Murdock cut off several chunks of the venison and handed it out to the colonists as they came under the pod. He instructed each on how to cook it and warned against waste. Mei Lee found a volunteer for camp cook and also set up a camp guard mount. After passing out rations, Murdock cut off a few more pieces of venison for Rose, Mei Lee, and himself. Back at Mei Lee’s fire, Rose began roasting their portion.
As Rose prepared the meat, Murdock went to refill their water skins. Even though it was night, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. To him, all was as it should be; the scenery appeared in the customary shades of grey. No one knew about his vision, because he assumed that everyone had the same capabilities. After all, it had never come up in normal conversation.
After filling the water skins and washing up a little, Murdock headed back to the pod. So, as he approached Mei Lee’s fire, he closed one eye, as he usually did, to preserve his vision during transition.
“Anything happen while I was away?” Murdock asked as he took a drink.
“Nothing much,” Rose said in a very nonchalant manner. She waited until Murdock had a mouth full of water. Then she said, “Mei Lee released Whittier.”
Murdock promptly spewed water. “What?” he asked in disbelief, choking on some of the water.
“Well, not really,” Rose started. “She decided he should be let out to relieve himself and get something to eat.” Rose looked sideways at Murdock. “I’m not at all happy about it!”
“Where is he now?” Murdock asked.
“Over by the pod ramp,” Rose said. “Mei Lee is there along with three guards with spears.” She handed the cooked venison to Murdock.
“Did Mei Lee eat?” Murdock asked as he ate the cooked meat.
“Yes, she ate some,” Rose answered, eating as well. “Not nearly the amount she should, though.”
Murdock thought as he ate. Whittier’s being free infuriated him, but the pod area was not his domain. I’m only an honored visitor here, at present, he thought. It’s not my place to tell anyone that giving Whittier freedom is a bad idea. Since Rose and I don’t like it, then we will be leaving; the sooner the better. Rose fidgeted nervously, and he didn’t like it. Soon, though, Murdock saw Mei Lee returning.
“Got all the wild animals caged?” Murdock asked facetiously as Mei Lee entered the camp site.
“Yes, he is secured,” Mei Lee assured them. “He didn’t give us any grief at all.”
“What about his bimbo?” Rose asked with venom. “Is she secured as well?”
“Yes, they’re both secured,” Mei Lee told them. “We need to talk about this. I would like to think that you two are friends of mine, but letting Whittier out to eat, work, and relieve himself is part of this job. Am I or am I not supposed to be concerned with everyone’s welfare?”
“The issue is that I don’t feel safe with them out and about,” Rose said. “It has nothing to do with you personally.”
“I don’t trust them either,” Murdock said.
“You two seemed to have cooled a bit since I chose to take this job,” Mei Lee said with some tears welling. “I took it to try to help and was counting on you two for support.”
“We’ve given you, and the others, support,” Murdock said. “Personally, I don’t see why you would take the leadership when no one here helped you before. What is it that you think you owe them?”
#
Mei Lee saw that Murdock was more than a little miffed, which hit her hard, because he had rescued her and Collier.
“I’m not doing it for them,” Mei Lee tried to explain, looking into the fire. “I’m doing it so I can live with the fact that I tried to help them the best way I know how. I know they didn’t help prevent the problems that came before, but I think they are changing a little. I know you two aren’t happy with some of the decisions I’ve made, but they’re my decisions to make.” Mei Lee began crying quietly.
Rose looked to Murdock, who looked back at her.
“I didn’t intend to hurt your feelings,” Murdock began finally. “I was of the opinion that you and everyone else are taking the situation too lightly. Some people wouldn’t mind seeing him freed. Metzger and Burns may be gone, but were they the only ones supporting him? He got voted in somehow.”
Rose moved closer to Mei Lee and put her arm around the younger woman’s shoulders to comfort her.
“It isn’t you, Mei Lee,” Rose murmured. “It’s just that we’re worried about what can happen if Whittier gets loose again.”
