Second Chances (65 page)

Jacklynn sent in additional flights transferring people, gear. Jamal returned to Copper Town as the resident pilot with one of the newly constructed aircraft. Angie flew in the repaired long range drone. She then sent the plane out in another spiral search pattern. “Hopefully, this time we don't have any crashes,” she muttered.

“Yeah,” Jamal said, watching the screen anxiously. They didn't find any more leviathans, but they did find two things even more promising. On the second day they found a settlement northwest of Copper Town in the hills on the other side of the river.

They noted the people farming the hills. One or two looked up and waved to the aircraft watching it with a hand covering their eyes before they shrugged it off and went back to work. “Apparently the novelty wore off or something.”

“They are burning daylight,” Angie said.

“True. Gotta get the plants into the ground,” Jamal said, rolling his shoulders. He'd gotten caught up in the all-hands call to plant the fields around the town. It had been a mix of manual and mechanical labor. He'd laid on his tummy in the bed of a truck planting and weeding until he'd gotten thoroughly sick of the jouncing and someone else took a turn at it.

The second find came after Angie returned to the base. Jamal had pushed the drone north, right up to its bingo line with the intent of recovering at Capital Base. Angie had been furious until he'd excitedly radioed his findings. She'd dubiously checked the telemetry feed, then the sensor feed when the drone got closer to dump the data. That got stupefied her for a long minute before she'd put in an urgent call to Mitch.

Mitch came in with Brian and looked at the small video as Angie grinned triumphantly. “Life finds a way!” She said, waving a hand to the image. “But I'm surprised that this one is in the mountains near Capital Base. We've missed it all this time!”

“Well, you found it now. Good work.”

“Jamal's work. He went on a hunch. He pushed the drone pretty far. Fortunately, it's got a tail wind coming back,” Angie said. “We may not get it all the way back though.” She shook her head. Mitch checked the readings and grunted. Jamal had indeed pushed the aircraft further than he liked. Hopefully it would be worth it.

“They've still got snow,” Angie said, waving a hand. “If this is real.” Brian nodded, still silently staring intently at the image.

“It's cold,” Mitch said absently. “I had a log cabin at one time. Up in Big Bear. Nice,” he said nodding to the image. He spotted snow in the shadows and low lying areas. “Yup, snow. They are high enough up that I bet it doesn't get above sixty during the day. Fifty tops I bet. And the temperatures probably drop below freezing at night. They may have snow for another month or so,” he observed, studying the palisade. She was right; it was manmade or made by someone. From the look of it human, the doors in the log cabins looked about human size.”

“We looked there!” Angie said aggrieved. “We did! I know we did! We looked!” She waved her hands in impatient disgust.

“Apparently not well enough,” Mitch said mildly. He looked at the still frame and then moved it to the center display. Then he frowned and passed it to the holo emitter. The volumetric display device kicked on dimming the lights automatically. The computer crunched the algorithms, using the graphics processors to convert the image to the new display format.

“I love this thing,” Angie said, sounding amused and still a little awed.

“I know, right?” Mitch asked. He liked playing with exploded diagrams or 3D maps. It wasn't quite as good as Tony Stark had in the movies, but it was still cool.

After a moment the image appeared, then the computer used the various stills, sensor feeds, and radar readings to plot the image in 3 dimensions. The image moved until it was on the slope properly. “See? They had it here but had trees around,” Mitch said, pointing the terrain out. “They are right in a forest, there are trees growing right up the slope. The palisade wasn't there when we passed before,” he said frowning. He pulled up the previous footage of the area and then ran a comparison. Nothing stood out except the snow around the ground in the new image. Apparently the white had helped Angie see the palisade. That or its shadow. “Maybe, maybe not. It could have blended in or been covered by nearby trees.”

“We can ask them!” Angie said, excited for the new contact.

