by Chris Hechtl
They had frisky fun during the day. He did light work to let his ankle heal. They took a bath in the pool together, horse playing and making love together despite the cold. When the lovemaking turned serious, they got quieter. That was when a few animals came to drink. Hayden was surprised by a deer drinking nearby. Beyond it was another and then a doe and fawn. An entire herd she realized in wonder.
Bret was quiet though, unmoving as he kept his arms around her naked body. He put a finger to her lips when she opened her mouth. She turned to look into his eyes, but he slowly pointed. She turned, and they watched as the animals drank and then left.
Rain in the afternoon drives them inside, huddled under a blanket watching rain. He works on making more rope until she took it from him and distracted him. She wrapped it around his wrists but he fended her off. He laughed until she smothered his lips with her own to shut him up.
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A day later they went back to the shore. She's amused but a little annoyed about returning. She wanted to stay with him, to be with him. She got him to hold hands as they walked along the trail. It was difficult in a few stretches, tight but they made it work. He even helped her over a few rocks and roots. She always smiled her thanks.
They meet Dwayne, Jim, and a few of the others at the shore. They passed each other the gear in trade. The trooper nodded to Hayden. She smiled back, blushing and brushing hair out of her eyes.
“Nice haircut,” Dwayne commented, shaking his head. He could tell from their body language that they were lovers. “Tanya will be amused,” he said dryly as he ran a hand through his scalp. The woman had helped him shave off the little hair he had.
“Yeah, mine was getting long too,” Bret said, tugging on his left earlobe. Hayden had clipped it with the scissors on his utility knife. It hadn't been easy, but it had been necessary. He felt better.
“I'll bet. How do you get pin feathers out again?” the trooper asked, shaking his head. He reached down and picked up something. Bret snorted when the other man held up a turkey. “Can you show us? Please?”
Bret nodded before Hayden shot him a look. “Look, use warm water to loosen the feathers. Then use a flint rock scraper,” he said. He pulled one from his bag and showed them. “It's like pulling a splinter. Scrape against the grain,” he said demonstrating.
“Oooh.” There was a wealth of chagrin in that simple short word.
“If you had tweezers or pliers, you could pull them that way too,” Bret explained, pulling his utility knife out to show them that. He then went back to showing them how to use the scraper to expose the feathers and remove them. They watched and nodded. The trooper showed him the bow they had made and arrows. “Good, not bad for a first time,” Bret said.
“First hell, try twentieth. Or is it the twenty-first?” Bill asked. He flexed his hands.
“Perfection takes practice to get it right,” Bret stated. Dwayne snorted. “And yes, I know it can never be achieved, but it's always better to aim high and then settle, then aim too low. He went on to explain about steam boxes. They nodded. Dwayne stood there, arms crossed listening intently. When he finished the trooper gave him a bag of greens and other things. Bret nodded in appreciation.
“Thanks for that. Some of this doesn't grow near where … um …,” he stopped himself. After a moment of awkwardness, he shrugged. “Thanks.”
“You bet. What are friends for, right?” Bill asked gruffly. Jim smiled slightly and nodded, pretending to tip his hat. Bret nodded back.
“How are you doing in working to prep for winter? I know it's only midspring, but you need to think long-term,” he warned.
Dwayne blinked at him. He was taken aback by the question and warning. “You ah …”
Bret cocked his head and then nodded sagely. “Yeah.”
“Hell man, we've just been surviving. Hand to mouth, ragged edge,” Jim said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“You mean you've been working on it?” Bill asked surprised. Bret shook his head. “Damn, man, I don't know why I'm surprised but I am.”
“He is also making a log cabin, a nice one,” Hayden said smiling at him. “I'm going to help,” she said. She held up a bag. “I've got this for Doc.”
“Oh?”
“This one is grain. This one is medicinal herbs he found,” she said pointing her thumb to indicate Bret. They nodded.
