World Wright Incorporated (World Wright Inc. Book 1)

by Vlad ben Avorham

  Anyway, he was almost sorry that he wouldn’t be going on this trip. He would love to see the old chief’s face when the girl he so casually threw away for trinkets came back with more wealth than he had seen in his life. More than that, that she was the one he had to bargain with for the other items he wanted. A black-hearted smile of slightly inappropriate joy in overly delayed justice arriving with bells on crept across his face and he called out, “Ok Elena! You can come see now!”

  Tools of the Trade

  Marcus was trying to get used to the new armor. He had spent a little time doing some light sparring with Davidson, but he knew he wasn’t ready for a fight any time soon. With the Roth brothers along with their crossbows, and Dr. Gupta with the flare gun, he really only had to delay anyone who tried to get in close. At least the armor would keep him from getting hurt too badly, and if it came right down to it, he looked down at the heavy crude gauntlet on his fist. He could always just fall back on what he knew and punch them. He sighed. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  He looked over at Elena and snorted a laugh. She looked ridiculous, really. Junk jewelry and an ill fitting flight suit, but from the way she skipped along you would think she was the queen of faery. Davidson may tell himself that he was sending a message, Marcus thought to himself, but I think he’s just using that as an excuse to spoil his new pet. Marcus couldn’t help but grin. Not that he could blame the man. The girl really was a sweet kid. Hard worker didn’t complain. Tried hard to learn and fit in. If the kids back home applied themselves even half that much... he let that thought go. It was the complaint from every generation. The only ones who seemed to have any problem with Elena at all were Dr. Young and Dr. Stone. They said nothing and never actually mistreated the girl, but Marcus could tell something about her didn’t sit well with them. Marcus didn’t want to think it was simple jealousy, but it seemed to fit. He shook his head; he was sure that he would never understand women.

  He quickly put aside those thoughts. It was time to get his game face on. He could see the smoke trails rising from the cooking fires of the village. It was time to find out if they could get along with their neighbors or not.

  Their arrival created quite a stir! Though they didn’t seem hostile, they mostly seemed scared of him and overjoyed to have Elena back. She hugged the chief, and an old woman who fell on her in tears. Maybe her mother? He wondered if he would ever get the hang of the local language. A whole horde of young people surged forward, but the chief let out a roar and they all backed off.

  Elena turned toward him and spoke. The chief looked surprised, but then went over to the cart to see what was being offered. He kept glancing up at Marcus, as if to make sure that the giant would not object. Marcus had to steel his face so as not to openly laugh. He had been worried for nothing. The chief’s bully boys were watching him like he might decide to eat them at any moment.

  Elena had to demonstrate the scythe for them, but once they got the hang of it all Marcus could see was heads nodding. Likewise, the knives were a big hit. Tea was once again served. Marcus chose not to drink, just in case. He didn’t think poison was likely, but trust could be earned over time.

  While the men of the village were busy rounding up the items that Elena had bargained for and loading them on the cart. Dr. Gupta was off with the Roth brothers inspecting the small harbor, and Elena had disappeared with the gaggle of young people that the chief had temporarily quelled earlier. Marcus took his helm off and set it on the cart. This heat was miserable. He couldn’t wait to get back and get out of this damn armor. Marcus looked down and realized that a young boy about seven had finally worked up the nerve to approach. He was just staring up at Marcus, open-mouthed. Marcus grinned at him and then took his helmet and carefully put it on the boy’s head. He heard the boy grunt at the weight and gasp. He couldn’t help it. He laughed. The boy pulled it off and looked up at him and smiled. There was a loud shout from a nervous woman in the doorway to one of the houses. The boy jumped when he heard the voice. He rolled his eyes and handed the helmet back to Marcus. Marcus took it and smiled as the boy ran off, back to his mother. Marcus smiled and waved to the woman. The woman politely and nervously bobbed her head in reply and then chased the boy back inside.

  A few minutes later, everything was loaded up. Marcus looked at the Roth brothers. He shook his head and started rigging up a makeshift harness from the straps that they had. “This is going to be heavy. It’s going to take both you boys to pull it. Once we’re out of town a ways and I know we won’t have problems, I can help too. Just take it easy, it’s a long way back to camp.”

  Dr. Gupta said nothing but nodded at him and took his place at the back of the cart to help by pushing. Elena had a whole crowd of girls with her. Marcus figured they were just going to walk her out of town. Any way, it was going to be a long road, better to get started sooner rather than later.

  We keep growing

  What the hell

  John was back in his loincloth today. With all the mud, he didn’t want to get the nice wool tunic Elena had sewn for him all muddy. It was pretty plain and mostly just like a long sleeve t-shirt that hung to his legs and belted at his waist, but he also had a nice pair of thigh high leather boots to go with it and overall it was comfortable. Certainly too nice for this job, he thought as he hefted another large gob of mud and straw up and smashed it into the woven branches of the segment of wall he was working on.

