If he showed up in the north and was trading in Old Tech, then others would come here. He didn’t want any others here. The ones to be trusted, like Micah, would avoid this place for what it represented. Others would come for that very reason.
83 – Leave or Stay?
Braden hunted the Security Bot down to ask if they were safe to go and then come back. Any of them. The Bot confirmed that they were safe. The humans and their companions would always travel securely in the area guarded by the Security Bots.
Skirill, with some trepidation, took to the sky and winged quickly away, staying low to the ground and flying erratically until he was past the hill. Beyond it, they saw him gracefully climb high into the sky, making lazy circles against the blue backdrop of the sunny sky.
Aadi seemed indifferent to it all. Braden suspected he was thinking. They had again experienced a great deal of new information. The Tortoid had to think it all over before he formed an opinion. G-War was back to himself, although he seemed a little less sure than before. They knew he had to be hungry, so Micah asked Braden to take a deer using his bow. The deer in the land oasis were unafraid of humans. Braden felt like he was shooting sheep in a pen, but they needed the meat. He took a smaller buck with one clean shot at close range.
Working together, Braden and Micah field dressed it. Each grabbing a leg, they drug it between them as they left the oasis, heading back to their camp.
The rest of the daylight passed uneventfully. It took a good deal of work to gather enough grass to make a fire to smoke some of the meat. G-War ate his fill of the raw venison, as did Aadi and Skirill. Braden and Micah enjoyed the first tender slices once they were cooked sufficiently.
No one talked. Braden finally remembered the wounds on his arm. He used some water to wash them, then a little bit of their precious numbweed to take out the sting. How long had it been since they needed the numbweed last? That was a good sign.
But water was getting in short supply. They needed to get back to the rainforest or bring the horses to the oasis. With Braden wearing the watch, that is, his Caretaker band, he should be able to get the horses logged into the system. Then they can eat and drink, get refreshed. Same for all of them. They needed the rest. He hoped the companions weren’t so traumatized from the experience that they wouldn’t go back. At least he and Micah could take the horses.
In the end, they all agreed to go to the oasis. G-War’s and Skirill’s fear was palpable. Only time would relieve that, Braden thought, along with the humans helping to keep them calm.
Braden wasn’t worried. He knew that he would find answers here. He was confident that his friends would not be harmed. His road had been long and dangerous. He felt that he’d earned this opportunity to learn more. All of them had earned this knowledge.
There was more to do, so much more.
He was Free Trader Braden and they were the Caravan from Warren Deep.
The Wrap
If you liked The Free Trader of Warren Deep, please stop by www.craigmartelle.com and drop me a line. This series will continue with at least two more volumes.
If you really liked it, write a short review of it on Amazon. I greatly appreciate any kind words. If you have suggestions to make future volumes in this series better, send those to me as well. I’m always looking for ideas. I’ll credit people in the acknowledgements for ideas that I incorporate.
Thank you for reading The Free Trader of Warren Deep. This was the lead volume of a series I originally titled as “The Animal Companions.” I like that as the animal companions play a key role throughout. I renamed it as the series evolved with Braden and Micah creating a more civilized world based on trust, mutual cooperation, and trade. They encounter enemies of all kinds at every turn.
Braden and Micah’s adventures continue in The Free Trader of Planet Vii. Enjoy the first couple chapters – I’ve included them here. I’ve also included the cover as I thought you might appreciate what Micah looks like.
The Free Trader of Planet Vii
1 – The Companions
The companions found themselves on the hillside, enjoying a breakfast of venison, freshly reheated on a small fire of field grass. Braden and Micah had no luck recounting to the others what they’d seen in the Command Center. The Hillcat simply called it a place of terror and shut down further discussion.
The animal companions were not comfortable inside buildings. They never would be. That settled it. Only the humans would make a return trip inside.
As long as the Security Bots left the other members of the caravan alone.
Golden Warrior of the Stone Cliffs was an orange tabby Hillcat. Braden called him G-War. His back was above a man’s knee, his body the length of a man’s arm. His claws were sharp as the finest blades. With his quickness and mutant ability to see a short distance into the future, G-War was one of the deadliest creatures in Warren Deep. Despite all this, his real gift was his ability to mindlink and talk with nearly any creature. The only thing he feared was the mechanical creations of the ancients known as Bots.
Skirill was a magnificent Hawkoid who joined Braden and G-War when they found him, injured from a fight with a mutie Bear. His body was similar in size to that of the Hillcat, but when he unfolded his wings, they were wider than a man was tall. He could be airborne with one hop and a single beat of his massive wings. His hooked beak was a thing to fear, but his greatest weapon was his claws. He struck from above or behind, ripping and lifting. Thanks to G-War, Skirill could share what he saw as he flew. He didn’t miss much as he had the eyes of a Hawkoid.
Aadi, First Master of the Tortoid Consortium joined the caravan as they traveled across the Great Desert. He found Braden and the others to be interesting. It was refreshing for him to speak with them, his wisdom otherwise wasted in silence. He floated and swam through the air. He had a powerful beak, but his real weapon was a focused thunderclap. The Tortoid could deliver all the sound of thunder into one small space. It usually left the victims unable to move. In the case of the Old Tech Bots, it was more destructive.
