“Well,” Janna Adams said at last. “That seems like a busy morning to me. I wish I had gone with you I would have liked to see that.”
“Oh, you'll see it, Janna. You'll see it,” Lilly told her.
“Yeah,” Amy added. “You'll be going, Janna.”
~
By late afternoon nearly everybody had found an excuse to go looking through the tunnels. It turned out to be a short walk to the other large cave that overlooked the upper meadow when you weren’t stopping along the way to check other passages.
The hot pool was the biggest attraction. Everyone had their own idea of what it had been used for. The predominant theory was they were changing rooms of some kind.
James, Jake and Dustin had experimented with a long stick shoved into the crack in the floor where the smoke rose and the result was a small scrap of stick protruding from the ceiling in the main cave where the smoke disappeared into the smoke hole. The cracks probably went all the way to the top of the mountain, James had ventured, but over centuries the cracks had probably clogged up with sand and dirt, roots from plants, and slowly became partially closed off. Another stick rammed back and forth through the crack in the ceiling opened it back up fairly quickly. The smoke began once again to exit from the top of the mountain, no longer backing up into the cave.
James was excited by the idea of cutting the hole wider and building a staircase to join the two levels together. The floor thickness over the smoke hole was no more than three feet he estimated. It wouldn’t take too much to open it up.
When James came back down to the hot springs to look it over he was told by Annie, who was affixing a hand lettered sign to the wall, that the pool was out of service. Behind her he heard giggling from inside. James retreated back down the tunnel without a word, and Annie slipped back inside the room
The inside was lit up by a half dozen lanterns and the pool was full. Every woman in the nation was there. Some in the water, some just soaking their feet. Even Beth sat at the edge of the pool. Her arm in a sling, feet dangling in the water, carrying on a conversation with Jessie Stone.
“Who was it, Dear,” Janna asked, as Annie slipped back inside through the covering of blankets that had been fixed over the entrance. Annie peeled her clothes off and slipped into the water. There was a stone ledge very close under the waters' surface and she settled down onto it sighing as she did.
“James,” she told her. “Oh... This is so good.”
Katie and Amy floated nearby with Lilly, their bellies poking out of the water. Annie laid back into the water and began to float on her own back. She looked down at her own stomach. A little curve and nothing more, but it was more noticeable already.
“Makes me feel a hundred pounds lighter,” Katie said.
“It's the mineral water, dear,” Janna Adams said.
Annie floated by still looking at her stomach. “Can you see it?” she asked.
“Janna laughed. “Yes, dear, you can. A little, but it is there.”
Annie grinned ear to ear and relaxed back into the water as she floated out into the pool.
~
The men stood in the tunnel way and waited on the women. Most of them had just come back from harvesting the wheat fields. They were dusty and sweaty. They had used the combine attached to the harnesses, and even with only partially trained oxen the field work was going very fast.
There were four oxen James had been training. There had been a few hitches, some oxen wanted to stop and eat as they walked through the fields, but they were young, James had pointed out: More training and by next year they would walk through it like it was nothing.
The field had come down so quickly that they had gone over to another field of standing mixed wheat, rye and barley and done that one too. They mixed the two cuttings together for a yield that was nearly all wheat. The two custom made wagons were not much more than rolling frames cut from old trucks and fitted with the axles. The front axle attached to a tongue that the oxen could pull. That tongue also steered the front axle, so as the oxen pulled the wagon naturally followed them.
The rear wheels were the second solid axle from the big trucks and just went side to side. A huge rough sided box on skids could be pulled up onto the frame by the oxen. Pinned into place, and once filled, unpinned and pulled off the low slung frame by the oxen and stored in the barn.
They had built six of the rough lumber sided boxes. Four now resided in the barn, full to the tops. The other two would be used to collect the hay for the mows after it had dried for a few days.
They were all hot, tired and dusty, but the news of the pool was too much to ignore. “Hot bath or cold dip in the stream?” James had asked when they had finished.
“The ladies are lucky they beat us to it,” Adam had laughed.
Adam had also spent part of his afternoon with James trying o figure out the smoke hole and where it went to. Crawling around on the smoke black and dusty floor of the cave above their own, and reaching in to the soot blackened smoke hole itself had left them both filthy. They were both looking forward to the hot bath.
Jake and Dustin had come back from exploring the other tunnels exits and were equally hot and grimy. They had all been about to head down to the men's bathing area of the stream when James had convinced them the women would be out soon and they could get themselves in there. It hadn't taken much to convince them. They all made small talk in the tunnel hallway now as they waited.
“You should build some benches for out here, Jake.” Aaron said.
Jake nodded and then laughed. “We didn't even have this, this morning. It's funny how fast we just incorporate something into what is the norm now.”
Conner laughed and nodded. “But really,” he looked around. “At least three or four. This is like the doctors waiting room.”
“Have you seen the doctors waiting room? Sandy, Susan, Steve?” Dustin asked.
