Bootstrap Colony (42 page)

“What about the plane?” Doc
asked.

Mitch turned to her and shook his
head. “Unfortunately it only has a seven hundred kilometer range, nowhere near
long enough to get there and back.”

Reluctantly Janet and Paul nodded
at this. “I am not too keen about taking the trucks out without a route,” Paul
added. He pulled up a map.

Travis took a look. “We could
follow the road across the ford, then head south east, following the river,” he
said and then hummed.

Paul nodded. “Okay, I can buy
that, What about crossing the river again though?” Paul asked.

Travis pointed out a ford the
refugees had used. “From here we go east, between the sea and the mountains to
my old village.” He followed the path to the village then looked up. “We might
be able to salvage some materials there,” he suggested and then shrugged. “I
know there are a lot of vehicles, car parts, and metal. Useful parts we may
need later.”

Paul nodded. “Good point.”

“We didn’t explore beyond twenty
kilometers south of the village, so I am not sure what is beyond the hills
here,” Travis pointed.

Jacklynn looked up interested.
“What about having the scouts take some extra fuel and flatbeds to the village
to salvage. When you get there call, I will fly out and refuel, then head out
to search?”

Travis considered her for a
moment and then nodded. “Might work,” he said and then turned to Mitch. “What
do you think Mitch?”

Mitch examined each of them,
seeing Pete’s barely suppressed excitement. The kid was probably holding his
breath he thought wryly. He nodded. “Okay, I can buy that. Sam is almost done
cementing what he can for the year, he might be able to add a bit of a turn off
at the bridge area, maybe even grade a bit and turn back.” He turned to Pete.

“Call the village in the morning,
ask them how far north they have explored, and get a detailed description off
to Travis here.” He gave the Seal a look. “Which one of you is taking lead?” He
looked over to Paul.

Paul raised his hands, shaking
his head. “I am booked for the rest of the year running convoys.”

“Okay Travis, the ball is yours,”
Mitch said.

Travis’s mouth twisted. “Gee
thanks.” Doc snorted.

“I am going to give you three of
the Hummers, and you're going to borrow two of the tractors from Paul.” Paul
started to protest, but Mitch waved him back into his seat. “Candy, you said
the first tractor should be out by Thursday?” Mitch asked, turning to her.

She nodded. “As long as we don’t run
into any missing or damaged parts, yeah. Might take a week or two to iron the
bugs out though,” Candy cautioned.

Mitch nodded. “Yeah, they do take
a while to dial in.” He turned to Paul. “You get to dial in a new truck.” Paul
nodded, smiling slightly at that.

“Travis, you’re going to have a
limited hauling ability, I suggest you take along a couple of the small
trailers for the hummers to haul,” Mitch suggested. Travis didn’t seem happy at
this, and then nodded. “Keep the command vehicle free to act as a ready
reserve,” Mitch explained.

The clouds cleared on Travis’s
face. “All right, that sounds good,” he admitted. He turned to Doc. “I want the
corporal to ride as medic,” he said. She nodded. He turned back to Mitch. “I
want Phyllis and Brian as shooters and mechanic, and one of the Eds.”

Mitch cocked his head. “That is
up to them. This is a volunteer OP,” he said firmly. Travis nodded. Brian
nodded and gave a thumbs up though.

Travis looked thoughtful. “There
are only a dozen vehicles, maybe one camper. We used up all our fuel last
year,” he said and then he shrugged.

“Why only twelve?” Jacklynn
asked.

“Because, for many people the
bank owned their vehicles, or homes, or toys, they weren’t paid for,” Gunny
responded. Mitch nodded.

“This is going to muck up the
survey of Mountain village,” Jacklynn exclaimed smacking her thigh. “Are we
sure about this?”

Travis nodded. “Yeah. I want to
see if we can get there, maybe we can salvage some gear, and if possible make
contact with the eastern village,” he said. Jacklynn nodded.

“Jacklynn, are you up for a
helicopter ride?” Mitch asked.

She gave Mitch a wary look.
“You’re kidding right?”

He shrugged. “Why not? If they
can get the village and set up a portable hydrogen electrolysis system we can
send the helicopter in to take a load back and forth maybe once or twice a
day,” he suggested.