“The grain can be harvested and ground into a crude flour. It's not wheat or at least not all wild wheat, but it's something,” he told them. He didn't go into detail about how wild wheat and farm wheat were wildly different things. Something was decidedly odd here; he had found both in the area. He wasn't sure what to make of that. “You can do the same with nuts by the way,” he said before his mind went further off course. They nodded. “Mix the flour with some nuts, berries, and dried meat and you've got pemmican. Think of it as a Native American energy bar,” he explained.
The light dawned on Dwayne's face. He nodded. “Ah, I've heard of it,” the trooper said with a nod.
“Right,” Jim said with his own nod.
They talked a little more, passing on knowledge of the terrain and little bits they had learned. Bill and Miguel commented about the weather and seasons on the alien planet.
“I don't know. I know we're not in Sol anymore,” Bret said waving to the planet far off in the distance. In another hour or so, it would be gone, but it had been getting bigger and most likely closer the more the season wound on. “I mean, this planet or at least where we're at is too much like Earth to be a coincidence,” he said. He stamped his foot. “Gravity, air …,” he waved to the plants and stuff around them. “Plants and animals.”
“So …”
“So it could be terraformed. Made to look like Earth with transplanted animals and plants.”
“Huh,” Jim said rubbing his chin. He wasn't sure if he was buying it or not. He liked Gisel's Matrix theory, though he couldn't see how a computer could simulate the real world on this level.
“Think about it. Take a look around at the plants and trees. I have. I've cut a tree down. I haven't found one with more than fifty rings,” Bret said. “And most of the oldest rings were pretty tight.”
“Um, not following,” Bill said with a frown.
“He's talking about the age of a tree,” Dwayne said, dredging up the lessons from memory. “Something about the health too?”
Bret nodded. “The shape and size of the year ring tells you if the tree had a good year or not. So if most of the early years were bad, that means it took a while before they were established. And since it wasn't so long ago, we could have trouble with the weather or something.” He shrugged at their expressions. “Hey, it's just a theory. Talk about it with your people; maybe someone on your side of the lake knows more,” he said.
“We'll do that,” Bill said noncommittally.
“All righty then. I need to, um, get going,” Bret said. He looked to Hayden. She seemed torn. “Um … be seeing you or ….”
“I'm going to go with them for now. Tell them about the cabin. Check in and stuff,” she said.
“Okay,” he said, backing off.
“Hey,” she said. He paused and turned back to her. She pulled him closer, tugging and swinging his arm. She smiled, and when he finally smiled back, she stood on her toes and kissed him. “There. Now behave,” she said. He snorted. “I mean it. Don't get into any trouble,” she warned. He rolled his eyes. She punched his shoulder.
“Owe!” he protested, rubbing it.
“I told you to behave and not ten seconds you are acting up,” she scolded. “So don't come crying to me.” She wrapped her arms around him. “You know you can come with us,” she said softly.
He just shook his head.
“Okay then,” she said, slowly letting go. “We'll see you in what, a week?” she asked, looking at him to catch his eyes.
He sighed and then nodded. He couldn't say it out loud but he would miss her. Miss her presence, especially at night.
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On the way back, the others filled her in on what she'd missed, which wasn't much. She was quiet, but they drew out some of what she'd seen and learned.
Dwayne admitted that they didn't need as much meat. That led to Bill and the others practically bouncing. They told Hayden excitedly about how they had finally gotten an elk of their own the day before.
“It damn near got away, but we got him. A nice big buck,” Jim grinned. “We've got pieces smoked and more in a pool. We've got a problem with fish picking at them though,” he said. “And of course the fish and well,” he indicated the haunch.
“So we don't need him anymore,” Wayne said nastily. The girl flinched.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Jim said giving the guy a quelling look. Hayden was more than a little concerned. “We can always use more food. Always,” he stated flatly.
“True,” Wayne said. “But he's just not worth dealing with.”
“Shut your yap, man,” Bill growled. “He pointed out to us that winter is coming in a couple months.
