A week later, the subdivision was built. Allowing the ‘Founding’ team to move into their town. They still didn’t have electricity, water, or town provided waste disposal. But they did have well-water, a small generator that kept them warm at night, and the mobile toilets the soldiers provided. Each of the homes were modular things. Boxes that were little more than one-room apartments with a small bathroom, standing COLD shower, a double bed, and a small sitting room with a tiny office area that could fit approximately one person. If you squeezed in tight.

Greg had plans for a minimum of three pre-built boxes per home. More, if the people in the home needed it for kids, or projects. But for now, the one room boxes met their needs. On the other hand, the paved road that led to the outpost was a massive improvement over the hilly and bumpy ride they had dealt with for the last week and a half.

The reason Greg had to shift away from houses was because the civilian transport containing the population of the town had been delayed. What was proving more pressing was the educational buildings. In particular, the magic school. There had been two incidents where people had selected magical abilities, or been granted them by the system and accidentally wreaked havoc on the fort in one form or another. Green vines that looked suspiciously like Kudzu to Isaka’s eyes still engulfed the outside of an entire segment of the wall in the distance. Men and women with flamethrowers were trying desperately to destroy the destructive, invasive species before it grew out of control. Isaka could see the flame spouts from their weapons and gear from her back ‘porch’ - the small cement slab at the back of her box home, every night as she read reports and approved plans over the last few nights.

The nice thing was, at least in Isaka’s estimation, that the first floor of the magic school was already finished. The builders put the finishing touches on it a few hours before sunset. Now she stood with Greg admiring his team’s work.

“You’re sure you can build the second story while Jessica and the others start classes tomorrow?” Greg nodded, smoking a cigar as thick as a rattlesnake. “It’s not going to be too loud for them to teach with you working?” Greg shook his head this time and grunted. “Or too dangerous?”

“No damn it, I already told you. The upper two levels are going to be mainly prefab stuff we put in place after building off site.”

“And by off site you mean over there?” Isaka pointed to where Greg had placed the rest of the heavy construction equipment. It was just behind the school in an empty rocky lot.

“Uh. . .”

“Do you have any idea how loud your equipment is? What do you think that’s going to do to Jessica and the other teachers’ ability to keep their kids and adult students focused?” She stood there and stared at Greg, who didn’t have a response. After a painfully long few seconds, he just grunted and shrugged as if saying, ‘I don’t know, not my problem’.

“You really need to think before you just do stuff. . . Oh, my lord, I sound like my mother.” Greg barked a harsh laugh and Isaka knew her face must have been bright red. Despite her complexion. She wanted to crawl down a hole and die.

“Don’t worry darlin, I get what you’re sayin. We’ll put some barriers up to keep the noise down.”

“Thank you,” Isaka’s voice was muffled, her burning face still very much in her hands. Greg laughed and patted her on the back before walking off to put up the barriers. The sun was about to set, and Greg still had some work to do to clean up the main floor.

Isaka found herself alone, staring at the first of the three story tall magic school. Her embarrassment ebbed as she examined the building. It was actually a slightly higher quality than she had imagined. When the town was finished, she would have to give Greg as his people some kind of award. “Or maybe it’s my Community Investor trait kicking in?” She asked the darkness. Nothing responded, of course it didn’t. But she liked to think that perhaps the trait that had caused the government to put her in charge might actually make a difference. They were ahead of schedule, if only by a day or two.

She sighed and started walking back to the small subdivision a couple of empty blocks away. They didn’t have individual vehicles, or community transport, so Greg had kept the first housing section within walking distance of the campus where all the vehicles were being kept. As she walked, she could have sworn she heard someone talking faintly off to the side of the road.

Isaka stopped and looked around. When she did, the whispering stopped. “Hello?” She asked into the dark. It was a surreal feeling. Being in the middle of a totally different continent, and feeling like she might as well have been walking in the dark on a rural road near her home in the rocky mountains. “Is anyone there?”

After a long moment of silence, she laughed at herself and walked on. Just to reassure herself, she touched the pistol she kept on her at all times. Isaka had insisted her people each be issued one, in case of a wild animal attack at the very least. If the reports had been correct, this area was usually a hotbed of sectarian violence. The government guys had failed in their mission to clear and set up the fort before. They might have missed some of those assholes on their second whack at it. Isaka unlatched the holster, just in case, before fiddling with her wristwatch. The thing told time, sure, but they all wore them as a friend or foe indicator against the automated defense network that surrounded the area. The massive auto-guns were nowhere near where she was, but the outpost could track her movements using the things as long as she was within transmitting distance.

But electronic signals could be spoofed like on all those spie shows her father watched. Isaka also knew that there were usually pretty low-tech ways of getting around some of the high-tech stuff people came up with for security. “That Predator movie had a dude caked in mud fooling alien heat sensors. Right?” She asked no one. She continued on, the tension slowly fading from her. She heard the wrestling in the bushes some few dozen feet away, but saw no movement. Then a hard CLACK sound filled the air. It could have been a rock hitting something, or been caused by claws hitting stone. But it had conjured images of her father’s old kalashnikov that sounded almost identical.

Shrugging her shoulders to give whoever or whatever was out there the impression she either hadn’t heard the sound or attributed it to something unimportant, Isaka turned and started walking down the road. She even hummed a little. Once she was past the first house in the subdivision, Isaka hurried inside, wanting to get out of the naked night. She called the major a few seconds later, and he sent a security patrol out from the base.

An hour later they came back with nothing, no traces, no heat signatures, no ammo casings or footprints in the dirt. She thanked the major, who promised to talk to her more about it the next day, and then climbed into bed. She wrestled with sleep for nearly an hour before it finally took her.