Chapter 33: Meeting the Idol

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Meeting the Idol

The next morning, Benjamin and Isabella were up before the sun had begun to rise. While Isabella cooked breakfast, Benjamin carried the cameras out to the field. This smart camera set comprised four fixed cameras, two aerial cameras and two handheld cameras.

Benjamin normally didn’t use the whole set at all when filming. The most he used was one of each kind, as he was doing today.

First, Benjamin set a fixed camera up on a tall stand, aiming it toward the horizon, where the pale orange rim of the sun was beginning to show. Next he set another fixed camera facing the opposite way from the first at a low angle, shooting from the surface of the bed upward to the tips of the Sawtooth greens.

From this angle, when the sun came up, the scene of the vegetables being lit slowly by the sunlight would be captured whole.

Next, Benjamin started the aerial camera and sent it on a circuit around the planet, then fixed it above the vegetable field. Doing that could also catch the moment the sunlight spread gradually across the whole planet.

As for the handheld camera, once the sun was up Isabella would go out to the field to pull vegetables by hand to bring in and cook. Benjamin filmed the moment she passed in front of the lens and then zoomed in on her hands and the vegetable. This shot was extraordinarily striking, and viewers watching through a screen could even feel the soil flicking up off the vegetable as it came free and hitting them square in the face.

Pulling five plants in one go, Isabella shook off the soil and then snapped off the roots, and picked out the damaged leaves. The microphone, small as a shirt button and clipped to Isabella’s cuff, caught every last faint sound. The crack of the roots snapping was extremely pleasant on the ear.

Next she carried the vegetables to the outdoor sink, ran the water and washed every leaf one at a time. Benjamin followed Isabella’s every step with the camera, sometimes filming only her hands, sometimes her back, sometimes showing a part of her neck.

He didn’t film the kitchen anymore, because that kitchen had been rearranged to Liam’s liking and appeared regularly on Liam’s livestreams. Benjamin didn’t want to ride on his younger brother’s coattails, and didn’t want his own channel affecting his brother’s channel either.

Once Isabella had finished stir-frying the greens, Benjamin began filming her carrying the plate out of the kitchen door and setting it on the dining table. Once he had shot a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree close-up of the plate of stir-fried greens, Benjamin switched the camera off.

"Phew, that’s done. Now let’s go and harvest."

This time, of course, they harvested by machine.

Isabella suggested: "Brother, why don’t we fix the cameras inside the harvester and film the harvesting as well? Smart cameras can shrink down and adhere to surfaces, they’re made for filming inside machinery."

Benjamin thought that sounded rather good, so he brought out the entire smart camera set, and set them to film automatically. Then he shrank the cameras down, and attached them to each stage of the harvester.

Once he had made sure the adhesion was strong enough and the angles were as perfect as possible, the two of them set off on the harvest.

In this age of high technology, harvesting nearly five hectares of vegetables was as easy as drinking water.

The harvester was a single connected unit. It began by pulling the plants, then shaking off the soil, then cutting the root ends and washing them, and finally removing damaged leaves and stacking them neatly onto a conveyor. At the end of the conveyor was an automatic packing machine, where a robot shook the excess water off the leaves and then fed them into a weighing machine, and every twenty kilograms the system automatically stacked into a storage crate and sealed it.

Benjamin drove one machine, Isabella drove the other, and they moved from opposite ends toward each other. By the time Liam woke at seven in the morning, the two of them had already harvested two thirds.

The reference monitor sitting on the sofa was still playing back the footage from outside, so Liam simply carried his breakfast over and sat eating on the sofa, watching the video as he ate.

It had to be said, it looked rather appetizing.

Liam ate his breakfast at his leisure, occasionally working the reference monitor to adjust a few of the aerial angles along with the angles on the conveyor and at the packing station.

By late morning, nearly five hectares of Sawtooth greens had been harvested and packed. Benjamin removed the smart cameras from the harvester.

Looking at the figure displayed on the packing machine, Benjamin was pleased: "Well now, this harvest came to a hundred and thirty-seven tons, seven tons more than I estimated."

Liam narrowed his eyes: "Then that proves our planet isn’t barren at all, brother. It’s simply that the soil had all its nutrition sucked out by the thorny weeds, which made it look parched."

Isabella nodded: "That’s probably it. If Liam’s soil restoration plan succeeds, the government won’t have any reason to take our land back."

"It will succeed." Liam answered, and then stared hard at Isabella: "Sister, you didn’t sleep last night, did you? The rings under your eyes are as dark as a panda’s."

Isabella smiled awkwardly: "I did sleep, I went to bed at three in the morning."

