Authors: Chris Hechtl
Now alone with Mitch, Mike gave
him a look. “That was an awfully gutsy thing to do. Or was it desperation?”
Mitch asked quietly.
Mike nodded, chewing the hot
pocket. “A little of both,” he answered.
Mitch snorted. “Don’t do it
again.” Mike nodded. “Just remember, I am in charge here, you are more than
welcome to stay if you wish, and if you are willing to work, but the buck
stopped here,” Mitch said firmly. He tapped his chest. Mike slowly nodded.
“My name is Mike, Mike
IronKnife,” Mike introduced himself between large bites of the hot pocket.
“I had gathered from your look
and the comment the teenager said you were an Indian and a Major,” Mitch replied.
Mike nodded. “We were dropped
somewhere east of here.” He took a bite. It took a moment to chew and swallow.
“I managed to keep a small group together. We tried to find a safe place to
settle, but ended up on the move.” His face grows dark. “I lost a lot of people
to predators.”
Mitch sighed. “Yeah, we have lost
a lot around here too.” He looked off for a moment.
“Well, I did lose one damn fool
when she panicked and ran off a cliff,” Mike commented.
A wet teenage Buck came in. “What
did I miss?” he asked. His eyes alighted on the tray of food and widened. He
jumped to the tray of hot pockets. Dripping wet kids came in behind him, and
stopped to look at the tray of food. Anxiously they looked back and forth.
Mitch pointed, “Aren’t you
hungry?” he asked. They nodded and rushed to the tray. Both men snorted in
amusement.
“Do you have enough food?” Mike
asked.
“Yes, we have enough for four
more months, and enough feed for two to three,” Mitch replied.
“Feed?” Buck asked, mumbling it
through a mouth full of food.
“Yeah, for the animals. We also
set up four greenhouses, though three are leaking, and two have panels that
collapsed from the snow,” Mitch said, wrinkling his nose in annoyance.
“Greenhouses?” Buck mumbled then
sipped a drink.
“Yeah, like I was telling Mike
here, I brought as much as I could,” Mitch replied with a shrug. Buck’s eyes
lit up at this news. Mitch turned; he could hear claws on concrete. Anne came in;
she was dragged in by a pair of cheetah. The new kids flinched and cried out in
fear. The cheetah snort sniffed in their direction. Mike was frozen. Anne gave
a tug on their lead to keep them moving.
“Don’t mind these two, they are
overgrown pussy cats,” Anne said. Timber gave her a mehh. Buck tentatively
smiled then held his hand out. He got sniffed, nuzzled, and rubbed.
Tisha came back in, spotted a
still wet Buck and shyly smoothed her hair back behind her ear. “The showers
are free; Doc has some of the infirmary group in showers and hot baths now,”
she said shyly.
Mitch turned to Mike “Your turn
Mike, we will talk later.” Tisha shyly pointed to the infirmary. Brian warily
nodded and followed Mike out. Anne’s charges dragged her off down to the
interesting smells in the kitchens.
As they finished eating the
younger kids sleepily dozed off on the furniture and floor. Doc called, wanting
to check on them. Mitch carried a sleeping Zara while Buck led the others
stumbling along behind him.
The next morning a tearful Doc
informed Mike and Mitch at breakfast that the little girl Tanya had died in the
night. A somber crew finished breakfast. Mike patted Doc’s arm, thanking her
for trying. Cassie and Dora come in with wet cheeks and puffy red eyes. Janet
and Brian give them hugs. The crew did their best to comfort them.
They cut a deal around Mike’s
prickly pride to work for room and board, with a small stipend to help fund
their own village come spring. Sarana wished to remain with Mike after her baby
was born to act as domestic manager. Ivan took over the farm since he knew
crops better than Hejira did. She pointed out that she preferred working in the
greenhouses.
