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After lunch on the ship's last day in orbit I told the girls some great news. "Trissina, Rebe, Liri; I bought the broken transporter and they dropped it down here. I fixed it! I can send you up to the ship!"
Trissina asked in astonishment, "Really? We can go get help and be normal again?"
I smiled at her, "Really! They want to leave in three hours, so you should go pack your things."
She joyously told her daughters, "You heard him, go pack!"
As she stepped onto the transporter she blew me a kiss. I loved them all and knew I wouldn't see them again for at least two years. I'd miss them terribly.
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I took the next day off to mourn losing them and get my head in order. I washed down supper with the last of my whiskey, then played my guitar and sang sad songs until I drunkenly drifted off to sleep.
The next day, I started building the second mass driver. With two in operation, I'd be able to sell the thousands of tons of neodymium and uranium the bots had stockpiled, in addition to the rarer metals I usually sold. I had planned to use some silver as plumbing solder or wiring if I had them construct any new buildings, but just a single ton would be plenty for a small village. The price of cobalt was rising too, so it might even be profitable to process and sell the large hill of ore the bots had put aside.
Since iron, aluminum, copper, and tin were practically worthless financially; the minerbots had piled up enormous mounds of the ores. I could have some bots refine them and produce beams, pipes, and whatever else I needed later. I would need temporary housing for the fifty scientists who would arrive on the next ship. I was dreading it, but I'd honor the deal I had made.
I got a copy of the plans for a small college dormitory over Ansible. Once a bot had produced all the wiring, pipes, steel beams, and other components; I modified its tools so it could construct the building. There would be thirty-six dorm rooms for fifty scientists, with a rec room and small cafeteria in the basement. It wouldn't be luxurious but they'd survive.
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