Second Chances (105 page)

They arrived just before dark. Steve Wasabi met her plane, practically bouncing as she got off. He grabbed her vet bag and dragged her to their barn.

“She still hasn't popped yet?” Maggie asked. Steve was a tall kid, just at the cusp of his hitting puberty. If he kept growing, he'd shoot past the six-foot mark before he turned 16 she thought.

She rather regretted Marjorie Jordan's death in childbirth. The woman had been a vet tech, but she'd been an experienced one. Apparently Steve had attempted to fill in to cover for the lost woman for the community.

“No. I found the chains you said to get. Just in case. Evan lent them to me. He said to wash them when we're done.”

“Lovely,” Maggie said. “We'll need to wash up. We'll also need a pull bar and a winch of some sort. A ratchet type is the best,” she said. He nodded. She went in and saw the Holstein, a pretty doe eyed thing almost as wide as she was long. “You are in a fix aren't you missy?” she asked, looking at the sad thing. That was the problem with modern feed and modern breeds, the fetus became so large they sometimes were too large to fit through the birth canal. She shook her head. “Okay, let's see if we can get junior out.”

“Do you think the calf is still alive?” Steve asked.

“I doubt it. Normally in cases like this it's dead after the first hour or so. We'll see. There is hope,” she said.

Steve pulled Sue, Richard, and a few other volunteers in to help with the birthing. It was a messy hard labor intensive business to wrestle the cow to where they wanted it to be, run the exam, and then get to work. Maggie had to use chains and the pull bar to get the large calf out of uterus. She was amused that it was a bull, and to her further amusement, alive. It was a bigun. “Lady, you have some rather nasty stretch marks,” Maggie said, shaking her head as Sue helped the calf to stand. “Get his airways clear,” she ordered. Sue nodded. “I'll stitch momma's torn uterus up.”

“That was one hell of a work out,” Richard panted. “But I can see it was worth it,” he said, looking at the calf. He grimaced as he tried not to step in the afterbirth. “Someone get a pail and deal with that,” he ordered, looking at one of the kids.

Maggie glanced at him then Steve. Steve made a show of shrugging. She pursed her lips but didn't say anything. As long as the mess was cleared, she didn't care who did it. “She'll need some water, she's probably dehydrated. Sugar water would help get some of her energy back quicker. Do you have vitamin and mineral supplements?”

Sue looked up and shook her head no. “Okay, then, we'll have to keep an eye out for that,” she said as she walked over to a pail and used the water in it to clean her shoulder length plastic gloves off carefully. It wasn't perfect but it was the best she could do apparently. “If she doesn't bounce back and drink in the next half hour, let me know. I'll come back and give her a couple injections to perk her up,” she told Sue. Sue nodded. “All right, what's next?” She said, expectantly turning to Steve.

“We've got a couple issues, including a calf with a weird face,” Steve said, wrinkling his nose. “And a couple lame animals for you to look at if you've got the energy.”

“I'm not jet lagged. Let's get going. I don't like animals in pain. Pay attention though,” she told Steve as she put her gear away. He nodded dutifully. “There will be a quiz,” she warned. He blinked and then paled a bit. She winked at Sue in passing and then left the stall behind Steve.

Chapter 47

With the burning need for fuel, polyp vines were cultivated for their juice in the various communities. They were located in the wild and then transplanted to vineyards where it would be safe to cultivate and pick the ripe fruit.

Carlos at Colonel Dunn's fortress had the most success cultivating vine clippings in the greenhouses his people had set up. His success was largely due to pestering Hejira for advice on the set up and steps involved. The botanist was testy over the constant interruptions, wanting more time to bond with her daughter. Sandra was sympathetic and tried to help filter the calls.

