Recovery of Rez 14

For all his primitive act, Henry was a formidable exobiologist. From a small desk near the back door, he picked up a computer display device roughly twice the size of those most people carried. A couple of strokes and he presented Rez a data dump showing an unusual nutritional profile for the berries. A human could survive on them alone for a while without suffering any harm. When Rez looked up with a nod, Henry stroked the screen again and a new note of pride came over his face. The display showed the berries also possessed some surprising rare medicinal qualities, too.
He grinned at Rez and spoke softly, “Think what an extract of them berries would offer to someone trying to colonize a marginal planet.” Rez saw it immediately. Those berries would easily pay a year’s keep for the entire Randell Colony with just a couple of metric tons.
Rez couldn’t suppress the smile. “Henry, what would it take to collect a ton of them?”
The old man slapped himself on side of his thigh. “We done got a quarter ton by ourselves in the past two weeks! That shed nearest the house is full of `em. They don’t hardly go bad and we’ve had time to dry a whole bunch, make preserves, juice, everything. They grow so thick we ain’t had to move out of that first draw yet, but we can see `em running plumb up the next ridge.”
As gently as he could, Rez suggested, “You should have told someone, Henry. We’d have been glad to help and get some samples sent out for confirmation of your findings.”
Henry looked just a bit abashed. “That’s probably the one thing I never learned too well. I always kinda kept to myself. If Ma hadn’t latched onto me herself, I’d probably never got hitched. I jest get so wrapped up in what I’m doing, I almost forget why I’m doing it.” He paused a moment, then added, “You don’t seem to have no trouble communicating, though.”
Rez tried to be reassuring. “No harm done, Henry, and thanks. Frankly, everyone else in the colony is busy, too. Had I not volunteered to come out, you might not see anyone face to face for another few months or so. Let me take some of the berries and a copy of your data. We’ll organize the exploitation of this stuff pronto!”
With that, Henry called for his girls to come help him get “a right good sample” ready for Rez to haul back to the administration building. Rez noticed there was one young boy watching, and three older daughters doing the work. None of them were especially pretty at first glance. Rez busied himself making sure his personal device had a copy of the data, then looked up to discover the eldest girl was holding a small knapsack out for him. In the background, Henry announced, “This here’s Delia.”
He reached out for it with a smile, but almost froze. Delia might have been a rather plain girl, but her eyes were extraordinary. Best of all, Rez was utterly certain she had a very deep soul flourishing behind those eyes. He held her gaze until she blushed and turned her face downward with a smile. Yet she did not move until he thanked her verbally.
On his hike back, the aroma of fresh baked pastries made from the berries pestered him all the way home. For Rez, the most valuable prize was not the berries, nor any of the baked goods made from them. Something stirred which he had feared might have died long ago.