Buck, Hadji, Jason, two of the
huntresses from the Amazon village, Miguel Santiago, Bill, Jill and Luke
planned to go with them. Luke had an electronics degree; he had worked in his
local radio station on Earth. Bill and Jill wanted to get married, and planned
to work as guards and general labor in the new village. Mike made it clear he
didn’t want the kids, something that riled Ester. Two of the teen amazons also
asked to go, Mike put off the decision until spring, wanting to evaluate their
work potential. He accepted Hanna, Vanessa, and Gina later though.
“Mike, I would have thought you
would have forted up, why were you out?” Mitch asked as he stared into the fire
a few days after they had finished negotiating.
“We were,” Buck said. Mitch
turned to Buck. Buck shrugged. “We had a nice cave, but a pair of big bears
came to evict us,” he said, scowling blackly. Mitch turned to Mike who nodded.
“Killed Lenny and Thelma,” Mike
said as he looked away. His jaw worked.
Mitch nodded. “Sorry to hear
that,” he murmured in sympathy.
Janet taught classes on yarn
making and knitting, and began using the harvested alpaca and sheep wool to
make more yarn for sweaters, caps, and mittens. The girls had been using
Mitch's electric razor during the summer; he was going to need new heads for it
soon at this rate he realized. It seemed as it got colder out they stopped
however, Hairy legs were a small price to pay to keep warm.
Clothing was becoming an issue or
at least the lack there off. They had plenty of leather from the hid of
animals, but only so much fleece wool and cotton. Of course some people had
only rags for outfits they had come to the base in, some brought extra. Mitch
had packed five crates with coveralls and underwear in many sizes but they
cleaned them all out.
Selma set up some of the textile
mills. She worked with Anne to make thread and yarn from stockpiled wool. Mitch
turned out plastic for wind breakers, as well as artificial threads until more
cotton and wool could be harvested in the spring.
Unfortunately without
petrochemicals they could not produce nylon. Rayon, made from wood fiber and
Carbon disulfide was also unavailable. Although they had wood and carbon a
plenty, the Sulfur needed to make the Carbon disulfide was still lacking in
large enough quantities.
Janet, Selma, and Anne raided
Mitch’s clothes for their own used, and Selma played tailor, modifying and
repairing what clothing she could. Mitch was a little put out at having his
wardrobe reduced, but Anne pointed out while wearing one of his shirts like a
tent that it was no picnic for them either. He was glad he had packed his
summer clothes.
Mitch came in dripping wet,
pissed a day later however. The kitchen fell silent as the women contemplate
his dripping body in his towel and bare feet. “All right, I can understand you
need some clothes, but raiding my underwear drawer! What the hell are you going
to do with my tighty whites?” he snarled. The girls were shocked, staring at
him. He shifted his hand to hold the towel up.
“Now hear this! No more!” He
threw his hand down, and then quickly caught the towel as it slipped. He gave
the room one last glower and then stomped off.
Janet let out a sigh. “Well, you
don’t see that every day.” Anne smiled.
“Definitely worth the price of
admission,” one of the girls softly said.
“Whoever heard of a raid on a
man’s underwear drawer anyway?” Anne turned to the girls with a mock glower.
Vanessa busied herself with
chopping celery. “Uh huh. I have heard of panty raids, pantry raids, but what
the hell do you need his undies for?” The girls blushed.
Doc came in a little dazed. “Did
you just see Mitch storm out of here in a towel?” She turned pointing.
“What the bloomin hell got his
knickers in a twist I wonder?” Henry asked, following her in.
Vanessa started busting up
laughing. “More like he doesn’t have any,” she choked out between giggles.
Cassie started giggling
uncontrollably. “Hubba Hubba nice pecks,” she teased. The room erupted into laughter.
Maggie came into the kitchen
looking rather smug later that day. She slapped her mittens down on the counter
got a cup of coffee, and then turned giving a Cheshire grin to Mitch and Jeff.
“I was right, the Tauntaun laid eggs.”
“They did?” Jeff's eyes went wide
as he jumped out of his chair.
“Yup, and they treat them just
like penguins do. They put the egg on their feet off the cold ground, and then
tuck their bodies around it to keep it warm. The males and the grey muzzled
female are bringing them food,” Maggie said smugly. Mitch nodded.
