Second Chances (81 page)

He nodded. “I knew that.”

“I know you knew that. I was reminding you of it. They are feeling each other out, getting to know everyone and finding out what everyone wants. They are looking for allies and keeping an eye out for potential competition. Forming coalitions,” she warned.

He frowned, then closed his eyes and rubbed his nose. She smiled sympathetically. “Yup, politics rears its ugly head once again. You can't get away from it,” she warned.

“Lovely,” he sighed.

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

All of the guests enjoyed the food and facilities, but for first couple of days Colonel Dunn and others were nervous about what was going on back home. They besieged the radio room on an hourly basis, calling home to check on things or to give a report on progress...or the lack thereof in base. Jolie had to put a schedule up. Those that weren't close enough to base to support an Internet connection protested when it was found out that Jack and others were using e-mail.

“We're working on expanding that,” Mitch said soothingly.

“When?” Curt demanded. “We're a bit far out on the island.”

“As I said, we're working on it. We'll have to figure out more towers, which means more trade.”

“Trade.”

“That's one of the reasons we're here right? It costs resources to make the towers, the electronics, solar panels, the lot,” Evan interjected. He nodded to Mitch.

“Right. Moving on...,” Mitch said as Curt scowled but then sat back and seemed to relax.

Eventually they settled down and topics that had brushed over or tabled came back up for further discussion. Colonel Dunn challenged the agenda, so Mitch set it aside. That surprised Dunn. “So, what do you have in mind, Colonel? You have the floor,” Mitch invited Dunn to bring up a topic.

The colonel rose to his feet. “I think we need to settle something. Get some progress going,” he said. “So, my topic is the basic one, the one we should have started with and stuck with until it was finished. Borders,” he said, shooting a challenging look to Mitch. “Who lives where, what they've got, how much they need...”

“Borders are a thorny issue, but this is a big planet, and we're only so many people,” Mitch said thoughtfully. “I've planned to give each community a ham radio and means to power it to stay in contact. I'm going to send a set back with each of you. But I'm not sure about how to draw up borders when we really don't have a good map. What you see is what we've got so far,” he said, indicating the map and the vast areas of unknown. The balloon trip had filled in a few small gaps but not a lot. He should have known the clouds would have blocked a good view of the planet. “We also don't know what we need.”

“I'm not thrilled about you drawing up the borders or giving out radios and stuff like candy,” Colonel Dunn said. Mitch opened his mouth but saw a few people nod in agreement with the colonel. He frowned thoughtfully and sat back.

“All right, the borders,” he said. “Why don't we go back to that and work on areas that aren't in contention?” he asked. He pointed to the map again.

They settled the borders of the Mountain Village easily enough. Chief Travis chose the mountain and the foothills at the base extending out twenty kilometers. That would give them plenty of room. Olaf nodded and agreed to the same for his community. Mitch gladly filled in the borders on the map.

The discussion moved to where each community was, what resources were around for them to exploit, and what they wanted for land. Other easier communities were picked off, The Caribbean and Gunny Usher's “Crash Town.” Since no one was in their area, none objected to the borders they set. The Caribbean group set up a generous land allotment for themselves, from the mountains to the southern sea, along two rivers in a triangle. Crash Town claimed the mountains and hills surrounding their home as well as the savannah to the southwest.

For some reason both the Caribbeans and Colonel Dunn objected to Tsakhia's claim of the savannah in his area. The Mongol agreed reluctantly to use the great river to the east of his community as his eastern border, but he extended his claim to the eastern shore. When Mitch pointed out that there were other communities there he backed down to the river halfway between his own community and them. They ended up tabling that discussion when Colonel Dunn became mulish.

It became clear to Mitch that Colonel Dunn wanted it all, which put him in conflict with his neighbors who also wanted a large land allotment. Mitch realized he was building a coalition of supporters by supporting other peoples claims or acting as an arbiter or peace maker when he could see a way out. The man was maddeningly good or bad, depending on your point of view.

“We hold what we can for us and our kids,” the colonel growled, stabbing his finger down onto the table. “They'll expand. I've got four now and each of my kids will have kids,” he said waving his hand wide.

Mitch noted a lot of nods of agreement around the table. “Not arguing that,” Mitch said carefully. “But there is only so much a man can hold. Only so much they really
need
either. Right now or in the future.”

“We also have to be aware of the local animals. We need to minimize conflicts,” a representative said. A few people snorted or scowled over that statement. “I know of two other communities that were trampled when the herds migrated through,” he said.

Jack shivered. “I know what you are talking about; my village got the same treatment.”

“Copper Town got picked over by that damn tentacle thing,” Jack said in disgust. “We lost some good people to it.”

“Not my people,” Colonel Dunn said, sounding a bit smug. They looked at him. “I led a group to fight it off outside our gates,” he said. “We spent a lot building up armored vehicles. They made the difference,” he said proudly.

“Did you kill it?” Chief Roberts asked, eyes lighting. Dunn shook his head. “Damn.”

“It limped off with a hot foot in three of its feet,” Colonel Dunn said, smiling slightly.

The chief nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. “Better than we did,” that thing tore us a new one,” he sighed.

“It hates fire. Hit the feet and it'll get the message to back away,” Dunn admitted.

“Do you have video? I'd love to see it,” Chief Roberts said. “I know a lot of my people would. We lost a lot of good people. Seeing one wounded would help morale,” he said.

“Hell, killing one would do one better. Timber!” Jack said, curling his hands into fists.

“Do you have the vid?” Mitch asked, looking at the colonel.

“No,” Colonel Dunn said dismissively with a shrug.

“Darn.”

Mitch exhaled. The others attention turned to him. “Moving on then...”

