Chapter 31
Thirty-One
It was not a formal meeting. Holly had made that clear in the messages she’d sent that morning.
This is not a “meeting.” Just tea and a conversation.
The lounge, ten o’clock. She had learned from the last two gatherings that calling something a “meeting” made people arrive with their opinions sharpened to a point.
This was an idea she was floating, courtesy of Rasker, and she needed it to land gently, on open minds.
She’d even arranged the tables differently, to make it definitely not look like a meeting.
Harry arrived first, because Harry knew the baked goods would still be warm if he showed up early.
He gladly accepted these in lieu of payment for the tea he had recently taken to brewing in a large pot and leaving on the counter as if the lounge were his personal teahouse.
He settled into a chair with an oversized cookie and a cup of his own mushroom tea blend.
The arrangement was more than fine with Holly.
The tea was popular with everyone except Tyer, and brewing it was one less thing she needed to do.
Everyone else filtered in, finding seats, and murmuring about this or that. Mish accepted a cup of Harry’s tea and sat beside Holly, tucking one leg beneath her on the chair. “Is everything okay?” She looked anxious.
“Yes.” Holly raised her brows. Something about Mish’s vibe was off. “Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah.” Mish’s gaze flicked around the room. “Just having a hard time getting ahold of Birler. My husband,” she explained. “He’s been… Well, I think the rig he’s on is having trouble with their transmission array.”
Holly wasn’t sure that Mish was sure that the trouble was with the transmission array, but she was sure that Mish didn’t want to talk about this. “I hope they get it fixed,” she said, and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’m here if you need to talk.”
Mish smiled weakly. “Thanks. I’m okay.”
No, she wasn’t, but Holly would not pry.
Her gaze moved to Alyce, who had just settled into the remaining seat with a cup of tea.
The older woman missed absolutely nothing and had definitely caught Mish’s distress.
If anyone knew what was going on, it was Alyce, but she responded to Holly’s gaze with only a gentle shake of her head.
Something about the gesture made Holly’s chest tighten.
Whatever was going on with Birler, it wasn’t ideal.
Alyce placed her cup on the table before her with an audible clink. “All right. What’s this about?”
Holly set down her own tea. “What do you think of Moone’s Landing holding a festival?”
Harry’s teacup paused halfway to his mouth. “Did I brew the wrong mix of mushrooms?” he asked. “Or did I actually hear you say ‘Moone’s Landing’ and ‘festival’ in the same sentence?”
“You did, but I’m thinking just a small one,” Holly added quickly. “More of a gathering, really. An open day. We want to bring visitors in and remind people that Moone’s Landing exists.”
Harry clapped his hands together and held them in front of his chest. “I love it.”
Alyce raised one brow in his direction. “We haven’t heard the details yet.”
“Whatever they are, I’m in.” He leaned toward Holly. “When are we doing this?”
Holly kept her hope in check. “Well, soon. I wanted to talk about why we’d try something like this, first. We are, to put it bluntly, broke.
The repairs we’ve done have used up everything Charles left in the station’s account, and guest traffic is still too low to sustain us. We need nits, and we need them soon.”
The room was quiet. They all knew the situation. Holly had been transparent about it since the beginning, and the silence that greeted her words was not surprise.
“Now, I know Moone’s Landing is currently in an out-of-the-way spot,” Holly continued.
“We’re not going to suddenly become a tourist destination, but we sit directly in the transit path between Psion-9 and the new Saga-1 station that’s being built.
Traffic through this corridor is going to increase.
If we can establish Moone’s Landing as a place worth stopping at, even once, word spreads. Travelers talk.”
“They certainly do,” Alyce said. “Especially when they have a bad experience.”
“Which is why we need to make a new first impression,” Holly said. “This would be a trial run. Low stakes. Few guests, probably. But it gives us a base event to build on. If it works, we do it again. If it doesn’t, we learn from it and try something else.”
Harry set his teacup down with the deliberation of a man who had been waiting for this moment his entire life. “Holly. I have been saying for years that this outpost needs an event. Years. Ask anyone.” He swept an arm toward the others. “Ask Sam.”
Sam looked at Harry. “You have not said that to me.”
“You said it to me,” Alyce murmured. “Multiple times.”
“I knew it was one of you,” Harry said with a wave of his hand.
