When Maggie quietly informed him she was a veterinarian he gladly turned over the animal care duties to her expert hands. Sean was a little upset at first, but straightens out after a few days when Maggie took him under her wing as an apprentice. Jeff seemed relieved.
Mitch and Maggie had a few discussions about the animals, trading theories about their evolution and biology in front of the fire. “I still can’t believe they are feathered,” Sean piped up.
“Too much Hollywood hype,” Mitch commented with a snort.
Maggie nodded. “Scientists have had evidence that dinosaurs, especially the therapod dinos were related to birds. There is even direct evolutionary evidence as well,” she explained. Sean nodded looking thoughtful.
“Now we have proof that they are endothermic, and have an avian circulatory system,” Mitch added.
Sean cocked his head. “Endo...” Sean tried to sound the word out.
Mitch smiled. “Endo means interior. Thermic means heat. In other words, dinosaurs are warm blooded like us.” Maggie nodded in agreement.
“Speaking of heat...” Maggie gave a dramatic shudder. “I am so glad you shut that waterfall off.” She pointed to the dark opening above. “I am one for bed. Mucking out is early.” She gave Sean a long look. He gusted a sigh, got up and followed her out to his own bed.
Chapter 10
After a major storm hit the area Janet and Anne asked if he would go to the village. Mitch looked out the window and then said no, the way was now far too dangerous. When he noted their sighs of resignation he gave them a long look. “Do you want me to check on the Doc and Cassie?” They hemmed and haw a bit. He snorted knowing he was beat.
Maggie, Sasha, Kathy, and Roserita peeked in; Sasha quietly asked Janet if he was going to do it. The he in question snorted. “I guess I don’t have a choice do I?” he asked, raising his voice. He looked at them with a raised eyebrow. They all look at the floor, or away. He snorted again. “Okay. Did you ask anyone else?” They shrugged.
“Is Brian ready? Or Paul? Or are one of you volunteering to ride shotgun this time?” Mitch asked. Sasha raised her hand reluctantly, but Anne waved her off.
“I will go,” she volunteered firmly.
“Can you shoot?” Mitch asked, eying her. She nodded. He blew out his cheeks a few times. “The question is, will you have too?” he asked bleakly. No one answered that as they got ready to go.
Four hours later they arrived at the edge of the village. He had stopped to shoot an elk, but missed. Later a juvenile Tauntaun wasn’t so lucky. They had been seeing more of the creatures, two legged creatures with short stubby forelimbs and ram horns. The one meter tall creatures were covered in shaggy brown fur, and had a nasty disposition when provoked.
He felt a bit of relief that the gate was still manned. The girl there was under a lean too, clutching her hands under her armpits. She had makeshift furs and rags on for warmth.
The guard waved and said the Doc needed them. Mitch nodded. He waved to Anne to unload the catch of the day with the guard and the frozen blocks of rabbit meat stew and furs she had brought along. The guard thanked Anne for the food, waving to another girl to help. “Thank you.” The guard said feverantly, looking at Anne, then to Mitch. The wind picked up and she shivered. “Thank you for this.”
The Doctor came, bundled in the fur. Anne greeted her, but the Doc’s solemn face made her ask what was going on. “Cassie got a thorn in her foot. I got it out but I think it is poisonous. She has a fever and is delirious.”
Mitch looked down and then up to her. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
She nodded to his truck. “We are going,” she responded. He nodded.
He pulled into the camp, around the bonfire right to the hut. The village was in shambles, many of the huts were down, their roofs collapsed from the weight of snow. He went in and carried Cassie out, ignoring the gathering throng. Doc started to get in but the priestess grabbed her arm, demanding to know what she was doing. She grabbed the hand and pulled it off, glaring. “Saving my daughter Diane,” she snarled.
Doc got into the truck before Diane could stop her. Mitch covered her and waved the others in. The priestess and dominatrix rallied their followers, chanting about the evils of men and even throwing rocks. Mitch looked out around them as the others ducked. His face was bleak and cold. “I pity you,” Mitch muttered. A rock hits his windshield and it cracked. Another hit his shoulder hard. Pain lanced through him and in rage he pulled his weapon and fired a shot into the air. The crowd scattered in fright. He stood on the edge of the door frame, turning to look about him. “I PITY YOU, NOT FOR YOUR BELIEFS, BUT YOU’RE STUPIDITY. I PITY YOUR CHILDREN MORE. GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL,” he bellowed, glaring about.
