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Marie’s Dorney was ready in a week. Gabriela delivered it and spent three days teaching a small group to operate and navigate. Al with the understanding it was going to be for public use dumbed down the controls or rather made the controls themselves much smarter. The new hover truck was an instant success. Some of the brighter kids could operate it safely with only a day of instruction. The maiden trip carried two hundred sacks of fresh living oysters packed in kelp, one ton of rock lobster, and two tons of finned reef fish that was sushi quality directly to Papeete.
Niue’s first call was to reserve a double-parking space with the local food court company. He had arranged in advance for the restaurants to come to the local farmers market to bid. He told them it was all fresh and was coming by seaplane but to meet him by the food trucks at the harbor. They would serve charbroil oysters New Orleans style, grill fish, and lobsters for the tourists until out of stock or the local Health Dept shut them down. But they had an ace in the hole against the bureaucrats since their atoll had been declared native Polynesian with special rights. They would dress in traditional grass skirts, flower leis, and bare breasts. Marie knew this would cause an outcry with the locals, but her people have their rights. She was going to press it to the hilt. This whole stunt was to draw attention to their product. The local restaurants would pay premiums on the following trips for her fish.
The whole village had worked since before dawn to prepare. Pulling lobster from tanks, fish from the traps, and icing them down. The oysters gathering and sacking was heavy labor, but the big men of the atoll made a game of who could lift and carry the most. The journey was only going to be a little over an hour, but details count in fresh seafood quality. Everyone was at the dock when Marie at the controls, lifted pulled the landing gear in, and headed East.
As they approached the capital, Marie spied a giant cruise ship entering the harbor mouth.
“What good luck. I’m going to get some early marketing in,” Marie declared. “Lina get one of the biggest lobsters you can easily grab. I want you to stand in the door of the cargo ramp and yell to the tourists, ‘Fresh grilled lobster at the food trucks’ loud as you can over and over just like those guys at the market selling papaya. Be sure and get a safety line around your waist. And shake your titties a little.” Lina had the finest breasts of the young women who came along to work, and she knew it. Lina thought, ‘Always good to advertise’.
Marie carefully began circling the ship with Lina visible at the cargo ramp holding up the lobster and yelling just as she had been instructed. The tourists jammed the rails. The absolute silence of the hover truck allowed Lina’s voice to carry clearly. The captain came out onto the bridge wing and started gesticulating angrily. Marie matched the ship speed perfectly and came alongside the bridge.
“Get away, your rotors are going to kill someone,” the captain shouted, angrier than ever.
“We don’t have any rotors. Can’t you see?” Lina shouted back. The Captain looked at their craft again and an astonished look came over his face. “We will send you some nice homemade Polynesian ceviche and grilled seafood when you dock. Sorry to worry you. We are not a danger to your ship. Bye, bye.” Marie veered away toward the food truck parking lot.
Niue had gotten a very good location for their size on the outside edge of the lot. A couple of other trucks had arrived, but few people were around to see them descend straight down into their spot. As soon as they landed a couple of Kia mini pickups rolled over.
Henri was the chef of a famous upscale restaurant on the slope above the city. He always prided himself on the best ingredients. Today he, after overcoming the initial shock of their hover truck, was overjoyed with what Marie brought.
“Some of those yellow tails are still moving,” he exclaimed.
“They were loaded last. About ninety minutes out of the water and straight onto ice. This will make superb sushi and ceviche.”
“I want all of them. Name your price,” he retorted with glee.
“You can have one third at fifteen per kilo. Buy some other things too. Our objective today is to gain a wide acceptance,” Marie replied.
Marie and Henri spent half an hour of spirited bargaining until both were satisfied.
“Thank you Henri, this will save much time with the rest of the merchants. Your price will be their price.”
While they had bargained, the others of the village had set up tables for work, started the charcoal, and generally prepared for a busy evening. The merchants had slowly been forming a line and listening to the bargaining. Lina had been marking down the prices on a chalk board as they finalized. As soon as they had some ready, Marie dispatched a large box of food for the cruise ship captain. A promise is a promise.
Two hours later the wholesale market people had left Marie with the amount she wanted to serve the local people and tourists. Her three big men had set up oil drum grills filled with seafood and shucking oysters was well underway. The ceviche was being marinated in plastic buckets. Her villagers were masters of the sharp knife.
Word had also gotten out to the local plague of self-important government officials. But Marie was prepared. She had all her paperwork in a nice binder attesting to her people’s status as native Polynesians. This had been forced on them seventy years ago and allowed the government to neglect them in many things especially schools and medical attendance. Now it was her weapon.
First to arrive was the Health Department. When he was shown their right to sell locally produced items including food, he refused to accept it. Being a hardheaded European new to the islands, he didn’t understand their rights since none of the other out-islanders could get to the capital in their outrigger sail boats to do this. He called the police. Marie called half a dozen of her boys from the nearby naval base. The Police and Navy showed up at the same time.
The Navy boys were standing between the two policemen and Marie’s crew. The older European policeman was taking the side of the Health Inspector. His partner, a Polynesian was too young and timid to speak up. The two Europeans tried to push through and ended up being shoved on their asses. They called for backup.
