Shadow Sun Expansion

by Dave Willmarth

  Helen laughed. “Sorry, I should have specified. It’s an open air mine. The Black Thunder mine is basically a huge series of great big holes in the ground. Like a quarry, with ramps leading down around the edges. Each one of them could hold a football stadium. You’ll see in a minute.”

  True to her word, they soon came upon the mine. It was much, much larger than anything Allistor had expected. From the road it looked like a series of meteors had struck the grassland, burning away all the vegetation and leaving deep gouges in the earth. But as Helen drove them into the nearest hole, he saw the slopes cut into the rock that circled down into the pit several stories below.

  Nodding his head, he said, “Okay, I get it. They can huddle down there out of the wind, and walk back up when they need to feed. And I’m guessing there’s water nearby?”

  Helen nodded and pointed toward the southeast. “There’s a lake a mile or two that way. During the summer the herd can wander and get fat. They can be left to winter here, or herded to one of the towns to take shelter like they did this last winter.” Allistor saw something dawn on her, and she began to talk a little faster.

  “In fact, there is a little town northeast of here called Upton that is completely surrounded by the park. And if there aren’t any survivors there, that probably means you own the town as well. Let’s go check it out!”

  She turned the Juggernaut around and got back on the highway. With a mischievous look, she said, “You want to test out this thing’s off-road capabilities? We can get there on these roads, but I’m used to patrolling this area on horseback. Much shorter if we go straight across.”

  Allistor gave her a fist bump as his answer, and she immediately veered off the road onto the grass. The six wheels on 3 independent axles handled the rough terrain with ease. Helen proved she really did know the territory as she meandered between the hills and down gradual slopes into gullies that she’d follow for a mile or two before finding a drivable slope up the other side.

  Allistor and Amanda enjoyed the views as they went. There were huge herds of elk roaming the prairie, and occasional stands of trees here and there. When Fuzzy indicated that he needed to get out and take care of some bear business, they discovered a colony of prairie dogs that didn’t appreciate the grizzly invading their territory.

  The trip took a few hours, as they were moving more slowly across the open fields and taking a zig-zag route. Eventually, buildings appeared on the horizon. A half hour later Helen rejoined a dirt road that led them into the town of Upton. As they drove in, Helen said, “Looks like somebody’s still here.” She pointed off to the north, where a plume of smoke rose into the air. “That’s, uhh… I think that’s the elementary school?” she guessed. “Been a while. There are two big buildings in town. The elementary school and the high school. If I was gonna make a Stronghold, I’d pick one of those.”

  They passed a hardware store as they moved into town from the east. Then Joe’s Food, which looked like a grocery store. Allistor liked the name. Simple and descriptive. A few blocks farther on, Helen turned left and headed roughly north through town. In just a minute they came upon a Stronghold.

  “Yep, that’d be where the elementary school was.” Helen pulled to a stop. The humans all got out, leaving their doors open. Fuzzy knew the drill by that time, and remained in his chair, seemingly bored. His Fibble doll lay balanced on his belly as he reclined.

  Allistor called out toward the gate, not seeing anyone on the walls. It took a full minute and two more calls before someone appeared.

  “Who are you? And what do you want?” a woman shouted down. She had the high cheekbones and jet-black hair of a native American. She didn’t point a weapon at them, which Allistor took as a good sign.

  “I’m Allistor! This is Helen, and Amanda. As for what we want… well, I guess we’d like to talk?”

  The woman stared at him for a while, and a couple of other heads appeared on either side of her. “Talk about what?”

  “Talk about maybe being friends? Trade? The weather? The usual stuff people talk about!” Allistor smiled up at the woman, whose poker face could have made a professional gambler nervous.

  “I suppose you want to come inside.” she stated, not really asking.

  “Well, that would be easier than shouting back and forth, certainly. But I understand if you don’t want to let strangers in. We could talk out here…”

  A man to the right of the woman shouted, “What the hell kind of rifle is that?” He pointed toward Allistor, who turned around to look behind him before he realized he’d strung his plasma rifle over his shoulder.