“And if we decide to turn him loose?” Mei Lee asked, tears still flowing, looking sideways at Murdock and Rose.
“Well, if I come here and find him the lone survivor, he won’t survive long,” Murdock spat. “And if he leaves this compound, he may not make it back.”
Mei Lee didn’t know Murdock very well, but she did know enough about him to know that his statement was more of a promise than a threat.
“That is your affair,” Mei Lee said coolly. “He’s been warned. Be that as it may, I’m concerned that on a personal level, this could cause a rift between us. That’s something I don’t want.”
“I’m only trying to point out that you’re free to make your own choices,” Murdock said, “just as we are free to make our own. I don’t require you to view things my way.”
“And how does that affect us personally?” Mei Lee asked.
“I don’t see that it does,” Murdock said.
“I agree,” Rose said as Mei Lee looked at her.
“Good! I’m glad to hear that,” Mei Lee said, sounding relieved. “You didn’t get your deer yet, so I assume you’re going to be hunting soon.”
“I’d like to do that tomorrow,” Murdock said.
“From what my people tell me, your travois should have some wheels some time tomorrow,” Mei Lee said. “So if you could delay a day, you’d have an easier time of it.”
“Really?” Murdock asked, raising his eyebrows. “That was quick!”
“I’m told that a cart for us will take a little longer,” Mei Lee told them, “but you’re a priority, so yours will be finished sooner. How long will it take to work the hide?”
“It shouldn’t take too long to train one person,” Murdock said. “But it’ll take some time to finish it. I can check in periodically and explain the next steps. Once the hide is tanned, then it can be worked.”
“Sounds good to me,” Mei Lee said enthusiastically. “Given any more thought to the issue of our contacting you?”
“Not really,” Murdock said guardedly. “I’ll try to come up with something soon, though.”
#
“What are you thinking?” Rose flashed to Murdock.
“I was thinking of building a house by the stream at the foot of the mountain,” Murdock flashed back. “It would give Mei Lee a way of contacting us without knowing about the cave.”
“Thus meeting Beron’s requirements,” Rose continued his thought.
“Where are you going to hunt?” Mei Lee asked. Her voice made him jump a little.
“I was thinking of following the river upstream,” Murdock said as calmly as he could. “I know there should be some deer up that way.”
“Does that mean that you won’t be coming back this way on your way home?” Mei Lee asked.
Was that an attempt to figure out where we live? Murdock wondered to himself.
“You could be paranoid,” Rose flashed.
Murdock started. He hadn’t expected Rose to answer him.
“Are you okay?” Mei Lee asked Murdock, concerned.
“I’m fine,” Murdock said sheepishly. “Just have a lot on my mind.”
“It is late,” Mei Lee said. “Maybe a good night’s rest is what we all need.”
When Murdock woke up a few hours later, Mei Lee was still awake and on watch.
“Go get some sleep,” Murdock said to Mei Lee. “I got it now.”
After taking watch, Murdock tried to think of a way for Mei Lee to come for visits without tipping anyone
off about the cave or Beron. I suppose I could blindfold her, he thought, but that won’t work for long. One solution was building Rose and himself a house close to the path leading up to the cave. The only other solution was building a house some distance away, probably by the river, but how long would it be before someone else found the cave?
For either solution, he would have to borrow tools to build a house. If the house was close to the river, he could get help from the others. But that would open Rose and himself to attacks or worse, unwelcome visitors and house guests. He had decided, in part, to explore the river to see what it offered for food, wood, and water. If supplies of those were plentiful, then a house at that spot might be viable, but he wouldn’t know until he checked it himself.
I know that building a house alone is a tremendous amount of work added to what I have to do on a daily basis just to survive, he thought. Staying at the cave would be the easier solution, but what if Mei Lee needed him or Rose? Beron had been very specific as to who was allowed in the cave, and I’ve no intention of violating that trust.