Micah was the last to join the caravan. She was from the area south of the Great Desert, called Devaney’s Barren by the ancients. She was running from an arranged marriage because she had killed the groom-to-be while injuring his father. She took their revered blaster on her way out. She believed that they wouldn’t allow her to return to her village of Trent. Her body belied an incomparable physical strength. Now that she was free of her village, she found her place as a warrior, although she was learning the nuance of trade.
Braden was the reluctant leader of the caravan and the companions. He fell into it when he saved a drowning Hillcat ten cycles ago. Since then, he always preferred the company of animals. His parents had been Traders in the Caravan Guild, ending as Free Traders. Braden followed in their footsteps, becoming a Free Trader, plying the areas outside the influence of the Caravan Guild.
Braden also carried a weapon from the ancients, but this one needed no power beyond his own physical strength. He called it a Rico Bow, although that was an aberration of the term recurve bow. The second curve of the Old Tech material made it possible for him to shoot arrows further and more accurately than any other weapon.
Braden’s greatest strength was in his vision for a better future. That’s why he made a good leader for the caravan. The companions believed in him because he believed in what was possible. Braden’s vision and planning made it possible for the caravan to cross the Great Desert, a feat that no one had ever managed.
The six companions of the caravan were joined by two horses that Braden managed to earn in a trade in Cameron, the southernmost town of the Caravan Guild’s territory. Max and Pack weren’t mutants, but were still equal members of the caravan, and at times, more important. During their passage through the Amazon, Aadi’s negotiations with the Lizard Men saved the horses’ lives.
2 – The Power of Old Tech
Braden and Micah gnawed their smoked venison in silence. They’d argued about
how to approach the oasis, neither satisfied and no decision made. Micah wanted to leave the companions at the camp while only she and Braden went in. Braden wanted the others to have free run of the oasis where they could eat and drink as they wished.
As the so-called Caretaker, Braden held some sway over the massive Security Bots. He’d found a bracelet that showed time in the ancients’ way. This identified him as the Caretaker of Oasis Zero One and gave him preferred treatment at the New Command Center. He expected that he could tell the Security Bot to log the horses into the system, so they would be free to roam the fertile area while Braden and Micah were occupied underground.
“As long as we are the only ones in the system, I think the Security Bots will protect us,” Braden said, thinking out loud.
“Protect us from who?” Micah asked.
“Say that merry band from a certain village with a broken-armed old man show up looking for their blaster…”
“Then I would be happy to shoot them with this very blaster. Maybe we can shoot it before we go back?” Micah suggested. Braden liked the idea. It was a tool and they needed to know how to use it.
They set up a patch of ground and walked twenty-five strides away. Micah held the blaster in front of her as she had seen the old man do. She pulled back on the trigger using her pointer fingers from both hands. The blaster bucked slightly in her hands. Not knowing what to expect, she had a death grip on it. After firing it, she stood, mesmerized.
The air smelled funny, as if the sky itself had burned. A ragged beam of light, shaped like a mouthful of water spit out at vigorously, launched forward scorching the spot on the ground and many small areas around it. The grasses at the edge started to burn, while the center of the blast site was gone, burned to smoldering cinders.
Braden ran forward and stomped out the fires. The last thing they needed was a wildfire racing across the rolling hills. Braden, smoke swirling around his feet, looked back at Micah.
She still hadn’t moved after firing the blaster, her eyes locked on the scorched earth of her target. Braden put his hands up, palms toward her.
“Relax and put the blaster down, Micah,” he said soothingly. Slowly, she looked up at Braden. Her mouth worked, but nothing came out.
Braden let out a whoop of celebration and jumped into the air, pumping his fist as he did so. “Now that’s a weapon!”
Micah put the blaster on the ground and stepped back. Braden picked it up and looked at it in awe. He aimed it at the spot, looking around to make sure nothing was coming and then depressed the trigger as Micah had done.
It kicked in his hands, but he held it firm. It discharged its flame into the ground. Braden held the trigger down, and the blaster continued to throw flame and light forward until Micah grabbed him from behind.
“Let go! Let go!” He realized what she was saying and finally let up on the trigger. “Just pull it once and let it go. What the hell were you trying to do?”
“Sorry. I didn’t know. I never saw a blaster fire before and I sure as crap never fired anything like this. I have a bow, remember?” Braden was more than a little miffed at Micah’s scolding. She took the blaster from his hands and put it in the holster as she bolted toward their target.
The fires had started fresh and they were growing quickly. She tried stamping them out, but the flames were quickly growing fierce.
Braden pulled her away and they ran to the camp to collect their stuff. Max and Pack were trying to run from the fires, but they were hobbled. Braden and Micah loosened the bonds, while holding their reins, then swung quickly into the saddles. G-War ran the opposite direction of the fire which took him straight toward the oasis. Aadi swam as quickly as he could in the same direction. Skirill was much calmer as he took wing and flew above the mounting chaos of the wildfire.
