Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 3 - New Shores (20 page)

Samantha and Dan looked in on the bridge to inform him that several scientists had been taken across to the Trader ship to continue to learn what they could about their more advanced technology. Steve noted that the scientists comprised most of the mission team that had decided to stay on Earth, even if it meant two months’ quarantine with Ian Ridge and the soldiers guarding the equipment supplied by the Traders.

Samantha had left for several minutes before returning with his lunch, and Dan had looked at Steve’s list until she returned. As Steve ate his lunch, Dan and Samantha looked at the list of ships and added a few suggestions of their own. Dan fielded a call from Steve’s mobile phone, identified himself and listened for a moment before he passed the call to Steve.

‘Mr. Colwyn, thank you for returning my call. So I assume you understand the urgency in my request?’

Steve listened with evident satisfaction, as he got the three ships with volunteers he requested as well as several older barges and lighters that were available as a bonus. He then thanked the shipping director as he finished the call and turned to the next names in his list as he commented.

‘Two of the three ships are reasonably new, but the barges and lighter are very old. The shipping companies are keen to offload their older vessels to the colony. However we can always recycle the older ships if we can melt them down.’

Dan looked across at his sister as he replied to Steve’s comment.

‘That is certainly true Steve, and we should be able to go into a high technology capability for energy production within about twenty years. I think the shipping companies are keen to offload the older vessels as the underwriters will then get these ships off their books. The ships can be quickly donated, delisted and their values written off.’

Steve considered his list further as he listened to Dan’s reply and made a telling observation.

‘The colony effort will kick start the world’s economy after the epidemic as the new Trader technology is assimilated and infrastructure is upgraded. We will be elsewhere, but Earth shall be an interesting place to live over the next few decades.’

Samantha looked introspective and sad for a moment as she commented.

‘We are so rushed in setting up the colony and I am scared we will forget to take something we all could need one day. No matter how many people or ships go through we will always be a leaf cast into a stream, even with the best intentions of the Maveen and Traders.’

Dan first looked at Steve, who had placed his arms around Samantha, before he replied to Samantha’s quiet insight.

‘I understand your view point too well Samantha. The colonists will be roughing it for several years before we built can sizeable towns. Our technology will now be following the best way forward to building a sustainable and modern civilization. However I am willing to bet that the arts, literature and crafts of Earth will not be forgotten.’

Samantha looked thoughtful for a moment, before looking at the time and then excused herself with a few quick comments.

‘I will go and make a few calls to find out what we can take across from a cultural and arts perspective. I am still awaiting additional medical personnel and their equipment. Steve, I will check again with the bank about selling the house.’

Dan also excused himself as he now had to ensure that the fish pens were ready for transfer to the colony. Steve then resumed his efforts in contacting additional ship owners, as John Robertson looked again out the bridge windows and noted the longer lines of ships and larger boats still converging on the gate way.

                                                            ***

Troy van Essen calmly drove the large excavator off the low loader, and ensured that the cabin door was closed as he set the excavator on an unhurriedly crawl towards the bush. The morning’s instructions to the large road crew team from Commander Paul Wilson at the Sydney command post had lengthy and concise. Troy played them again through his mind as he by habit checked the gauges and briefly dabbed the hand controls to lift the digging arm half a meter.

‘You are all to stay in your vehicles until relieved every four hours. Two people were eaten last night after roaming around in the bush and we are burying what is left this afternoon. You will not burn, destroy or damage any areas of the bush that are not marked. This is what the Maveen want and trust me you do not want to upset them. We urgently want the West road to the coast completed so we can reach the ships still arriving and we have limited resources. So be careful with your equipment…’

Troy continued to drive the excavator along the new track started yesterday by bulldozers that had headed further along the track. Every so often the track veered to clear rocky outcrops and he stopped off the track next to the first large outcrop that was well inside the markers and set to work. After half an hour a large dump truck came along the track and parked to one side near the array of boulders the excavator had torn from the outcrop. Troy soon had the excavator loading the boulders for the truck to take back to the large crusher they had put together at the edge of the clearing.

                                                            ***

Vic Mitchell and his sons were armed, and in their most reliable four wheel drive as they nosed along the animal track that James Mudbury had mentioned upon his return. Vic had been really impressed with James’s survival efforts, though he was now under guard with the girls back at the main clearing. Vic was hopeful that this would allow James to smooth things over with his sister, who had been the last person to come through the Perth gate way.

Vic and his sons had earlier answered an instruction to appear at the command post and they arrived in time for the morning’s quick briefing. The instructions from Gavin Lewis at the Perth command post to the mornings gathering of men had been concise. Apparently the same warnings now applied for all the other gateway locations in similar clearings around the colony. Gavin had been preoccupied with getting the Perth road crew going on a West road to the coast. However he had called Vic aside and introduced himself.

‘So you are Vic Mitchell, and you are James’s fiancées uncle? I am Gavin Lewis.’

The two men shook hands and Gavin spoke again.

‘I cannot let James into your care just yet, as I am anticipating orders for him to instead return to Earth. Now I understand you previously ran a timber business and I need to get a suitable supply of good timber organized urgently. The weather may change over the next day or so, and I would like to obtain an idea of what is available in the bush beforehand.’

Vic had been given further instructions to stay safe and only make a quick survey as Gavin had to ensure the Maveen were happy with any timber they removed first. As the four wheel drive headed out across a small clearing some distance now from their new home, a medium sized megalania reared up to hungrily watch them before it raced off into the bush. Paul kept his eyes on the animal track as the four wheel drive soon reached the other side of the clearing. He stopped the car and regarded the tall trees he could now see as he spoke.

