Bootstrap Colony (19 page)

“Do what you want, you always do,”
she said.

He gave her retreating back a
look then shrugged. “I will be in by dinner,” he called after her.

In the first month of autumn
Mitch spotted raptors chasing something while on his way home from the iron
pit. Taking out his binoculars he spotted a family frantically trying to climb
a tree. He swore and pulled out his gun. He tried to shoot one of the raptors,
but couldn’t get the range. Swearing again he ran to the hummer and rushed down
to them. The man got the kids and woman into the tree and tried to climb but
fell. He turned and batted at one of the raptors with a club, but another took
him down from his unprotected flank.

He screamed as they tore him
apart. The woman and kids screamed, and one of the raptors turned to them. She
shushed the kids as the raptor cocked its head this way and that and then
gathered its haunches and sprang up at them. It snapped at the woman, who
shrieked in terror. Other raptors not eating looked up and cocked their heads
and then began to jump and snap as well. One got the woman’s calf when she
slipped, pulling her down. She fell across a branch, and the raptor let go.
Winded and injured she cried as they jumped and clawed at her.

Mitch snapped off a shot, missing
and hitting the tree. Swearing he wrapped the guns sling around his wrist and
shot again, just as the truck bucked in a pot hole. The shot went high into a
branch. He swerved to a stop as the raptors began to react to his interloping
hummer and took a better shot. It dropped a raptor. The others turned and
hissed, and he dropped another with a shot, then another. He hit the alpha male
and they backed off almost as one. One of the animals nudged the alpha with its
snout. He shot two more and they reared, shaking their limbs and feathers. He
smiled grimly and shot two more. The remainder broke and ran.

He backed the truck under the
tree, covering the body of the man. He took a look around and got out. He
helped the woman down, then the reluctant whimpering kids, ordering a girl to
move who was terrified.

He sprayed the woman’s wounds
with Cryolife Biofoam, glad that Bob had managed to get it in his kit. The foam
was a takeoff of the same material in the classic Halo series. It combined an
antibacterial agent with a clotting one, and surgical glue. The binary chemical
foamed within a wound, the bubbles forced foreign matter to the surface before
the glue hardening into a gel sealing the wound.

He covered the gel with bandages;
the woman was delirious and worried about her baby. The kids whimpered. He
looked at them and then back to the woman. She clutched her abdomen. He
realized she was pregnant and swore softly. He gave her an IV with plasma and
then they rushed off to the base.

He called in over the radio,
telling them the situation in terse words as the kids whimpered or hugged each
other. Brian met them in the garage with a stretcher and paramedic kit. They
rush the woman off to the hospital wing. Janet took the kids.

When the woman was stable but
unconscious they worried about her bleeding and possible internal injuries. She
has a nicked artery, and possible internal damage, as well as unknown injury
and trauma to the fetus. Anne softly told him they needed Doc, she was the only
person who could save her. Dora was in over her head.

Mitch nodded curtly and left. He
arrived at the Amazon village at dusk. The village was lit but only by one fire
in the center of the compound, there was no perimeter watch. He called the
guard and asked for Doc when a woman came to the improvised gate. Doc came with
the priestess and Cassie. He explained the situation and asked the Doc to help.
He told her the woman’s condition in clinical terms, including possible
injuries, bp, pulse, breathing, and temperature.

“She is having shallow
contractions but intense abdominal pain. I don’t dare give her a pain killer
till I know it won’t kill her or the kid,” he explained, giving her a look as
he showed her the readouts on a tablet. The priestess asked what is in it for
them; he offered some food and medic supplies. Doc readily agreed. The
priestess held Cassie back, saying she would see her mother in the morning.

“Hostage?” he asked. She coldly
glared. Doc just moved around to the passenger side of his truck. They left
quickly, Doc looked over her shoulder once and then to the dark path ahead. He
had his lights on and nearly hit a hadrosaur herd while crossing a field. Doc
was stricken in fright, clutching at the oh shit bar in front of her.

He honked and the herd scattered.
He patched in the communications and had Anne give a sit rep. The Doctor
buckled up and listened, offering advice. He cut in and told Anne they were an
hour or so out still, but asked Janet to have a change of clothes and shower
stuff ready.

