“Just hope you never have to use it for anything other than wild life,” Ray tells her. “Things could get rough down there.”
“Who’s paying for all of this, Ray?” Frank asks.
“Mark is,” Ray answers. It’s already September, just before Labor Day. The team has been through three weeks of self-defense training. We’ve jogged together every morning at a local outdoor track to build our stamina for the high altitude event we face in Peru. Mark has also put our team through weight training, since added strength gives everyone better balance and can save lives.
“You’d think we were training to go to the moon,” Hans exclaims.
“Never say never,” I respond. Labor Day weekend finally arrives and so does the wedding. Ray is planning my bachelor’s party, or weekend. It’s supposed to be a surprise. I have no idea what he’s been planning.
“We’re taking Matt and the group up to New River in West Virginia for river running and rock climbing.” Ray tells Mark. “It’s a surprise.”
“He should like that,” Mark replies.
“You’re invited, you know.” Ray adds.
“Love to come,” he answers. “But I’ve got a conflict with a family barbecue. You all have a great time and I’ll see you at the wedding.” I’m finishing up my last few shots and Ray approaches.
“Nice one, Matt. You’ve still got it. What are Kim and the girls doing this weekend?” he asks.
“They’re all on their way up to New York City,” I reply. “They‘ll do a lot of shopping, have dinner, and probably a show. Where are we all meeting tomorrow?” I ask.
“We’re picking you up,” Ray responds. “Just pack your bags for the outdoors.”
I contemplate that. “Looks like the outdoors are going to dominate my life for the next year. I must confess I’m looking forward to Paris.” The next day, I’m exhilarated when I find we’re running the New River. The time of year is perfect and the rapids are amazing. We hit a drop of six feet and Ray falls out of the raft. Dwayne and I pull him back in.
“You okay, Ray?” Dwayne asks.
“Yeah. The water’s fine. See for yourself!” Ray pushes Dwayne in.
“Yeah. That’s pretty good.” He agrees. “Water fight!” We camp around a fire once more, sing, eat beans, laugh, and talk about mountain climbing. However, the New River is the highlight of this trip for me.
“We’re going rock climbing tomorrow, Matt!”
“Rock climbing,” I think. “More practice.” The next day we climb a 90 foot wall and then ascend 50 feet on foot. Apparently, another surprise awaits. I perceive madness.
“Here we are guys,” Ray tells everyone. It’s a cliff off the lake that joins the tristate area. “Just follow me.” Ray then jumps into the water from a 20 foot cliff.
I laugh.
Everyone is pleasantly surprised. Each one jumps off the 20 foot cliff. Then we climb back up from a beach and make our way back. Ray keeps going to a higher cliff that is about 30 feet and jumps off. Of course, the rest of us all follow. The water is cold. But the air temperature is 101 degrees and we welcome getting cooled off from the heat. Later, we all pack, clean up and head out for a dinner of barbecued ribs at a local restaurant. The guys finish the night with a toast. I’m honored.
“Not bad for a bachelor’s party, guys! Thanks!”
The next morning they dump me at my home so I can get ready to walk down the aisle. I see the Real Estate agent got the “For Sale” sign posted, finally! The wedding will be an outdoor venue and it’s at 4:00 pm in Potomac, Maryland. I look down at my watch. 2:00 pm! Yikes!
The weather is picture perfect. Leesa arrives and our wedding party poses per her direction.
White chairs are set up with flowers lining the aisle for our guests. Ray’s my best man. We’re lined up front waiting for the bride and the wedding song begins, played by a string ensemble.
Kim approaches with her father. Incredibly beautiful. Her dress is amazing. I am a lucky man. Her father hands her off to me, and the minister begins.
Ray hands me the wedding ring as we exchange rings in front of a pergola on the steps.
“Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Vaughan. We kiss and everyone cheers. The wedding party forms an informal greeting line in the tent. We hug, shake hands and thank everyone for coming. All the guests are seated.
“Everyone!” Ray taps a wine glass with a spoon. “I’d like to make a toast to the happy couple.” Everyone quiets down.
“Matt, I’ve known you since we met in the army in Iraq. You saved my life and I think I saved yours a couple of times. We discovered a common bond in archeology over there. You’re my best bud. Kim, you are definitely Matt’s better half.” Everyone laughs. “You just fit in with all of us crazy hooligans who seek out dead people’s remains. Thanks to you for letting Matt do what he does best. To you both, Health, Happiness, Riches, and don’t forget kids!” Everyone claps and cheers.
Then an outdoor feast commences, with music and an outdoor dance floor. Kim and I have the first dance. Kim then dances with her father and I dance with my mother. Then it’s time to cut the cake.
I think of all the planning Kim has put into this wedding and it only lasts a few hours. It’s already time to leave our guests. We change our clothes. Everything is packed for Paris. The crowd throws confetti on us as we run for my car.
