize that these men had likely never had access to raw stone. Probably got by with recycling all this time, he thought.
Nodding, the big man said, "the plan is to take both raw slabs and broken rock. We've got a rock-crusher on King's Island that we can use to make aggregate. We can take the raw slabs and shape them into things like curbing for the streets and foundations for housing."
Nodding at the towering trees around him, he said, "I'm gonna' put together gangs of men to harvest some of this timber. We'll take some of it and sell it on the market down south to earn money for the colony. We'll take a bunch more and make framing for houses."
"You make houses out of wood," the union chief rumbled? "That sounds... dangerous..." "Wood's flammable," agreed another man. "It's been outlawed to make anything bigger'n a picture frame out of wood in New York for centuries... ever since the big fire..."
"You're not in the belly of a spaceship," Billy responded. "We'll do alright. Wood is quick to harvest and easy to work with. We have a lumber-mill on the island too. We'll do the major buildings in stone and cement. The houses will be wood. If you folks want stone later... you're welcome to do that on your own. My goal is to get peeps in houses."
Turning to Thor, the big man said, "can you help our new friends here get started harvesting timber? We're headed up to the bluff there to start working on stone."
"Can I come," Van queried? Thor gave the boy a wry look that suggested they had an agreement. Flushing, the youth murmured, "I... promised to stay and look after the workmen, didn't I?" The soldier tousled his hair and said, "my apprentice can go for a few minutes. Be back in a half hour, latest."
With Van in tow, Billy set out up the hill towards the cliffs, as he laid out his plan. "You can split stone with cold," Van burbled?! "Wow!" "It's a little more complicated," Olesia murmured. "There's heat and then we suddenly chill it, and the stone splits."
Arriving at the top of the cliff, the quartet found that the wall was already starting to fracture. "This stuff at the front is full of cracks," Billy muttered. "It's probably just good for making aggregate..."
"W-what's aggregate," Van asked? When Billy glanced at him, Olesia rested a hand on the little boy's shoulder, adding, "I'd like to know too..." "Big words, big brother," Fionna chuckled.
"Cement is made with sand and lime to bind it all together," Billy explained, "but there's small stones inside it too. We need to turn the big stones here into little stones."
"Let's play," said Olesia. Striding forward, she began drawing on her powers. Just like they'd done it in the wasteland northeast of Lizard Kingdom, she focused energy into the stone.
"You're doin' it wrong, cowhips," Fionna teased. "Oh, really," demanded the plush elemental? Taking the plump girl's hand, Fionna murmured, "my aunt Talia taught me this... Feel the stone... See... Right there's where you need to put the heat."
"Y-you can see the actual fissures," Olesia babbled. Billy grimaced. His sister, the Crystal Fiend. The change had happened under their noses, and though he was grateful that Fi was still among the living, he wasn't exactly thrilled with how Patrick accomplished that feat.
Shaking off his irritation, Billy motioned his family back from the cliff, as he channeled a burst of intense cold into the stone. Down below, the workmen glanced up and cheered as an ass-ton of raw stone quite literally jumped off the cliff face.
"Wow," Van crowed! "That's super-cool, big bro!" "What about me," Fionna howled?! "You were cool too, big sis," Van burbled! He offered the Bad Bunny a grin. Fionna responded by hugging him, causing his face to get caught between her knockers.
Billy couldn't help howling with laughter at the sight and the way the young boy's face turned red from his hair to his neck. Olesia pinched his arm, shutting off his mirth. Pulling the poor child out of her sister-in-law's rather inappropriate embrace, the plump woman said, "you should get back to your own work, young man..."
With a sheepish nod, Van started back down the hill. Billy turned back to the matter at hand. Taking out his phone, he signaled the guards to get some of the workmen on the job of moving stone to the barge.
On the far side of the ocean, the Mertens siblings' father sat himself before his mom, Bonnie, Sarah, and Nadia. The four eggheads were due to give him a report on where things stood with the effort to return to the ark. He'd been cautiously hopeful after Blargetha's report at the opening of Court, but they were running out of time.
Seeming to sense the worry her son was feeling, Minerva commanded, "breathe, honey. Take a series of deep breaths." The big man flushed to his hair, softly murmuring, "I'm ok, mom. I'm not a geezer anymore."
"You won't get to be a geezer again, if the stress gets to you, honey," Minerva reminded him, "but alright. We'll move on."
