The Commander’s office was quiet and peaceful. Charlie Sky polished small fingerprints off the frame of the large globe of Earth. He turned the globe until he could see the continent of North America and ran a finger down the eastern seaboard. Seeing the coastline in his mind’s eye he moved south of Carolina’s Cape Hatteras, past the lowlands of South Carolina and the barrier islands on the Georgia coast. He could almost taste the seafood from Brunswick’s docks and see the vast areas of sawgrass punctuated with Cypress domes that stretched along the swampy coast to the St. Johns River.
Although there were no markings on the globe he knew the way. His finger moved inland, following the river upstream to the lush lazy tributary, the Oklawaha. There in the high inland of Florida was the forest of his ancestors. He closed his eyes and could smell the pine trees after a summer thunderstorm, the air heavy with the scent of gardenias and jasmine and pine leaves. Ahead was the tiny cabin where his wife and three children lived. A wood swing hung on the front porch and there were the two tall magnolias he had planted as seedlings when he first brought Merrylee to the cabin as his bride.
The dream was broken as the door to the office opened and the three small Koenig children bounced in with their father behind them.
“Charlie!” “Hello Mr. Chrarlie!” The children greeted him with delight.
He knelt to greet them. Alex bounced up the steps to him and threw his arms around the old man.
“Hello Charlie,” Commander Koenig said as the older man bent to hug the boy. “Hope we’re not disturbing you.”
“No, no. I was just finishing up.”
“What were you doing?” four year old Emma asked.
“Wiping the fingerprints off of your Daddy’s globe. Guess whose they were.”
“Ours?” Alex asked.
“Right the first time,” Charlie answered with a laugh.
Emma tugged at his sleeve. “Mama fixed my hair just like yours,” she said, turning around to show the dark plait of hair down her back.
“So she did. You look just like an Indian maiden.” Charlie said, sitting on the step and letting little Richie climb into his lap.
Commander Koenig moved to his desk and unlocked a drawer. He must have come to pick something up.
“So why are you three out hopping around like a bunch of rabbits?”
“What’s a rabbit?” Alex asked eagerly. “Is it an animal?”
“That it is, Mr. Alex. It has long ears and a bushy little tail and hops all around very fast.”
“Like this?” Alex asked. He leaped up and began to hop. Richie wriggled off Charlie’s lap and followed his brother.
“That’s it!” Charlie said with a laugh. “Oh, Emma,” Charlie turned to the little girl beside him. “I’ve got something for you.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small spring.
Emma’s eyes lit up and she smiled with delight. “I can have it?” she asked. She cut her eyes at her father.
The commander looked up and smiled at his daughter.
Charlie held up the spring to show him. “It’s already been replaced. I checked, Commander.” Emma had been known to take things apart and find other uses for the components. She had been warned to ask first before claiming the bits and pieces she liked to play with.
Koenig nodded. “What do you say, Emma?”
“Thank you Mr. Charlie,” Emma gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, deposited the spring in the pocket of her shorts and dashed off to join her brothers who were still hopping around the room and hiding behind furniture.
Charlie stood and walked over to the desk. “Doing some late working, Commander?”
“Just had something that needed finishing before morning. Can’t do much with those three around, but Helena needed a bit of peace and quiet this evening so I took them off her hands.”
Charlie nodded.
Alex leaped from behind the sofa and growled at his brother and sister who screamed and turned to hop the other way.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something,” Charlie said, smiling at the children’s antics.
“Oh?”
“I’ve had this idea. I know we’re growing all sorts of things on Loki,” Charlie began hesitantly. “I was wondering about trees.”
“Trees?”
“I grew up in a National Forest, Commander. My parents ran a tree nursery for the forestry service. There a re a lot of things that can be easiest made from wood products.”
“Trees take a long time to grow Charlie. More time than we have at a stretch on Loki.”
“Like I said, my parents ran a tree nursery. They raised them from seedlings to tiny sets. All that was usually done in a green house under optimum conditions. We could do that here on Alpha, then set the seedlings in pots until conditions are right down on Loki. Find the right place with the right weather and the right soil and in just a few years you’d have a fine forest to harvest,” The old man’s eyes glowed with pleasure.
“Do we have the seeds to start this forest of yours?”
“We have some seeds. And we would need to grow several trees up here, trimming them judiciously, that would provide us with more seeds. Actually, I have a couple of mature pines in my own quarters—gifts from my brother when I took the job up here. I’ve kept them trimmed, but made sure they bloomed. Kept the seeds in case an opportunity like this might come along.”
The commander frowned in thought, then turned and gave Charlie a lopsided grin. “Okay Charlie. Let me know what kind of space you need, how many trees you can grow, and get with Tony Verdeschi and Alan Carter to find a suitable place on the planet when you’re ready.
Charlie felt as if he would burst with happiness. “That I’ll do, Commander. Right away.”
Koenig nodded and Richie ran across the room. His father intercepted him and swung the giggling child over his head. Charlie remembered doing the same thing when his own son was small. They had taken long walks in the woods whenever Charlie was home. Maybe someday Alpha’s children would be able to play among a forest of trees as well.