by Jack L Knapp
Was the cabin something put here by the Futurists? Or was there some other group involved, perhaps someone like the people from the dwelling I’d found?
I wanted to make contact, so I stepped out of the edge of the wood, remaining close enough to dodge behind cover but visible to anyone in the house. My spear shaft, dart still inserted, leaned against a nearby tree.
“Hello, the house!”
I called out as loudly as I could.
After a moment I saw movement at a window, closed until now by an internal shutter. I made sure my hands were visible and turned them palm-forward where they hung at my side.
I got a reply. “Hello.”
She spoke English, anyway; there had been no assurance that she would.
“I’m friendly. Can I come up to the cabin?”
“OK,” she replied. “Keep your hands in sight, please.”
She had some sort of weapon, then, probably projectile in nature; and she was prepared to defend herself. The dark smoke had probably been a deliberate attempt to attract others, but even so, she was cautious.
Hands extended slightly from my side, palms still facing forward, I walked about halfway to the cabin and stopped. I was cautious too.
The door opened and a different woman stepped out. Like the other, this one wore a skirt, but her hair was so light brown as to be nearly blonde. So; there were two women in the cabin, possibly more. It looked large enough to house half a dozen people if they were really good friends.
“I saw your smoke,” I told her, “I’ve been alone, so I thought I’d check on the smoke.”
“We caused the fire to smoke. If anyone was near we thought they’d see it. You’re the second to come here.”
“I saw a different woman earlier,” I said. “As I said, there’s only one of me. I mean you no harm.”
“You can come on up,” she said. “But be careful. There’s a crossbow aimed at you.”
Well; another surprise, but I could get killed by an animal as well as by a crossbow bolt so I walked toward her. I still had my slung knife, axe, and club, but I kept my hands away from them. I noticed her move aside so that she would not be between the window and me. If the other woman was watching from inside the house, as I supposed, she was concealed in the shadows.
“I didn’t expect to see anything like this cabin,” I said. “This is all I was given.”
I gestured at the slung axe and scabbarded knife at my hip.
“Are you from the future too?” she asked.
“Sort of, but not from the same time as the man who transplanted me here. He led me to believe that all of us would begin with just a knife and an axe.”
“Maybe they realized women aren’t strong enough to use those. They gave us knives, the crossbow, and the cabin, but we need to start growing plants or we’ll have to leave it.
“How many are you?” I asked her.
“There were three of us originally.” A bleak look flitted across her face. “But some kind of wild cow killed Amanda three weeks ago. She insisted on taking chances, more than Sandra or I thought was smart, but she wouldn’t listen. I’m Millie, by the way.”
“I’m Matt.”
“Come on in. Are those your only weapons?” She gestured at my axe and knife.
I hesitated a moment before responding. “No, I’ve also got a spear. I left it in the woods.”
“Bring it with you, then. If you meant to attack, you could have remained hidden and ambushed one of us when we came outside. I’ll trust you, at least for now.”
I went back, recovered the spear, and removed the dart. The dart and atlatl went into my pack and I carried the spear-shaft in my hand, now no more than a heavy staff of wood. The door stood open, so I went in.
Sandra and Millie, as I now knew their names to be, stood near the fireplace. And yes, there was a cocked crossbow, but it was standing bow-end-down now and I saw no quarrel or bolt, but there was probably one nearby.
The cabin contained a fireplace, three wooden chairs, and a platform bed, high enough to store small items underneath, large enough to accommodate three. The fireplace, centered in the wall to the left of the door, had a swing-out metal crane for holding a cook-pot; a metal grid with an extended handle leaned against it. The fireplace was for cooking and heating the cabin, then; the outdoor item was probably an oven.
Not much, but a lot more than I’d started with. Or had, for that matter.
I looked at the nearest chair and raised my eyebrows in question.
“Sure, sit down. But...” she hesitated. “We can’t feed you.”
“That’s OK. I’ve got food.”
“Do you have enough to share? We’ll let you stay in the cabin tonight if you share your food.”
I had enough cured food to last three people for possibly two days, one day for sure, but after that, I’d have to set traps or go hunting. Still, finding food hadn’t been a problem before so probably it wouldn't be now. I decided to share my dried meat.
“I’ve got pork, smoke cured.”
A look of relief crossed her face. “Great. We haven’t had pork since we got here. We had beef, but after Amanda got killed we were afraid to go after any more of the wild cows. We’ve got bread that we make from grass-seed flour. We grind nuts and seeds from a gourd to add a little flavor to the bread.”
I set the pack down and removed the rest of my cured meat. Millie brought out a loaf of bread and cut it into thirds. She gave me the middle third and I sliced off chunks of my pork.
“It’s a bit salty, and if there’s any grit on the meat, just brush it off. It won’t hurt you.” I paused while I estimated how much meat to give each of them.
Sandra had been quiet; until now, she’d not left the vicinity of the crossbow. Now she released the bowstring, using a cocking lever that was part of the bow. It was clearly a chore; this was a heavy weapon, suitable for killing large animals such as the wild cow she’d mentioned. I might have thought it too heavy for light muscles, but Sandra managed.