Toggling a switch on the table, Bonnie declared, "we have had seven successful launches of the cargo rocket, and one partial success." Frowning, Finn rumbled, "what does 'partial' mean?" "The cargo got launched, but the cargo rocket burned up on re-entry," Nadia replied.
Frowning, Finn asked, "what are the odds of that?" In defensive tones, Nadia responded, "we know why the rocket burned..." The tone of her voice suggested that somebody had screwed up, and likely that screwup was a gridface person.
Pulling the conversation back to her, Bonnie said, "we're going into mass production of components for the cargo rockets." Frown deepening, Finn responded, "what about the people rocket to get back to the ark?"
"We're not going to be ready in time," Minerva declared. Gripping the arms of his chair, Finn said, "that means we're screwed!" "Calm down," Bonnie interrupted!
Nodding at Sarah, the candy monarch said, "Sarah has been working on a remote-control unit for the saucer in her spare time." Finn's eyes snapped over to the heavy-duty hottie.
Smiling back, Sarah said, "it's a simplified solution, but it will be sufficient to get the saucer back in the event of a problem."
The big man relaxed visibly. Waggling a finger at him, his mother said, "just a few weeks more on the man-rated rocket, sweetie. I plan to divert the highest quality cargo-rated machines from the assembly facility and put them through an extra bout of testing. That will necessitate putting them on a cargo plane and bringing them back here to Candy Kingdom where we have the most technology. Once we've completed our tests and inspections, those parts will go back to the launch site and get assembled and stacked on the launch pad. We're looking at maybe two additional weeks."
Blowing out a breath, the big man rumbled, "I'm sorry..." "You're the responsible man your father and I wanted you to be, Finn," Minerva interrupted. "I'd be upset if you were cavalier about this..."
Just then, the door to the room opened, and Blargetha came sauntering in, toting her notebook and a mini computer. Finn frowned at his wayward wife. He thought she was supposed to be in bed, still.
"Babe," Finn greeted her. Indeed, four pairs of eyes followed her as she moved to the spot opposite him.
Setting the mini computer down, she announced, "don't mind me... keep doing what you were doing..." Meanwhile, she began to plug into the table's display port.
Bonnie declared, "we've tested the saucer seventeen times under remote control. We're both confident that the system will work under stress. We can get the saucer back regardless of any sort of... interference. We'll be able to get back to the ark and gain access in time to prevent an accident."
Nadia broke in, declaring, "I've had my people working on an extensive refurbishment of the original mainframe from the ark. We've repaired some faults, replaced some components, and gotten it back into a condition to run for another thousand years."
Finn's eyes flicked to his mother. With a wink, Minerva remarked, "my grandson may have done me a favor. My old body was... not in the best condition."
Toggling a switch, Blargetha declared, "with a little help from Orzsebet, I've located a potential source of componentry for the ark's weapon system."
Finn, who'd been relaxed up until that moment, sat bolt upright in alarm, his eyes going to Bonnie and Nadia. The cyborg princess's face had just frozen over completely. Bonnie, thankfully, was calm.
"As was so pointedly made clear to me," Blargetha remarked, "I can't easily scale down the Grand Cannon, so I decided to get a head-start on the project. If I can salvage something from this ship, I can reverse-engineer a weapon that I can build en-masse for the ark. As a bonus, that might even make the second Grand Cannon cheaper to build."
Just then, Drew barged into the room. "I knew I'd find you here," the curvy doctor snapped!
Ignoring her, Blargetha explained, "Martin's scoutship is roughly a hundred miles into the Rat Lands. If I take a ship from the Emerald Kingdom..." "That's stupid," Nadia muttered. "No member of this family travels on such unreliable transportation."
Drew stormed over to the plush slime person, her posture suggesting violence was imminent. "Cease that," Bonnie snapped. "Princess Blargetha is putting forth a proposal on an important matter."
The curvy doctor's eyes got big, and she goggled at Bonnibel Bubblegum. Nor was she alone. Blargetha herself was staring at the candy princess.
Clearing her throat, Minerva burbled, "you were saying..." Shaking off her shock at being treated fairly for a change, Blargetha said, "I'd also like to study the engine, if possible. We'll likely need to refurbish the thrusters on the ark. Since that's the case, we should consider improvements..."
"This is a nice fantasy," Drew declared, "but my patient has only recently come out of a medically induced coma. I will not allow her to travel at this time." She was staring straight at Finn. Apparently two could play.