‘Forgive me if I refuse to get out and survey those trees on foot. We have good jarrah and blackbutt trees in that lot. They do not look too large to mill either.’

Vic gave a grin at his son’s wit as he replied in kind, as Paul was the wittier and more outgoing of his older two boys.

‘Yeah, we are not to feed the wild life with ourselves. James was spot on with his directions. The access is reasonable and we can start harvesting and hauling out once we get the go ahead and before the weather breaks. The mill and drying racks will take some time to setup but we can do that in the clearing when it is raining.’

Rick, who seemed several years older then Paul but was only two years older, also ran his practiced eye around the trees further along the clearing before he quietly spoke.

‘The racks can even be green timber from these trees, so we can save the good timber for the drying shed and mill buildings. Now a couple of trees further along look like karri trees, however they are subtlety different, as the shape and bark color is not quite right. We should photo those as well to show the biologists.’

The men took several digital photos while still in the car and then drove off to find the stream that James had also mentioned.

                                                            ***

Jackson Bryan looked up from his new map of Barede and over the clear ground at his team members being guarded by troopers as they performed their survey duties. He had started the day late, as he had been at the early morning briefing which Gavin Lewis had interrupted in reply to an urgent summons. His group meeting with the troop commander had been delayed, as a man had been escorted under guard into the command post, and Jackson recognized James who had taken to the bush two days ago.

After the meeting he had to wait around for several minutes, while Gavin spoke to a hardy older man that that Jackson recognized as the owner of the mill they were building on the south side of the main field. He patiently waited for a further half hour as the troop commander had then spoken to Phoebe, the attractive young biologist who was always flying off or driving off somewhere to check the diverse range of wildlife at the colony. Finally Gavin finished speaking with Phoebe and she moved away purposely, though she did give Jackson a warm smile. Jackson returned the smile and now strode into the command post where he was greeted by the troop commander.

‘Sorry for the delay, but I had to get the folks who are away longer setup first. Now you have my condolences to you and your team for the man who was killed during the survey yesterday. Also thanks once again for the quick road survey.’

Jackson looked over at the still unfinished map that Gavin had scanned over as he had spoken to him.

‘Yet another life lost senselessly Gavin. We lost that fellow because he forgot the rules and got out of his truck in front of a lizard. So you wanted to see me about something urgent?’

Gavin pointed to two locations on the map that indicated large clearings near a medium sized river before he spoke. Jackson noted that the locations were a good distance west towards the coast, though not on the coast itself.

‘I want you and your team to take three helicopters and survey for a suitable town site at either of these locations. The ground cannot be solid rock underneath as we have to lay pipes and foundations, the river must be accessible, and a fresh water stream or two would be nice.’

Jackson was brought back into the present moment as one of laborers removed the small hand auger from a hole and reported about his efforts. His team had arrived at the second location after the first site a distance now east had turned out to be unsuitable as the ground was too rocky.

‘That is the eighth hole and there is no rock within three meters of the surface in any of the holes.’

Jackson looked over at the long bluff to the west of his location around which the river slowly flowed towards the south west. He then took in the gently rising slope to his north for a moment, and could see that the top of the slope ran west to east with little change for several kilometers. He turned around as one of the junior surveyors returned from the river with two armed troopers. He held a long weighted line that was roughly tied off at one meter intervals and looked excited at what he had discovered. Jackson once again marveled that through out the colony simple solutions were being used before complex technology was involved as he listened to the report.

‘The edge of the river here has a long rock wall, and all along the wall the river is over ten meters deep within three meters of the wall. I think the wall is stable and there are no large undercuts. Now unless we have obstructions elsewhere in the river, we can dock ships here after very little work.’

Jackson first thanked the surveyor and made his own observations.

‘Thanks for getting that answer so quickly Tyson. Apart from the river rock wall this place reminds of Perth, down to the bluff to the west and the direction of the gentle slope to our north. Now we will stay together now and check out that bluff for any streams before we place markers and begin the formal survey.’

Jackson led his team with a sense of both purpose and anticipation as he reflected that it was not every day you got to survey a site for a new city.

                                                            ***

Phoebe Roberts led her team of biologists in the middle of the day further into the dense tree line, as around them two squads of troopers kept a watchful eye for predators. The last few days had been grueling as the team sought to identify as much of the biology of the colony as they could as soon as possible. In truth the only breaks she had taken had been to enquire if her sister Susan had turned up at the colony. For she knew her sister had been in custody over her media escapade in Western Australia last week. Her team had been transported by helicopter one hundred kilometers east into the higher range of hills that eventually led to a significant mountain range even further east.  Phoebe was conscious of the need to both stay on top of potential threats and to recognize opportunities for the colony.

Gavin had specified that they were to leave this area by mid afternoon after the timber search and then search for suitable oil bearing cereal plants in other clearings on the way back. Fortunately the Megalania appeared to favor more open ground near the main camp, and the Thylacoleo were either asleep or fled as the large party of humans travelled past. Phoebe paused as she scanned a series of very tall trees that came now into view. She noted that several different tree forms were now present before she turned to speak with one of her research assistants.

‘Sharon, these trees are a species of karri I have not seen before, as I estimate they are considerably larger than the ones I have seen in southern Western Australia. We will stop for fifteen minutes and obtain bark samples before we head back to the helicopters….’