Murdock continued to argue with himself while he kept watch over Rose and Mei Lee. By daybreak, he had only concluded that he needed to get Beron’s and Rose’s input, preferably sometime after he and Rose left the pod area and were a safe distance away. He also found coping with his newfound abilities of telepathy and telekinesis difficult and the list of things to try to talk to Beron about kept growing.
“Want to go for a walk and get some water?” Murdock asked Rose when she got up.
“Is that a hint that we need to talk?” Rose flashed.
“Yes, it is,” Murdock flashed back.
“I would love to go for an early morning walk with you,” Rose said enthusiastically.
“We’ll be back in a bit,” Murdock told Mei Lee as he and Rose gathered their equipment.
“You are coming back, right?” Mei Lee asked, her voice betraying her concern as she watched the couple gather their equipment.
“Of course,” Rose reassured her. “We have commitments here for at least today.”
Mei Lee waved at the couple as they headed off to the stream.
Murdock and Rose did not speak until they reached the stream. Once there, Murdock headed upstream.
“How far are we going?” Rose asked after the crossing was out of sight. Murdock stopped.
“This should be far enough,” Murdock said. “Are you in contact with Beron?”
“We both are most of the time,” Rose said. “You didn’t know that?”
Murdock shook his head. “Not until now,” he said. “I’ve been trying to figure out the issue that Mei Lee raised, and I’m unable to come to a reasonable conclusion.”
“And you need Beron’s input,” Rose finished.
“Not just his; yours too,” Murdock corrected.
“So, what’s on your mind?” Rose asked.
“When we weren’t interested in the others, living alone and in the cave was perfect,” Murdock started.
“And now, you don’t know how to keep our secret?” Rose asked, completing his thought.
“We do have to keep the secret of the Oomah. That part is not an option, but we also need some way of allowing the others to contact us,” Murdock continued.
“But I love our cave,” Rose complained, pouting. “It has all the amenities anyone could need!”
“Not to mention that it’s safe, secure, and temperature-controlled,” Murdock continued. “But how do we keep the cave and its treasures a secret, and how do we keep it a secret that the Oomah are intelligent?”
“Would a house at the base of the mountain work?” Rose asked.
“We would be closer, but we’d have to actually live in it,” Murdock explained. “If it was just a front, others might notice and suspect something else was going on. I think our best bet is to move away from the mountain and let Beron seal it as best he can from the others.”
“And us,” Rose completed his thought.
“Unfortunately,” Murdock said.
Rose sat down by the bank to think. Murdock stripped down and got into the stream to bathe.
“What do you think would happen if someone harmed one of the Oomah?” Rose asked.
“Seriously, I don’t know,” Murdock said from the stream. “I believe it would not be good for any human on this planet.”
“That’s my thought as well,” Rose said. “So why don’t we tell the others about the Oomah with an extremely stern warning?”
“I doubt that would work for long,” Murdock said as he got out of the stream to dry in the sun. “You tell children not to touch something hot, and the first chance they get, they touch it anyway.”
“But the others aren’t children,” Rose countered.
“I’m not so sure,” Murdock said with conviction.
Rose thought it over. Then she said, “I see your point.”
After taking baths and refilling their water skins, Rose and Murdock returned to Mei Lee’s camp site. There, they were greeted with a pleasant surprise. Murdock’s travois had been fitted with wheels, and when he tested it, it rolled easily. It resembled a heavy-duty rickshaw without the canopy or spoked wheels.
“That’s really going to make things easier,” Murdock said with excitement as he continued to inspect the workmanship.
“It’s much more than I expected,” Rose said as she hugged Mei Lee.
“I’ll make sure we return it when we take our deer,” Murdock promised.
“Unnecessary,” Mei Lee said. “It’s yours. We’ll have our own cart in the next few days.”
“Thank you all, very much,” Murdock said to the craftsmen. Then he asked Mei Lee, “Have you selected someone to work the hides?”
