“Let’s go see what everyone else is up to,” I said to Jinx, and he let out a happy squawk as we walked out of my hut.
Dark clouds were rolling in from the west, and the air felt like it was some twenty degrees colder than it was yesterday. It was comfortable out, maybe on the side of cool, and I guessed that it was probably in the mid-sixties Fahrenheit.
It was going to be a great day to work on all our projects, and I felt excitement spin in my stomach. I also felt a bit of trepidation when I thought about Sheela’s warning. Did the sudden drop in temperature mean that we were in store for a change of seasons? I decided that I needed to focus on better huts, food storage, and thicker clothes, but I’d begin worrying about all that tomorrow.
I didn’t see anyone else in the inside of our first fort walls, but I did see Hope sitting in her usual spot in her stable. There was a bowl of water sitting next to her, and she took a small sip of it as I walked closer.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I scratched her chin. Hope didn’t seem sick, but she hadn’t moved from this spot in the last day or so. I thought she might have hurt her leg, so I squatted down to look at them carefully. Her hind legs looked uninjured, but then I noticed that there were a lot of twigs and packed dirt under her stomach.
“What is-- oh!” I laughed and then looked up into Hope’s big brown eyes. “You’ve laid an egg! Can I see it?”
Hope let out a proud little toot, and then she moved her rear leg so I could get a better look at the basketball sized object that she was sitting on. It was speckled with a mixture of green, gold, and brown spots that seemed to sparkle when the light hit them. The shell actually looked quite papery, but my eyes were drawn to the base of the egg, where it was wrapped in what looked like a tight leather case.
“Hey! That’s my hat!” I should have been mad, but Hope let out an apologetic sounding toot and lowered her head sheepishly. The gesture made me laugh, and I raised both arms up so that I could hug her big face and scratch her.
“It’s okay, girl,” I whispered as I rubbed her down. “You can keep it for now. I bet it helps you feel safe, huh?”
Hope tooted softly in my ear and I gave her another hug before I released her.
“Now, who is the lucky guy?” I asked, and Hope tooted a few times before looking out of her door.
“Bob! You rascal!” I shouted into the clearing, and the big parasaur lifted his head from where he was laying by the door. He must have realized I’d found out about the egg, and he let out a tuba sounding toot.
“What’s wrong?” Kacerie asked as she leaned around the other corner, and I saw that her blouse, arms, and hands were covered with soot.
“Come look,” I said as I winked at Bob and gestured back to Hope. Kacerie raised a pink eyebrow, followed me back to Hope’s nest, and then let out a gasp of delight when she saw the egg.
A few minutes later we had everyone gathered around Hope, and the female parasaur gave out some proud sounding toots while Bob looked in from the doggie-door gate.
“We should name her Trel,” Trel said after the women had all giggled with delight and took turns complimenting Hope and rubbing her neck.
“You want the dinosaur’s baby to be named after you?” Liahpa asked with an obvious sigh.
“Of course,” Trel scoffed. “It is a powerful and regal name. Fit for any female creature that wishes to control her destiny and rule over the lesser beings that need her constant care and supervision.”
“Victor should probably name the baby,” Kacerie said as she rolled her eyes at Trel. “He names all our dinosaurs.”
“Excellent idea,” Trel said as she smiled at me. “He will name the baby after me, of course.”
“Let’s just wait and see if it is a boy or a girl,” I chuckled.
“Pfft,” Trel raspberried. “Good decision. An idiot male would not be worthy of my name.”
“How long will it take to hatch?” Galmine asked. All the women had seemed excited about the prospect of a baby dino, but Galmine was lightly bouncing on her feet as she asked her question, and the movement was doing all sorts of distracting things to her breasts.
“I have no idea,” I admitted. “I think she’s only been nesting for a day or so. It could be another few weeks. I doubt it would go longer than a month since it would be too dangerous for Hope not to be able to move.”
“Is there anything we need to do to help her?” Galmine asked.
“We’ll bring her food, water, and make sure that we keep this area nice and clean. Who wants the job?”
“I will do it,” Trel said, and we all looked at her with surprise.
“You?” Kacerie said.
“Of course,” Trel scoffed. “I have given birth before. Have any of you?”
The women all shook their heads.
“See? I am the best suited to take care of another woman ready for birthing.”
“But you said earlier that you would need to sit around during your gestation--”
“Yes,” Trel interrupted Kacerie, “but that has nothing to do with Hope, you can all bring me water and food, and I will bring water and food to Hope. It is quite simple.”
“Uhhhh,” Kacerie sighed and then covered her face with the palm of her hand.
“Just someone ensure she has a stack of grass and leaves to eat, and that her water bowl is full,” I said. “Just look at it every time you walk by. We can all take care of her. Now, let’s talk about what everyone is working on today.”
“Over breakfast?” Galmine asked. “We were about to wake you up for it.”
“Oh, sure,” I said, and then we all walked out of the inner fort and rounded the corner so that we could sit next to the cooking fires.
“Sheela, will you be working on more arrows, bows, and spears today?” I asked the blonde cat-woman.