He got into the truck and snorted when he noted Cassie, once looking feverish and out cold looking at him wide eyed. Huddled under her blanket were a trio of kids, smuggled in during the distraction. He looked at Doc. “Sick... surrre,” he teased as the truck moved out.
Doc blushed. “What was I supposed to do?” she asked softly.
He pointed to the chest, “Fresh sandwiches in there kids.”
Cassie blinked. “Oh thank god I am like STARVING!” she said feverantly as she reached for the container.
Mitch shook his head, smiling as they crunched through the snow and left the village. Anne asked if this was all and Doc nodded, tears trace down her cheeks as she said, all that were left. Two girls had died from hypothermia yesterday.
Mitch shook his head, angry at that news. “Stupid,” he muttered, smacking the steering wheel. “STUPID!” Doc patted his shoulder. He winced, pain lancing through his shoulder and up his neck. “Easy Doc. Rock hit there.”
Her face clouded in concern. “Hurt?”
“Yeah, probably a good sized bruise,” he answered. She nodded. “The armor protects against damage, but you still feel the impact,” Mitch sighed.
He noted the girl with the I pod. She waved and thanked him. He nodded in the mirror. “No problem. You’re Angie?”
“Yeah.”
“Nice to meet again you Angie.”
Angie poked the other girl. “This is Jolie.” Jolie looked up shyly. He nodded to her. She mumbled something with her mouth full.
He snorted. “Don’t eat too fast or you will barf kids,” he warned. They all slowed down.
Janet called; Anne put the Doc on the radio. Doc told her they were coming home. Janet muttered a thank the lord, making Mitch snort. “We just picked up two guys half starved near the South gate, Brian and Maggie got them to the medical wing. It looks like you have quite a practice waiting Doc,” Janet warned. Doc snorted.
When they arrived the girls were carried into the hospital wing. A bunch of people were waiting, including two men sitting in beds trying to drink from mugs with their hands and feet bundled. They put the girls on cots. Janet handed each a mug and blanket. They murmured thanks. One exclaimed at drinking hot soup. Janet handed her a spoon. Maggie came in with hot bread. The girls exclaimed in delight at the bread, and fresh butter. Jolie’s eyes sparkled as tears glitter and fall. “How? I don’t understand, how can you have all this?”
Janet pointed to Mitch. “We were all warned, but he took it seriously,” she said. Mitch shrugged sheepishly as the people in the room turned to him and then winced at the pain that the shrug caused. Doc noted this.
He waved her off as her concerned look registered. “Triage Doc,” he ordered, indicating her other patients. She nodded. Dora jumped as did Anne. They swung into action, checking Henry Doyle and Piotr Raslagovich, a brit and Russian who managed to find their way to the base somehow.
Piotr had taken care to bandage their hands, so frostbite was not too bad the doctor reported. Their feet were a mess; Doc noted that Piotr might lose some toes. Doc hissed sympathetically at this. Henry looked bleak. “We fell through an ice pond that had been dusted, got chased by dire wolves for a bit so couldn’t change,” Henry explained, looking at the black toes. Piotr nod
ded.
They were given hot compresses and treated with medication to ease their aches. Doc checked the kids over, noting malnutrition. Dora handed each a pill, telling Doc they were multivitamins. The girls had mild hypothermia and frostbite, Jolie had lost a fingernail.
She turned to look at Mitch but he was gone. Brian was acting as a wary guard; he caught her look and nodded. Janet noted the doctor's confusion and replied that Mitch had taken himself off, most likely to work. She tisked in annoyance, “Even with everyone here there doesn’t seem enough hours of the day to get everything that man wanted done! He works twenty two hours a day sometimes! The man is going to drop from a heart attack if he isn’t careful!” She shook her head.
Brian snorted. “He wanted to set the hot tub up to help out,” he said.
