Bootstrap Colony (16 page)

Fed and bathed and de-loused the
kids settled into bed with the occasional yawn. Anne, Brian, Vance, and Janet
stayed up with him and told him about village over another brownie and a cup of
milk. “At first it was okay, I mean we had a lot of people but we weren’t
getting organized,” Janet started, then the four of the started to gush out the
story, taking the lead from time to time.

“One by one the men would go out
in hunting parties and not return. It was hard, and the ones that did come back
didn’t bring back much,” Janet said quietly and then looked down at her drink
as Anne took the lead.

“At first we were okay, we had
some supplies, and a few people even had survival packs,” Anne said. Mitch
nodded. “But the food ran out pretty quickly with so many mouths to feed. There
were over a hundred people, many of them kids who couldn’t work much, and of
course couldn't hunt.”

“When only Charlie, Harold, and
Jim were left Mistress Tabitha and Priestess Diane began sermons about the
evils of men every time they left. Rumors that they would abandon us, or that
they were saving the best food for themselves were brooded about a few times,”
Anne said darkly.

“Harold and Jim went out a couple
weeks ago on their own after Tabitha refused to allow them to bring the
remaining rifles. They never came back,” Janet said quietly as she continued to
look down. Mitch looked on, face clouding.

“You know something don’t you,”
Janet asked, eyes begging the answer, face dreading it.

He sighed. “Yeah. One of them was
attacked by raptors about four and a half kilometers north.” His face grew
bleak as Janet gave him a searching look and then she looked down again as she
realized his answer to her unspoken question. “I’m sorry. I didn’t make it to
him in time,” Mitch said softly. Anne nodded.

Brian sighed. “He almost didn’t
make it to me,” the lad said. Anne patted his hand. He shied away. A fleeting
look of hurt crossed her features before she suppressed it.

“With them gone Tabitha stepped
up her rhetoric. A few people believed her; some went along with the flow.” She
gave Brian a guilty glance. “Some of us just kept our heads down and did
nothing,” Janet said and then sighed as she looked up. “We were just trying to
survive.” Mitch nodded. “Charlie went out with a hunting party led by Tabitha
after they had a big row. They said a cat got him,” Janet said.

Brian looked angry. “Cat hell, I
saw his body. He was shot in the back,” he snarled. Anne looked shocked, Janet
didn’t.

Janet gushed out a sigh shaking
her head in mourning and anger. “I should have known. Should have known.”

Anne and Janet asked how he could
afford everything. He told them he had won the lotto. “Wow, you paid for all
this after winning the lotto? How much did you win?” Anne asked.

He coughed in his hand “Um...
twenty two times.”

“Twenty two million? You bought
all this with twenty two million?”  Anne asked in disbelief.

“Um no... I
won
twenty two
times. There was also some stock investments and businesses involved too,”
Mitch replied, sounding a bit embarrassed by his good fortune.

She looked at him. “You're
telling us you won the lottery twenty two TIMES? That is impossible!” Janet had
her mouth open and a glazed look in her eyes.

Mitch snorted. “As impossible as
being transported by squid aliens to another planet?”

Janet closed her mouth with a
clop. “He has a point,” she finally admitted. She looked to Anne and shrugged.
“So you’re a psychic?” she asked, turning back to him.

Mitch squirmed a little and then
shrugged. “Yeah, I get feelings once and a while. I am really good with
numbers. Though I could never get my taxes right,” he sighed theatrically, the
girls, Brian, and Vance chuckled.

Janet nodded. “Yeah. I am glad.”
Mitch chuckled. Anne and Brian shrugged.

“I get déjà vu moments from time
to time, but they aren’t very helpful,” he admitted and then shrugged.

“No mind reading, tarot card
reading...etc?” Anne asked warily. He looked at her and gave her a twisted
smile.

“I wish! Mind reading would be
nice in theory, but in practice? Imagine being in a room of people with that
ability,” he said. She winced.

“What do you mean?” Brian asked.