  Feeling foolish, he answered. “Plasma rifle. Alien tech. We bought it on the open market.”

  “Thought so. I seen one of them when I was shopping. Those things cost like a hundred thousand klax. You must be rich!”

  “Allistor!” The other man slapped himself on the forehead. “That’s where I know that name! Every time we leave town and head out to hunt, it says we’re on your territory. And when we shoot an elk, it says we’re poaching. What the hell man? With that rifle and that … car, or whatever it is behind you, you must be rich. There’s like a million elk out there! You can’t spare a few for hungry Indians?”

  The other two on the wall suddenly looked decided unfriendly.

  “No, no, it’s not like that! I was awarded the park lands, and the system apparently is giving you some kind of automatic warning. I didn’t tell it to do that! And no, I don’t care if you shoot some elk to live on, I mean… look. Can we please sit down and talk about this? My neck’s getting a little sore shouting up at you.”

  “My father is our tribal chief. He’s out hunting right now. We really shouldn’t let you in here until he says so.” the woman called down, her face still scowling. “You can always go tell him he’s not allowed to hunt. But I wouldn’t recommend it!”

  Allistor sighed. Helen and Amanda both shrugged. He had an idea. “Um… you mentioned your tribe. What tribe are you?”

  The second man, the one who’d recognized Allistor’s name, shouted, “What, we all look the same to you, white man?”

  “To be honest, yes.” Allistor called back. “I’ve got a little Lakota blood in me. I’ve been around natives all my life, and I can’t tell the difference between a Lakota, a Cheyenne, or an Osage. Please, I’m trying to be friendly here. Would you tell me what tribe you’re from?”

  The first man stood straighter. “We are Lakota! Of the great Sioux nation!”

  “Great! I’m pleased to meet my distant cousins. Now, let’s resolve this whole hunting issue, okay?” Allistor puffed out his own chest, and called out, “I, Earl Allistor, hereby grant my cousins of the Lakota tribe the right to hunt on my lands within the Thunder Basin so that they may feed their families. I grant this right for as long as I shall live!”

  A green glow surrounded him and the three people atop the wall. Their gazes unfocused as they read some kind of notification. When they returned their gazes to Allistor, they seemed a little less hostile.

  “You still need to wait for my father to return!” the woman called out.

  Allistor was getting tired of shouting at these people. “When do you expect him back?”

  “Tonight, probably.” she called out. “Come back in the morning.”

  Allistor wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in the car overnight. That was the only place outside a Stronghold or Outpost where they could be sure a creature wouldn’t spawn. Getting slightly annoyed, he called up to them again.

  “Look. Uhh… I’m sorry, what is your name?”

  “Call me Redfeather.” the woman answered.

  “Okay look, Redfeather. I’m up here with my companions scouting the land because we plan to move a herd of buffalo up here. And before you ask, yes. You can hunt the buffalo too, as long as you abide by Helen’s rules for preserving the breeding stock. We want the herd to grow, not go extinct. Especially since there are so many elk to hunt instead.” He paused to take a deep breath
, and thought he saw looks of something approaching approval on the faces atop the wall.

  “We’re here in town because our cowboys are going to need a safe place to stay while they manage the herd, just like my friends and I are going to need a safe place to sleep tonight.” He held up a hand to interrupt one of the men who had just opened his mouth. “I get it. You don’t want to let strangers in. I totally understand. Helen here tells me this used to be the elementary school. And that there is a high school not far away. So here is what we’re going to do. We’re going to drive over to the high school and turn it into an Outpost. We’ll spend the night there, and come back to talk to you in the morning. How’s that sound?”

  The second man, the younger of the two, grew angry again. “That’s our school! This whole town is ours!” He raised a rifle and set it atop the wall, not pointed directly at them, but in their general direction.

