Well, now it was certainly time to start digging for that second choice, and she couldn't hope to happen on it the way she had the last time.
This time, it was going to take a combination of stupidity on someone's part, and her own computational power. So she concentrated on sorting out those colonies that had been in existence for less than a hundred years. It was probably fair to assume that anything repetitive that she would be able to take advantage of would have to take place within that kind of cycle.
That narrowed the field quite a bit, but it meant that she was going to have to concentrate her search by categories. Floods were the first things that came to mind, so she called up geological and climatological records on all of her candidates and ran a search for flood patterns.
Meanwhile she and Alex were also dealing with the authorities on the Haakon-Fritz case, which looked likely to put the Practical Darwinists out of business, at least with the general public, and the Institute in regards to resupply. Tia was determined not to leave port this time without that ethological tagging kit. Alex was tired of dealing with each crisis barehanded.
He demanded a supply of firearms, locked up until authorized if necessary, but he wanted to have something to enforce his decisions or to defend himself and others.
"What if Haakon-Fritz had gone berserk?" he asked. "What if those canids had been more aggressive?"
Courier Services was agreeable, but the Institute was fighting him; their long-time policy of absolute pacifism was in direct conflict with any such demand. The ban was clear; on any site where there were nearby sophonts with an Iron Age civilization or above, and 'nearby' meant on the same continent, absolutely no arms were to be permitted in association with any Institute personnel, not even those under contract. And since the couriers hit at least one dig on every run that came under the ban, they were not allowed any weaponry at any time. Tia backed her brawn, and she was lobbying with CS and the Lab Schools to help. After all, her well-being was partially dependent on his. The Institute, on the other hand, was balking because there were those who would take the presence of even small arms on board the courier in the worst possible interpretation.
Tia could see their point, but Institute couriers were the only ones not carrying some kind of hand weaponry. They were likely at any time to run into smugglers, who absolutely would be armed. If CS made a ruling on the subject, there would be no way the Institute could get around it
Meanwhile, on the subject of Haakon-Fritz, things were definitely heating up. The recordings of his Olympic sprint to shelter had somehow gotten leaked to the media, fortunately, long after Tia had locked down her copies, along with the following recording of Alex's heroic dash to the rescue via grav-sled. Alex was a minor celebrity for a day, but he successfully avoided the media, and they soon grew tired of his self-deprecating attitude, and his refusal to make himself photogenic. Haakon-Fritz did not avoid the media, he sought them out, and he became everyone's favorite villain. The Institute could not keep the incident quiet.
The Practical Darwinists came to their proponent's rescue, and only made things worse with their public statements of support and their rhetoric. People did not care to hear that they were weaklings, failures, and ought to be done away with for the good of the race. It began to look as if there was going to be a public trial, no matter how hard the Institute tried to avoid one.
It was on the eve of that trial that Tia finally found her next investment project. In the Azteca system, the third planet, predictably Terran, known as Quetzecoatl.
Interstellar Teleson, one of the major communications firms in their quadrant with cross-contracts and reciprocal agreements across known space, had just relocated their sector corporate headquarters on Quetzecoatl. The location had a great deal to be said for it, central, in the middle of a stable continental plate, good climate. That, however, was not why they had relocated there.
It was one of those secretly negotiated High Family contracts, and Tia had no doubt that there was a lot more at stake than just the area. Someone owed someone else a favor, or else someone wanted something else kept quiet, and this was the price.
She was doubly sure when the location came up red flagged on her geological search. According to the survey records, that lovely, flat plain was a flood basin. Quetzecoatl did not have the kind of eccentric orbit that Largo Draconis did. Just a little tilt. One that didn't affect anyone in the major settlements at all. But once every hundred years, that tilt angled the north pole into the solar plane for a bit longer than usual. The glaciers would start to melt. The plain below wouldn't exactly 'flood' or at least, not all at once. It would just get very, very soggy, slowly, then, when the spring rains came, the water would rise over the course of a week or two. Eventually the entire plain would be under about two inches of water, and would remain that way for about three years, gradually drying again for the fourth as the glaciers in the north grew.
But Interstellar Teleson's Corporate Standards dictated that the most sensitive records and delicate instruments, and all their computer equipment, be installed permanently in sub-basements no less than four stories below surface level, to avoid any possibility of damage. Corporate Standards had been set to guard against human interference, not nature's. Corporate Standards evidently did not consider nature to be important.
Whoever was in charge of this project apparently completely disregarded the geological survey. Engineers complained about seepage and warned of flooding; the reaction was to order extra sump pumps. Sump pumps were keeping the sub-basements tolerably dry now, but Tia guessed that they were going constantly just to keep up with ordinary groundwater. They were not going to handle the flood.
Especially not when flood waters were seeping in through the ground floor walls and creeping over the doorsills.
According to the meteorological data, the glaciers were melting, and the spring rains were only a couple of months away.
Meanwhile, half a continent away, there was a disaster recovery firm that specialized in data and equipment recovery. They advertised that they could duplicate an existing system in a month, and recover data from devices that had been immersed in saltwater for over a year, or through major fires with extensive smoke damage. Interstellar Teleson was going to need them, and they didn't even know it. Besides, Tia liked the name. Whoever these people were, they had one heck of a sense of humor.
Chuckling to herself, Tia called Lee Stirling and made her investment, then sent out another carefully worded letter to Crash and Burn Data Recovery, Limited.
The public trial of Doctor Haakon-Fritz was a ten day circus, but by then, Tia and Alex had for more serious things on their minds and no time to waste on trivialities.
Tia's recordings, both at the site and in the main cabin, were a matter of public record now, and that was the only stake they had in the trial. The Institute only wanted to keep from looking too foolish. In return for the supply of small arms Alex demanded, they asked that he not testify at the trial, since anything he could say would only corroborate those records. They both knew what the Institute people were thinking: records were one thing, but a heroic participant, who just might sound impassioned, no, that was something they didn't want to see. He was willing, he reckoned it was a small price to pay. Besides, there was little he could add, other than becoming another source of media attention.
So while the media gathered, the quiet Institute lawyers and spokesmen tried to downplay the entire incident, Alex got his arms-locker, and Tia her ethological kit as the price for their non-participation. And as they prepared to head out on a new round of duties, there came an urgent message.
The Institute contract was on hold; CS had another use for them as the only BB ship on base.
And they suddenly found themselves, not only with a new agenda, but an entirely new employer.