Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode Six: Africa #21

Jake, Chatura, and Abioya stood together in front of the quartermaster's office. They were wearing their blue civil-service uniform again. Both Jake and Chatura had added hats to keep the sun, hot even at eight in the morning, off their heads. Abioya seemed oblivious to the sun or the heat.

Chatura bumped his fist against his chest in a salute. "Long-range crew reporting for our first mission, sir." He sang out.

"You are not in the military," the quartermaster growled.

"I know, I just have always wanted to do that," Chatura said.

The quartermaster rolled his eyes. "As you may know, we've been building agricultural domes all across the Sub-Saharan desert. Teaching locals how to grow food in a more ecologically sensitive and scientific way. Your exciting first mission is to deliver hermetically sealed seed packs to those domes. Your truck is already loaded and waiting on the back tarmac. Number seventeen. Stocked with rations for a week out. Have fun."

"Delivering seeds, that is kind of exciting. Feeding people and all," Chatura said.

Abioya shook his head. "Driving long stretches of desert for an entire week? Not so exciting, I'm afraid. But helping people? I can live with that."

"Heck, just driving and getting paid," Jake said as they made their way across the base. "That's enough. How was your break? Everything you thought it would be?"

Abioya smiled. "And more. You know what our pay was in local currency? I felt like Joseph himself, leaving poor and coming home rich."

"Joseph. Like from the Bible? I thought you were Muslim?"

"The Qur'an has most of the same stories. Except we also have the prophet Muhammad."

"What? Like Jesus and all that?"

"Yes," Abioya affirmed. "I told you, we are all one family in God."

"Wow!" Chatura said, interrupting their religious discussion. "That's a few seed packets."

Truck seventeen was parked in front of them. The rear bed was loaded with long, rectangular boxes, each more than a foot thick and several feet long. They were loaded nearly three times Jake's height. "No shit," he said. "That is a lot of seeds."

"And we have a week to deliver them all," Abioya said. "Well, boys, we should get to it."

"I'll drive the first shift," Jake called out, heading for the ladder.

"No complaints from me," Abioya said.

The three young men climbed to the cab of their new truck, ready to embark on the first of what would hopefully be many trips together.