She checked the map. “Okay, it is
what, two hundred eighty five kilometers away?” Jacklynn asked. Travis pointed
the location out to her. She pursed her lips in thought, doing the calculations
in her head. “Might be possible.” She traced her finger through the mountain
pass. “If we do not have to climb with a large load we should be able to get in
and out okay.” She bit her lip. “I am not sure about wind conditions or
weather.” She looked up. “You're saying they are going to take along a fuel
supply?”

He shook his head. “No, I think
an electrolysis machine would be better. They can even set up a couple radio
towers along the way.”

Pete nodded enthusiastically. “I
can go; I know how to do it now,” he volunteered.

Travis gave him a look. “You’re
what, fourteen?”

Pete shook his head no. “Almost.
Thirteen and a half.” Travis looked dubious.

“It is up to Travis Pete,” Doc
and Janet looked non plussed at Mitch’s answer. “I know you will be an asset to
Travis, handling the communications and electronics.”

“Wait, why don’t we fly the
helicopter out direct right off?” Paul asked.

“It only has a limited seven
hundred kilometer range,” Jacklynn responded.

“So, it is two hundred eighty
kilometers one way right?” Pete asked confused.

“Yes, but you always need a
reserve. Besides,” Mitch glanced to Jacklynn. “You also need to factor in
winds.”

She nodded. “And remember, that
is with a minimum load. If I have to haul anything it cuts into the range.”

Pete nodded. “Ohhh okay,” he said
and then scampered off.

“Going to take him?” Mitch asked,
turning to Travis.

“I don’t know. I am leaning
toward it,” Travis answered dryly. “I dunno what would happen if I didn’t bring
him back in one piece though.” He gave the glaring women a cool look.

Three days later Mitch came into
the kitchen and noted Doc curled up in a chair staring out the kitchen window
at the waterfall. Achilles, one of Hera’s first brood was sprawled in the
window sill, drowsy from the sun. Doc was clutching a steaming mug; he smiled
as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “I thought I smelled coffee,” he
commented, and then came up beside her. “Are you worried about them?” he asked
her softly, and then took another sip. A soft affirmative sound and slight jerk
of her head.

“Travis knew what he is doing,”
Mitch said softly to her. He sets his cup down and rubbed her shoulders. She
groaned softly, digging her chin into her chest and arching her back. “They
check in every day, so far they have made it to the pass.”

An “Uh huh,” answered him. He
wasn’t sure if she was more interested in the scouting party or the shoulder
rub now.

He switched to her neck, she
groaned softly in appreciation. “Don’t worry about Petey, he did okay with Paul
when he rode shot gun, he is just stretching his wings a little.” She gave a
small groaning sound, he wasn’t sure if it was in agreement or not.

“So I heard Nicole gave you a
clean bill of health?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Uh honey...” she purred.

He softly snorted. “Been up a
while?”

She groaned. “Since zero three
hundred. Anne had a case of indigestion and was a bit concerned for the baby.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, it can be a
bit scary.” His hands moved down her back, massaging her arched spine.

 He found a lump of muscle on her
right side just under her shoulder blade and massaged it. She groaned softly
and twisted a little. “Damn that felt good. Thanks,” she groaned. He took that
as a dismissal and stopped.

Picking up his cup, he hid his
smile as she arched her back a little then shook her head back and forth. Her
red mane was bound up in a pony tail, it danced about. She turned, dimpled a
little as her freckled face smiled. “Are you here for me to take the cast off?”

He smiled then shrugged. “You’re
the Doc Doc; you can check it when you’re ready. Get some rest. No hurry.” He
gave her a smile, and then looked to the waterfall.

She followed his gaze. “I was
wondering... Why the drawbridge?”

His eyes shifted to the
drawbridge. “It gave me a chance to sneak a few engineering lessons into the
kids,” he replied, giving her a smile. She snorted. “Besides, every castle
needed a drawbridge.” He saluted her. “And of course every castle needed a
fairy tale princess.” He gave a short bow and then left as she chuckled in
appreciation of that compliment.

She watched him go, curious about
that. Lately he had been opening up a little more, acting a little more loose
around her. Now that most of the others had settled down maybe she could give
him a shot.

Jolie came running after dark.
“Travis called in; those shark things have been sighted,” she exclaimed,
extremely concerned. Hurriedly they rushed out down the hall and up the stairs
to the communications room on the third level. A very pregnant Frances was
there, concentrating on her headset.

Mitch picked up a headset.
“...looked like south by south east, out to sea.”