“I have been meaning to ask you
something,” Brian asked. Mitch looked up to see Brian standing nearby.
“Pass me that Alan wrench would
you Brian?” Mitch ordered. Brian complied. Mitch got back under the car. “All
right, shoot.”
Brian snorted, all he can see
were two pairs of feet. “Okay why only six tractors? You had over two hundred
loaded trailers, nearly that many flatbeds, vehicles, crates, but only six
tractors to move stuff?” A clank and muttered swear from Mitch. Brian could
hear Lisa as she giggled. She was getting along a lot better with Mitch now.
Mitch finished what he was doing and then rolled out.
“Well that was a snafu,” Mitch
said, wiping grease from his hands with a rag.
“Snafu?” Brian asked confused.
“Yeah, situation normal, all
fracked up,” Mitch explained. He glanced at the kids. Brian caught the glance
and hid a smile.
“Okay, so what happened?”
“Well, I had planned for twenty
five, in fact, they are here, but I only got six built before the first.” A
disgusted look crossed Mitch’s face. “The assembler had trouble getting the
parts, then getting them together in time. I was paying more attention to the
broader picture, so I didn’t catch it until the thirtieth, and had to bawl them
out.” Anger clouded his features. He rolled back under the truck. The bastards
had thought it was no big deal that they broke the contract and missed the
deadline. He'd had a fun time setting them straight.
“They even shut down for a
holiday break! Pissed me off no end, the contract specified delivery on the
first at noon and they take a damn vacation!” he sighed and rubbed his brow.
“Bob got them to ship out what they had. I hope it is all there, I haven’t
checked, I've been too damn busy using what I got.” Lisa wiped her hands on a
rag, and then rolled herself out from under the truck.
Mitch gathered the tools and then
rolled out, caught sight of Brian holding her hands and wiping them as she
blushed. He cleared his throat. They jumped a little, back out of their own
world and into reality he thought wryly. “Well, glad you to be getting along
better. I hope Dora is okay with it.” They both blushed at his comment. He got
up, stretched, then bent over to pick up the tools and rack them. It was cool
in the garage, a balmy 50 compared to whatever the hell it was outside.
Lisa rescued her hands with a
puckered glower to Brian, then hastily walked over and rescued the tools before
they were racked covered in grime. She shot Mitch a reproving glance as she
carefully demonstrated wiping them down. He chuckled at her silent rebuke and
then waved his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll leave you two to it then,” he
said and did just that.
Heading to bed, Mitch yawned as
he walked down the hall. He had had a rough day and he was sore all over. As he
got closer to the bend leading to his rooms he slowed and then paused, hearing
voices. He wasn’t too keen on running into anyone; some of the women were
getting a bit demanding. PMS and tight quarters most likely he mused darkly.
He stopped at the corner and took
a peek. There were three girls there, Vanessa was one of them from the look of
the hair, and he wasn’t sure about the other two in the lighting. They were
each dressed in a robe, with slippers. He was about to see what was going on
when he heard them arguing about who was going to go to bed with him.
He bit his lip, exhaustion
warring with amusement. A girl peeked her head out of his door, surprising
them. He stepped away from the corner, shaking his head amazed. The verbal cat
fight was beginning to get ugly, and so he decided the better part of valor was
to avoid the whole bit, and any hurt feelings.
The next morning he was up early
and drinking coffee when Janet came into the kitchen. She stopped in the
doorway, giving him a long appraising look and then snorted. “So, which did you
end up with?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Oh don’t give me that innocent
boyish look,” she drawled.
He snorted. “None of the above,”
he answered innocently.
She looked shocked. “None?”
He shrugged. “When I noticed the
cat fight brewing I decided to beat feet out of there.”
She gave him a mock glare.
“Coward.”
He smiled. “Besides, I was
exhausted, and probably stank to high heaven.” She snorted. “Going to need to
put a lock on my door,” he muttered as he glowered into his mug.