“So?”
“So dummy, winter means cold. Winter means snow. That means no root veggies, no fruit, no berries or other plants. And that means less game. Or no game since some of it may head south for the winter. No game, no food. Right now, I'll take all we can get. We can smoke it and save it for later. We might have a day or two where we can't go out because it's raining or something.” He shrugged as Wayne dealt with that knowledge. “Who knows what the future will bring,” he said, indicating the sky with the planet in the distance. They could barely see it, but it was close enough to make it out as a planet and one with a near vertical ring going around it like Neptune. “This is a screwy damned world. I'll take what I can get,” Bill said.
The trooper nodded. “Winter. Snow,” he said simply. “With what we're living in …,” he shook his head.
“Oh,” they blinked at each other and stared as that thought penetrated. Snow in the crude shelters. Snow and cold in the ragged clothes they had. They looked at each other as Jim sucked in a breath and then exhaled slowly.
“Oh.”
“Shit. Yeah, I know. I've been so caught up in the moment I forgot. We forgot.”
“Apparently he didn't,” Dwayne said dryly. “He's taken the long view. They turned to the woman. She shrugged, trying not to hunch her shoulders. She told them more of Bret's camp, how he had it laid out, all the tricks and stuff he took for granted. Miguel was interested in the cabin's design and the protective wall. The trooper was very interested in the wall.
They talked about building one near the lake village. Dwayne wants it closer to the meadow where the game was, but there isn't any water near the high ground. They ended up debating it as they walked along the shore. Occasionally they would stop to check fish traps. Hayden couldn't help but smile in approval as they brought out some fish. Not every trap had a fish in it, but a few did to make the stops worthwhile.
When they got back to the camp, the debate about relocating continued. The only two things holding them to their current location was easy access to water and fish as well as the plane. But the plane had sunken further away. Without a tow cable and some sort of machine, it was a lost cause. And everyone had given up on the idea of a rescue somehow coming.
Dwayne let the discussion go on. He and the hunters stayed in the camp to work on their equipment and to check the snares in the area. They were getting better; he was proud of the two hares they had snared. Bret's idea of trapping the warren had worked to some degree too. They had caught a couple of the rabbits for food two days before.
The debate continued into the evening and the evening meal. Dwayne ended it when he called for a vote. The group decided to follow the nearby stream closer to the fields where the game was. Hayden was torn; that distance would make it impossible to visit either side.
“Then it's decided. Tomorrow we move. Start figuring out what you want to take along and start planning to pack. We'll start scouting first light tomorrow,” Dwayne said by the light of the fire. He finished his cup of berry tea and then knocked the dregs out carefully. “I suggest we all turn in early,” he said, giving a few people around the fire a look. “But we're all adults, so you decide. But you'd better be ready when we start moving out or you could be left behind,” he warned.
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They spent the next six days moving the camp. It wasn't easy; there were chunks of the plane that they wanted to move. Bill, Miguel, and others spent time in the evening trying to pick off more parts of wreckage, stripping to their shorts or less and diving for the pieces. Bill spent some time trying to pull wiring and bits off the wing that was standing up in the air until a cylinder he'd been working on fell and clocked him. He'd had a knot, and Doc had decreed no more work on the plane. It wasn't worth someone getting drowned or injured for.
During the meals they talked about Bret coming along as well. Hayden was certain that he wouldn't up and abandon the projects he had going, not with so much invested in them. A few of the group, like Wayne and Allen, hinted about joining Bret, but Bill and Jim shook their heads and nixed the idea. Both of them men weren't keen about moving in and forcing the guy out. They had a lot of layabouts around still—people who would take advantage of him and piss him off into moving again and that wouldn't be right. Hell, they pissed him off every damn day, Bill thought eying the former lawyers.