Communities in outlying areas finished planting and then went to work building makeshift airstrips. The process was not easy for some of the communities or safe with the animals around. Many do not have the proper equipment or location. Most of the makeshift airstrips were flattened stretches near their village. Jacklynn was cursed out when she landed her Antonov at the Jewish Mountain settlement. What she had thought was the airstrip she had used in the fall the previous year had turned out to be a newly planted farm field. They had relocated her airstrip to another location.

“Oops.” She shook her head. “Next time mark it better,” she said, rubbing her back. Now she understood why the landing had been so bumpy. She'd thought the plane was going to flip over twice during that hairy landing.

She spent the day helping them move her aircraft to the proper landing field, then set up an old rag of a t-shirt as an improvised windsock flag to help her judge the wind speed and direction. In exasperation she borrowed a shovel and went about filling in ruts and potholes on the strip they had laid out for her. The people in the community watched; no one lent a hand. When she took off she radioed Jolie and told her to ask Sam to do a better job with the community's runway when he got there.

“If he gets there,” Jolie said. “I'm not sure he will. He might. And they have to pay for it. He made it clear he's done volunteering his time and equipment with little thanks,” she said.

“Great,” Jackie replied with a sigh. “Well, as a personal favor to me, I'd appreciate it if he'd do it. Until then I'm not taking this plane or anything else to that strip. It's a mess,” she said.

With so much organic fuel being made and so many communities interested in air trade, Mitch green lit Candy and Bill to build more aircraft, as well as drones. Crash Town built its first runway; they radioed that it was ready for business after a week. “Yeah, now we just need to get there,” Jackie said.

The Falklands also expanded their runway. They lacked large supplies of timber, and what they did have was earmarked for their wall and buildings, but they had worked with Brian over the radio to make a cement. They coated the runway in the cement and used rocks and mortar to begin the foundations and walls of a series of hangars and outbuildings.

With all the competition, Colonel Dunn reluctantly expanded his own facilities. His plan to put Sam to work on the project was derailed when Sam made it clear he was staying local.

Sam's road crew improved the roads to the Swedish Mountain Town north of them. When they had finished grading the road he turned his attention to the road leading to Iron Village, adding gravel and widening some sections. He made it clear his plan was to take head on up to the Jewish Village then return the same route the first month. The following month he planned on improving the road to the graphite mine and then the road headed down to Copper and East Village. “I'll figure out which fork I want to take when we get there,” he radioed.

“We've got two more bridges for you to set up, Sam,” Brian radioed him.

“Thanks kid,” Sam said. The bridges they were using were a mix of cement structure and a military design worked out during and after World War 2. Called the Mabey Logistic Support Bridge, it was the successor to the popular Bailey Bridge of WW2. The bridge design was made up of modular truss and roadbed components designed to handle heavy loads and to be built on site very quickly.

They still lacked sufficient steel to make all the bridge components out of steel, so some of the panels were made out of carbon fiber or plastic. They were painted in marine grade paint to keep the elements at bay for as long as possible.

With the bridge system they could set up straight shots across the rivers and creeks on the paths to the various communities, not divert to a fording place. The straighter roads would cut down on travel time but it would risk animals using the roads and bridges as game trails.

The first news of the herds returning came from Evan at East Village two and a half months into spring. “Better late than never,” Mitch murmured.

“What pisses me off is no one else reported them coming!” Jolie snarled.

“I wonder why?” Mitch asked. He shrugged it off and went back to work.

Colonel Dunn and the other communities in his area hadn't seen fit to report it over the radio network. Jolie made some hay about the oversight until she got tired of it and let the matter fade. Base saw the return of the herds a few days after East Village's report. Everyone was too busy working on various spring projects to watch them.

------*------

Once they had gotten to East Village, Rozerita had found that there were no planes headed south to Dunn's fortress and the colonel wasn't willing to waste critical fuel to fly an aircraft up to them to pick them up. They had to wait for a convoy to Prairie, an agonizing two weeks.