They rushed in; Doc looked on to
the lit compound as they rushed into the brightly lit castle and garage. He
rushed her out; pushing a button the door went down. Janet took charge and led
her off to the shower. Ten minutes later they joined Anne, Dora, and Mitch in
the hospital, Doc was hastily eating a sandwich as she walked in behind Janet.

She was amazed at his gear as she
looked around taking an assessment. Mitch nodded to her when she gave him a
wide eyed awed look, and then let her know they have everything except the MRI
set up. He pointed to the room next door. “There is the bay to the OR. You can
scrub up there,” he said. Dora volunteered to help, telling Doc that for the
past of couple months she had been taking medical training on the computer.
Brie teased her about mouth to mouth practice with Brian, making both teens blush
furiously and Mitch snort.

Doc and Dora managed to operate
on the leg, and delivered the premature baby boy. He survived the night; the
mother did as well, but had a long recovery road ahead of her.

Janet led the exhausted Doc off
to a nearby cot near dawn, and then shooed everyone off to bed. Brie said she
will remain awake to take care of the baby and keep an eye on the mother.

Later the next day Mitch packed
the truck and trailer with food, a chain saw, helmets, and few other things.
Janet tossed in a couple leather goods, rabbit furs, including a rabbit fur
blanket she had made. Brian quietly handed him a box of medical supplies. They
checked up on Doc who had visited the patient. She pronounced her out of the
woods. “The plasma he had on hand, as well as the blood drawn from the adult
volunteers helped a lot,” she said. She took a moment and checked the others
over, finding all healthy. He nodded and asked if she wanted to go. She
reluctantly nodded, not meeting his eyes. Brian and Anne came along as well.

At the village he unloaded the
gear, and then pulled out the chainsaw, ax, and put the helmet on. “Doc, you
got two hours of my time, where do you want me to start,” he said simply as the
robot climbed off the back of the truck. Brian looked up and nodded to the
priestess who was escorting Cassie and a huntress to take the food. Mitch
clicked the alarm on the truck and Anne went to visit Cassie and the Doc while
Brian set up as a guard while Mitch cut trees.

He felled the thick old growth,
dropping them in a line. He dropped a dozen in less than an hour, then cut them
into more manageable lengths, removed the branches and topped them. Doc
appeared and thanked them for their efforts. He handed her an ax and sharpening
stone. He heard the car alarm go off and they rushed to the truck. A gaunt girl
was trying to hide by the hummer. Mitch asked what she intended and she
mumbled. Anne walked up to her and asked if she wanted to leave and the girl
nodded. She hugged her and told her softly to get her gear. The girl pointed to
a bag at her feet. Mitch snorted. The priestess began to rant about the evils
of men and he waved her off.

“Yeah, cutting down trees is
evil, bad for the environment I know. I know. Yadda yadda...bitch bitch...”
Brian and Doc snorted, Anne and the girl giggled. He waved them into the car as
he disarmed the alarm. He asked what they did with the print outs, the
priestess began to rant, the teenage girl said the priestess and Tabatha had
confiscated them and burned them as evil. He angrily jerked the door open,
muttering curse words. The priestess grinned. He turned and glared. “You’re a
moron,” he snarled. The smirk on the woman's face faded into a snarl.

On the way home he listened to
the girl Xena as she ate a power bar. She just about threw herself at him, but
he waved her advances off. She said she didn’t have skills. He snorted and
asked if she could cook, she said no, “Sweep?”

“Yes,”

“Mop?”

“Yes.”

“Read?”

“Yeah,” she said starting to get
testy.

“Okay, can you learn?” he asked,
glancing at her.

“Yes who can’t?” A note of
exasperation had crept into her voice.

He smiled. “All right then.
You’re good to go.” Anne and Brian chuckled at that. They called in and
reported to base they were bringing home another waif. Janet sighed and
chuckled in resignation. When they arrived she settled the girl in.

When the mother woke she talked
and mourned her Ricardo. Almost hysterically she hugged her children and cooed
over the baby. Mitch rejected her naming him after him. He softly told her to
name the boy after her late husband. She told him she worked in a tannery; she
did a lot of the jobs and loved leather. Anne got excited and they traded
notes.