  “I’m not trying to take your town from you. I don’t need any of the resources here, except a building large enough to house my people and their animals, where they can sleep safely. I’ve already granted you hunting rights on my lands, when I could have been a dick about it instead. I’m trying here, guys. I really do want to be friends. But I’m taking that school. You can try to stop me, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  The three Lakota put their heads together and whispered for a good long while. Allistor was tempted to just get in the Juggernaut and leave. But he didn’t want to piss them off or scare them any more than he already had.

  Helen helped the situation. “Redfeather! Your father is your chief? Would he be Chief Standing Bear?”

  The three stopped whispering and turned toward Helen. “That’s right. Why?”

  Now it was Helen’s turn to sigh. “I know your father! When he returns, tell him ranger Helen says hello! And tell him I said Allistor is a good man. He has even bound himself to a grizzly bear companion!” She turned toward the vehicle. “Fuzzy, come here.”

  Fuzzy half stepped half rolled out of the truck and padded over to Allistor, sitting next to him and licking his hand. Allistor, catching on to Helen’s intent, took a knee next to the bear and began to scratch his ears, his back. After a moment he tackled the distracted bear cub, starting a wrestling match right there in the street.

  After a few moments, Fuzzy pinned him, giving his face a slobbery lick before letting him go. Allistor got back to his feet, grumbling at the cub. When he looked up, the faces looking back were definitely friendlier.

  Redfeather called down. “Can I… Can I come out and meet him? What did you call him? Fuzzy?”

  “Of course! He won’t hurt you, unless you try and hurt Allistor.” Helen answered.

  All three disappeared, and a moment later the gate opened. Redfeather stepped out accompanied by the older of the two men. The second man stood in the opening, rifle at the ready.

  She approached them cautiously, and Fuzzy took a few steps toward them, moving slowly with a little bounce in his step, like a friendly dog meeting a new person. Allistor swore if the cub had more than a stub of a tail, he’d be wagging it. “It’s okay, he really won’t hurt you. He’s a big slobbery glutton of a puppy dog. With horrible breath, so don’t let him lick your face.”

  Redfeather halted a step away from the bear, who ignored her hesitation and stepped forward to give her a good sniff. After a moment, he plopped down on his butt, raised himself up into an upright sitting position, and waved one lazy paw at the woman.

  She smiled, and raised a hand to give him a high five. When he dropped his forepaws back to the ground, she reached and tentatively scratched above one ear. Fuzzy leaned into her hand and began to purr, enchanting her completely.

  “He’s so cute!” she gushed as she dropped to her knees and hugged him. She promptly paid the price for getting so close when he licked her face. Leaning back, she said, “Ugh, what do you feed him?”

  “Well, a little while ago, some stale pop tarts and a piece of dragon jerky. But just the other day he ate some guy’s face off…” Allistor smiled as she jerked back from the bear, getting to her feet and looking at them both warily. “Relax, the guy was trying to kill us. He took a shot at our shiny new truck there, and Fuzzy chased him into the woods.”

  Not exactly reassured, she took a couple steps back from Fuzzy. The bear cub took a minute to sniff at the man next to her, who calmly held his ground even though Allistor could see him gripping the handle of a pistol at his waist.

  “If you don’t draw that weapon, I promise he won’t harm you. Or lick you. We really need to find some kind of breath mints for him, Helen.”

  The man relaxed, taking his hand off the gun and reaching down to pat Fuzzy’s head. Amanda chuckled. “Fuzzy the Ambassador.”

  The man looked to Allistor. “Standing Bear will want to meet you. Both of you.” He scratched Fuzzy’s ear a bit. “Go, claim the high school if you have to. Return in the morning.” The two turned their backs and walked back inside, the gate closing behind them with a metallic clang.

  “You heard the man, back in the truck. Let’s go back to high school.”

  Five minutes later they were parked in front of the main entrance of the school. It was a nice-looking building with a football field right behind it, and a large parking lot. The front doors were chained shut, and all the windows appeared to be intact, if dusty.