She had to support her family in the interim as well; something she hadn't anticipated in her haste to leave. She found work with Claudia the local domestic manager and Sue Charles the ranch foreman. She also found work for Miguel as an assistant handyman. The other kids did their part planting and weeding or fetching and carrying things.

Two weeks to the day of their arrival a convoy arrived from Prairie. There were three pickup trucks and one SUV, all rusted and outfitted with improvised armor. It took a bit of sweet talking and the offer of being the camp cook for the group as they returned to Prairie.

They stopped to camp twice, once at nightfall and the second time when a storm threatened to hit. Each time they camped out on the high ground. Everyone was nervous as they parked the vehicles in a circle. Rozerita was fairly sure no one slept more than an hour or two throughout the long night. She had forgotten the terror of being out in the open. Memories of their journey to base, of her beloved husband's death came flooding back to her. She cuddled with Ruby, Fernando, and Ricardo Junior all night. Miguel stayed up and took his turn at watch.

Prairie was a hard town, one made up of sod walls and hard faces. Fortunately they weren't there a day before a nice black man named Junkyard Joe showed up with a load of material and drove them back to Dunn's fortress.

Rozerita was excited as they bumped along on the dirt road. Occasionally Joe would blow his horn to scare off animals in the way. He had rigged some very loud air horns to the truck; just about everything ran when he hit that switch to turn them on. He let each of the kids try it once and then reserved their use for when they needed it. “You can go deaf with this thing,” he explained. She nodded. The kids were scared but weren't immune to her excitement. She realized Miguel was still sullen; she resented it. He'd been that way the entire trip, and it was starting to affect the other kids. She hoped he got over it soon enough. It was getting old.

Their first impressions of the fortress were hardly complimentary. “What a shithole,” Miguel growled in disgust. Joe shot him a look but then set his jaw. Rozerita reminded them to keep an open mind. “This is our new home; don't get them angry with you,” she murmured. She tried to rub Miguel's shoulders, but he angrily threw her arm off. “I know it's not Capital Base. You need to focus on the here and now and stop comparing everything to that place,” she said.

But even she was taken aback by the grim faces and hard living once they pulled to a stop inside the walls. “Welcome!” a familiar female voice said. Rozerita turned to smile at a pardaro woman. “I'm Ciara, and welcome home. We don't have a hacienda for you, but we'll improvise something,” she said. Ciara teased her about the soft living in Capital Base. The Estaban family looked around like tourists.

“You'll get used to it,” Ciara said. “Come on, let's go,” she said as they gathered up their luggage. “You do have a lot,” she said.

“We've got our stuff. Wardrobe,” Ruby said. “Winter gear too for later. And Miguel has his tablet and tools,” she said, looking at her older brother.

“He does, does he?” Ciara asked, looking at the boy. “Well, I'll see if Jake or someone can get with you and put you to work shortly.”

“What is the school like?” Ruby asked.

“School? Oh, we don't have a formal school here,” Ciara said, waving a hand. “Don't worry about it. You'll be in daycare for the time being. We'll have you out in the fields doing grown up things soon enough,” she said airily as she motioned them to follow.

“Where is Juan?” Rozerita asked as they walked.

“Out and about,” Ciara said absently. “I think he's on guard duty. His wife keeps a close eye on him,” she said. That brought Rozerita up short. She blinked then felt her heart sink. “You can check in with him later I suppose, just don't get too close, Tia's likely to tear your eyes out if you do. We don't need that sort of drama, believe me,” Ciara said, shaking her head. “As soon as we get the kids off to daycare, Diego wants you to get to work on the tannery. El jefe said you are some sort of expert. He wants to see what you can do improving it. When you are done with the tour there, Carmencita will show you where you'll work as a cobbler, then the other chores you are expected to perform...”

------*------

Paul made a run to East just as they got word that the Estaban family had made it to Dunn's fortress safely. “Well, glad they made it,” Mitch said.

“Think Evan will appreciate the crop duster?” Sandra asked as he gave her a back and neck rub.