Anne turned to him. “It would be
like everyone would be talking at once, plus their voices talking... and
surrounding people... Yeah I can see it wouldn’t be all that great.”

Mitch chuckled. “Yeah. No super
cape, no super powers.” Vance, Brian, and Janet nodded, Anne looked relieved.

“Don’t worry about the
dominatrix; I think she and I need to have a little chat tomorrow,” Mitch said
firmly. Janet and Anne look alarmed at the look in his eye and set of his jaw.

Brain looked wary, and then he
too got the look as well. “Yeah, I wanna see this,” he said. He gave a short
choppy nod.

“We’ll wear body armor, and I
think I’ll just bring along another mechanical friend as a deterrent,” Mitch
said. Anne looked at him her face begged the question. “Robot. War robot, one
of the robots I brought today.” She paled a little and then saw Brian’s face as
he nodded.

The next morning after breakfast
he led them on a quick tour. “Careful of the alpaca, they spit,” he warned the
twelve year old Wayne, who promptly got spat on.

“Ew gross!” the kid said and
wiped at the luger, and then got a set face and started to hack to retaliate.
Janet ushered him away before he could retaliate. Anne chuckled.

They were all amazed at the
animals and gear, the robots have the adults a little leery at first, but when
he explained how much they have done and how they make things so much easier
they relented.

He got Anne and Janet to have the
kids do some simple chores while he returned to the village with an armed
Brian. At the entrance he pulled up and encountered the dominatrix. She had her
hands on her hips, dominant pose, with her coiled whip on hip. He angrily
addressed her, passing on his warning.

When he turned his back to leave
she uncoiled the whip and struck his back. Mitch turned and growled. When she
went to strike again, he raised his arm and the whip wrapped around it
painfully. He grabbed it and yanked hard, pulling it out of her hand and her
off balance. He advanced on her, punched her hard in the gut, making her drop
gasping into the dirt. He pulled her up by the collar and hair to look in her
eyes, she tried to kick and scratch and he tossed her away.

The huntresses arrived and
threatened him. The ED robot stepped off the back of the truck and they backed
down warily. He looked them over and then tossed the whip into a nearby fire.
“I said my peace. You wanna live this way that is fine. Beat or mistreat a kid
again and you
will
regret it.” He yanked the driver’s door open and got
in the truck. The robot panned across the group, and then got back onto the
rear. He gave the red headed woman a look. The doctor bit her lip and ducked
his gaze. He peeled out as he left.

Back at base, one of the first
things Janet and Anne tentatively ask for were materials for Feminine Hygiene.
He hid a smile and told them there were three crates with re-usable materials
for that very purpose. “Oh thank God. You’re a saint!” Anne told him. Wayne
looked at him quizzically.

“Lets just put it this way, you
don’t want to know,” Mitch commented.

When Brian came running in the
next day whooping that a foal had been born it turned into a three ring circus
for everyone to go see. Janet wiped her hands on her apron and followed along
the herd.

Herds of animals passed what he
had designated the Eastern wall, those that do come close skirted the fence.
Vance had been learning how to use the construction equipment with Wayne while
he had been gone. Together with a robot for security they have begun to dig a
three meter wide trench along each of the four kilometer long sides of the base
perimeter. They had left one area on each side as a road entrance to the gates.
Eventually the base would expand into the full territory.

With more mouths to feed and
support he decided to quadruple the planting. The farm robots swung back into
action. The kids were awed by the sight of the machines trundling along in the
fields. Walter an eleven year old eagerly volunteered to oversee the robots.
Janet gave a reluctant Mitch a wink and a nod. He left the planting in their
hands.

One of the last crops planted was
a genetically engineered cotton crop. They almost missed the window, narrowly
getting the crop in before it rained.

Mitch was heading to his office a
few days later when he heard a skittering in the tunnel ahead. A grey lizard
came running around the corner, high stepping it on its hind legs with its tail
straight up in the air like a flag pole. It flew by him without a look, running
for its wretched little life.