“You aren't going to land there Angie, no way,” Mitch said, shaking his head. She frowned. “It's a forest on sloping hills and a mountain,” he told her patiently.

She blinked then visibly deflated. “Oh.”

“That means we've got to send in someone with vehicles to make contact. Which means finding a way...a
safe
way to get there,” Mitch said. “And remember forest?”

“Yeah?” She asked, sounding a bit exasperated.

“The lobster things?” Mitch said, dropping a broad hint. She flinched. He nodded as she looked up, now biting her lip in concern. “Right. We haven't run into any lately, but we know they are out there. Mike's reported a few in the woods around Iron Village, I can just image what these people have to deal with,” he said, indicating the forest dwellers.

She turned to stare at the image, then reached out a hand to touch the log cabin as the bird's eye view rotated around the wooden fort. “To live in a place like that. I mean...” She shook her head.

“They've got skills,” Brian said, pointing out some detail work on the log cabins. Someone had carved shapes into the logs. “Good skills. I bet they could give Julio Mercia lessons,” he said.

“No doubt. We'll know more when we make contact,” Mitch said. “Angie, go over area, see if you can use the ground mapping to find a path to them.”

“Roger,” Angie said with a nod.

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

Phyllis took Sara and a small group and borrowed two hummers to head north. She followed the trail to the old Amazon Village, then cut west staying in the lowlands of the hills to the south of her until she got to the base of the mountain where the mountain village had been spotted.

They stopped at the base of the mountain and used a medium drone to scout for a safe way up with the hummers. Apparently their trip had been observed from above; two of the mountain folk came down to meet them.

They shook hands in the field and spoke a bit. She was impressed by Olaf; he was a hardy man, big and broad but quiet spoken. He barely spoke as his wife Inga chatted on and on with Sara. From what Phyllis had picked up, the mountain village had been settled by people from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. Two of the group had worked in a lumber yard making custom log cabins. They had carved all sorts of things for the fortress. A palisade as well as log homes all with chain saws. Their only medic was a dental hygienist named Christi Lief. They were good hardy people.

“It looks like Mike's got a competitor in the timber industry,” Phyllis reported over the radio the next day.

“Did you get to the village?” Pete asked eagerly.

“No. It's steep going up that slope; no way we can do it in a truck. Not without cutting a road. They aren't thrilled about that, apparently any sort of game trail is an invitation to those lobster predators. The only safe way to go through the bush is to take your time and go the long hard way.”

“Oh,” Pete said, sounding disappointed.

“The good news is, they are willing and eager to trade.”

“But you said no road...”

“It will be limited. I sent them up one of Mitch's care packages. They couldn't carry much. They said it's safer in small groups, so we'll have to figure out some sort of trade here. They've got a radio now.”

“Cool!” Pete said.

“Don't get your hopes up kid. They barely speak English. I'm glad I had Sara along,” Phyllis said, grinning at the girl. “Where did you learn that? What was it, Swedish?” she asked.

“Yes,” Sara nodded. “My family has family in Wisconsin and the Midwest states. Many emigrated from Sweden a long time ago, but some roots go deep,” she said with a shrug. “My gram and gramps insisted on teaching me,” she said. “Some of my cousins barely spoke English. A couple spoke Dutch!” she said in amusement. “Think about that. Speaking Dutch and Swedish in America.”

“Everyone has the right to speak a language. One they are comfortable with,” Mitch said, cutting in. “But that is there. And for the record I'm glad your grandparents taught you. It certainly came in handy.”

“That it did,” Phyllis said, smiling in approval to the girl. Sara squirmed, blushing. “They asked if we could come back in a month to trade again. They'll try to stage stuff somewhere nearby.”

“They can carve a treat!” Sara said, holding up a small figurine Inga had given her. It looked like a milk maid. She had another, Olaf had carved a sauropod and even painted it in garish colors. She was pretty sure the kids would get a big kick out of it. “Inga said they are making paper by the way. If they can get some mechanical support they could make a lot for export. If we had something to trade in return,” she said.