Liam snorted twice: "You’re going to drink your nutrient fluid and go straight up for a nap right now. If I find out you haven’t slept, I’m confiscating those crochet things!"

Isabella hurriedly put both hands up in surrender: "I’ll sleep, I’ll sleep, all right? Just don’t take my things away."

She hurriedly stripped off her work clothes, then washed her hands and downed a tube of high-grade nutrient fluid at top speed. After that she went thundering up the stairs, as fast as if somebody were chasing her with a stick.

Benjamin watched his sister’s back disappear around the turn of the staircase, and laughed fondly: "It seems she really likes what you gave her."

Liam nodded helplessly: "Once we’ve saved up enough to buy a farming robot, the two of you won’t have to work so hard."

Benjamin nodded, and took out a nutrient fluid to drink. Looking into the storage crate, he was puzzled: "The count doesn’t look right... a few tubes seem to be missing?"

Liam coughed lightly: "Ah, I was a bit hungry in the night so I had some nutrient fluid."

Benjamin made an understanding sound, and said: "That’s fine then. After we’ve sold the vegetables this afternoon I’ll stop by the food market and buy you a higher grade of nutrient fluid than this. That kind has the most natural flavor."

Liam shook his head quickly: "There’s no need, brother, one tube of that costs twice what the current one does." Taking that to trade on the system would certainly be a loss.

Benjamin insisted regardless, and Liam had to accept.

...

At three in the afternoon, the Martinez family ship landed at the port on Altair. Daniel was already waiting at the dock to meet them.

"Liam! You’re here!" Daniel was leaning against the waiting area Liam had named on the call, waving a hand.

Liam brought his brother and sister over to him. He stepped forward, and held out a hand to shake Daniel’s: "Hello."

Behind him there was suddenly a strange noise. It was the sound of Benjamin choking on his own saliva.

Liam turned his head to find his brother standing rooted to the spot like a planted tree, his face scarlet from his neck all the way to his ears. Both arms hung at his sides with nowhere to put them, and his eyes kept darting up and down, from the ceiling to the floor, never once daring to look straight at the person in front of him.

Isabella, standing beside him, silently elbowed her brother twice in the ribs.

Benjamin jumped, and hurriedly straightened up.

Daniel held out a hand politely: "Hello. I’m Daniel Mason."

Benjamin looked at the hand held out in front of him, then at the face he had zoomed in and out of a hundred times on that ranking, and swallowed dryly.

"Ben... Benjamin Martinez." He put out his hand to shake, his voice cracking halfway through: "Liam’s older brother. Very... very pleased to meet you."

Liam and Isabella had to bite down hard on their lips to keep from laughing out loud. Daniel saw the flush of excitement on Benjamin’s face, and was rather at a loss. He looked toward Liam, blinking in inquiry. Liam, amused, curved both hands into a heart shape, put them over his left breast and winked.

Daniel understood, and scratched his nose in embarrassment. He knew he was always on the ranking of the ten most beautiful people in the Polaris star system, and that he had a great many Alpha admirers. But Daniel hadn’t expected Liam’s older brother to be one of them.

At that point Isabella stepped forward, and shoved her brother out of the way where he stood blocking Daniel. She held out a hand: "Hello, Daniel, I’m Isabella Martinez, Liam’s older sister. I’ve heard Liam mention you often, and today I finally get to meet you in person."

With somebody there to cover his awkwardness, Daniel let out a private breath of relief. He shook Isabella’s hand with a bright smile: "Hello, Isabella. I’m very glad to meet you."

Once Daniel had greeted all three Martinez siblings, he had his people unload the goods from their civilian ship and take them back to the family’s purchasing station. He himself invited the three of them into his own hovercar, and headed straight for the restaurant.

Along the way, Benjamin sat curled up in one spot without opening his mouth once. For the whole journey it was only Daniel, Liam and Isabella talking. Liam glanced at his brother, leaned close to Daniel’s ear, and made his pitch quietly:

"My brother has just started a vlog channel about farming. It’s new so it doesn’t have many fans yet, and I wondered whether you might do me the favor of dropping by to support him a little?"

Hearing that, Daniel raised an eyebrow, and looked at Liam with a great deal of meaning. If Liam genuinely wanted to use the back door to drive engagement to his brother’s channel, he could do it himself entirely without Daniel’s help. Liam was already a source of traffic in his own right. Even so, Daniel found himself rather interested in this farming subject Liam had mentioned.

So he held out his own smart watch: "Which channel, send it over to me."

Liam brought up Benjamin’s channel share code for Daniel to scan. Daniel had barely pressed follow, and hadn’t even had time to look at it, before the hovercar’s smart announcement sounded: [Destination reached].

Daniel closed his smart watch, and pressed the door open to invite them out.