A sound at the corner made him
look up; a pair of cats skittered into a spin rounding the corner, and righted
themselves before they then took off after the lizard. He chuckled, then
flattened himself against the wall as a pack of kids come barreling around the
corner in hot pursuit as well. “Carry on,” he chuckled, giving the departing
brats a jaunty salute.

In late spring, just after the
last sheep dropped her kid, they sheered the sheep, goats, and alpaca. Brian
was concerned about hurting them, but Janet, having grown up on a farm
explained it was okay. “They will grow back their coats pretty quick. If we are
lucky we might get another sheering out of them before we have to leave them
for winter,” she explained. Brian nodded while he wiped sweat from his brow.
“Besides,” Janet smiled, “Wait till we have to castrate the pigs, cows, and
horses.”

“Castrate?!” Brian looked up in
alarm and then to Mitch who nodded.

“Yeah, male animals are only good
for some jobs, or breeding more animals,” Mitch agreed gruffly.

“Like some male humans,” Janet
cracked softly. He ignored her. That joke was in poor taste considering what
the Amazons had just gone through.

“See, if we don’t geld that’s the
gentle term for castration by the way, if we don’t geld males we do not want
for breeding, they can re-enter the gene pool and cause problems,” Mitch
explained patiently. Brian cocked his head in thought. “It also fattens them
up,” Mitch added. He gave her a look. “When they are no longer looking to
reproduce their bodies put on weight. We use that to fatten them up for later
slaughter.” Brian nodded in understanding, still mute though.

“We also geld to make them more
controllable, like stallions or bulls into oxen or steers,” Janet teased,
shooting a look to Mitch.

“They are a lot more docile after
getting gelded,” Mitch agreed between sheering strokes.

“I would be too,” Brian muttered.

Janet wrinkled her nose at him.
“Yeah, you lucked out that the bitch hadn’t gotten that far.”

Brian whitened for a moment; his
knuckles turn white as he clenched the railing. Slowly he loosened up. “Yeah,”
he said darkly. “Yeah she would have,” Brian growled.

Mitch pushed a bahing yew down
nearby. “Hey you two, let’s get this done. Lot more to do today, instead a
sitting there jawing, let’s get this over with,” he said gruffly. Brian jumped
to obey.

Over the next several months he
and his new group got to know each other as they rushed into the spring farming
chores and finished setting up the base. The cave had expanded explosively,
filling out into a castle. Openings were covered over (except for screened
vents, doors, or windows) the two openings in the roof were covered with two of
the geodesic domes. One had a pie shaped area left over for an elevator shaft.
They covered it with tarps.

He found a small salt deposit
directly south along the same chain of mountains his base was nestled against.
The deposit was on the other side of a forest and river, so a bit of a drive,
but the samples he and Vance had gathered proved it was perfect for their
growing manufacturing and farming needs.

The kids had settled in with only
a few minor behavior issues. They were good kids, cowed a bit by what had
happened. A few still had nightmares, a couple missed their parents, but the
women were doing a good job taking care of them.

The hummer crested the low hill
and parked under a tree. Off in the distance below the herds were taking turned
at the watering hole. Brian watched, looking out over the herds of
struthiomimus, protoceratops, and hadrosaurs. “They seemed to be nesting.” he
commented, taking a look through the glasses. “Yeah, that’s what it looks like.
A struthiomimus is getting up it has a mound of eggs under it.”

Janet was in the back seat.
“Damn, those would make one heck of an omelet.”

Mitch snorted. “I doubt it, they
are probably all fertilized.”

Janet sighed. “Still, it would be
one heck of a meal.”

Brian smiled. “So which ones are
we going to go for?”

Mitch looked over the herd. “The
solitary males if possible. We’ll hit the single bar.” He looked through his
glasses.

“How can you tell which is
which?” Brian asked, looking down at the laptop in his lap.