The two were hungry. They grabbed onto the smoked pork and took large bites. After a moment, they slowed down and ate some of the bread. I’d been eating too, but slower. I cut off two more pieces of the pork and offered them. There might be enough remaining for breakfast, but there would be no more after that.
“Couldn’t you trap animals, even small ones?” I asked. This time it was Sandra who answered.
“We tried, but I think we were doing it wrong. We didn’t catch anything. We’ve had bread, but that gets old pretty quick. There were no other flavorings except for salt and some wild onions we found. We haven’t been starving, not quite.”
“Why don’t I set out a few snares before it gets dark?”
The two were happy to have me do that, so spear in hand, I set off to circle the cabin. There was a spring behind the cabin, only a few feet from the back door, and with a tiny rivulet leading off to the west; I decided this was the cabin's water supply.
I put a snare near the spring’s drain and set others wherever I found a likely spot. Pyramid traps could wait until tomorrow when there was more light to see by.
It was dark enough that I was glad of the half-moon in the sky by the time I got back to the cabin. I knocked gently at the door before going in.
There was a small fire burning in the fireplace. Millie was drinking from a container, a gourd I thought. There were several of these and near them stood several crude pots. From the shiny appearance, I thought they’d managed to fire the pottery.
Sandra picked up a thick bar and secured the door after I came inside. The shutters were already closed, barred in a similar fashion. The fireplace gave off just enough light to see by.
“We always do this. Animals sometimes come in from the plains off to the southwest. We’ve seen sloths and huge bison, or maybe they’re buffalo. They’re like what we saw before we were brought here, but bigger. They’ve never come close to the cabin. Sometimes there are lions and we saw huge wolves once. They’re
after the bison, maybe the sloths too. We saw tracks that we thought might be a bear, but if a bear made the tracks we saw it’s huge.
“The only thing we’ve seen that was funny and not dangerous was a giant tortoise. It saw us watching and slowly crawled away, so we left it alone.”
“I noticed you have gourds and that you’re making pottery,” I said. “How are you making the pottery?”
“We tried coiling long clay rolls and wrapping them into a round shape. The rolls are easy to make but the pottery was a disappointment. Now we coil the clay rolls around a small gourd first. The gourds aren’t good for anything else, they’re too bitter, but we can coil the clay around one, remove the gourd, then smooth the clay with water. We also have a larger round gourd we found growing down in the creek bed and we’re trying to use it too, but we’ve only found a few gourds like that one.
“We have plenty of clay. We dried the pots near the fireplace and when they were dry enough we moved them out to the oven. We fire the bowls slowly. That’s when we use the smoke, to see if anyone wants to come in; we just add green wood on top of the firewood while we’re baking pottery.
“There was a man before you, but we ran him off. We’d have killed him if he hadn’t gone.”
I looked at her in surprise.
She answered, somewhat defensively. “He thought we were going to be his harem. He expected we would feed him and warm his bed every night, our bed at that. He would be the king rooster and his hen house was our cabin. But he didn’t like the looks of that crossbow and Amanda was just itching to shoot him, so he left. I really miss Amanda. She could do a lot of stuff we can’t do, either of us.”
“Well, I knew how to do some things when I arrived and I’ve learned more since. I’ve kept myself fed, first by trapping but then later on I got a deer. The pork came from a pig, maybe it was a peccary, that I caught in a snare. I couldn’t decide which one it was, but it tasted good after I washed the meat in salty water. I cured it over a smoky fire for a day and a half. So far it hasn’t lasted long enough to go bad. Anyway, I don’t mind teaching you what I’ve learned.”
“Matt, you’re welcome to stay as long as you contribute. Just don’t expect to be the boss; there are two of us, and if we can’t work together you’ll have to leave. We don’t intend to be servants or any man’s harem.”
“I have no problem with that,” I said. “I don’t plan on being anyone’s boss.”
I couldn’t help but become a little cautious after that statement.
“Where will I sleep? Considering what you just told me, I don’t want to make a mistake.”
“You can sleep on the bed. With us, I mean, but we need to talk first, before anything happens. One of us could end up pregnant, maybe both of us. You understand, don’t you? We can’t take a chance if you decide to move on.”
“I can stick around for a while,” I said. “But I’ll eventually want to look around farther west. I’m wondering if the Futurist lied to me; did the one you saw tell you this world was empty, that humans had not developed here?”
The two women nodded.
“Well, I found a hut. It was still strong and well built, even though it looked really old. Somebody had lived there for a long time. They knew how to make tools and craft weapons. That’s where I got the idea for the atlatl; the one they left wouldn’t work, but I made another one using their pattern. The spear and the darts are the ones I found in the hut. The wood had shrunk, part of the reason why I thought no one had been there for a long time, so I soaked the ends of the darts to make them fit tight in the socket. I also re-wrapped the socket end of the spear with string and glued it in place; it seems strong now, but I plan on making a new spear and keeping the old one for practicing. I didn’t want to break my only spear. If it’s going to happen, I want it to be while I’m killing an animal.”