Sometime later Anne talked with
him in his office. “Best thing for her,” he turned to Anne. “Is to keep her
busy. Let her mourn, but keep them all busy to help work out some of the
grief.”

Anne nodded. “Slave driver,” she
teased. He snorted and left.

In the impromptu shop class a day
later Walter had a mishap with a metal plate. It slipped out of his hands and
tipped off the counter, landing on his foot like a guillotine. Mitch carried
him to the infirmary and Dora set the foot under the guidance of the medical
program.

“Security alert. Mass animal
movement detected in North Eastern quadrant heading south,” The base AI’s
report startled Mitch. He looked up from the report he had been reading and
then cleared the report he was reading from his screen.

“Show me,” he ordered. A window
popped up on the desktop, then a second. The first was an over head map of the
base and surrounding area, with a blinking arrow in the north eastern quadrant.
The second was a quarter panel view from four cameras in that area.

From the looks of things the
herds were heading south. He watched as a sauropod walked, its neck swaying
with each stride. “Okay, give me a report on the projected path of the herd,”
Mitch ordered. The computer flagged the path. From what he could see, the herd
would be following the river, and would just miss his Northern border. Good,
that area was not reinforced beyond the ditches, foundations, and fencing.

Having a herd of sauropods and
other dinosaurs breach his security, eat the crops and stomp many of his
buildings and vehicles flat was terrifying. “Predator alert, class red threat
detected,” the AI reported. A yellow carrot box appeared in the upper left of
the video and on the map. The video automatically enhanced the scene. He could
just make out a pack of Rexes moving south, following the herd.

Behind them were other animals,
six legged hammerhead giants, and what looked like a six legged giant porcupine
trundling out of the tree line. One of the juvenile Rexes went for it. One of
the adults stopped and turned, then gave a short bark and caw. Reluctantly the
juvenile stopped. “Either it isn’t time to play, or your playmate is a little
too dangerous,” Mitch observed.

When the quill beast began to
shake its body menacingly the juvenile seemed to back up and gulp. Spines shot
out in the Rex’s direction, it danced out of their way in full retreat.
“Definitely too dangerous,” Mitch commented, logging the animal as possibly
poisonous and definitely dangerous.

Brian called. “Boss are you
getting this?”

Mitch snorted. “Yeah, can you
back trace their path?”

Brian paused. “Yeah, wait one.”
Brian was shaping up nicely; he had a good mind, though he was still prejudiced
against women in authority for obvious reasons.

“Yeah, looked like they might
have walked through the Amazon village,” Brian answered a moment later. “I hope
they stomped it flat,” he muttered darkly.

Mitch sighed. “Okay, let me know
if they get to close to the perimeter. Record as much as possible for later,”
Mitch ordered. He signed off and turned back to the report. A few minutes of
staring at the tangled code made him sigh. He usually could tweak code all day,
but this sight was just too much to pass up. He grabbed his jacket off the back
of the chair and headed out to see.

Brian, Vance, and Janet met him
in the garage. “I thought you wouldn’t be able to resist for long,” Janet
teased, getting into the rear seat.

“Thought you would prefer riding
a horse?” he teased back, knowing the answer.

She snorted. “Not hardly, with
those brutes around. It would probably spook poor Daphne to death,” she
replied, not rising to the tease. He chuckled as his door slammed shut.

He checked the rear view mirror
and found he had a full car. Pete had slipped in with Wayne, Vance, and Michael.
He shrugged. “Okay, you kids stay in the car till we give the all clear okay?”
They nodded.

He pulled up fifty meters from
the fence, and then pulled out his binoculars. Immediately he put them back, a
hadrosaur walked right along the path just on the other side of the fence.
“Damn,” he muttered. He winced as its tail touched the fence and sparks flew.
It trumpeted loudly, and then stumbled away. Others following it moved off
further away. “Good.” He turned to the kids. Okay, you can get out...”