  The Roth brothers had actually done a nice job of building little fitted stone dams walling off a segment of the spring for collecting drinking water, and then the run off pooling into a section for bathing that was deep enough to be comfortable for the purpose, and then a bit further down a good spot to washout clothes. For roughing it, it was actually quite nice. John had spent the last couple of weeks digging a channel to divert some water off to an actual latrine so that there was water available for cleaning up after doing your business. This had become ever so much more important as the toilet paper ration finally ran out. He was now working on his next project, an actual bath house. You know, with actual warm water. It had cost a bit of aluminium from the wreck, but it wasn’t like that was any good for making knives or armor anyway, but it wouldn’t rust under water, and was more than enough to make a snorkel stove. It was a real bitch firing the terracotta pipes, but he had running water with actual wooden valves. He could let the water in to fill the tub, heat the water in about two hours, and everyone could get a soak in the evening and then they could drain the water out and run clean water through to clean up the tub. He just needed two more days to let all the wet mud sealing it all up dry, and they could finally test it out. An actual hot bath. Maybe even with Dr. Young so she could show her gratitude, he thought with a grin.

  Speaking of Dr. Young, he heard her calling for him. She was up on the other side of the bank. She had been cleaning the small doe he shot late last night. When he asked her to do it, she had complained about being left with the dirty work until he reminded her that she wanted him to finish the bath house. He poked his mud streaked face around the side of the building; she was just pointing down stream.

  “What is it?” He asked?

  “Were they supposed to bring back half the village?” She asked him irritably. “I thought we were trying to keep the location on the down low for the moment.”

  “Uh, yeah... me too.” John was confused. Sure enough, Dr. Godfreed was returning. Only besides those who had left this morning, there were seven new people. All girls between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. John had to admit if they were going to have company, this was the kind he preferred, but he’d better go get the Commander. Davidson was probably going to flip his shit.

  For Eli

  Davidson was covered in sawdust. He had been working all day on trying to cut out enough planks for his next major project. He wanted to set up a modified DaVinci style crane over the cliff to recover as much of the wreckage as he could before corrosion rendered it useless. He still had hopes that
if he could get the generators from the engines, and put enough of a gear ratio to it, he might be able to make a water wheel to give them some power. If he could get even a few of the computers up and running, maybe they could figure out what happened. It was slim, but it might be the only chance they had at getting home. Even if that didn’t work, a bit of electricity around here wouldn’t hurt.

  When St. Claire came running up looking like the swamp thing, yammering about half the village coming back with the trade party, Davidson’s heart sank. For a moment he thought there was going to be a fight, but John just shook his head and said it was all kids. Or all young girls Elena’s age, anyway. Davidson was really confused. He wondered if maybe they weren’t able to get the things or if maybe something bad had happened to the village. He didn’t take the time for his armor, but he grabbed his axe before running back after St. Claire.

  He had just made it down the hill from the workshop area, in time to see Dr. Godfreed, with most of his armor stacked in the cart helping the Roth brothers pull it along and a whole gaggle of girls behind it pushing. “Glad to see you’re back, but does someone want to explain this?” Davidson asked with an exasperated look on his face.

  Both of the Roth brothers just looked at each other and grinned stupidly. Dr. Godfreed started to say something, then just shook his head, “Damned if I understand it either. This was all Elena’s doing, and none of them would be talked out of it either.” Davidson noticed that Dr. Gupta had a small smile on his face, but he made no move to get involved.

  Davidson sighed. He walked down to get closer to them. He realized all eyes were on him now. Everyone was there, just waiting to see what he would do next. His brow furrowed. “Elena? Who are these people?” he asked as he gestured to all the waiting young women who had come over to gather in timidly behind her.

  Elena just smiled up at him brightly. “For Eli!” she said, as if that explained everything.

  Marcus snorted. “That’s all they’d say when I told them they couldn’t come along, like it’s the only English words that they know.”

  Davidson rubbed his sweat soaked forehead. He felt the gritty sawdust grind into the slightly burned skin of his forehead, but the effort didn’t relieve the tension that had built there. “Elena, I don’t understand?” he told her and made an exaggerated, confused face.

  Elena hesitated, and he could see she was trying to think of how to explain things, and then he could see her face light up as she had the idea. “Eli give Dorien for Elena. Elena for Eli.” She nodded as if this were just a known fact. She waved to the girls behind her, and they all showed a hand. Each one wore a ring that he had given Elena that morning. Eight rings total, seven girls. Elena had kept one and passed the others out. “Elena, give...” again she waved at them all, then she knelt down before him and said softly, “for Eli.”

  All seven of the other girls knelt where they were and as a group said “For Eli.”

  Eli was speechless. He had been pissed at the old man for selling his daughter. These girls all had the rings, they had all just willingly sold themselves! He didn’t know what Elena had told them. He didn’t know if they thought that they were wives, or daughters, or slaves, or... he just didn’t know what to make of this turn of events.