“Yes, I have,” Mei Lee told him. “I’ll introduce you after you eat something.”
Murdock spent the rest of the day working with and training Corwin Smith, whom Mei Lee had asked to work the hides. Murdock thought him nice enough, and Smith had some hobby experience in working with leather before their displacement. He had no idea how to tan hides, though. More than once, Murdock showed Smith Rose’s dress. After he was satisfied that Smith had a good grasp on the process, Murdock and Rose left on their hunt.
“How far upriver were you planning on going?” Rose asked in a low voice after a rest to eat and scout the area.
“I was hoping to go as far as the entrance to our cave at least,” Murdock answered, barely loud enough for Rose to hear. “That way, if we find a suitable site to build on, it would be just travel in a straight line during the move or to use the bath tub.”
“I’m hoping we can figure this out without moving,” Rose flashed. “I was really enjoying our tub.”
“I know you were,” Murdock flashed back. “So was I, truth be told. I doubt we could find another place like that one. I will promise to do what I can to make sure you have a tub for a hot bath once in a while, though.” Rose smiled broadly.
As the pair proceeded upstream, Murdock noticed that the ground was rising and the distance from the bank to the water increased significantly. As time and miles went on, the elevation had risen significantly, and the river bank had disappeared, to be replaced with a gorge. As they crested a hill, they saw a large stand of trees close to what had been the river bank. Then, as they approached the edge of the gorge, they saw what looked like an island in the middle of the gorge. Murdock suspected the river had eroded the ground between them and the island. As he walked farther upstream, he looked again at the island and could clearly see that it was a peninsula.
“That looks nice,” Rose said, indicating the peninsula.
“It would,” Murdock said, “if there were a way over to see if it would work. From here, it looks like we’d have to go all the way back and ford the river.”
“The river back by the pod was really swift and wide,” Rose said, concerned. “I’m not sure I’d like to cross it there.”
“There are ways,” Murdock said. “Ferries or bridges,
but the first time across would be very difficult. Just not sure it would be worth it.”
“And making it too easy for others would defeat the purpose,” Rose said, finishing his thought.
As Murdock was looking toward the peninsula, he saw a big bear. He thought it was Beron, but at that distance, he couldn’t be sure. As he watched, though, the bear walked toward them. When it stepped from the land into the air, the bear didn’t fall. It appeared to float as it walked across the open air. As he watched, everything in the bear’s motion told Murdock that it was walking on a solid surface.
Rose had seen the bear as well and was watching it with rapt attention. Her mouth was agape as she followed the bear’s progress.
Murdock, seeing the bear’s direction, estimated its destination on their side of the invisible bridge. Murdock rushed over to where he guessed the bear would be and investigated their side of the gorge. He could only slightly detect the bridge, and upon inspection, he decided it was made out of some sort of crystal. The crystal was hard as stone but as clear as air. When the bear had almost crossed the bridge, Murdock saw that it was Beron.
“Hello, my friend,” Murdock flashed. Beron flashed a friendly greeting back.
“Did you know he was in the area?” Murdock asked Rose.
“Yes, I did,” she said. “He’s come to help resolve some of your issues.”
“How much does he know?” Murdock asked.
“Everything,” Rose said, shrugging. “You’ve known him long enough to know that not much is hidden from him.”
“Did he build the bridge for us?” Murdock asked. “I doubt the Oomah would need such a thing.”
“No, he didn’t,” Rose said. “It’s always been here. He does understand about our need for our own kind, and he’s not insulted about our need to move. We were, after all, led here, but you knew that.”
“Did I?” Murdock asked. “I wasn’t aware we were being led.” Murdock, who was frustrated, was getting quite upset.
“Of course you were,” Rose countered. “I’ve seen that in your mind since we left the pod.”
Murdock flushed. “So, if he knows so much, why is he here?” he asked sarcastically.
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