“Yeah... Went past there this morning. That's why I said it. It's crazy how if this weren’t here all of a sudden, or the doctor wasn't, we could go right on and be fine.”
Several heads nodded, but no one said anything.
“Surprised Jessie isn't there,” Jake said at last.
“She's leaving, I think,” James said. “They’re talking about building that Fold they set out to build.”
Conner sighed. “It's a name,” he said.
James nodded. “It's what I said... There is room here for both too... Bad time of year to start out for something else.” He raised his eyes to Conner. The others were silent. “Thought maybe to say something to you so you would say something to her.” He seemed embarrassed.
Conner sighed again, his mouth was fixed in a grimace. He nodded. “I'll take care of it.”
“I don't mean to put you in the middle of it,” James added.
“It isn't that... It's no big deal,” Conner fixed a smile on his face. “I'll take care of it, James.”
The others were quiet for a few moments and then the conversation picked back up once more. When the women emerged from the pool the men were all waiting, clean clothes and towels in hand.
Dinner preparations were well under way when the men came back down the tunnel, lanterns in hand. Mounds of fries, fried chicken, all cooked in fat rendered from the milk production and saved in one of the cold storage areas. Lilly and Cindy began seating the children when they saw the men.
Everybody ate well and then James, followed by several of the men, traveled back down the tunnel to see the second large cave that opened into the valley on the other side of their own.
~
“You could drive one of those little pickups or one of those electric four wheel drives right up to the ledge into this cave, straight out through the tunnel and out into the valley at the other end, and then right out through that valley to the mountain on the other side of us. Easy as pie. And I don't think we'd be doing anything all that unique if we did it either,” James said.
They were all back in the large ga
thering area of the cave. It was coming close to nightfall and everyone was getting ready for posts or to head to wherever home was and settle down for the evening. The small crowd around James murmured and several, Aaron and Conner among them, nodded.
“As in it's been done before?” Steve Choi asked.
“Probably... I think this place was peopled for many generations by people that reached that other mountain, the other valley, just that way,” James agreed.
“Exactly,” Shar said.
“Shar saw it. If you look at the tunnel floor, with some lights in there now, you can see the middle humps up and the sides are worn down. Wheels: Cart wheels, wagon wheels. They didn't actually go driving out into the valley, and neither can we, but think of the work they saved themselves by being able to transport their harvests right into the tunnel to store it. On this side you actually can drive right up into the cave and then the tunnel. It's a straight shot right up from the valley floor to the ledge and through the cave to the other valley nearly,” James elaborated.
“Of course we've closed off the entrance here, but we don't really need to do what they did. We have the barns for storage. What Josh and Shar want to do is move themselves over into that other cave. Build a couple of barns in that valley the same as we did here. That would be bison and sheep, goats, and a crossbreeding I have wanted to do with cows and the bison. That would take a lot of the strain off this valley. It's a much bigger valley.” James finished.
“Now... Right now, it's open. Those herds that are there can go left or right and walk right out of there. To the left will bring them to us, no way out there. So it has to be to the right that they have an entrance into and out of that valley. That's all one long hill, steep in places... A ridge really, not a hill at all... Steep in places, too steep for them to get out anyhow. But I can see there looks to be a gap about three or four hundred feet long that dumps right out into the plains and from there they can get into the forest, and of course the plains lead off to the middle of the country.... The old country anyhow. A mountain or two in the way, but effectively the world is open to them through that gap and they are closed off from it if we can close that gap.”
“Now if we come around from our side... Sneak around and close that gap before they figure out what we're up to we'll have us a herd of bison and another of horses. We'll have to tame them... Domesticate them might be a better word, but they'll come around. They'll get grain from us, we can get them close that way. It won't take long.”
“The top cave, the one above us, is huge: Once it's cleared out it would make a perfect barn. Ready built. Not all of it, but a good portion of it. The left over space could be used for grain and hay storage. It's got a lot of natural ventilation.”
“We'll straighten out the smoke hole situation, actually build a real chimney around it to the top. And we'll keep a small area accessible by a staircase down to here that joins to the tunnel so we can easily reach the upper field or the valley and they can reach here just as easily.” He shrugged and looked around at those listening.
“The other big cave area is where Josh and Shar want to make a place to live. It's plenty big enough for a few others if they wanted to live there too,” James finished.
“Sounds good to me,” Conner said. He looked around the room finishing on Katie and Amy who had just wandered over. “We're all here so we should vote on it now.” He turned back to Sharon. “That's something you two would want to do?”
“We thought it could work. We'd like to,” she agreed.
“Then we'll do it. He looked around and all the eyes he met were in agreement. Conner turned back to Katie as Shar left to talk the plan over with Josh. He raised his eyebrows.
“If we're going to do this then we have to make a decision about replacing Molly,” Katie said quietly. The surrounding group, except Steve Choi, was what remained of the council. Only Janna Adams was missing.
James looked around and spotted Janna, her eyes moved to his own as though she could feel the weight of them on her. She nodded and then smiled at Cammy whom she was talking to. A few seconds later she came over. The silence held until she came over and settled down next to Katie.