"Drew," Blargetha howled! "I don't agree with this," growled the sexy doctor! "I will not agree to this!" In short order, the pair were shouting at each other and even shouting at Finn, with Blargetha trying to pitch going out to the Rat Lands, while Drew tried to shut the whole thing down.
The argument was giving Finn a headache. Truth? Finn had swung around to the idea of rebuilding the ark the moment that Blargetha pointed out that it could be used to search for the remaining arks. At the same time, he wasn't thrilled by the idea of sending her out to some remote area so soon after she'd gotten out of that sick bed.
"A battleship needs weapons," Blargetha rumbled. "The alien battleship melted in Phoebe's kingdom, but if there's anything on Martin's scoutship that I can use..." "I'll go," sighed Sarah, interrupting the looming feud. Blargetha's face flicked around to the android's. "I'm more durable than you," Sarah replied, "and I'm not pregnant. This makes more sense."
Turning to their husband, the android hottie said, "I've physically the strongest of all of us, and I have plenty of defensive equipment to take care of us, in the event something happens."
"That's nice," Bonnie interrupted, "but I'd planned on you going with a contingent of the Guard."
Frowning, Sarah responded, "you're not considering the risk of attracting attention to the work-site. Right now, the only people who know of the existence of Martin's scoutship are in this room. If we take a company of the guard, we risk attracting attention to the wreck. Even if we gather up any weapons first, there is still the risk of providing Gumbald with a technological leg-up. I counsel against taking that course of action."
"Quick reaction force," Minerva responded. Glancing at her son, she added, "heard about that from a movie. It sounded appropriate. We can keep them at a distance, just in case."
With a sigh, Finn said, "the motion carries. Blargetha and Sarah will investigate Martin's scoutship. We'll send a contingent of the Guard to Plague City to wait for instructions, just in case."
"We done," demanded a fuming Drew? Finn motioned that she could go. With a growl of rage, the tall doctor grabbed Blargetha by her 'hair' and dragged her, kicking and screaming, out of the room.
"Well, that was special," Minerva muttered. "Be glad we're androids," Sarah retorted. "It isn't fun to have the doctor kick the shit out of you."
Those words elicited a grimace from Finn and set Bonnie to squirming in her seat. Of all the family, they'd gotten the most attention from Dr. Princess. "Moving on," Minerva said, though her words held amusement at her son's discomfort.
Late that day, the Mertens siblings gathered at the beach with the workers and soldiers. The mood was light. In spite of their initial misgivings, the New Yorkers were clearly feeling the positive vibes of having made progress.
On his side, Billy was delighted to be doing something positive and useful after the near-disaster with the Entity. He'd been doing a fair bit of soul-searching since then. It wasn't only Van who shouldn't be messing around anymore.
Of course, the minute he thought of his little brother, the youth popped up, walking with Olesia of all people. Curious as anything and clearly interested in girls even at such a young age, he had bounced back and forth between his 'official' job down at the beach, guarding the barge and coming up to the cliff-face again and again.
"The camp is picked up," Van announced. "Mr. Thor said to tell you that." "Thanks," Billy responded. Resting her hands on his shoulders, Olesia offered Billy a big smile, suggesting the young fellow had managed to charm her too.
Billy coughed, drawing his little brother's eyes away from staring up at O's boobies and back to him. "How've things been goin'," he asked? "Dad is..."
"S'ok," Van murmured. His tone and the change in mood said that things were definitely not ok.
"Something's bothering you, Van," the big man rumbled. "I can tell you just like dad told me. The adults will always get to the bottom of it. The sooner they do, the better off you'll be..."
Flushing to his hair, Van responded, "it's that lady who hangs out with momma Lollipop... I don't like her. And there's this guy who comes to visit her... I think it's her boy. He's kind of a butt."
Alarmed, Olesia demanded, "he doesn't come into the secure area... I mean the family's part of the castle...?" "No," Van replied. "He tried to get me to open the door for him, but I told him now. He got sore about it. I heard him calling me names with his ma."
"Does Thor know," Billy asked? Van nodded. Thor was his teacher. He never kept anything from Thor. "Ok," Billy responded. Tousling the youth's shaggy blonde locks, he said, "keep your eyes open and keep telling Thor all you see, ok?" Van nodded vigorously.
"Ice-cream on me, when we get home," Billy said, as he got to his feet. That news had the boy excited. Most of the food was going to the shore, so they hardly got any desserts anymore.