“Just married” is written with shaving cream all over the back window, and cans are tied to the back. I remove the cans quickly and we depart for the hotel.
“Tomorrow at this time, we’ll finally be in Paris.” Kim kisses my face.
“How was your girl party?” I ask.
“We saw the “Book of Mormon” musical,” she replies. “And then we saw “Jersey Boys.”
“Two musicals in one weekend?” I ask. “Were they good?”
“They were funny. And the music was cool.” she answers. Kim puts her head on my shoulder and we drive off into the sunset.
LIFE AMONG THE ANCIENTS
Talon and I are following a native hunting party back to their village. We intend to keep a distant watch on the village to assess if the natives are prone to hostilities.
“We’re about 30 parlongs from our own camp.” Talon assesses. “Up there,” I point to a cave. Talon shakes his head affirmative. We wait till dusk and climb up to the cave so as not to be seen. We camp in the cave for the night and rise early to canvas the village.
“By the way, I adapted the medical scanners so we can scope the village close up. Try this.” Talon adds. “I brought one for each of us.”
“Remarkable, Talon. Why didn’t you think of this sooner?” I ask. “I’d say the village is comprised of at least 700 people.”
“Interesting layout,” Talon states. “It is organized into three groupings of circular platforms surrounded by trenches and fortified with walls of tree trunks put into the ground and lashed together.”
“Each circular platform is organized by groupings of huts using similar materials for the huts,” I comment.
“Over there.” I point. “Some of the women are weaving what appears to be robes or blankets.”
“Farming over on this side.” Talon notes. “They’re tilling the earth for their plantings. I’m sure Noah would like these people.”
“I see goats and sheep herds on this side. And there’s another type of animal I don’t recognize. It’s furry and it has a long neck.” I point out.
“Women are making pottery. They look civilized,” I assess.
“Yes. But they haven’t advanced at all with architecture,” Talon suggests. “They’ve been here a while and they’re still weaving the walls of their huts like we are.”
“I think we should watch them for a few weeks before we try to make contact,” I advise.
.
“Agreed,” Talon says. “It’s hard to tell how they treat outsiders. But we know they’re excellent hunters.”
We wait till sunset and then we depart the c
ave area so as not to be seen. We head north for three parlongs and then find a place by the river to camp safely without being discovered.
“I’m concerned they’re going to run into us sooner or later,” I state. “We need to be prepared.”
“We need to approach them first. But how do we approach them in a friendly manner?” Talon asks.
“Maybe we can give them a gift of some type. Nothing modern. But something they could use or something of value, to let them know we come in peace,” I say.
“They make their own pottery and they weave their own fabrics,” Talon replies. “We need fabrics for clothing and blankets ourselves for the winter. So we need to think of what we can trade with them.”
“We’re still too new here.” I remark. “We can’t help them until we understand their lifestyle better. And we need to fortify our OWN camp site, since it looks as though they have to fortify their village from some other hostility.”
“Good point.” Talons says.
“I’ll take the first shift tonight?” I offer.
“Fine.” Talon replies. The next morning we make the rest of the 22 parlongs back to camp. Cassie greets us. Deonna is cooking fish and Noah is trying out a hammock Deonna and Cassie just weaved.
“Yeah...this is nice.” Noah remarks.
Talon sneaks up behind him. Deonna is watching. “Shhhhh” with his finger over his mouth. Deonna smiles with her hand over her mouth.
“Good morning, Noah.” Talon sprinkles water on his face. Noah gets up so fast he falls out. He looks up at Talon.
“Sorry, Noah. Let me help you up.”
“Talon, Noah. It’s time for breakfast.” Deonna yells. We all sit down together to eat.
“What can you tell us about the villagers?” Noah asks.
“Their heavy fortifications around the village indicates there could be hostile tribes in the area.” I advise.
“Did you get a closer look?” He asks.
“There are trenches circling the village approximately 12 cubits deep with a very strong fence of sharp-pointed logs in the bottom,” Talon notes.
“That is a strong defense.” Noah adds. “So who or what are they defending themselves from?” He asks.
“We don’t know yet. Eventually, we’ll discover who they are,” Talon replies. “You’d be pleased to know they farm the land and herd sheep.”
“Yes. That does please me.” Noah replies. “We could exchange seeds, perhaps?”
“Sounds reasonable. They also weave clothing and blankets. And they make pottery.” Talon states.
“Have you changed your mind about touring the continent?” Deonna asks.
“Best to find out what we’re all up against here first.” Talon suggests.
“And we’ve got plenty of work right here. We brought the right tools from the ship. I’ve drawn out plans for our own fortress on this clay tablet. We could lay a foundation and cut granite from that mountain we crashed on. Granite would make a strong fortress. And we’ll build a wall around the perimeter as well.”
