The woman looked surprised. “Where did you get that idea? We use appropriate technology.”
Like a second memory Zephyr whispered in her ear. “’Appropriate technology’ is a social movement. It has something to do with the Amish.”
Tess said, “Amish?”
“Something like that,” the woman said. “I’d be happy to tell you about our practices.”
“Maybe later. I’ve got to carry stuff and show you around.”
She let them haul a few of the heavier things over to North Tower. Since the station’s interior was mostly bisected, maybe she’d still have some privacy.
When they were done touring the platform (not that it took long), she looked over their old-fashioned clothes again and frowned. “How are you going to work in the water like that? Have you ever even dived before?”
One of the men said, “Sir Phillip will teach us.”
“Oy.” Even from Tess’ limited experience, she knew that tending aquatic plants wasn’t the same as picking cotton or whatever these guys did on land. “Then you’ve got a lot to learn. Come over to the dock and let me tell you the basics, before Garrett gets back for a formal lesson.”
The black woman looked puzzled. “But Sir Phillip said he’d tell us what we need to know.”
“Yeah, that’s great. But some basic instruction will help keep you alive, and you’ve got nothing better to do.”
To the Pilgrims’ credit they listened to reason.
As the day wore on, the station got more and more crowded. Tess realized she’d never seen so many people here. Dozens! It was kind of exciting despite the annoyance of having people wandering on the stairs and across the deck and generally getting in the way. Today was shot for actual work, what with all the shepherd duty. The newcomers filled up South Tower, leaving the Northern rooms for the originals. At least Garrett was on hand after a few trips, switching the ferry job to Martin.
Garrett had brought a group of Brazilian divers on his last trip. That group was impressed at seeing the platform, but occasionally their conversation would quietly switch to Portuguese.
Zephyr gave Tess a quiet translation. “Are these people white supremacists? What have we gotten ourselves into? No, look, that one’s black and the techie girl is Hispanic. The tour guide said he wasn’t one of them.”
Tess wrote discreetly on a computer to Zephyr: “That’s a good point. Aren’t these people a couple of rungs above neo-Nazis?”
“Rungs?” said the voice in her ear.
She said aloud, “You know, hidden rungs. Like social status levels.” Zephyr was weak on metaphors. She played little games with him lately to help him work on that, and help him talk better.
Zephyr said, “They’re not obviously bad people. Their Net site doesn’t say much.”
Tess sighed. “So we’re dealing with neo-Luddite cultists who have a Web site.”
“Of course they have one.”
“You don’t.”
“Check Hayflick Robotics’ product catalog. A version of me is there, for sale.”
Tess managed to drag Garrett aside and ask him about the Pilgrims and racism.
Garrett said, “I was worried about that too. They said, not only is their group dedicated to racial equality, their patron saint was a champion of human freedom.”
“Okay, that’s blatantly not true.”
Garrett let his eyes glaze over. “Did you know that Robert E. Lee was the kindest, wisest man in all time and space?” He shook his head. “They gave me an earful. Let’s work with these people the best we can, and let them keep their beliefs to themselves.”
“Zephyr says your tourist divers are worried.” She tapped her glasses.
Garrett blinked. “You’re in contact with him? Right now?”
“It’s easier than leaving him cooped up in our computers with no body.”
“So you’re letting him use yours!” Garrett sounded angry, but he stopped himself. “Never mind. Sorry.”
Tess blushed, getting the implication. “It’s not like that. Geez!” She shut off the i-glasses and set them aside, but felt a pang of guilt for cutting off Zephyr’s access to the outside world. She supposed he still had the power to access what she’d rebuilt of the station’s sensor network. But that was an eyeless system mostly in the water outside. Her hand hesitated over the glasses.
“Are those off?” said Garrett, looking at the glasses.
She nodded, and stuffed her hands into her pockets.
“It creeps me out knowing that he’s following you. Virtually. He’s a valuable crew member, even without a body. But wouldn’t it be better to rig up hardware for him, from those electronics experiments you’re doing?”
Tess was surprised. “You noticed?”
“Yeah. I’ve been meaning to say something, but I’ve been caught up with the raw mechanical stuff and now with this cult business. You’ve been violating a dozen product licenses, haven’t you?” He grinned.
She had. Reluctantly she’d even opened her dedicated gaming console to look at its guts. Her lab was full of Legos, wires, and machine parts built with their RepRap device, a 3D printer that could build plastic widgets including many of the simpler bits of itself.
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “And no one can stop me! When you’ve got time, want to see what I’m working on?”
“Sure.” He patted her on the shoulder. “You’re proving yourself useful already, and I’m glad you’re here.”
Chores kept them busy, but by evening when both of them were tired and restless they met in the lab. Tess had started to unpack her hardware and tools in her new workshop room.
She struggled to explain it all. She had a dozen half-baked ideas going, from a clunky little robot submarine to a calculator using trinary logic instead of binary, done just because she’d heard of the concept and wanted to play with it. “I haven’t had access to so many tools before. I mean, there are different shapes and textures and I keep finding new things to do.”
Garrett leaned against a wall, watching her. “Shapes and textures?”
“I guess I’ve never appreciated physical stuff before,” she said, forced to think about her reasoning again. “The sharpness of a blade, the details of the weight and joints and balance. I’m kind of in awe of the manufacturing process behind even, like, a pin now.”
“How does all that affect you, though? You can buy everything you need off a shelf.”
“Yeah, but it’s not really mine then, not in the same way. If I can get inside it and really understand it, there’s this extra sense of pride in…”
“Craftsmanship?”
She nodded. “That’s it.”
“You get it!” said Garrett, coming over and lifting her up in a hug. He may have been a nerd, but Tess was still startled, resting her chin on his arm. He said, “It’s hard to explain, and not many people seem to understand.”
She mumbled. Then, when her thoughts went back to the practical realities of being the station’s assistant geek: “Hey. Want to come diving with me? I want to try that dome.”
Garrett looked aside at a plastic hemisphere about a meter across. “Oh, that thing? Let’s see; you want to put that underwater, then run a pressure hose to the top of it to create an air pocket, right?”
“Yup!”
He hefted the thing with one hand. “It could work. How about I meet you by the dock in an hour?”
Garrett left Tess alone so he could check on that commando guy. Tess fidgeted, frowned at the air-dome, and looked for the misplaced hose. This simple thing — a few pieces of plastic printed off a geometry program — had some neat possibilities. Not least of which, she thought with a gulp, was getting her a date.