Evelyn Ford placed the grilled fish in front of Ronan Kendrick, having already picked out the bones for him. Quincy cried out dramatically from the side, exclaiming that he couldn’t bear to watch.
"Evelyn, you’re going to spoil him rotten if you keep pampering him like this."
Evelyn Ford raised an eyebrow. "Is it that easy to spoil someone?"
Ronan Kendrick sat to Evelyn Ford’s left. He glanced at Quincy upon hearing his words. Ronan had always been a man of few words. Despite his immense capabilities, he was even-tempered; it was just that his powerful presence created a bit of distance between him and the others.
"Of course! Haven’t you heard that saying? ’Coddle a man, and you’ll have bad luck for a lifetime.’"
Everyone didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his words.
"But Ronan is different," Officer Graham was the first to refute Quincy.
"Exactly. Ronan’s amazing! He’s tall, handsome, and capable," Taylor Vance added.
"Quincy’s just jealous. Wyatt, quick, give Quincy some consolation."
Wyatt Vaughn chuckled. "What consolation? A good beating will get him to behave."
Terrified, Quincy quickly shuffled to the back, afraid Wyatt Vaughn would use him as a punching bag in front of everyone.
Evelyn Ford leaned close to Ronan Kendrick and whispered, "Don’t worry. I like spoiling you."
Laughter filled Ronan Kendrick’s eyes. "Okay."
"Do we still have to wash herbs today?"
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "In a bit, I’ll bring out some ears of corn for you all to shuck. I have a flour mill and a rice huller, but no corn sheller, so we’ll have to do it by hand."
"Okay, no problem. How much is there?"
"About twenty or thirty tons."
Everyone was overjoyed. "That much? I thought it would only be a few hundred pounds."
"That’s why I said there’s an endless supply of work here. You don’t have to worry about having nothing to do during the polar night."
"Just tell us what to do. We’ll work hard."
Shucking corn is a dusty job, so after finishing the barbecued meat and grilled fish, everyone headed to the warehouse. Two tons of ears of corn were already waiting, along with several burlap sacks and wooden clubs Evelyn Ford had prepared.
"Put the ears of corn into a burlap sack, about forty to fifty pounds at a time. Tie the opening tight and beat it repeatedly with the wooden clubs. The kernels will get knocked off. We have two large basins over here. Pour the beaten corn into the basins, pick out the cobs, and manually rub off any remaining kernels. Then, we need two people to sift the kernels clean. After that, they can be taken aside to be milled."
This method was a quick way to shell the corn, but it required a lot of effort. In principle, it was the same as manually threshing wheat.
Since there would be a lot of dust, everyone put on a mask and got to work.
There was a fireplace in the warehouse, keeping the indoor temperature at ten degrees Celsius.
Ronan Kendrick, Miles Vaughn, Quincy, and Ethan Dawson were in charge of beating the ears of corn. Evelyn Ford, Wyatt Vaughn, and Joelle Finch picked out the cobs. Officer Graham and Ethan Dawson sifted the kernels, while Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell milled the flour.
Wendy and Zoe helped out wherever needed. Working like a well-oiled assembly line, the group quickly processed the two tons of corn.
The mill was set to a fine grind, producing a very delicate cornmeal perfect for making steamed buns and cornmeal cakes.
For the next few days, everyone kept busy in the warehouse. Before they knew it, a week of the polar night had passed. With an endless amount of work to do each day, no one had any spare time to panic or worry.
Evelyn Ford gathered the dried herb roots and stems and stored them in her space. She left most of the roots unwashed, saving them for future planting. The washed ones she took to her lab to process into various medicines. After this harvest, she figured she wouldn’t need to plant any more herbs for decades.
The rice paddies had been fallow for a long time. She tilled the earth with a mini-cultivator, then flooded the fields with water, getting them ready to plant rice again.
The rice seedlings had already sprouted. All the crops grown in her space were exceptionally fragrant, and the fruits were sweeter and more aromatic than any she could buy. Other than tasting better, they had no special properties.
No one else could enter the space, so all the farm work inside fell to Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick. According to the rules of the space, the fields could not lie fallow for more than three months; otherwise, she would lose the ability to enter and exit freely. The black soil might even shrink. However, as long as she diligently tilled the land, the area of the black soil would expand.
All the herbs had been harvested now. Since the land had been used for herbs, the black soil needed to lie fallow for two or three months before she could plant other crops.
Once everyone had finished shelling all twenty to thirty tons of corn, Evelyn Ford brought out the fish they had caught earlier and had the group prepare it into cured and smoked fish.
The vegetables in the hydroponics room had sprouted. Taylor Vance had planted the hardiest varieties: lettuce, Malabar spinach, endive, beets, and garlic.
There were also ten little chicks in the backyard chicken coop, all brought out from Evelyn Ford’s space. Zion Lowell was incredibly attentive to them, spending most of his time taking care of them.
Although her space could be used for raising livestock, the group didn’t want to rely too heavily on Evelyn Ford. As a team, they were determined to pull their own weight and not be a burden.
Inside the mushroom room, Ethan Dawson and Peter Owens were using flashlights to check on the grow kits. Evelyn Ford had stockpiled some cultivated mushroom kits, which were now coming in handy.
Evelyn Ford had taught them how to use corn cobs to cultivate mushrooms. Once the cobs were fermented, they just had to sprinkle the spawn from the kits on top. A few days later, the mushrooms would start to grow. They didn’t need water or sunlight, and in about a week, they would be mature enough to harvest.
"Evelyn, I just heard a car pass by on the road outside."
Quincy came rushing in from outside. "I heard it from the bathroom. I’m positive."
"What’s so strange about that? As long as you have headlights, you can see the road and drive."
Quincy shook his head. "That’s not the point. The point is that after all this time in the polar night, there’s finally some activity out there."
"They won’t find us, will they? Our lights must be pretty obvious in the dark."
"The cabin is hidden by pine trees, so they can’t see our lights. And even if they did spot us, it’s fine. We’re on an island, surrounded by water. It’s not easy to get over here, so don’t worry."
Seeing how calm Evelyn Ford was, Quincy finally relaxed a little.
"But I have noticed one thing. It doesn’t seem as cold the last couple of days."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "The deep freeze is slowly ending, and the temperature is starting to rise. It won’t get too warm, though. After all, we don’t have any sun. We’ll be lucky if it stays around ten degrees Celsius."
"I’m a bundle of nerves these days. The slightest noise makes me jump. I wonder who’s bold enough to be out driving around during the polar night."
"So you ran back in the middle of using the bathroom?" Evelyn Ford looked at Quincy in disgust. "Stay away from me."
Quincy was indignant. "Do you really think I’m that disgusting?"
"You are," Evelyn Ford said, her tone certain. Quincy stormed off in a huff.
A few hours later, the sound of car horns echoed from the distance again. This time, it sounded like several vehicles.
"Judging by the sound, they must be five or six kilometers away."
"The base is only twenty kilometers from here. It’s probably just some rich folks who got bored and came out to race their cars."