  Before he could gather his wits, Dr. Stone said in an icy tone, “Well lover boy, looks like your dance card is full for a while.” She turned and walked off. Dr. Young close on her heels.

  Behind him he heard St. Claire give out a long sigh, “That’s it, I quit!”

  He knew John wasn’t serious, but he just couldn’t believe they were all acting like he’d planned this! Never mind, what’s done is done. “OK, Stand up! Stand up!” He reached down to pull Elena up. “If your new friends are going to be here, you know the rules. Bath time!” He pointed over to the creek. She understood the word bath, and she knew that her new family was fanatical about being clean. She would teach the others well. He would see! They would make Eli happy! She was practically bouncing when she came up on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek and then shouting at the others. They all ran off to the creek in a riotous chorus of squeals and giggles.

  He turned to find no sympathetic looks from anyone still there. Godfreed even had the nerve to look downright envious. Only Dr. Gupta seemed to be unphased by the entire scene.

  Shaking his head, a very frustrated and confused Eli Davidson decided that those planks weren’t going to saw themselves.

  “Group Dynamics” makes it sound less messy

  Eli stayed late, cutting in the sawpit. It was well past dinner, and the sky was really getting dark. He told himself that it was because this job really needed to get done, but deep down, he knew he was hiding. Hiding from realities he didn’t want to accept and decisions he didn’t want to make. All of them had been fine living in fucking thrown together lean to’s because they didn’t want to admit that this was home. They all stayed busy with their various pet projects and told themselves that it was useful work until... Until what? He sighed and put down the saw. Without a torch, it was pointless to go on, and besides, he really only had to cut a couple dozen more, anyway.

  Just as he was about to attempt to put the saw away in the dark, he saw a torch approaching. In a couple of minutes it was close enough to see that it was Elena and one of the new girls. They had a tray of food. He just smiled at them. “Thank you. I could have gotten that when I got back.” Eli motioned for the new girl who had the torch to follow him. He used the light to put away his few tools, then went back and sat down on a log and took a deep sigh. He said the brachot, something he had gotten out of the habit of of late, and then ate his meal. The girls weren’t much for conversation, not knowing the language, but they would giggle from time to time. And if he were honest, it was the best dinner company he had had in a long time. He knew there were many who would have plenty of negative things to say about his situation. He was just too tired to care at the moment. There was something, if not innocent or pure, about this, at least good. No hidden motivations or power struggles. The war of the sexes was a thousand years away if it ever became a thing at all in this world. He spit the last olive pit out into the darkness, drawing another set of giggles from his companions. He smiled. Two young ladies making a man’s life better, who at least marginally had made theirs better. Why couldn’t it be as simple as that?

  He stood up and walked with them back down the hill. They wanted to accompany him to the bath area, but he fended them off. He wasn’t quite ready for that. He was coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t an old man anymore, and that as much as he loved his wife, he wasn’t going home again short of a miracle. Maybe he just needed time.

  He wondered when they were going to figure out a good option for towels. Trying to climb back into a flight suit while still half wet really sucked. He was thinking this as he made his way back to the lean to’s. That’s when he noticed that his was full. He looked around and everyone was in their own, except that Dr. Stone seemed to be missing, as Dr. Young was alone sitting out front of their lean to by the fire across from his. His was packed, all the girls laying on their sides, with only their upper bodies actually in under cover and their legs and feet all laying out exposed to the elements.

  Noticing his frown, Dr. Young said dryly, “For Eli.” then she rolled over and turned into her lean-to.

  Eli sighed. She was being unreasonable, but it didn’t matter. Tomorrow he would figure out what to do. Tonight he was tired. He just saw the small spot that had been left open for him and he crawled in. He soon felt two soft bodies press in from each side. The one from behind put her arm under his and over his side to rest on his chest. She whispered, “For Eli.”

  Davidson just snorted. “Sleep” he whispered. Then tried to do just that. Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard. The long and trying day had gotten the better of him. He drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep. Then suddenly he was back in flight school. He was stuck in class and had to use the head. He was trying
to hold it, but the instructor kept going and going. Finally, it was over and they were dismissed. He headed out the door and down the hall. The latrine was out of order. Damn! He ducked outside and between the barracks. He found a spot between two dumpsters and had just undone his fly when the base commander walked by. Eli snapped to attention and threw a salute with his private private standing at attention and saluting as well. In shock, he woke up. He wasn’t the only one awake. There were two pairs of soft hands gently exploring his sleeping body. Davidson snorted, Damn it, where was this shit when I was seventeen. He got up and stumbled toward the latrine to relieve himself.

  If he went back, he knew he might do something he wasn’t quite ready for just yet. He wrote a quick note asking the guys to all give him a hand in the sawpit in the morning. He stopped to leave it by Godfreed’s lean to and was surprised to see Dr. Stone’s feet sticking out of it. With a small smirk, he left his note and moved on up. There was still time to get a couple of hours sleep before sunrise.