Doc looked up in interest. “Hot tub?” Janet, Angie, Jolie, and the others echoed that.
Brian smiled. “He may be a pack rat, but he is a SMART pack rat.” Angie started giggling, startling a chuckle from everyone.
Doc nodded thoughtfully as order was restored. “So are you going to take over now? Going to teach?” Dora asked.
Cassie nodded. “Yeah mom, what about it?” Doc smiled and nodded.
Dora cheered and did a little dance. “Yes! No more nurse Cratchet!”
Janet snorted. “Now love you’ve been doing well and you said you wanted to be a Doctor... now you have one to train you.” She patted the girl’s arm.
Dora made a face. “Yeah, but when someone is hurt I realized how much I don’t know, I mean, Mitch knows more, and he has paramedic training! But he put me in charge?!” She pointed to her chest.
“It says something about you doesn’t it?” Cassie responded.
Dora glared at her. “What?”
“He trusts you.”
Dora looked a little sheepish. “Oh. Yeah, I guess he does.”
Doc smiled. “I will teach you.”
Cassie cleared her throat and waved her free hand. ”Me too mom. I mean, if that is okay.”
Doc nodded, patted her daughters covered leg. “Of course sweetie. Now, I gotta go see a man about a shoulder. He better not be lifting, I felt something wrong with his collarbone...”
Janet looked up in concern. “Come on.” Janet led them to where Mitch was trying to pull the fiberglass tub up with one arm. Doc noted the way he was cradling his right arm, and nodded to Janet. Janet sucked in a breath. “Bloody hell. All right you bloomin idiot what have you gotten yourself into now?”
He looked up at them then grunted, hauling on the chain. Brian stepped in and grabbing it. Paul came over, pushing at the hovering tub. Janet grabbed the chain, muttering imprecations and helped them get it into place and then together they eased it down. Mitch paused for breath with them for a moment and then moved to get it hooked up. Janet grabbed his arm making him cry out. “Leave off woman!” Doc started at this. Brian quietly told him they were only trying to help.
“Then pass the screw gun. Let’s get this done,” Mitch growled. He wearily pulled the directions out.
Doc stepped up and picked them out of his hands. “I have a better idea, Brian, Paul and the others will do it, and you will get checked, eat something and then go to bed.” He looked at her. She crossed her arms and gave him the look... Janet did as well.
Maggie came in and noted the taboo. “What’d I miss?”
Angie stepped in, and picked up the directions. “You had them upside down,” she said helpfully.
Doc snorted. “Doctors orders?” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and tapped her foot foot.
“Meddling women,” Mitch growled.
“What’s that?” Doc said in good humor.
Angie giggled. “I think you got outvoted boss. Best quit while you’re ahead,” Brian said, not even looking up as he worked with Paul.
“All right all right!” Mitch growled as he gave in with ill grace. “After you Doc.”
Doc pointed. “I don’t think so, I don’t trust you not to duck off and get into mischief. March!” Janet tapped a foot and Angie giggled set the boys to chuckling and shaking their heads.
Mitch sighed wearily and went to the infirmary wing. Doc helped him pull off the sweater, noting he was cradling his arm. She poked him a bit, and he winced and swayed in pain. Dora came over and they get him to sit. “You are a cantankerous patient!” she growled at him. He snorted.
Henry held up a cup. “Come on gov’nor, what’s to complain about? Pretty nurses, women no less!” Piotr and Henry laughed.
They eased the shirt off and see a massive bruise on his upper shoulder. Doc hissed a bit and felt about. “Hmm, I think it might be...” He winced and gasped... ”Hmm yup, it looks broken.”
Mitch waved at Dora. “Scanner.”
“Huh?”
“Medical scanner.”
“Huh?” she asked still confused.
He shook his head then cleared his throat. “COMPUTER.” An AI voice responded with a beep.
Doc looked up and then down at him. “My you are full of surprises,” she murmured. This got a small smile. Cassie giggled. She turned and looked at her:
“Quiet you,” Doc ordered as she noted the I pod she was sharing with Jolie.
