A Visitor to the Future - 78 - Construction Begins... and Ends

A calm sense of contentment was the prevailing emotion in the park as everyone began to get up to leave, the small chaperone drones seeing everyone off in various directions. I yawned, shaking my head to clear the sensation of tiredness a little. Between navigating the crowds, literally flying, and the unique experience of drone opera, I was feeling drained.

"We never did find you that crethica," said Antonia, "But I think that's okay, you'd probably be wired if you had some now. My place is closer than Anchor - want to stop over?"

"That depends, did you manage to find the plant that was making me sneeze?" I said half-jokingly.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. Yes! I think you're mildly allergic to certain flowers in the geraniaceae family. You might want to talk to a Bio-dev about that. Allergy removal is a fairly simple process. Or you could get pollen-filtering done, like me and Sarkona."

"I was wondering, actually - how long have you and Sarkona known each other? You seem quite close."

Her nose crinkled up and she counted on her fingers - "I think about eight years. I met them when we were both attending a lecture on micro-scale Bio-dev techniques. Sarkona knew the subject matter very well, helped me to understand it. They're one of my closest friends."

"Come to think of it, I don't actually know how old you are," I said, "Is it rude to ask?"

"If you asked my grand-mère she might say it is rude to ask a lady her age, but not me! I'm twenty-seven this year."

"There's quite an age difference between you and Sarkona then!"

Antonia looked puzzled, "Is there? It's only eighty years."

My mouth opened as I floundered for a response. Considering that I'd met people that were over four-hundred years old, the people of the Consortium probably thought about age differently. And considering that everyone seemed to have more free time to enjoy the events of today, perhaps the generational gap was less severe.

"Is age ever a factor that you'd consider in your friendships?" I finally asked.

Antonia huffed, "Technically speaking you're the oldest friend I have, even if you weren't awake for most of it! Age is irrelevant - as long as I enjoy someone's company, that's all that counts to me."

There was a short wait at the edge of the park while some of the crowd began to depart via drone-craft. The identical vessels flew in, one after the other, taking off just as quickly as they landed.

"I'm sort of sad the festival is over," said Antonia, "But there's always next year. What did you think of your first festival experience?"

"I've smiled so much today that my face is sore," I said, "So I think I enjoyed it. How was this one compared to last one you went to?"

"Far less busy for me! I used to storm around trying to see absolutely everything before the day ran out. I'm actually really glad we did things at a slower pace." She tapped her cheek thoughtfully, "Maybe my time on Mars has changed my perspective since my last festival. I definitely learned a lot there."

"Any martian insights for me in particular?" I asked.

"Hmm. Design your homes spaciously, be patient, and get some tattoos!" she said, tapping her sleeve, under which her own floral designs were. "I also learned a lot about low-gravity plant designs, but I'm not sure how much that helps you."

Our turn in the queue came up at that, and we boarded the waiting drone-craft, quickly sitting down to allow it to lift off. Antonia directed the craft to head south, towards her home, and we settled in for the ride.

"I had a great time," I said, "Thank you for 'dragging me' to the festival."

She grinned. "Thank you for coming with me! Now, we'll have to decide which festival we want to attend next!"

_

In the days that followed, I finally reached a decision about where to build my house. I realized that the location really didn't matter much at all - the only thing that I currently needed was to be around my friends.

Though, of course, a nice climate was an added boon.

With that in mind, I found a small hillside in what had been southern Spain in my time. There was a nearby, fairly traditional village in walking distance which had an air of familiarity to it, in addition to a few nature reserves. Antonia's house was less than half an hour away by drone-craft, and Anchor and Baobab a similar trip in different directions. Tungsten had chosen to settle in London for the time being, which just left Sarkona, who it turned out was also now looking for somewhere outside of Anchor to live. It only seemed natural to ask if they wanted to be housemates - and given there were three rally courses and numerous Bio-dev workshops nearby, Sarkona was easily convinced.

The house, then, became a collaborative effort. I opted to use some of the modular designs that were popular in the region, creating a small, single storey, white abode with a kitchen-dining area, study, a library, and two large bedrooms. Sarkona shook their head and immediately added two guest bedrooms, claiming I'd regret not having them otherwise. Then they added a workshop, swimming pool and sauna.

In the end, the house was a four-bedroomed Mediterranean design, with two storeys and an angled roof. Balcony-like walkways connected the various rooms, meaning the outdoors was only ever a single door away. Sarkona's workshop was off, away from the main building, and had a retractable roof to allow easy drone access. The swimming pool we built into the side of the hill to ensure it was shady during the hottest part of the day.
My study was on the second floor, with a window facing out over the area's grasslands, the village visible in the distance.

The design was spacious, modern, and homely. I could have worked 24-7 in my own time and not been able to afford it. Building it would have been difficult and costly too.

The Consortium built it in six hours.

Dedicated drones rotated in and out of the site in teams. Survey drones checked the landmass for any wildlife to remove, and went about their business. Excavation drones levelled the site with a combination of scoops and explosives for the more difficult-to-remove rocks. A pile-driving device was dropped off and moved around on six legs, driving metal rods into the ground for foundations. Then, around those rods three flying fabricators, each themselves the size of a large van, began to work on the rest of the house, their rapidly moving multiple arms reminding me of the fabricator on the Peeping Tom.

The walls, the rooms - even the roof - were printed by the fabricators using materials provided from tanks. The Consortium could even decorate a room before it had finished the roof. Watching the process unfold in front of me, it was a lot like watching a room fill with water - but instead of water, it was house. I looked away from the kitchen for two minutes, and when I looked back there were cabinets, a stove, and our own vat for growing whatever we wanted locally. Sarkona pointed out a cleaning drone which the fabricator was constructing delicately in one corner. Blink and you'd miss it.

The only parts of the house which were flown over in the way I'd sort of been expecting were the custom-made items which we'd chosen. I'd picked out a large mahogany desk for writing on, made by a local carpenter. The Consortium deposited it in my study before it put the roof on.

If you blinked, you'd miss the fact that there was now a completed house in front of us. Sarkona jumped onto the L-shaped sofa in living room and folded their arms behind their head. I just stood there, stunned by the pace of what had been done today.

Which was when Sarkona told me that apparently there was one significant thing I'd failed to consider. Within the Consortium it was practically mandatory to have a housewarming party for any new place that you built.

And invite everyone you knew.

Everyone!


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