“Yes,” she said. “Victor, there is also something else we spoke of a few days ago. You once asked me to train everyone on combat skills.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I didn’t forget about it. I just want you to get a supply of weapons set up for each of our platforms first. What do you say we start training a bit tonight before dinner? We’ll need everyone but Galmine to participate.”
“Good,” Sheela said with a smile, and I saw the other women nod.
“Kacerie?” I asked as she handed me a plate of salted meat.
“The needles are done,” she said. “The other tasks you wanted me to do are: checking on the fish traps, making saddles for the other dinos, and working on the soap. I actually stayed up late last night making a new batch of soap. It will need to cure, but I can check on the traps and then start working on the saddles today.”
“Good,” I said after I took a bite of the food. “Why don’t you come with me when I take all the dinos to get water?”
“Sounds good,” she replied.
“Kacerie,” Liahpa cleared her throat, and the hair stylist turned to look at the Lift Ball player.
“Yes?”
“Would you mind too terribly if I went with Victor alone to check on the fish traps?”
“Uhhh,” Kacerie hesitated, and then her bright blue eyes narrowed a bit. “Why?”
“I’ve only gone with him once to the river, and it was an enjoyable break from--”
“But you keep saying that you don’t like men.” Kacerie crossed her arms and her full lips pressed together.
“Yes, but I think Victor is--”
“They were my traps, I built them and--”
“Hey,” I interrupted the argument before it started to get more heated. “Kacerie and I are going to go in the morning. Liahpa, I’ll go with you tonight. Cool?”
“It is cooler, yes,” Liahpa replied with a bit of confusion.
“Victor says ‘cool’ sometimes when he likes something, or when he wants affirmation,” Sheela said as she took a bite out of her food.
“Yeah, sorry,” I laughed. “It’s slang from my part of the world. Our translation technology doesn’t seem
to communicate it correctly.”
“I will go tonight,” Liahpa said with a nod of her head that caused her long white hair to wave up through the air. “I can wait a few hours.”
“You seem pretty intent on going with Victor,” Kacerie said as a coy smile spread across her lips.
“What are you hinting at?” Liahpa raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, nothing, I guess,” Kacerie said. “But if you really want to go now, I can go with him tonight and check the traps.”
“It’s fine,” Liahpa spat. “I’ll wait. Whatever Victor wants.”
“Galmine?” I asked as I turned to the rock-skinned woman.
“I need to plant all of our delicious vegetables and herbs,” she said as she gestured over her shoulder to the area I had plowed for a garden. “Do you still want to help me?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll help you after I get back from the river with Kacerie.”
“What a fun day this will be,” Galmine said as she blessed me with a wonderful smile.
“Liahpa, what are you working on?” I asked.
“I was going to help Sheela with the weapons,” she said as she fixed her red eyes on me. “Is there anything else you want me to do?”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Helping her get all the weapons done should free us up for training tonight. Thanks for helping.”
Both Liahpa and Sheela smiled at me, and I turned to Trel.
“Are you still working on the filters?”
“Yes, Victor,” she said. “They should all be done today. I’ll also try to get more plates and cups made. I don’t know how I got saddled with that job, but I will make sure they are of high quality, even if those fools do not deserve them.”
“Thanks,” I said. I almost pointed out that I hadn’t really asked her to make the plates and cups for Quwaru’s tribe, but then I realized that Trel often complained about the things which she really wanted to do. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Trel probably wanted to make all the plates and cups because she really liked building things.
“Emerald,” I said as I turned to the green-haired woman. “Can you help Sheela and Liahpa with the weapons until I get back with Kacerie? Then I’d like you to help with the saddles.”
Emerald smiled at me and nodded, and I tried not to think about the weird dream I had with her last night.
“That’s the plan for the day,” I said. “If anyone needs any help with anything, let me know and I’ll figure out how to help.”
“Victor,” Trel said. “I must speak with you before you go to get water and fish with Kacerie.”
“Uhh, okay,” I said as I looked around to the other women. They suddenly looked concerned.
“We should speak in private,” she said, and I felt my heart drop into my stomach.
“Okay,” I ate the last of my meat, handed the plate to Kacerie, and then stood up from my rock chair.
Trel motioned for me to follow her, and I walked back around the corner, under Hope’s lifted doggie-door, and then into my hut.
“Is this about the babies?” I asked.
“What?” she asked with confusion.
“Your pregnancy?” I asked.
“What about it?” She tilted her head to the side and her long straight hair fell away from her delicious looking neck.
“Uhhh. Normally when a woman that is pregnant wants to talk to her lover alone, it means that something is wrong.”
“Oh!” Trel snorted. “No, I wanted to talk to you about this.” She stepped to the other side of my small hut, fished her fingers under a mat there, and then pulled out a circle of gold metal that glimmered in the fire light of the dark hut. It was the soul ring that I took from the blue barbarian asshole that I had killed at the river a few days ago.
“Ahh, yeah,” I exhaled. “Have you figured out how to make something with it?”
“I tried to heat it,” she said, “it is a very strong metal. The edge didn’t dull when I scratched it with a stone to test its composition. I’ve looked all over its edges and do not see any seams or anything. It appears to be just a simple weapon, and I think that the man you fought must have had some sort of power that let him control it.”
