Chapter 53 Rice paddies
They reached the field were the green vegetables had been planted.
"This is where we have planted some vegetables like cabbages, onions, tomatoes, peppers and something called cucumber." Rodney introduced the specifics of the field to the guests. "Over there we planted carrots, spinach and purslane and in the other field we have beans."
Oak and Bell nodded.? Bell even squatted down and observed the ground.
"I can see little green leaves sprouting in four of the fields. Some are taller than others." Bell said.
"Yes," Rodney nodded. "According to the knowledge from the book the governor gave me it takes a month for most of these vegetables to grow. But there are special breeds and varieties mixed in which grow faster than others. It's possible that in one or two weeks we might have some fully matured vegetables."
Scarlet had personally added that information to the notes she gave Rodney on farming. She called them notes from her teacher's observation on plant cycles. It was her way of preventing them from being shocked when plants that she grew with crystal water matured quickly or had special qualities.? She could simply claim that it was an unknown breed.
"Is it possible for me to take a look at those notes?" Bell asked Rodney.
He and Oak were looking at Rodney with greedy eyes. To them, this was the holy grail of knowledge.
"I have to ask the governor." Rodney answered.
"It's not a problem." Scarlet waved the request away as something so simple. "The more knowledgeable people are about farming the better for us. Truth be told, right now we are understaffed in every way. The team which is recording changes in the plants is barely holding on because it also records what the gatherers have returned and their observations.
They also have to record to the qualities of every newly discovered plant. It's a lot of work for the team of five people. I will be happy if you can help them."
"Why don't you hire workers?" Cedric asked from the back. "The other stars are full of people looking for meaningful employment."
He spoke as if it was the easiest problem in the world to solve.
"I cannot afford it." Scarlet answered. "I am spending half of the little money I have paying my own citizens.? she answered.? "I also have to spend money hiring skilled fighters from guilds that are willing to come and protect the Blue star. Yesterday one of the gatherers was almost killed by some kind of snake beast. My people have no fighting skills or high levels of mental strength to defend themselves. Two of the gatherers quit and joined the construction team. If I can provide better security for them they will be more confident otherwise more of them are going to quit out of fear and I will have to go foraging in the Blue forest on my own once again." she sighed.
They had no idea how much pressure she was under to balance life in two worlds.
"Do you have any idea how many unemployed former soldiers are living in the empire? Folsom asked her.
"No." she answered. It had not crossed her mind.
"Everyone sees being a mecha warrior as the fanciest job in the empire. It pays well and it comes with fame for the strongest warriors. Few people think about what happens to the mecha warriors that are injured in battles. You do not see physical injuries because bodies are repaired in med beds and limbs are regrown but the mind cannot be healed by med beds.
Once your mental strength is affected and you regress, you are done. There is no cure for it, all that's left is an empty space in your mind where your strength was and one day you wake and it's filled with the darkness."? Folsom was very grim as he told her this. "There are over thirty million soldiers living like that in the empire. No one will hire them because of the stigma associated with the darkness. Suicide rates have been increasing over the years among the mecha warriors. It's being kept quiet but slowly by slowly, people are beginning to notice."
Folsom's words were like buckets of ice cold water being splashed on some of the people in this group especially Scarlet and Rodney who barely knew anything about mecha warriors.
"That's....." Scarlet started to say but she stopped and just shook her head.
"Why doesn't the empire create special...." Again she said something and she just stopped and shook her head.
It sounded to her like most of these warriors suddenly lost their purpose and became depressed. Many people took their lives in the zombie apocalypse out of paranoia, depression and fear alone. Perhaps in this world depression was a literal void of darkness that could be felt or seen because of the telepathic abilities that came along with mental strength. It was like having an arm and one day it was ripped off and every time you looked at yourself, you would see the missing arm.
The empire in her opinion should place more emphasis on mental health among the mecha warriors. A little therapy could go a long way in saving lives. Top it off with jobs, entertainment and food. Maybe this would give those soldiers a new sense of purpose and fulfillment.
"Are you willing to employ them?" Folsom asked her.
"Well, as long as they are not a danger to the normal citizens then I don't see a reason not to employ them. But I can only take on about one thousand for now because that's all I can pay." she told him.? Maybe she could find something in the underworld realm to help them recover. Severus did say that deities hated suicides.
They had arrived at the fields which were going to become rice paddies in a few hours.
"Mummy, I am here singing the rice sowing song." she heard her Justin's cheerful little voice. She saw him and his little friends jumping around in the muddy puddles. She wondered how they got here.
"You are planting those little white grains." Oak said in a questioning voice.
"Yes," she nodded. "But teacher told me that rice is best grown in water logged areas. What we have done is construct canals that lead water from the river here to turn the fields into paddies. I think if this is done right, we could have rice in three months."
Oak and Bell nodded.
"The children look like they are having fun jumping around in the water and mud."? Bell noted.
He was looking at them with envy in his eyes. It made Scarlet wonder if anyone in the interstellar allowed themselves to have a little fun. All of their entertainment activities aside from music and movies were related to fighting.
Scarlet bent down and folded her jeans up. Then she jumped into the muddy puddle like a kid. She turned around and her eyes met Esong's curious gaze. She had not seen him join the group. She was too happy to care about his arrival, she too had not jumped around in rice paddy in a very long time.
"Don't you want to join us?" she asked the men.