“I have buyers, distributors, and a very dedicated following on my channel, Frolicking with Fungi, who would be interested in an invitation to visit in person. I’m talking about people who have been watching my cultivation and usage series for years and have never set foot on the outpost. Some of them would come. I am certain of it.”
Holly blinked. “You have a following?”
“Nine thousand subscribers,” Harry said, with tremendous dignity. “And growing.”
“Nine thousand people watch you talk about fungus?” Alyce asked, her brow furrowed in genuine bewilderment. “How did I not know about this?”
“Nine thousand and fourteen, as of this morning. And it’s not just talk, Alyce. It’s education. It’s passion. It’s art.” He sniffed. “And for the record, I did tell you about it. You were not interested.”
“I’m sorry, Harry,” Alyce said with an amused smile. “I should have paid closer attention.”
Harry patted her knee. “No offense taken, my dear. So much has weighed on your shoulders, but no longer. We have Holly.” He turned back to the woman in question with a bright twinkle in his eye.
“I may also mention there’s a buyer of culinary-grade fungi on Centura-Vox that I’ve been corresponding with for months.
He’s purchased some of my savory varieties and has been hinting about seeing the operation firsthand.
” His brows wiggled. “A festival would be the perfect excuse to get him here. I think there might be a little more there than a strictly professional interest, if you know what I’m saying. ”
Sam shook his head. “You’re flirting with one of your buyers?”
“We have veered off topic.” Harry raised his teacup. “The point is, I can bring people. Real people, with real nits, and real interest.”
“That’s actually very helpful, Harry.” Mish had been quiet, her expression thoughtful.
“I think it could work. The garden is recovering. There’s enough growing now that it’s worth showing.
For people who spend weeks or months in space, a garden tour could draw them in.
” She tilted her head. “The forest, too. There’s a walking path through the older growth that’s very beautiful, and it wouldn’t take much to widen and clean it up, maybe with markers so no one gets lost. A guided nature walk. ”
“That’s a lovely idea,” Alyce said, warming visibly. “Ship-bound travelers would pay for that. Even just to walk among trees for an hour.”
“Exactly,” Mish said. “Nature therapy. It’s simple, it costs us nothing to offer, and it’s a feature no other station in this corridor can provide in quite the same way.”
Holly felt a spark of excitement. She’d hoped for this kind of response but hadn’t counted on it. “The forest is one of our best assets. And the gardens. Both are things you can’t get from a prefabricated station.”
“Speaking of which,” Alyce said, shifting to a more practical tone. She crossed one ankle over the other and regarded Holly with a measuring eye. “Where are you thinking of holding this? And how soon?”
“Two weeks,” Holly said. “And I’m thinking the main square.”
“Two weeks.” Alyce’s brows rose. “That’s not much time.”
“I know. But the square is ready now. It’s clean, the rain system works, the lamps are functioning.
The field is beautiful, but it would need more preparation than we have time for.
The square gives us a central location with the storefronts around it.
Harry’s shop. The Emporium. The hotel. It’s already a natural gathering point. ”
Alyce nodded slowly. “All right. The square could work. But I have concerns about logistics. How are we getting people from the landing pads to the square? It’s a short distance on foot, but the gardens and forest?
A little more difficult, especially for species who don’t walk well, or who have been in space for so long without gravity they’re too weak for such a hike. ”
“The zigs,” Holly said.
Alyce looked skeptical. “We have two working zigs.”
Holly glanced at Sam. “Sam, are there any more we could get up and running?”
Sam took a slow drink of water, set the glass down, and considered the question. “There are two more in the maintenance bay,” he said. “Parts are there. Could get them functional if I pushed my repair bots and put in a few extra hours.”
“In two weeks?” Alyce pressed.
“Functional,” Sam repeated, with emphasis. “Not pretty.”
“Pretty isn’t the priority,” Holly said.
“Good,” Sam said. “Because they won’t be.”
Alyce was not finished. “What about food? We can’t exactly roll out a buffet. The NuProd units produce rations, and I doubt ‘festival-quality dining’ is in their vocabulary. And we’ll have species with different dietary needs. Who knows what might turn up. We can’t serve everyone the same thing.”
Holly had anticipated this, and it was the one area where she didn’t have a clean answer. “I can do some baking and cooking.”