Mitch pressed the transmit
button. “Repeat that Travis?” There was a momentary squelch of static.

“I said, the shark things are in
the water. We made it across the ford and made camp on a hill overlooking the
sea.” There was another squelch of static. “I can see, ten, maybe fifteen fins
heading out to sea now.”

Doc sucked in a breath. “Are they
okay?” Mitch waved her back and gave her a quick nod and thumbs up.

“You said they were heading South
by South East?”

“Ten four.” Mitch nodded. Maggie
made a note to bring to Doctor Mallard.

Frances signed off and handed
Mitch her tablet. He took a look, scrolled through the report, and then handed
it to Maggie. She whistled, and then e-mailed the report to Doctor Mallard and
her own in box.

“What?” Doc asked, getting
exasperated.

“Well, it seems after Travis’s
team settled in on a hilltop for the night and the perimeter guard spotted the
sharks in the river. They swam out to sea,” Mitch replied.

“Out to sea? Does that mean we
are rid of them?” she asked, excited.

“For the rest of this year most
likely,” Mitch replied. He pulled up a map. “But based on this they had to have
come from the mountain pass, not the ones near Copper town,” he said and
grimaced with her.

“Could they come here?” Janet
asked, suddenly scared.

“I do not know how far they can
swim in fresh water Janet, it is possible.” He waved in the direction of the
river. “Travis is on it, he and Gunny are instituting corrections to our
security to make sure they do not get inside our perimeter,” Mitch replied.
Janet and Doc looked relieved.

“We need a playground for the
kids,” Anne said, dodging one of the brats as they ran around.

Mitch looked up from peeling potatoes.
“Hmm, what about right there in the courtyard?” He wiped his hands and led her
to the hall. He pointed out the window, to the left corner. “We can put it
right there. We have steel and plastic now, so we can do some steel tubes for a
jungle gym.”

She cocked her head. “Might
work,” she said looking at the indicated area for a moment and then she smiled.
It was perfect really, right out the window. “I think it would be appropriate
with these monkeys,” she teased one of the kids, and then sent her scampering.

He nodded. “Well, we can also tap
the plastics and make some other things. Swings, slides, and such,” he mused.
She nodded.

One of the older kids looked up.
“A playground?” He started to get excited.

Anne gave Mitch a resigned look.
“Guess you’re committed now,” she replied in amused resignation. He shrugged
and laughed as the boy rushed off to tell the others. The adults made their way
through the sudden mob of excited kids back to the kitchen.

“Yeah, well we aren’t doing it
today, why don’t you go draw what you want to play on?” Mitch finally told
them.

When that idea only got rid of a
few Anne pulled out the ultimate weapon. “Okay I need volunteers to muck out
the animals I guess all of you want to help right?”

“EWWW!!” Kids exploded away from
them in all directions and then down the hall.

He grinned, “You know that isn’t
going to work forever right?” he asked as he put the peelings in the compost
bin.

She shrugged. “Worked this time,”
she said with a slight grin. She gave him a sniff then headed off. He chuckled
as he got back to the potatoes.

Mitch came into the barn and
immediately covered his ears when the din fully registered. The noise was
almost as bad as in the garage and machine shops. He looked over to Maggie,
mucking out a stall.

A Struthiomimus stuck its head up
over a fence; he felt a rumble as its legs hit the walls. He called to Maggie
who was near, then went over and patted her on the shoulder. She looked up
startled and pulled one I pod headphone out of her ear. “What?”

He snorted. A cow bawled. “Sean
said you wanted to talk?”

“What?”

He motioned her to follow. She
set the rake aside and did so.

Out in the garage the loud
grinding drove them back. The Great Hall was occupied by a class so he motioned
her up and led her to the hallway near the mushrooms. “Okay, as I was saying,”
He turned to her. ”Sean said you were looking for me?” She nodded. “What
about?” he asked curiously.

“We need to work on your breeding
program,” she replied. He nodded. The door to the mushroom chamber opened; he
scowled as Dora and Brian tip toed out with clothes obviously mussed.

He sighed. “I don’t quite think
that was the breeding program you had in mind.... you were saying?” She shook
her head in amusement. The kids looked a bit chagrined.

“We need to bring in some aurochs
to supplement the diet here. We have every cow producing, but only a handful of
bulls. Eventually we are going to want more.” She threw her hands as wide as
the hall allowed.