They needed no more invitation,
piling out before he could finish. “As I was saying,” he said, raising his
voice. He had to clear his throat and raise his voice to compete with the
moving herd. “If I say get in, don’t hesitate got me?” he warned. The kids nodded,
not taking their eyes off the herd. Vance had a Bushmaster rifle, Wayne had a
camera, and he pointed it to the herd.

Mitch reached into the truck and
pulled out a second Bushmaster. Brian and Pete had also armed themselves and
were warily watching the herd. A six pack of raptors skirted the fence, making
him hold his breath and Brian shudder in fear. “No one move,” Brian softly
commanded. One of the raptors paused, glancing their way. It cocked its head
back and forth, and then sniffed the wind. It reached a clawed hand to the
fence, but a caw drew it reluctantly away. The kids gushed out air in a sigh of
intense relief. A Struthiomimus step nimbly by ignoring their unseemly presence
and then on.

Brian fingered his rifle. “Maybe
we should get a few for later?” he asked.

“No, watch,” Mitch answered,
nodding his chin to the herds.

“Why?” Janet asked.

“I don’t think the show is over
yet,” Mitch warned. He nodded to a quill beast, and then an anklasaur as it
walked by. Behind them the giant six legged herbivores walk majestically by,
around the legs of the titan were smaller ceratopsian style cousins. Janet’s
gasped and stumble backwards alerted them more was coming.

Mitch turned and saw a pair of
leathery cat like creatures, easily a meter tall lithely stride by. It was odd
to see something like that, with six legs and four eyes walk so smoothly and
effortlessly. From the look they were definitely a predator species.
Fortunately they didn’t even look toward the fence, more intent on getting
around the edge and away from the larger herbivores following in their wake.

The migration lasted nearly an
hour, the sun was starting to go down when the last small herd walked by. “Wow,
what a parade,” Janet commented. Mitch snorted. On the way back to base the
kids prattled on about this animal or that one. He listened, a small smile on
his face.

Mitch took a hummer and tractor
convoy out to the iron mine the next day. He was going to need to pack up the onsite
gear soon, but before he did he was going to get as much iron as he could
before the weather turned. Hopefully he wouldn’t overextend his welcome. On his
way back he nearly ran into a family as they jumped down from a tree in front
of him.

The Fenn family rescued by Mitch
had a little girl named Crystal who had bonded to a spider rat. Anne was
horrified at the sight of the thing. Mitch took it in stride, waved it off, but
told the girl the rat sternly that it will have to be put in a cage, and
she
would be responsible for it. Relieved, the girl nodded, then cocked her head
and asked why it had to be in a cage. She looked down, lovingly stroking the
fur. “Scooter won’t go anywhere.”

Mitch nodded, “Yes dear, but we
have other animals, for instance, cats.” A look of fear crossed her face. Mitch
nodded again. “Yes, and we don’t want your friend hurt, so he will have to be
put in a cage. You can take him out if you shut your bedroom door; we will have
to put a sign up to make sure people know it is loose.” She nodded. Her parents
thanked him and then they guide their kids off to their rooms.

Angie and Janet looked doubtful,
and then turned their glare on him. Mitch shrugged it off, and then put his
hands up in mock surrender. “Best compromise I can do ladies,” he said. Janet
gave a long suffering sigh. “Put it this way, the kids can take care of it. And
Jeff, Sean, and Janet here can learn a bit more about the indigenous fauna,”
Mitch added as if that mattered.

Anne crossed her arms across her
chest and shivered. “Just keep it away from me!” The group chuckled as they
made their way to the infirmary.

When Dora escorted the Fenn
family into the infirmary for a checkup the adults were wide eyed at Roserita
and family. Paul nodded politely. Mitch noted the look of recognition and
cocked an eyebrow. Paul cleared his throat. “We met when we were dropped,” Paul
said.

Roserita nodded. “I had just
packed what gear we could carry when all hell broke loose.”

Frances nodded. “I think a raptor
pack attacked the other side of the camp,” she sighed. “I saw you and your
family behind us.” She looked over the baby then nodded.

“Si,” Roserita responded quietly
into the awkward silence.

“Unfortunately Ricardo didn’t
make it,” Mitch filled in.

Paul sighed. “That’s a damn
shame.” He patted her foot at the end of the bed.