Mitch called for a robot with the scanner, it arrived a few minutes later by way of the medical bot. Doc and the patients looked it over. It looked like a modernized Johnny five, white plastic with an almost human head. It handed the scanner to Mitch. He passed it to the red haired Doctor.
She fumbled with it as he explained how it worked and then scanned his shoulder. “Yup, collar bone is busted. Hairline fracture looked nasty. How can you be upright? Let alone lifting stuff? You drove for nearly four hours!”
He shrugged. “There is a lot to do Doc, and even injured you can’t just stop.”
She shrugged. “Well there are plenty of people here now, we can help,” she replied firmly. The others in the room nodded. He nodded in turn, albeit reluctantly.
“No more twenty two hour day’s bub,” Doc growled.
Mitch smiled and told her there were twenty eight in a day so why not?
Piotr questioned that as the doctor checked him, he thought there were twenty seven. A bit of banter followed and they talked back and forth as the doctor worked. Piotr admitted he had been studying astronomy in college, and considered being a radio astronomer. Mitch stated he had a couple telescopes, but nothing big. Piotr perked up at this. Henry asked if they had a still and Mitch laughed.
“Yes. And a microbrewery, though no Guinness.”
Henry chuckled. “I am not Irish lad. All the same, a stiff belt now and then is good for the soul.” He gave Mitch a wink and a nod.
“Please tell me that isn’t about a boy band in town?” Mitch said suddenly.
Anne looked up. “Boy band?” She glanced up at him. He pointed his chin to the knot of giggling girls in the corner. Cassie, Jolie, and the other girls appeared to be catching up.
She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “God I hope not. Last thing we need is a bunch of hysterical teenage girls swooning over hormones,” she replied in disgust. He laughed at her mock scowl.
Brian called in from the perimeter a few days later; he, Jeff, Sean, and Vance have netted some of those tauntaun creatures for study. Brian sounded pleased but clearly at a lost on what to do next. Mitch sent out a hummer with a trailer to transport them back. There were twenty of the furry things, each under a meter tall. Each sport ram horns, and was bipedal.
“Can they be related to the Hypsilophodon?” Maggie asked, examining them.
“Or the pachycephalosaurids. I am not sure,” Mitch replied. Since Mitch’s arm was still in a sling, he was sidelined in the round up.
“Can we feed them all?” Maggie asked.
“I thought we were going to study them?” Mitch asked. Just what they didn't need, more mouths to feed. Ornery mouths to feed to boot.
Maggie pointed to the coats. “I bet that would be great as fleece, like the alpac
a’s.”
Mitch sighed. “Okay, Your department. You’ll need to cut the horns and disbud any young.” She grunted an acknowledgment as she wrestled a bawling creature up the chute.
It took them several hours, but finally they got the animals loaded. “I think we have about eighteen females one juvenile male, and one adult male,” Maggie panted when they were done.
Mitch nodded. Maggie had been up close and personal with the animals so she'd know the sex of them better than he could from his vantage point on the other side of the fence. “Still think they are worth it?” He teased.
She nodded. One of the creatures slammed the side of the trailer, rocking it. “Damn! Knock that shit off!” Maggie called in annoyance, slapping the metal. The animals give a high pitched bawling noise, and then huffed a few times before it snorted.
“I think we are okay for feed, we might even be able to turn them loose on the pastures since they are adapted to a winter climate,” Maggie observed. Mitch nodded. Maggie rested an arm on the rail and smiled. “I like the fur, very soft, it has three layers.” He looked at the trailer.
“Going to be a pain to sheer them come spring Mags,” Mitch warned.
She shrugged. “That’s then.” He chuckled.
“I got an idea for that, we’ll treat them just like the goats when we milk them by hand. Stick their heads in a yoke, and then shave the body,” Maggie said.
He nodded and tipped his hat back in thought. “Could work.”
Several weeks later Mitch had mostly recovered, though he still wore a sling. Doc, Cassie, Jolie, and Janet were concerned about the village. At first annoyed, and resentful of being thrust into the lion’s den once more, he finally shrugged his annoyance off and recruited Piotr, Doc, and Brian to check with him. Brian and Paul had outfitted three of the hummers with snow chains. They took two vehicles, and didn't encounter any animals along the way.
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