“We need to discuss a few things... Us as a council,” Katie said.
“Maybe this meeting would be better somewhere else?” Conner asked.
What did you have in mind,” Aaron asked.
“Barn would be a good place, “James offered. “No one comes down to that place unless it's to work.” That elicited a few chuckles.
“Steve,” Conner started.
Steve smiled. “No problem. I'll see you all later.”
“Um hm,” Katie agreed. “Except I think Conner was going to ask you to come with us.”
Steve had already begun to turn away and Katie laughed a little as he suddenly reversed direction and his mouth opened and then closed. “Well.”
“Private meeting,” Aaron said. “Have to keep it to yourself”
“Oh... That's not a problem... That...” Steve seemed flustered.
“Come on, Doc,” James said. He threw an arm around Steve and a few minutes later they were all strolling down through the night darkened valley to the barn.
FOUR
“Okay, so this is a private business meeting, except Stephen Choi,” Conner gestured at Steve and then allowed his hand to travel around to everyone. Nods and assenting murmurers greeted his hand as it swept around and then came back to Steve. “Relax, Steve. We asked you here for a reason. We have all talked about this a little, privately. We had to make a few decisions.”
Steve nodded, looking uncomfortable.
“So we thought to ask you to take the empty seat on the council,” Katie said. “We need to have a public meeting here soon and we need to get this straightened out so there isn't a lot of dissension immediately over this issue. This guy wants to take the seat, or thinks his girl, friend, buddy should do it. That kind of thing”
“Yeah. We're probably at our last chance to make changes on our own. We have grown so much in the last month that there will be no more making the rules up as we go. We have to be answerable to those people,” Aaron said.
Conner was nodding.” Yeah... Well said.” He turned back to Steve. “Not trying to short circuit things... Well, maybe a little, but we started this and we would like a little control.”
“Stephen,” Janna said. “You are an asset to this community and you should sit on this council.”
“But what about, Jessie?” Steve asked.
“Jessie wants to leave,” Katie said.
“Really?” Steve looked at her. “I thought she liked it here.”
“Maybe, but she told me she wanted to leave... Her name was on my list too, but if she isn't staying it makes it tough to start something only to watch it fall apart.” Katie said.
“We talked to a few people. Not really looking, just feeling people out... Adam... Beth, Sharon, Josh, and there are a dozen others too. They all have other pokers in the fire,” James said. “Things they want to do, and this is a job that I think is about to get very intense. The more people in The Nation the harder the job will be too.”
“What about the Fold... That was Jessie’s dream... Probably why she is leaving too,” Steve said.
“I doubt it,” Amy said. “I think she has other... Reasons, I guess. But, The Fold, The Nation, it's a name, right? We're all free, we're all here. Isn't that what's important? I mean are we arguing America versus Mexico or Canada?”
Silence held a moment and then Aaron spoke. “ Anybody can be here. The Nation was our name... A name is important in some things. I mean it has to be called something. But that doesn't mean no one here believes in this... Fold of Jessie's. She can build that, just not here... This is the Nation.”
Conner was staring at his hands folded in his lap. James looked over at him and then to Katie who was looking up at the ceiling.
“Is this... Is this coming back to the old discussion we had way back on the way h
ere? I mean... is this the split?” James asked.
Conner raised his eyes and smiled. “James, I don't think it is a split, but I do think we can't dictate what becomes of this place. We got us here... All of us. And the others have made their way to us. It's going to change. We can try to stick together and we might have some things our own way, but eventually this Fold, Nation and I have heard a few other names to, will have to work itself out... Probably at a meeting too. We can... We can guide, and that's about all we can do.” He frowned. “It could be us leaving to find a new place... Most especially if we try to force something on them they don't all agree on.”
So... So am I being voted in by the people at the next meeting?” Steve Choi asked.
“Uh uh,” Amy said.
“No, dear. You are being appointed right now... If you want it,” Janna Adams said.
Conner raised his hands palms up. “Probably the last thing we will do without a mandate by the majority. And that's why I want to get it done now. The position is an open ended thing... No time limit. I suppose that someone will want to change that too. Make it a year or even less, but right now it's open ended until they have us do a vote on it. So we can get a lot of the...” He paused and smiled, “guiding we want done before other people start pushing for change.”
James was staring down at the ground, an unhappy expression on his face. Probably, Conner thought, he hadn't thought that far ahead and realized that the changes he had fought against would happen and there wouldn't be much he could do about it at all. “Okay, James” he asked. James raised his head and let a slow smile spread across his face.
“Yeah...” His smile got a little crooked and then he grinned. “Thought it would be longer, I guess.”
Arlene spoke up. She and Lilly had followed them down and had stayed out of the discussion. “Steve, you are probably going to be very respected and liked because of what you know... “ She smiled. “You're also a genuinely nice guy. Given the opportunity I would rather get input from you than someone else. Your group was heading out to do the same thing. You would have taken on this same responsibility anyway...”
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 114