I went to the pack and brought back the darts to show them the finely-flaked stone tips. I also demonstrated how the darts fitted into the socket and showed how the atlatl added force when throwing the spear. They quickly understood how the system worked; clearly, this system was superior to carrying a bundle of spears.
I noticed yawns coming from the women. Both had fed well, probably better than usual. I knew they’d be tired.
“Why don’t we wait until tomorrow for the rest of it?” I asked. They agreed, so we went to bed. I lay down and simply listened for a moment. So strange, hearing the breathing of others after being alone so long!
We were soon asleep.
Chapter 7
I slept for four hours straight, the first time since arriving on Darwin’s World; the feeling of security from being inside four sturdy walls, of having a real roof overhead, allowed me to sleep without waking long enough to add wood to the fire.
My clothes needed washing; I had planned to do so but that hadn’t happened. Still, it had seemed like removing my stinky clothes was the thing to do, the first time since being transplanted that I’d had that luxury. I could still reach the clothes quickly if necessary, and I avoided at least some of the smell.
The faint glow of coals barely showed where the fireplace was located; all else was dark when I woke up. I got out of bed, picked up my spear, and glanced through the peephole before opening the door. After a careful look around, I stepped outside. Crickets burred softly; likely there was no threat stirring. I took a few steps away to water a bush; waking up and a full bladder go together.
It was pleasant outside, more pleasant than in the cabin, truth be told. I wasn’t the only one in need of a bath and clean clothes.
After a final shaking, I glanced at the sky and admired the stars. The moon was no longer visible. I went back in after a moment and secured the door. From there, I made my way back to the bed and tried to find ‘my spot’ by feel.
It was a very interesting process. A hand grabbed mine and led me to the open space in the bed, and then led my hand farther. One of the women, I had no idea which, had not been nearly so sleepy. So much for assuring me that they wanted to be careful. Someone had undergone a change of heart.
I don’t know if the other woke up when we started, but I heard a mumbled “Slut,” before I dropped off to sleep again. It’s so hard to keep secrets when you’re sleeping three in a bed, even in the dark!
#
I woke up later than usual next morning. My new companions slept late too. Had the late-night activities kept them awake?
Finally my insistent morning need got me up and out to find someplace to take care of matters. I decided that yes, I would definitely find someplace to wash up before the day was over!
The two women were up when I returned. I said “Good morning!” and waited to see if there was any reaction. If there was, I missed it. I was greeted with essentially the same tone we’d used when we wished each other a good night.
We worked together fixing breakfast; I set out the last of my cured pork, they provided more bread. There was water to wash it down and we took turns drinking from the gourd.
Little things are important; having your own personal drinking vessel and dishes constitutes wealth.
I mentioned I was going to look around and check the traps, and they’d be welcome if they wanted to come along. The snares would need to be moved anyway, and if one or both came along I could explain trapping and how to improve a trap site.
There was also a stream not far from the cabin and I wanted to see how useful it might be. There might be a pool where I could catch fish, certainly an improvement to our diet. I might wash my clothing, even manage a bath for myself.
The women decided that Millie would go with me while Sandra worked around the cabin, opening the windows and letting the air blow through. An excellent idea I thought; perhaps the bed would be aired out too.
Sandra would also bake a few loaves of bread and grind more flour while we were out. The raw materials, already collected, were in pots against the back wall.
I rapidly fashioned a pack for Millie; Sandra would get
one later. I carried my spear even though we weren’t going far, and Millie had her knife. We probably wouldn’t need the crossbow today.
Millie and I made the rounds of the snares and collected four dead rabbits. Most of the snares were undisturbed, but I picked them up anyway, putting them into my pack to be reset elsewhere. We quickly gutted the rabbits and lopped off the heads; skinning could wait until we got back. Millie put the carcasses in her pack, since I carried my atlatl and spear. If there were predators around I didn’t want to find one the hard way, and if we surprised a deer I intended to be ready.
I reset the snares in several of the many animal paths. We finished the task after about two hours and returned to the cabin. The rabbits would be our supper, along with whatever greens or fruit we might come across later. There would be fresh bread, so we’d eat well tonight. We left the rabbits with Sandra and headed out again, this time toward the stream.
#
The women hadn’t been attacked, but they’d worked outside only for brief periods. Still, Amanda had been killed somewhere nearby and where the grazers went, carnivores followed. The women had survived as much by luck as skill, I decided; we had that much in common.
Maybe I could convince them to be more alert, more wary. Tackling a big bovine was something to do only when you had a handy tree to climb. That had been a dumb move on Amanda's part, shooting when you couldn’t be certain of killing immediately.
Overconfidence kills. I would be sure to explain this to them, several times if necessary. Amanda's lack of wariness might be what Darwin’s World was expected to weed out of the gene pool.
The spring behind the cabin was a reliable water source, and close; take a few steps outside, fill a gourd, step back in the cabin. The water would also be pure, something I hadn’t been certain of regarding the places I drank. I had never known if some animal had been pissing just out of sight or had died and was rotting upstream. I’d depended on the ‘immunity’ that the Futurist told me I had.
I’d been lucky too, or perhaps this region wasn’t as wild as I’d assumed.