Mitch took his glasses down and
pointed. “The short ones with the green and brown are the females. The males
are the dark ones with the racing stripes and cockatoo headdress and peacock
tails,” he explained patiently. Brian looked.

Janet cleared her throat. “How
can you tell?”

“Well, females in nature are
normally the primary care givers. The males are the defenders and providers,”
Mitch explained as he pointed. “See how that male is chasing off a scavenger?”

She looked, and then brought up
her glasses. “Yeah. I see them. It is pecking at it with its beak.”

Mitch nodded. “The female’s color
scheme is designed to blend into the bush to hide it from predators.”

Janet gave a grunt of
acknowledgment of that point. “Yeah, well, the male can afford to leave the
nest because the female is there. Look over there,” Mitch continued on further.
He pointed to the left. “You see what that male is doing?”

She looked in the indicated
direction. “Yeah, he is bringing the female grasses and plants.”

Brian looked as well. “Yeah,
okay, so he is feeding her so she doesn’t have to move off the nest and expose
it to the egg thieves,” Mitch said as the lad nodded.

“Yeah.” Brian looked down at the
laptop. “They don’t look like the pictures from Earth though.”

 Janet snorted. “Remember, all
they had were fossils and some skin to go by.”

Brian nodded. “Yeah, but these
have beaks like birds, and shorter stubbier tails then the picture. They look
almost like emus or those cassowary birds,” he said as another member of their
hunting party jostled him to get a better look. Pete looked excitedly through
his glasses.

“I count... ten, no twenty males
off to the left resting under the tree. Can you pick them off?” He was excited
and itching to try his hand with the rifle.

“Maybe, but once we kill one the
others will stampede,” Mitch replied, studying the group.

Pete groaned a little. “But they
are laying down under the tree, we get maybe two or three right?” he asked
hopefully. Mitch made a grunting affirmative, studying the image.

They had a trailer hitched to the
back of the hummer, and a CAT robot on it. Pete was looking forward to making
his first kill, but not thrilled about having to gut it. Janet had insisted,
ramming through that little provision to dampen the fun of it. He sighed impatiently.
Mitch studied the herd.

The protoceratops were nesting in
their own circle, near one edge. Males were sparing with each other, much like
Terran bulls or rams did. They were butting heads, making loud honking calls,
and threat displays. It looked weird, like feathery four legged chickens with
crests.

The struthiomimus therapods were
almost emu or ostrich in design. Or vise versa he thought wryly. The front
wings were still arms with claws though.

“Hey I thought they were
herbivores!” Janet exclaimed in surprise, zooming into the water. Hastily the
human males checked out what she was looking at. “Down by the edge of the
water, closer to us,” she directed the others as they looked around for what
she had seen. It took a minute; the struthiomimus was bent over doing
something. When he came up Mitch realized he had a fish in his mouth.

Mitch grunted. “It looks like
they might be omnivores. A lot can change in sixty five million years.”

“Huh,” Pete grunted. They watched
another male struthiomimus splashing in the water with his front legs and
beaked head. He came up empty, dripping water. He shook the wet out, and then
fluffed his feathers. The first ducked past a couple thieves and then raced to
its mate and nest.

They watched as it carefully fed
the fish to the female. “Huh. Good parenting and partnership skills,” Janet
commented.

“Yeah, that is why I don’t mind
bumping off some of the bachelors,” Mitch commented.

“Oh. Good point,” she replied.

The hadrosaurs were giving the
occasional trumpeting cry. Their head crests were flushed with color. Only part
of it and the muzzle was visible, much of the head was covered in feathery down
or primitive feathers. A few sported some outrageous plumage. The more numerous
ones have a more dappled pattern, tans with spots of white like a Terran fawn.

“So we are going for the
struthiomimus bachelors?” Pete asked, anxious.

“Yes, and if possible one or two
of the protoceratops. I think that will be it for the day though,” Mitch
replied. Pete nodded. Softly Mitch ordered the CAT out, and nearby to keep an
eye on the perimeter. He opened the roof hatch, Janet handed him the rifle.

