Astrad Ukinix - Early Riser
Danny Lee
((Flashback - Terra Tanunda Vineyard, Barossa Valley, Australia, Earth – Sometime in January, 2396))
Wil and Anacem walked out of the shed, with Flower following behind. When the two younger Ukinix males had left, Astrad turned to Hayley.
Astrad: Well that went well.
Hayley: But what if they find about – you know, the other thing.
Astrad let out a large sigh.
Astrad: Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. *If* we come to it.
((End Flashback))
((Flashback - Tanunda, Australia, Earth – Stardate 234201.27))
42.7 degrees Celsius was the forecast for the day. Astrad was learning to get up just before dawn in the mornings on those hot summer days when he had work to do in the vineyard. The dry climate meant that the sun was searing in the middle of the day and didn’t give up its harshness until not long before sunset. It was a different kind of heat to what he had been accustomed to on Betazed.
When they had acquired the vineyard several months earlier, it was a mess. The vines, indigenous to Earth, were not growing many grapes. There were weeds everywhere – and to his horror, Earth’s second most venomous land snakes underwhelmingly called “brown snakes”. The vineyard had been neglected by the previous occupants, who were the ninth generation to have had the vineyard in their family, before they passed away with no-one to hand it down to. Astrad found that sad – although he wasn’t one that could “throw stones” (a strange Terran saying) given his own family’s history.
The property also included a large shed which had been built in the late 21st century and had stood the test of time. What was inside was even more surprising. Vehicles and tools, untouched for centuries that had been gathering spiderwebs, dust and in some cases rust. They’d even found something called a “ride on mower”, for manually cutting grassed areas. Not that there was much grass left around the 300+ year-old run-down cottage that was part of the property. Thankfully, they had completed most of the renovations they had planned, and the cottage was much more liveable and modern on the inside.
For months they had cleaned up the vineyard (with the help from locals as well as some long-term tourists visiting Earth), and Hayley as a viticulturist had worked tirelessly to get the vineyard back on track. It could take 10 years, but she resolved that they would have large volumes of quality Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Semillon grapes growing on the property again, to provide to wineries in the Southern Australian region that wanted to make blended table wine varieties. Eventually, one day, they might set up their own winery and make their own premium wines.
The environmental and military atrocities of Earth’s past still had a hangover effect on he and his wife Hayley’s 75-hectare patch in the driest region on the driest continent on Earth. Technology had advanced enough to address some of those problems, but some of them required nature’s help.
The technology that Astrad carried in a box under his arm would “help” nature. 10 years was just too long. He loved her dearly, and she was all she had now – she deserved better.
He listened to the sound of the morning birds as his feet crunched under him on the dirt. In the large gum tree in the distance, he could see a pair of black and white birds named “magpies” that were chortling a pleasant song, indicating their happiness (which was a change from several months earlier when one of them had swooped him to protect their young, before warning him after the fact with a screeching cackle). Reaching the end of the first row of vines, he bent down and dug a hole in the dirt with the ancient trowel he had found in the shed. He opened the box and took out one of the small dull blue cylindrical devices, holding it up in front of his eyes between his thumb and forefinger. He squeezed the top and bottom of the device firmly, until it gave a small whir as it started to glow bright green. He placed the cylindrical device into the ground, and then put the dry dirt that he had dug before back over the top of it.
He had been doing that discreetly for almost two weeks earlier. But this day he was at risk. These vines were the closest to the house, and there was a chance that Hayley may get up early and find that he hadn’t been going for “morning walks” after all. In her pregnant state, she was taking to sleeping in after having restless nights. It had given him the opportunity to execute his secret plan perfectly.
The Tanunda locals had told him that the water tables in their property’s immediate area were “buggered” (which he found an interesting term to use), and that the soil quality on their particular vineyard was never good. The rural community in the surrounding region knew a lot about their vineyard, which had disturbed him at first. They were a close-knit community and had offered to help them get their vineyard back on track. He always felt guilty about Hayley saying yes, but he could sense that they had genuinely wanted to help, and Hayley had also told him that her viticulture degree could not gather knowledge about the specifics of the area anywhere near faster than a local could.
So he also had to execute his plan carefully, without Hayley or anyone else knowing.
His sister Vaxa was the matriarch in waiting for the Ninth House of Agriculture. Itum Ral, an employee of the Ninth House, was the chief agricultural scientist. Astrad had found out about Vaxa’s affair with Itum. In the process, he had also stumbled across the secret ground-breaking work Itum was working on. A way to create a “grid” in a sandy desert ground to attract nutrients and create an underground containment field to turn the sand into soil within a few years. It would improve the chances colonies had on those types of planets to become self-sufficient. The small cylindrical blue devices worked together, to create the containment field. The devices would then decompose after three or four years.
The problem was, they were too effective. Sand became slush after a year or so. More work had to be done, but there was conjecture that the devices may work in harder, clay like soils. The Ninth House was always changing their priorities, so Itum was ordered to put the project on hold. Just before Astrad was stripped of his title and left Betazed forever, he had stolen the only prototypes in existence. A box containing approximately 2000 of the devices.
He wondered if anyone from the Ninth House would ever find out. In a way, he hoped they did. As he walked five metres forward from the last hole, the thought of someone getting upset with a former noble who had left Betazed forever made him chuckle a little. He crouched down, dug another hole with his trowel, and dropped the device in. He then jumped a little when he heard his wife’s voice.
Hayley: What’s so funny, Astrad? (Looking at hole in ground) What is that blue thing?
((End Flashback))
Astrad Ukinix
Manager
Terra Tanunda Vineyard
V239511WU0