Page 39 of Fibre and Ink

He was so impressive.

His time on stage as a drag king would have boosted his confidence but I was still impressed. I couldn’t possibly have drummed up the crowd like this, I’d have come over all shy.

The council members were already inside having a meeting, but we saw some come to the window and look out before vanishing again. Half hour, one came out to talk to us.

“Barbara Traylor,” Aster strode forward to shake her hand.

“You must be Aster?” She shook his hand.

“That’s me. Thanks for responding to my email.”

“Of course. Now I’ve talked over your concerns with Bob, but it seems his consents to build are all filled out and filed. So, I understand your perspective but it all seems to be above board.” Barbara smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes, she seemed genuinely apologetic.

But something wasn’t adding up. I squashed down my shyness and stepped in.

“Sorry, Ma’am, but if it’s all above board, why were they sneaking around at night?”

Barbara blinked at me. “Sneaking around?”

“Oh yeah,” Aster said. “They were lurking around the Cooper alpaca farm in the night. It was super creepy.”

Barbara’s brow furrowed. “That’s not right at all.”

Harlow slipped her arm through mine. “And there should be some protections for the lake and the forest, right?”

Barbara pulled out her phone and tapped it a couple of times. “Protections? I didn’t think of that. Leave this with me.” She looked up from her phone and gave us an encouraging smile. “Keep doing what you’re doing, I need to check something.”

She strode off and Aster clapped his hands, getting the crowd’s attention again. “All right folks, let’s keep this up for just a little longer. Be as loud and annoying as you can. Say it with me, No data center! No AI in Foggy!”

A half hour later my voice was starting to give out from the shouting and Aster was visibly wilting in the hot sun.

I signalled him over. “We need to rest and rehydrate.”

Aster nodded, “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

He cleared his throat, about to address the crowd when Barbara Traylor came out of the building again, waving a printout.

Aster63

I was hot and sweaty, I knew my face must be bright red, my feet hurt and my voice was scratchy. But when Barbara Traylor came out with her news I felt like a brand new man.

“The forest is protected!”

“What?” My heart thudded in my ears. Was she saying what I thought she was saying?

“The forest. It backs onto the Coastal range. It’s all protected, a wildlife preserve, dating back to the founding of Foggy Basin.”

Harlow cut the music and Mickey grabbed my arm. “Protected?” He repeated.

“Yes, they can’t build there. It’s a federal law.” Barbara Traylor passed me the piece of paper, I glanced at it but it was all legalese as far as I could tell. “Besides, there's an already approved plan for a reservoir up there, to protect against future droughts, and a data center...?”

“Would cause more droughts,” I finished.

“That’s amazing!” Harlow bounced.

Mickey took the paper and scanned it. He nodded at me. “This is real, they can’t build there. I'm Mickey Cooper.” He added the last, shaking hands with Barbara . I probably should have introduced everyone.

“Yes, you own the alpaca farm? Te line goes almost all the way to your boundary lines, Mr Cooper,” Barbara continued. “That’s probably why your farm is where it is, your great-great grandfather would have built as close as he could to maximize space.”