He nodded. “Yeah, Mike wanted a
herd too now that they are stable,” he replied.

She looked exasperated. “MIKE?”

 He shrugged. “We may have to
have him wait, maybe do a couple sperm milkings of one of the bulls before
sending it to him. Keep the semen on ice.”

She nodded relieved. “Should
work, good insurance too.

He smiled. “As for cows, well, I
am not too happy about losing any right now.” He shrugged. “Goats on the other
hand, maybe a couple.”

She nodded. “We can send him some
struthiomimus and protoceratops too.”

He gave her a look. “Not happy
about that project?”

She shook her head. “Oh no, one
thousand pound over grown wild turkeys? One hundred pound drum sticks? Who
wouldn’t be?”

He chuckled. “So, you want to get
some, I am assuming auroch cows? To act as what? Surrogate mothers?”

She nodded. “Yeah, you have some
nice embryos going to waste in the freezer. I want to bring in some of them,
and broaden our gene pool.”

He nodded, “Good idea, if they
can carry them to term. We lost a few this year after Janet and I did the
implants last year.”

She nodded and got a thoughtful
look. “I think we should try a donor egg and sperm from one of our existing
animals though.” She cocked her head in thought.

“Good idea. That way, if it
doesn’t work, we can work on it, and not lose an embryo.” He nodded in
agreement.

She shrugged. “What about the
horses?”

“I want to send some of the
geldings on, and maybe one of the stallions.”

 She looked dubious, and then
nodded. “Yeah, that would free up some room. We need to get some space soon.”

He nodded. “Next year we will
expand the barns, double or triple their size, maybe move them all out to
dedicated quarters,” he replied. She looked wide eyed. “What? It isn’t that
hard to make forms and pour concrete. We can do the floor and walls, then buy
tile from Jack to do the roofs,” he explained. Her face cleared and she nodded.

“We already sent chickens, goats,
and rabbits along to each of the villages. The geese aren’t doing well,” she
sighed. “I dunno what is going wrong. It seems like some avian flu, but it only
has affected the turkeys and the geese!” She threw her hands up in the air. “I
have them quarantined, but it just concentrates the problem. Hopefully it isn’t
air born or we are all in trouble.”

He got a worried look at that.
“Get with doc and that biochemist. See if they can isolate and culture it...
Then check and see if we have the cure for avian flu, and if it would help.
Maybe immunize them with it?” he asked and then shrugged. He knew when he was
out of his element.

She nodded. “Wont help the geese
though,” she cautioned.

Mitch sighed. “No, but it might
save the chickens and struthiomimus.” He looked off down the hall then back.
“Who knew, the mimus’s or those therapods of Jeff’s might have been the source
of contagion.”

She gave him an alarmed look. “We
didn’t think of that!”

He sighed. “It could also be
prions. Have Doc check for that. If she needed a human guinea pig for a blood
test, have her call me.” Maggie nodded and left.

“We have signs of herd migration
here boss,” Security called in. The base AI echoed the report.

He snorted. He'd been expecting
the great migration when the cold snap hit and took hold. “All right, I will be
right there.” The hoist dropped the drive train the last few centimeters into
the frame of the truck. Bill gave him a thumbs up then moved to slip the bolts
into the motor mounts. It seemed that the work on the vehicles had gotten Bill
and Candy back into staying... at least for now.

Mitch signaled to Candy that he
was taking a break then grabbed a towel to wipe his hands. Outside he took a
look around, spotted a flock of people heading out to the perimeter. He
snorted. He grabbed a ride on the back of Janet’s horse. At the edge of the
perimeter she pulled up, suddenly having problems from the fractious horse.
People began to arrive behind her. Some want to climb the wall, but he waved
them back.

Vance and his crew had been busy.
The perimeter had changed since last year, now it had a six meter tall concrete
wall and two meter deep moat in some sections. The wall was far from complete,
but it was enough to deter the dinosaurs from climbing or stepping over it. A
few of the Terran group moved off to see through gaps in the wall where only
fencing was.

Mitch snorted. The trumpeting
call of a sauropod stopped some in their tracks. One of the sauropods raised
its head up and up, towering over the wall. It snorted, blasting pale green
mucus, then continued on. Mitch could just see the top of the animal’s shoulders
over the highest point of the wall. That was a good sign it was tall enough. Of
course it could still try to walk through it, or like the six legged hammerhead
giants, walk
over
it or through the gate.