Frances looked a little tearful.
“You have our sympathies ma’am,” she said. Roserita hugged her baby to her
chest, and then nodded. “Ricardo will live on in the love he gave to you and
each of your children.” Frances said sympathetically, wiping a tear from her
eye. Paul and Mitch nodded.

The next day a dire bear,
possibly looking for a cave to hibernate attacked the gatehouse. The robots on
duty killed it, Janet and Roserita then skinned it. Roserita asked if she could
have the fur to give to the Doctor. Janet and Mitch agreed whole heartedly.

Over the next week the little
woman dried out the skin. When they were attacked by two more bears, each was
also skinned for their trouble. Their bodies were fed to the cheetah. They
noted that the game was leaving the area and the average daily temperature had
fallen drastically. Periodic rains had come, and it was a cold wet time.

Reluctantly they culled the
steers from the cattle herd, leaving five for later. The cows and goats were
still turning out milk regularly. Mitch had hoped nature would have taken
course, but Janet had pointed out it was a farm; intervention was needed to
make sure things happened. The natural part was easy enough; the whole
artificial insemination from the banks was not fun for him, Janet, Jeff, Sean,
or the animals. Well, maybe the animals.

Anne was on to him about sending
a couple animals up to the Amazon village. He wasn’t happy about the idea or
the nagging, pointing out that they would most likely kill the horses for food.
They didn’t have food for them anyway he added when she gave him a look. She
nodded bleakly and dropped the matter.

After two weeks of recovery they
returned to the village with Roserita. The guard greeted them, and the Doctor
came at a trot. Doc still looked gaunt; Mitch felt an edge of worry. She
checked over the mother and baby, pronouncing them good. Roserita gave her the
furs, and hugged her. Doc brushed tears from her eyes and nodded.

Mitch handed over care packages
from Janet and Anne, along with a wheel of cheese. “Have you been stockpiling
for winter?” he asked, voicing his and the ladies concern. She shook her head.

“They haven’t been getting any
kills lately; all the food we had stored is almost gone,” she answered. He sucked
in his breath at this. He told her the snows were coming.

Overhearing this the guard asked
how he knew this and he told her he had had to shovel snow out of the caves
when he moved into them in the spring. “I have been checking the Doppler radar
lately, nothing coming in, but it only has a short range, so I may not know
until it is only hours out,” he warned. She looked up to the sky and then back
to him as he continued. “You might have a week or two before it starts, maybe a
little more, maybe tomorrow.” The guard blanched at this news. Doc shuddered,
wrapping her arms around her torso and then shuddered some more as the cold
breeze kicked up. She handed one of the furs to Cassie, draping it over her
shoulders. One of the teens called Cassie over, and she trudged off.

Doc told them that the migrating
herd had trampled through, two women had been hurt, and a little girl had been
killed. It had happened so fast no one had killed anything; they were too busy
trying to get out of the way. Two of the huts had been destroyed. He told her
they needed to build off the ground on a hill; the hollow they were in could
flood in the spring. She nodded wearily.

A gaunt little girl tugged on
Mitch’s jacket and he looked down. “Do you have any food mister?” she asked.
The guard started to shoo her off but Mitch immediately crouched down, waving
the guard’s concern off. He pulled a bag of jerky out of his inside pocket and
handed it to her.

“Stay put,” he told her. He
disarmed the alarm and pulled out a case of MREs. He handed several to the girl
and several to Doc.

He handed a few to the guard
after a moment’s hesitation. “Doc why don’t you talk with Sarah and Roserita
here while I go cut a few more trees down,” he said. He shouldered the chain
saw and waved Brian to follow.

They returned a few hours later
to find several girls around the truck, each gaunt. He sighed and handed out
three MREs to each, telling them he will not be back for a while. Two asked to
go with him but the priestess arrived with the Mistress. “Beware the gifts of
the devil,” the mousy brunet zealot ranted. The girls reluctantly back off.

Mitch turned to the annoying
troublemaker. “Ma’am, I don’t give a rat’s ass for you or your religion. If
these people do not want to follow your ways, it is up to them,” he said and
indicated the two girls who had asked to go.