“We've got that covered,” Mitch said.

“Paper?” Pete asked, looking up. “We don't need it for a newspaper but TP? That's awesome!” He said grinning.

Mitch looked his way and then snorted. “Understood. We'll work something out with Paul. And I'll have Sam grade a road to them.”

“Good!” Sara said, leaning over to get her two cents worth in again. “That road across the fields was a pain in the ass and suspension,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“The plants and water are filling in the puddles. We hit some pretty good potholes,” Phyllis expanded, rubbing the small of her back. Sara jumped in to give her a rub. She smiled her thanks to the girl. “I'm afraid I banged up your truck again. Lisa's not going to be happy.”

“Lisa's never happy with fixing dents,” Mitch said with a laugh. “She'll get over it,” he said. “At least until the next mechanical patient comes in,” he said.

“Roger that,” Phyllis said. “We'll be headed back then,” she said, waving to Olaf and Inga as they paused near the tree line. Inga turned to wave back and then the two disappeared in the trees.

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

The Hillside Village was contacted by Jack and Axel after they found a safe place to ford the river. The community of sixty people were from Mongolia and Northern China. Like Phyllis Jack ran into a language barrier. None of the people spoke English; all were from rural villages with little city exposure. Jack hadn't brought an interpreter since he didn't know the language they spoke when he set out. They were, however, very eager to meet new faces. They did some simple bartering. John's tools were a big hit. They traded some raw ore, trinkets, shiny rocks, and some basic things.

“It's weird. Cool though,” Jack said when he finished his report. He sounded tired but glad to be home. “We've got neighbors.”

“You've always had neighbors; these are a bit closer than we are.”

“Yeah, but these aren't as well setup as you are. Or we are for that matter. They don't have electricity; it's primitive as all hell there. They are barely hanging on,” Jack said. “They didn't even start out with vehicles. They do have a lot of horses though. And none of them complained.”

“They are from the steppes from what you've described,” Sandra said thoughtfully. She looked at the map as Arby updated it.

“This means you are right, boss,” Arby said, turning to Mitch. He pointed to the map and then to where Mitch had plotted out locations of people. Both of the new communities were on the line he had plotted out.

“It's a start,” Mitch said then shrugged. Arby frowned. “Arb, I can't get too excited about it. I know it's cool and all, but we confirmed it. Good. Now what?”

“I don't know,” Arby admitted.

“We can't fly in. Jack's going to have to trade with them locally. Sam's got too much work this year to run a road in.”

“Heh, don't get me started on fording that river. That took us days to find a safe place to cross,” Jack said. “I can understand now why most of the herds go past your place. That river is a bitch when it's flowing like it is now.”

“I can imagine,” Mitch said with a nod, imagining the rapids. He was glad they hadn't lost Jack or Axel. Axel would have taken chances. Jack had Helen behind him; he would have tempered Axel's impatience. He nodded again.

“I don't think I'll be going there often; they don't have much. Like I said, they are barely surviving.”

“All the more reason to give them a leg up,” Sandra said.

“Then you do it, Doc, I'm trying to survive here myself,” Jack said testily. Sandra frowned ferociously. Mitch caught her eye and shook his head silently. She opened her mouth to retort, caught Mitch's look and then stopped herself.

“You sound tired, Jack, long trip and all. Did you get some pics?” Mitch asked.

“Yeah. Some good selfies with a couple of the people there. They need a dentist,” Jack said. “And yes, I got some images of their place.”

“If you could upload them? Or send them in a flash stick with Paul the next time he comes around? I'd appreciate it,” Mitch said. “Or Pete and Jolie will for their news report,” he said smiling to Pete. The teen looked up from his laptop and gave a thumbs-up.

“Roger that,” Jack said with a laugh. “We'll add it to the family photo album. Good talking with you,” he said signing off.