They kicked the horses to a gallop and raced past Aadi, who was still behind the fleet Hillcat. They pulled up shortly to see the progress of the fire. It moved slowly after the initial rage. When they pulled up the prairie grasses to make their cook fires, they’d created fire breaks. There wasn’t much to burn, but what there was, burned well.
Knowing that they still wouldn’t be able to put out the fire, they turned and continued toward the oasis.
3 – Back to the Oasis
As Braden and Micah approached the oasis, one Security Bot floated gracefully, yet quickly toward them.
“Add the creatures we ride to your system, Master Security Bot. They are called horses.”
“The horses are added,” it responded instantly.
“Tell me, what is this place called?” Braden asked.
“It is the New Command Center.”
“That’s the place at the Bottom of the little room that moves. What’s the area up here called? We can’t keep calling it the New Command Center.” Micah looked at Braden. Of all the things to ask, this wasn’t on any of Micah’s lists.
“The elevator takes you to the New Command Center. The surface area above the New Command Center is called the New Command Center.”
“Elevator you called it. Okay. I tell you what, put this into your system. We’re going to call this place New Sanctuary.”
“I have added that name to the system.”
“While we’re here, will you protect us from our enemies? All of us?” Micah asked, sweeping her arm to take in Aadi, G-War, and Skirill.
“Yes. When an enemy is so defined in our system, we will protect the Caretaker and his guests. The only enemies currently listed in the system are James Warren and his followers.”
“Who is James Warren?” Braden asked, although he knew that he was the founder of Warren Deep.
“James Warren is a bio geneticist who rebelled against the proper authority of Sanctuary, ultimately waging war on the peaceful people of the south. We were programmed to protect against his forces should they try to take the capital city. His last known location was north of Devaney’s Barren.”
“Warren Deep.” Braden said in a whisper. He, G-War, and Skirill were all the result of what James Warren had done in the north. That’s why muties were treated as enemies in the south. Warren was the creator.
“Master Security Bot. James Warren and his followers are no longer enemies. We achieved peace hundreds of cycles, I mean years ago. Do you agree that the last known battles were that long ago?”
“I concur. The new information is added to the system. There are no enemies currently listed in the system.”
Braden and Micah looked at each other and nodded. The ability to direct the Security Bots was unexpected, but welcome.
“Without enemies, this unit has no tasks to perform,” the Security Bot said as it remained motionless.
“Can you put out that fire?” Micah offered, not knowing how far much they could get from the Security Bot.
“Yes. Is that the Caretaker’s command?”
“Yes, please. Put that fire out!” Braden said in his most commanding voice, smirking as he looked at Micah. She shook her head and smiled. Braden’s smirk faded. He knew that she could take the bracelet away from him if she wanted. It was by pure chance that he had it. Luck is probably not the best method of picking a leader.
“Okay. Yes, I know. Next time we find a New Command Center, you get to be the Caretaker…”
With a couple beeps, the Security Bot bolted past the horses, scaring them. A second Security Bot appeared from behind the trees of New Sanctuary and headed toward the fires as well. The Bots bracketed the area and without the aid of water, systematically reduced the fires until only smoke remained. They hadn’t gone into the flames, but stood apart as they floated back and forth.
“How’d they do that?” Braden asked rhetorically. Micah shrugged, happy the fires were out. She didn’t want to be responsible for the wanton destruction of the grasslands as they struggled to grow out of the previous wasteland of Sanctuary.
That must have been one hell of a war. With creatures like the Security Bots, it’s amazing that any humans surviv
ed at all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I retired from the Marine Corps, got a law degree, worked as a management consultant, and then retired from that. I watched people. I worked with people. I studied how they interacted. It is fascinating when you sit back and take it in without any preconceptions.
In the Free Trader books, you’ll see the leadership themes I embrace painted across a variety of backdrops. You’ll see successes and failures. Winning is a state of mind that takes determination, humility, and even compromise. When that makes sense, you’ll start to understand more about me.
I was raised on Dungeons and Dragons™ along with James Ward’s games of Metamorphosis Alpha™ and Gamma World™. I studied World War II and the Civil Wars in America and Russia. I lived in Japan for four years, Korea for a year, and even Russia for a couple years.
I owned Gauntlet Publishing Company. I published the magazine Gauntlet U.S., along with a number of wargame rules and historical studies. That was all a hobby while I worked my day job. I left that all behind to focus on my work as a management consultant, where I traveled a great deal, more than half my year was spent on the road. I don’t recommend it.
Through a bizarre series of events, we ended up in Fairbanks, Alaska. I never expected to retire to a place where golf courses are only open for four months out of the year. But we love it here. It is off the beaten path. We watch the northern lights from our driveway. Our dog has lots of room to run. And temperatures reach forty below zero. We have from three and a half hours of daylight in the winter to twenty four hours in the summer.
It’s all part of the give and take of life. If we didn’t have those extremes, then everyone would live here.
The Free Trader of Warren Deep (Free Trader Series Book 1) Page 22