Six police cars arrived within minutes. This time the officers were mainly Polynesian and shouted down the first two idiots. The police reinforcements were their first customers and promised to help with crowd control. Crowds did become a bit of a problem since everyone loves a circus.
The cruise ship passengers had found them and formed a never-ending line. If her Navy boys hadn’t shown up to help shuck oysters and clean fish, Marie’s crew would have been overwhelmed. Ceviche was the biggest hit with the tourists. It was an item not well known in many parts of the world. Made from wiggling fish and coconut milk from her island it arguably was the best in the world. Marie was selling her black pearls for New York retail prices.
Gabriela had come by with the local navy base commander to show him the hover truck/boat. Marie treated them to some of the remaining lobster. Things were finally winding down. The other food truck vendors had stopped by to thank them and give a little of their own food. The circus created had brought them their best night in a year.
Everyone was exhausted and they still needed a place to sleep. The next morning a shipment of pearls had to go off to New York so they couldn’t simply fly home. Gabriela came through in the form of the base commander. They were allowed to park in a secure area, and he gave them all bunks in the barracks. Marie was very relieved. Besides getting her people something better than a beach, she was secure. The trip had been beyond successful and she had one hundred thousand dollars cash on hand.
By the next morning, social media from Tahiti was causing the internet to groan with traffic. Something remarkable had happened there and bare breasts were involved. Flying machines, grilled lobster, a confrontation between European police and Polynesian sailors. The tourists and Facebook had brought anti-grav technology to the world’s attention. Elton Mark was furious. That was supposed to be his big reveal. The hover cycle in Brazil was bad enough. He was pissed at the ASS crew but more at himself. After the debacle at the White House, he should have made more of an effort to make things right.
∞
Gabriela felt obliged to report to the local military commander. Easy enough since it was only a ten-minute walk from the food truck lot. She had a feeling Marie’s expedition was going to turn into a real circus after doing the cruise ship flyby. Better to get away from the publicity.
She presented herself to the main gate guard shack. Her name was well known apparently since she was immediately admitted to the commander’s office.
“Captain Queiroz very nice to meet you. What can I do for such a famous person? One of Oliver Eversole’s confidants and explorer of Mars. I am Captain Le Deaux.”
“My main purpose is a courtesy call to inform you of my presence since I am a serving member of the Brazilian military. Another is to advise you we delivered a strange craft to some of your civilians. Please don’t shoot at it. It can only go up one hundred meters so it cannot be considered an aircraft. NewOrigins will be building cars with this same technology later in the next year.” Gabriela explained.
“Yes, we saw you circling that cruise ship. The captain was very upset until he got his grilled lobster and ceviche. Smart, sending it right away before he could complain officially. Interesting craft. I would like to see it up close,” Le Deaux said.
“I expected you might. After you go off duty we can go see and get some dinner.”
“I am never off duty. Let’s go now.”
“Probably very crazy right now. Let’s get a few beers at the nearby trucks. When it calms down, we can go look,” Gabriela suggested.
“Great idea. I have to fill out a foreign contact form so might as well make it worthwhile.”
Gabriela and Captain Le Deaux sat in plastic chairs and the sweating liter of beer with their cups sat on the rickety metal table. They had a front row seat to watch the Police and Navy riot.
“Good thing I am not in uniform or I would be forced to intervene. This is better. Drink beer with a pretty girl and cheer for my team. It would have been most upsetting if my boys backed down. Look here come the reinforcements.”
“Good thing I am a fighter pilot and not infantry or I would have to get involved in a brawl.”
“Cheers,” the captain said, clinked glasses, downed the beer, and refilled them. Fifteen minutes later the Health Inspector slinked away.
Gabriela went through the hover truck with the French Navy Captain. After they had an excellent grilled seafood dinner, she got around to her true purpose of the visit.
“Captain Le Deaux, the exploration of space in a meaningful way is just starting. We think there are bad people out there and we will be building a way to defend Earth. This must be an effort of all the peoples of Earth, not just a few nations. We are recruiting for this new force and it will be structured like a Navy. The thing is we must have people loyal to Earth and not to France, Brazil, or America. If we let the existing governments send recruits it simply will not work. We are recruiting directly from the ranks and need mid-level officers and below. No Flag officer need apply. Personnel from all over the world will be mixed so we have no pre-formed units. English will be the only language. I know it hurts a bit to the French, but it is how it will be. We will have a global navy and hopefully, this will be an incentive for Earth unity to at least a minimal level. We are reaching out to officers such as yourself to pass the word.”
“I am flattered you would come to me with this. You realize I must report this up the chain of command? I will also pass along to the lower ranks as I agree completely with your project,” Le Deaux replied.
“We expect the top levels will hear about it. You cannot keep something of this magnitude a secret but if it is not rubbed in their faces publicly, we hope they will not impede us.”
“Good. I will bury the statement in my foreign contact report. No one reads those from an officer at my level anyway. Our asses are covered as the Americans say. Now, I will reach my pension age in less than six months. I am willing to start as an Ensign,” Le Deaux said with a laugh.
“We can do a little better than that. Your experience with long distant patrols matches very well the basic need we have for system defense. Not so different with the French looking out over the South Pacific. Huge area with low density,” Gabriela began, and they spent the rest of the evening talking of this new area of human military needs.