On their fourth day, Helen was surprised when she found a patch of corn on the move. It was off to the side of the trail in a bit of weeds, but she'd seen corn before in her dad's truck garden. The others passed it by, ignoring it as they wearily trudged on with their loads. But she stopped, aware of what she was finding, but also knowing it shouldn't be here. “Come on, Helen, daylight's burning,” Lucile said.
“Hang on a sec. Dwayne, come here,” she said.
Dwayne paused and turned with a frown. She pointed to where she was, then the ground. He got the message and trudged over without complaint. “Yes?”
“This,” She said, pointing to the knee high corn.
“Okay …”
“It's corn.”
“Corn?” he asked, bending over to touch it.
“But not maize. Real corn. Modern corn or something like it. It shouldn't be here,” she said.
“Corn. We can use this,” he murmured thoughtfully.
“Hey,” she said, tugging on his arm to get his attention. He frowned and turned to him.
“What? I agree, we can use this,” he said. “Too bad we can't dig it up and take it with us, but I suppose it'd die or something. And the animals may get it,” he frowned.
“No, that's not it. Think about it,” she said. She took a seat on her haunches and picked at the weeds around the corn. “This is corn. Maize is what corn came from. Both corn and wheat came from grass. Maize is a form of grass. If we found Maize, it would have cobs about the size of your pinky finger,” she said.
“Um …”
“And this is growing, so it's not a modern farm variant. Those are mostly gene engineered these days and can't reproduce. They also need a ton of fertilizer and stuff to grow. So, if it isn't, it's some sort of one of those then …,” she frowned thoughtfully, fingers tracing the leaves.
“It's been planted here you mean.”
“Or something. I don't know,” she said as he straightened. She looked up at him troubled.
“I don't know, honey. I …” he frowned and then shrugged his pack. “We don't have much evidence. We've already discussed that this world may be artificial. That we've all been transplanted here. So corn ….”
“Could it be for our benefit? Or something else?”
“I tell you what. We find other veggies or more wheat and then we'll have to take the evidence at face value. What it means though is anyone's guess,” he said. She nodded. He held out his hand, and she took it gingerly allowing him to support her as she rose once more to her feet. She smiled her thanks to him, but he didn't let her hand go as
they continued to walk. The simple reassuring touch felt good. After a while she let the troubling thoughts go with the recognition that his touch was the only thing that really mattered.
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Hayden was depressed and torn by the situation. Finally Tanya and a few of the leading women pulled her aside. “Look kid, we know what you're going through. A long distance relationship doesn't work out in the end. It's not like there are a lot of men either,” Tanya said, shaking her head. “With Toshi sick again and well …,” she shrugged.
Hayden nodded. Toshi, the video gamer, was a slim Asian male. Quiet and reserved like Bret. He did his work but hadn't looked at all happy about it. He'd done the bare minimum to get by initially. He'd also been stupid; he kept insisting on drinking the water from the lake. That had led to bouts of sickness Doc could barely handle. He was depressed; they could all see it. He was a techno nerd; being trapped in the great outdoors was just one big nightmare to him. His girlfriend wasn't at all happy with him and had started to withdraw from him adding to his misery. Florence had taken Hayden aside to confide in her that she believed the young man was deliberately making himself sick to either get attention or clock out and commit suicide. Both were not comfortable thoughts. They needed every hand to work; losing one and either having to care for him or losing him permanently wasn't a pleasant thought.
“The pickings are slim and some of us aren't willing to share,” Helen said, tugging on the hide she was working on. She flicked a bit of meat or something or other into the fire.
Hayden nodded.
“What they are trying to say is, it's okay if you want to be with him,” Lucile said, looking at her. Hayden caught a part of that gaze and then looked away. She was uncomfortable.
“But …”
“You want to be with your man. We know,” Tanya said, resting a hand on her arm. She turned as Helen picked up another piece of elk hide and worked at it, trying to get the fat and bits off the underside. They were still getting the hang of it. It sucked, but it was all they could do. Leather was necessary for their new reduced life.