“That’s what I figured,” I said with a shrug. “Why did you want to talk to me about this in private?”
“It seemed like you didn’t want them to know about your fight a few days ago.” Trel shrugged.
“Yeah,” I said, “but now the cat is out of the bag with the whole concept of aggressive tribes. They all know that we could get attacked at any moment, we don’t need to keep this from them.”
“The cat was in the bag?” Trel asked with concern. “But it was let out?”
“Sorry,” I laughed. “Another expression from my world.
“You have too many of those,” Trel chuckled. “I cannot keep track of them all. Do you want me to show this to Sheela and Liahpa? Perhaps they can think of a weapon to make?”
“That’s a great idea,” I said. “Actually, this is a perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate some great leadership.”
“It is?” Trel asked as she raised an eyebrow.
“For sure,” I replied. “Show this to them, tell them how I got it, and then ask if they can make a weapon or tool from it. Maybe help them with a design, since you are really good at designing and building stuff, but let them come up with the idea.”
“But what if their idea is stupid?” Trel sighed. “I can’t let them be dumb.”
“You might just be surprised,” I said. “You like both of them, and they like you. Everyone wants to do a good job. Good leaders help others.”
“Hmmm,” Trel groaned. “I will try it, but just for you, Victor.”
“Alright,” I said. “I’m going to go with Kacerie. Have fun.”
“I will,” she replied, and I turned to leave my hut, but then I stopped and turned back around to face her.
“What about your pregnancy?” I asked.
“Hmmm,” she said as she tapped her lips with her finger. “I’ll know any hour now.”
“Okay,” I said, and then I pulled her to me and gave her a long kiss.
“I’m happy either way,” I said after our tongues explored each other’s mouths for a few moments.
“You don’t have anything to worry about Victor,” she laughed. “I am very fertile. We will soon have many beautiful babies running around that look just like you and me.”
“Okay,” I said as I tried to relax my shoulders. “Uhhh, I should get going.”
“Have fun,” Trel said, but as I turned to exit, she grabbed me, and we kissed passionately for another few minutes.
“There,” she panted when our lips finally parted. “That is a proper goodbye.”
“Yeah,” I sighed, and then she picked up the soul ring from the ground, winked at me, and walked out of the hut.
I watched her ass sway as she walked away and then went to work gathering all the empty water jugs from our camp. A few minutes later I was out in our courtyard and was helping Kacerie load the jugs onto Tom’s saddle.
“I’m going to leave Katie at the door and Nicole next to you all, so she doesn’t move! I’ll also leave the balaurs.” I called out to everyone. They were all looking at the golden ring in Trel’s hands, but they looked up to me and nodded.
Kacerie and I jumped on Tom, spun the trike around, and then made our way to the gate. With the help of Tom and Katie’s horns, we got them opened quickly and were soon in the redwood forest with a train of parasaurs behind us and a troodon escort in front.
“You didn’t say anything about fighting someone at the river,” Kacerie said.
“You caught Trel’s explanation?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said over the wind. “You really shouldn’t leave the fort alone anymore. Trel is right, you are too important.”
“We are all important,” I countered.
“You know what I mean,” she huffed. “If I, or Galmine, or even Trel die
d, it wouldn’t really impact the group, but if you died, we probably wouldn’t live more than a few days.”
“I don’t think that,” I said. “You are all capable women. Trel, Galmine, and Sheela survived just fine without me.”
“Hmmm, I doubt that,” Kacerie said.
“Also, I’m not really going alone anymore. The troodons are a great escort. They can scout around the river and see if there is any danger before I get there.”
“Alright,” the pink-haired woman huffed. “I suppose that’s much better.”
We rode in silence for a few more moments. There was a spot on the saddle to sit behind me or to my side. Galmine had sat behind so that she could wrap her arms around me, but Kacerie sat next to me, and she reached up to clutch her long pink hair when it accidently blew in my face.
“Sorry,” she said.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I like your hair. The color is great, and it’s thick and healthy.”
“I should have nice hair,” she said with a laugh. “I am a stylist after all.”
“Do all your people have hair that color?” I asked.
“No,” she said as she tied it into a bun at the back of her head. “Why? Do all the people on your world have hair your color?”
“Hmm, kinda,” I said. “Most people have brown hair like mine, a lot of dark hair like Trel’s. Less people have hair Sheela’s color, or some have red hair, but it’s like an orange-ish red. Not like a blood red. Lots of people dye their hair bright colors. If I saw you on my world that’s what I would have thought you did to your hair.”
“Hmmm, dyeing hair? That seems so strange.”
“No one dyes their hair on your world?” I asked.
“Nope,” she said. “The hair color is a bit of a social status, and people would not want to be caught trying to fake it.”
“It is a social status?”
“The closer someone is to a pure red color, the higher their status is in our society,” she explained. “So people with blue or green hair are normally our less educated or useful members of society. People with purple or brown hair are a bit higher status. People with yellow or orange are of better status.”
“Didn’t you say a few days ago that computers ran your society?”
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