The Farming Saint in the Starry Wasteland (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 358

Chapter 358 All of Therm

Elizabeth’s voice wasn’t fourt, but she put just enough behind it to carry across the entire landing area

“I will take all of them.”

They landed like something dropped from a great height.

Elmer’s head snapped toward her, his suspended arm jerking with the motion before he caught himself.

The formation held its shape, discipline doing what discipline does, but the stillness that followed lasted only a heartbeat before

broke loose underneath it.

w, barely–contained sound move omething that had nowhere els

de girl named Niki pressed hers

The man with one arm couldn’t s

The old man in the wheelchai

The young mother buried

Elizabeth watched all

She was taking all

Then again

The gu

She

h the crowd, not quite voices, not quite silence, and a thousand pairs of eyes

ather’s leg. “Daddy,” she whispered, “we get to stay, right?”

hard, and reached for his wife’s hand.

hand and pressed it to the corner of his eye.

blanket, her shoulders moving.

15

ession, and felt, somewhere underneath that calm, a small and honest flicker of guilt.

needed all of them to work. Not out of generosity. Not out of the goodness of her heart.

s is what you do, not why you do it.

ill staring. “What? You think the farm can’t feed this many people?”

present, and the relief that spread across his face was as real as anything she’d seen all day. “No. Not alf of every one of them and their families, thank you.”

alute, smooth and unguarded this time.

୮

Save the thanks. Once they’re on the farm, they follow the farm’s rules and they pull their weight. I don’t at I don’t shortchange anyone who works hard and keeps to the rules either. Make sure they understand that.”

er turned to face the formation, squared his shoulders, and announced her decision in a voice that reached every ing pad.

ed, Elizabeth reached out to Tiffany and asked her to come handle the personnel handover and initial placement Elmer directly.

the farm’s second–in–command on the administrative side, and she’d come up through the military herself. Nobody suited to settling in a group like this.

pulled up Fiona’s channel.

1/2

10:50 am P PPP

Chapter 359 All of them

“Fiona I need 3,000 meal portions, same standard as today’s sale, as soofr as you can”

45 Free CoMS

A beat of surprised silence from filling up and…”

other end. 3,000? Boss, is this another bulk order? We’ve already got tomorrow’s reservations

“Not for sale. 2,000 go to the new staff as a welcome meal. The other 1,000 get packed up for Elmer to take when he leaves, a thank- you from the farm for the referral.”

Another pause, shorter this time, and then Fiona’s voice came back brisk and smiling. “Copy that, boss 2,000 on–site, 1,000 packed to go. I’m on it.”

Elizabeth ended the call and let herself breathe for a moment.

Getting over a thousand people fed and settled was going to be a serious undertaking. A hot, genuinely good welcome meal, one that happened to carry the farm’s particular restorative quality, was the fastest way to take the edge off a long journey and show people in plain terms what kind of place they’d arrived at.

She was about to turn back to Elmer to go over the remaining logistics when her eye caught something at the edge of her vision. One of the transport ships still had its hatch open.

And in the shadow of that opening, a small fuzzy head was poking out, two lopsided little pigtails and a pair of eyes like dark grapes, peering at her with a mixture of curiosity and shyness that only a very young child can pull off without trying.

Three years old, maybe four. Thin little face. Remarkable eyes.

Their gazes connected. The girl hadn’t expected to be spotted. She went still for a moment, but she didn’t pull back. She just blinked, and kept looking, with the kind of complete, uncomplicated attention that small children have and adults spend years trying to recover.

Elizabeth felt the corner of her mouth move.

Then a hand appeared in the hatchway, roughened but gentle, settling on top of the girl’s head.

A woman stepped into the light, her face tired, her expression quietly anxious, and she gave Elizabeth a small apologetic smile before leaning down to murmur something to the child and drawing her back into the shadow of the ship. The hatch began ta

close.

The smile on Elizabeth’s face faded slightly.

She turned to Elmer. “Lieutenant. Is there someone still on that ship?”

He followed her look and caught the last few inches of the hatch sliding shut.

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