“Need to make it high enough to keep the others out,” I add.
Noah touches an orange-reddish leaf and it falls to the ground. “We should get started on this tomorrow,” “The season here is mid-Fall. That means winter is almost upon us.”
“How do we do that?” Cassie asks. “Creating a house on TerraNorre was easy because we had the right resources. But here we have nothing.”
“We have laser tools,” Talon points out. “And we have levitators from the ship. So we don’t have to physically carry anything. We just cut stones out of a mountain and move them here. One by one, or however many our levitators can handle. But first, we have to build a foundation.“ he replies.
“We’ll start by digging and laying that first. This is the design I recommend. It calls for our dwelling to be 44 cubits by 24 cubits. The front and back walls of the complex will be 12 by 24 cubit stone and the sides will be 20 cubits.” Talon continues. “I compensated for a front and back door to the dwelling as well as an opening for a small canal of water to come in.”
“I’m impressed.” I say. “But what if we get too much water?”
“We build a gate on the inside to shut the water off.”
“Yes, do you really think that is a good idea?” Deonna asks.
“We just construct a covered canal back to the river with another gate to allow or constrict the flow of water. I also designed how we can capture rainwater and store it in a well around the back of the foundation.
“I think we should also add an outer wall with a tower on each corner,” I advise. “We’ll be able to go up on the roof to monitor the area around us for protection and defense. If the village needs to protect themselves, maybe we do too,” I add.
“It’s logical. I will incorporate that.” Talon marks the corners. “Each of us will have our own private quarters. Except, Cassie and Korban will have a double room. In the center of the complex we’ll have a great hall with a fireplace and a kitchen area.”
“Well done, Talon.” Cassie states.
“How will we stay warm in the winter?” Deonna asks.
“We’ll build a large fireplace in each room. And I recommend you heat a large oval stone, wrap it in a woven cloth; then place it at the foot of your bed under a blanket.”
“Brilliant!” Deonna replies. “Does that mean we’re going to build beds also?”
“I’ll work on that.” Talon returns. “We’ll begin on the foundation now. First thing that needs to be done is to level the ground.”
Noah starts to clear debris from the area and separates usable firewood as well. Talon creates a straight edge from a log and attaches rope so that it can be dragged across the ground. Then Talon and I drag the log over the area Noah has commenced clearing.
Cassie and Deonna watch us while they weave grasses into rope.
I measure the full length of the complex in landscape, and then vertically, mark the area with wood sticks. Talon and Noah dig with lasers. We then shovel the dirt, which we will use for raised bed gardening, per Noah’s recommendations. We finish the border foundation, by digging down one 12 parsecs with homemade shovels modeled with metal from the ship, and filling it in with sand, gravel, and rocks to level it. Of course, we spent three days gathering sand and rock as well as metal from the ship to complete this.
“Dinner’s ready.” Deonna calls. “Fish as usual.”
“Maybe one of these days we can go hunt for another pig.” Noah adds.
It takes time getting used to sleeping in hammocks. It’s starting to get cold in the evenings and the wind blows beneath you. However, I find that the rocking is actually soothing. Cassie and I have a larger than average hammock. But Cassie is excited to sleep in a real bed again.
“We’ll be ready to lay the walls tomorrow.” Talon announces.
As planned, we head up to the granite site Talon discovered where we’ll cut the stone. Talon is going to educate us on how to cut stone blocks.
“We need to measure the stones we cut in the shape of a square. Mark each corner first with the laser to measure its size. Use this rudimentary straight edge to make the lines between the marks.” Talon measures and marks the stone first.
He then cuts the top across and clears all debris 24 parsecs towards the back. “Now I reach inside and cut the back of the stone at this point.”
“Makes sense,” I say. “So now we can cut the sides and the bottom as well.”
“Exactly.” Talon acknowledges. “Each stone will be 24 parsecs x 24 parsecs square and then 24 parsecs deep.”
Talon makes the cuts and then removes the stone from the outcrop with the levitator. “Check the bottom and back side of the stone for smoothing.”
“That only took about ten minutes to cut,” notes Deonna. Noah, Talon, and I each have a laser and a levitator. In three hours’ time, each of us has created a stack of 18 stone blocks. Deonna reaches out to touch one of the stones and Talon quickly stops her.
“Oh...Thank you, Talon.” Deonna replies.
“That’s 54 blocks.” I comment. “Not bad for three hours work.”
“Let’s see how many blocks the levitators can handle.” Noah and I stack 10 blocks and Talon uses the levitator to lift the ten blocks.
“So ten blocks.” Noah comments. “I believe that’s enough, actually. We don’t want any accidents.”
“We can organize our labors where two of us will do the cutting and the rest of us can levitate the blocks back to the site and place them according to the foundation.” Talon proposes.
Starship Genesis Page 13