The wind was coming from the
South East, so they were upwind of the herd. He sighted the bachelors, finding
them three hundred twenty meters away. He picked out five. It would nice to get
all of them, but he knew once the first went down, it would be a mad scramble.
He waited for the wind to stop for a moment, and then sighed. A twitch on the
trigger was all it took.

The loud bark of the rifle had
the Hadrosaurs honking in distress and looking around. Mitch tuned it all out
and focused on the targets.

The first twitched, and then its
head dropped. Other heads began to look up in alarm. Quickly he lined up on the
second; put a bullet in behind the right elbow. He switched to the third. It
was getting up; he had a momentary flash of movement. He took the shot; it hit
the left leg making the animal stagger, then fall.

It bawled in the dust, kicking
its good leg and thrashing around. Alarmed the others started to get up, trying
to get away from the invisible killer in their midst. The fourth target ducked
behind a tree, but another followed it a little too slow, he picked it off
hitting it just under the forearm. He twisted back to the others, but they were
off and scattering in a flurry of grass and plumage. The third was still
thrashing though. A single bullet put it down for good though. “Good shooting,”
Pete commented.

Mitch looked up from the scope,
watched as the other animals were panicking. The females looked up once, and
then ducked down, covering the eggs. The mated males were dancing about, they
moved away from the bachelor area in alarm. Hadrosaurs that had been drinking
further down were stampeding into the water and then they turned and rushed out
and further south away from the scent of blood.

“It looks like the fighting has
stopped with the protoceratops,” Janet observed. She passed up his binoculars.
Mitch clicked the safety on the rifle, then gently set it down and took the
glasses as he pulled one ear plug out. He looked through the lenses, noting
that the protoceratops were instinctively facing the kill area, tails together,
fanning out into a circular formation. He checked to make sure the cameras
built into each set of the binoculars were recording, they were.

“Pete,” he called down softly.

“Yeah?” Pete asked hopefully.

“Come up here,” Mitch ordered
quietly. He could feel the hummer moving a little, and then Pete jostled him a
bit as he pulled his head and torso through the hatch. Mitch took another look
at the protoceratops, and then handed the rifle to Pete. Pete followed his
training, checking the safety, clip and bolt.

“Go for the wounded male, off to
the right and away from the others,” Mitch instructed.

Pete took a look through the
scope. “Why that one? Why not a healthy one?” he asked.

“Because, that one just lost the
fight, and has been culled by the herd. We can just make it official,” Mitch
explained. It was predator logic; go for the sick, weak, and old. Pete sighed
and lines up the sights. His first shot went in low and to the left.

The animal started, bawling in
fright at the sound and sudden explosion of rocks near it. It started to limp
away, and then tried to turn for the safety of the herd. That was another
reason Mitch had pointed it out as the target, it couldn't get away very fast.
“Higher. Remember to adjust for the wind and the movement of the animal,” Mitch
instructed softly. Pete moved the barrel up slightly, and then tracked the
protoceratops. When it exposed its chest with a bawling call he sighed and
squeezed the trigger. The bark and recoil made him wince. The protoceratops on
the other end dropped.

Mitch patted the lad's shoulder.
“Good shooting. Can you see the other wounded one? Heading behind the herd?”

Pete tried to get a sighting, but
failed. “I can’t it is behind a rock.”

“Okay, how about the one left of
it?” Mitch asked.

Pete checked. “I can see its head
and tail; do you want me to try a head shot?” Pete asked eager.

“No, remember what I said, wait,”
Mitch instructed patiently. The targeted animal tossed its head back and forth,
and then mooed. Another came at it from behind. It turned and a brawl ensued.

Pete waited until he could get a
clear shot, and then squeezed the trigger. The protoceratops dropped.

“Good shooting kid, I think that
should be it for today,” Mitch said, patting the lad's arm in approval.

Pete nodded, massaging his
shoulder. “Dang that hurt!” he said with some feeling. Mitch smiled in
sympathy.