Chapter 39

When a rain storm trapped them indoors, Mitch offered to play chess with Colonel Dunn while the other reps talked with their people on the radio or worked with the department heads on various ideas for projects in their homes. Dunn brushed him off. “I've got better, more important things to do with my time,” Dunn growled.

“Sorry,” Mitch said. “I didn't mean to offend you,” he said hastily.

“I'd think you'd have other things to do too,” the colonel said, eying Mitch.

“It's raining out, and I'm not going to go slogging through the muck and mud now,” Mitch said, nodding. “I've turned over most of the base ops to the computer, Vance and Brian. I suppose I could go work on a couple projects,” he said, rising to his feet. Dunn grunted then nodded his head to the door. Mitch got the hint and left.

“What's he like?” Janet asked in the corridor outside.

“Blunt. He's pretty driven,” Mitch admitted. Janet nodded. “I tried to get him to play chess to chat him up, get a feel for how his mind works, but he refused. He said he's busy, and I should be too,” Mitch admitted.

“Oh, that bites,” Janet said. She shook her head. “Well, the others are all doing their thing. How long is this recess supposed to last?” she asked.

“Well, I think after dinner might be a good idea.” She made a face. The last time they'd held a meeting in the great hall after lunch they'd put the brakes on supper until the hungry crowd had stormed the doors and kicked the group out. He'd nearly been sent to bed without supper for that tardy act.

“It'd better be after dinner,” she growled, eying him with disfavor. He spread his hands apart.

“I can't help it if some people like to think things to death.”

She snorted and then nodded. “Well, from what my spies have reported,” she smiled politely to him. It was his turn to snort. “The reps are chatting each other up, feeling each other out like you've been trying to do. Forming alliances I suppose,” she said. He nodded. She sighed. “In other words, politics in its infancy, which I'm glad I'm staying out of. Well, mostly out of. So, now that I've played parrot for Anne, I've got to get ready for lunch,” she said, smoothing her apron.

“Thanks Janet. Thank Anne for me too,” he said. She flashed him a small smile as they parted company.

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

Maggie was amused and annoyed when they had a fifth tour of her new barn, this time with all the delegates together. The massive barn complex had just been finished a few weeks ago, and despite the automated feeders and cleaners, the smells hadn't quite built up to be too overwhelming she judged. They had a lot of traditional and new animals in it, plus a quarantine area. The old barn was being converted into the expanded garage. She had heard Lisa bitch and complain about the smell. Even the industrial solvents Bob was churning out weren't quite cutting it.

“Is that a Tauntaun?” Curt asked, staring at the bipedal animal as it moved about in its stall.

“Indeed it is. She's been foaming at the mouth a bit. We're not sure what's going on, if she's just overheating or what. Doc's running some tests in the lab for me to see if we can narrow it down. Until then we separated her from the herd to be safe,” Maggie explained. She waved a hand to the other side of the wide barn. “We've got Struthomimus, Galimimus and some of the other dinosaurs over there on that side. Some we've domesticated as riding animals; the rest are only good for meat.”

“I'm surprised you are doing it at all,” Kirafiki said, looking at the barn. “You have the animals from Earth, why bother?”

“Well, like you we want to adapt. And also like you, there isn't quite enough to go around.” Maggie waved a hand. “Everyone wants cattle or sheep or horses or other animals. We ship a few out each year, but we're trying to breed them. Every animal we ship out means one less animal here to breed and expand the population,” she said.

“But people do need to eat,” the colonel rumbled. “And some of us didn't start with many animals at all,” he said.

“Indeed. We had to go with wild animals because our cattle were killed by the raptors,” Kirafiki said, shaking his head. “We had to adapt to survive. But for you...” he waved a hand to indicate the riches around them.

“Again, it's needs versus wants. We started this as a bit of an experiment. Jeff and some of the others decided to try a few animals, and well, it worked out so we expanded it. And some of our native animals didn't survive. Turkeys for one,” she said.

“Turkeys?”

“Turkeys. We've got some smaller theropods that are almost as good. A lot of leg though. Mitch and the breast people are hoping I'll figure out how to breed in some bigger breasts over time.” She shook her head.

“And are you?”

“I'm not sure how. Every time we breed them we get a copy of one parent or the other. They don't mix. And I'm talking an exact copy, right down to the markings.”

“Yes, we have noticed that too,” Curt murmured. Adam glanced his way and then gave a choppy nod. “It is odd,” Curt said, looking the animals over. Jeff looked up from where he was trimming a Tauntaun's claws and then went back to work. The animal bleated at him but then went back to munching its food in the trough in front of it. It couldn't do much else; its head was held in a yoke preventing it from pulling out or moving away.

“Are you fattening that one up to eat in a feast?” Olaf asked, sticking his thumbs in his suspenders.

Adam snorted and then barked an abortive laugh. They turned to look at him. “Sorry,” he said and then shrugged. “I was just remembering a poster I saw. It was a
Star Wars
thing, with a Tauntaun set up with various cuts. The abdomen was called the sleeping bag.”

“Oh yeah, I think I saw that,” Jeff said from the stall nearby.

“Heh,” Maggie snorted. “The meat's okay, not all that great. Dark meat, a bit too greasy for my taste,” she said making a face. “But it's okay for some recipes I suppose.”

“They don't hold up too well in the summer heat, which makes me think they either retreat to far north or they go into the mountains. We shave them for their fur, it's as good as alpaca but then they get sunburn. They also tend to hop over fences unless they are over six meters high,” she said making a face. “We had two break their legs trying to hop a fence, which means we've had to add moats to some of the pasture fences,” she said.

“We're getting some in trade,” Chief Roberts interjected, nodding to Maggie. “Paul's going to bring them to Copper Town and then ship them to us. They should do okay in the mountains,” he said.