  Allistor found a stick to use to hold the chain out away from the door. A single blast from his plasma rifle melted through the chain, and he pulled it free. Opening the doors, he and the others stepped inside. The trip had taken a good part of the day, and the sun was lowering toward the western horizon. But there was more than enough light to see inside the building. Each classroom had six-foot tall windows along one whole wall, which let in lots of light.

  As soon as they were inside, Allistor pulled up his interface and tried to claim the building. Luckily for them, someone had taken the time to secure the building, and nothing had spawned inside. He was quickly able to declare the building an Outpost. It only took him a few seconds to designate his usual features – power, water, wall, and sensors. The school already had a large kitchen and cafeteria, as well as several bathrooms and a gym with showers. That would do for the short term. He authorized Helen, Amanda, and his other advisors to make alterations to the structure as needed. A quick check outside showed that the wall encompassed the football field and its stands, which could be used to shelter horses and other livestock with some minor alterations.

  They sat down at one of the cafeteria tables for supper, then split up to get some rest. Fuzzy simply plopped down underneath the table and closed his eyes, while Allistor and Amanda claimed the teacher’s lounge because it had a sofa. Helen pulled a few exercise mats from the gym into the coach’s office and slept there.

  Chapter 15

  Betrayal and Exile

  The following morning Allistor and company did a little sprucing up. The school had a pool, so Allistor filled it and added some chemicals to clean the water. Fuzzy didn’t wait, leaping into the water and splashing around the shallow end like a child.

  Helen went out back and looked over the bleachers. Standing underneath them, she accessed the interface and added walls at either end, and along the back. In the center of the long wall she put large barn doors that slid to the side, and a few windows with heavy shutters. Then she filled in the gaps above with a sloped ceiling. When she was done, she had a half-barn with room for a couple dozen horses, feed, tack, and more. She decided to leave it to the cowboys to construct individual stalls.

  Which was pretty much what Amanda was doing inside the school. She was turning each classroom into a living area with half being a bedroom, and the other half being a sitting area. When she realized she couldn’t get access to a market kiosk because the place was only an Outpost, she stuck her head out the door and shouted for Allistor.

  He came jogging up, barefoot and soaking wet in just his boxers. Fuzzy jogged along behind him, equally soaked and dripping w
ater everywhere. Shaking her head at the smiles on both of their faces, she said, “Children! You’re both overgrown children.”

  “Yup! But this wasn’t my fault. I was just watching Fuzzy play, and he pretended he couldn’t get out. When I reached in to help him, he grabbed my arm and pulled me in!”

  Amanda looked at the bear cub, who clearly shook his head no and did his best to look innocent. Looking at Allistor, she said, “And your clothes?”

  Realizing he was busted, Allistor grinned. “Okay. Fine. I might have done a cannonball. Or three. I had to teach Fuzzy!”

  With an effort Amanda suppressed a smile of her own. “Listen, mister cannonball. I need beds and stuff for this place, and the interface says we can’t have market access here-”

  “Because it’s only an Outpost.” Allistor finished for her, nodding his head. “We can always send up a truck with furniture and stuff. Unless you reeeally want the stuff today, I’d rather not waste the system points upgrading this place.”

  “No, I guess you’re right. The cowboys and support people can bring up a load of stuff when they push the buffalo up here. Or maybe we can buy some stuff from the chief and his people. Pay them to let us scavenge beds from the houses around here.” She nodded once, confirming the decision in her mind.

  “Speaking of the chief, we should probably go see if he’s back.” Helen said as she walked up behind Allistor. “Nice boxers, boss. But uhh… they’re a little see-thru when wet. Maybe put some pants on before we go meet our new friends?”

  Allistor covered his private bits with his hands and dashed back to the pool, sliding a bit on the slippery floors. Fuzzy just stood where he was, giving the two ladies his best bear grin before he shook himself like a dog, showering both of them.

  “Fuzzy!” Helen laughed as she scolded him. “Cut that out! No treats for you today.”

  Fuzzy’s look went from amused to pathetic in a heartbeat. He tilted his head to one side and did his best to look sorry. It very nearly worked, but Helen held firm.