Bootstrap Colony (21 page)

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 alpaca’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.

The snow wasn’t too deep, they
managed to keep to the first track and avoid the worst pitfalls. It was slow
going, taking nearly the entire morning.

At the village gate it appeared
deserted, definitely not a good sign. Janet called in over the radio when they
reported their arrival to base, “Their is a storm rapidly approaching.” They
pulled into the main square, which was littered with snow covered debris, and a
fallen body.

“Damn, not good,” Paul muttered.
Doc rushed out and checked her over, reporting she was frozen almost solid.
Mitch got back to his truck and went through the center console and came up
with a thermal imaging system. He checked the area, finding only eight heat
sources, and two cooling rapidly. They rushed to a covered vehicle, and dug it
out.

Inside they found a couple of
terrified teens half frozen with the dead. Doc and Piotr carried them to the
trucks. Mitch took a different route, checking the second heat source. He found
a teenage girl and woman huddling near the fallen bodies of the dominatrix
Tabitha and another woman. He shook his head. “Come with me if you want to
live,” he said, gloved hand outstretched. The women muttered to each other. He
held his hand out again; tentatively they take reached out and took it.

Piotr loaded them into a truck
with the others. He looked up as another woman came staggering out of a nearby
car. She fell in the snow; he checked her over and carried her to the truck.
Mitch checked the way she came, finding the rapidly cooling bodies of the
priestess and a huntress. Four more huntresses were alive, but out and blue
from the cold. He carried one to the others. Doc swore at him but he ignored
her.

Piotr went to help, dragging them
to the truck. One struggled, hysterically thinking he was a predator, until Doc
told her it is okay. Brian called out that he found a girl. He brought her to
Doc, but Doc looked her over, checked for a pulse, and then sadly shook her
head to Brian. “I am sorry,” she murmured. He nodded glumly and gently set the
body down with the others.

They got back to base and checked
over the wounded. Doc was forced to amputate many toes and fingers, unhappy
about the massive frostbite. One of the huntresses huddled under a blanket,
shuddering while clutching a mug of soup. Her eyes were lost. Piotr gently
patted her on the back; she started, but calmed down.

Mitch dug out crates of vacuum
packed bedding. He had Anne save the vacuum bags, they could be used again. He
also brought out a box of Mylar blankets. The Mylar was thin and shiny, but
highly effective at retaining heat. He regretted not remembering them earlier.

Days later the survivors met in
the cavernous Great hall with the residents. They didn't even look around, just
huddled together in misery under the blankets. Doc was a bit concerned about
their health, hovering over them with Dora and Cassie.

The women recounted what
happened, the slow starvation, hysterical sermons, prayer sessions, and attacks
by dire wolves. “When you played pied piper the first time, we were all pissed.
Tabitha and Diane went stark raving mad,” the lead surviving huntress said. She
shuddered a little.

“When things were really bad, we
were talking about coming to you,” she said and sighed. “Diane started talking
about some of what happened with the other men and to Lisa, and we stopped.
When you picked up Doc it was a surprise.” She gave Doc and Cassie a look, then
looked back to Mitch. “Diane and Tabitha wanted us to track you and take this
place from you. A storm blocked us in before anyone could go anywhere though.”
She shivered and huddled down under the blankets.

Two of the other huntresses shook
their heads, telling of how they had almost given up hope. Doc patted one on
the shoulder; she reached out and hugged her, crying softly.

Mitch quietly told Doc to let her
get it out. Henry asked why they were so unprepared. Janet gave him a dirty
look. “You weren’t doing so hot either me’buck’O.” One of the huntress’s
bristled. Mitch quietly cleared his throat and then went into a lecture.

“Each of us were informed a year
in advance of our transport,” he said. One of the girls asked how he could
afford all this, waving her hand. He smiled. “I am a psychic. I won the lotto a
few times,” he said and shrugged at her expression. He sighed at the usual
round of disbelief and concern made its way through the room.

“A few times?” The groups
reaction of disbelief, awe, revulsion made him smile bitterly.

“Yes, twenty two times actually,
but I only used the disbursements of eighteen, leaving the rest to try to help
people we left behind. I also invested in the stock market, and used the seed
money from my lotto winnings to start several businesses,” he explained. There
were murmurs of disbelief and skepticism from the women. “Anyway, I planned
ahead. Ten thousand of us were transported, five thousand of each gender. The
problem is we are not suited for this, had we been Eskimo’s, Native Americans,
or lower tech civilizations it would have been different,” he explained and
sighed.

He blew his cheeks out in
annoyance. “The computer estimates one fifth or twenty percent of our
transported population have survived up to now. Less the two thousand, most
outside these walls are probably male.”

The girls looked among each other
uneasily. “What about inbreeding, how are we to carry on the race?” Doc asked.

Mitch snorted. “Well Doc, I set
up a contingency plan. I figured something like this would happen, so my last
act other then jumping through hoops to get the weapons and explosives, was to
buy a clinic.” He nodded in the direction of the medical wing.

“Clinic?” she asked.

“Fertilization clinic. One of the
containers has a full bank of over ten thousand people, sperm, ova, and even
some embryos,” he explained. Doc nodded at this.

“Wait, wait, and back up, why
will all the men survive?” one of the girls asked, wrinkling her nose.

He turned to her smiling sadly.
“Oh, not all will, and not all women will die either. Some who are in villages
or groups will survive,” he replied.

“We are built for this, ask
them.” He pointed to Doc and to the huntress group.

Doc nodded. “See Hanna, men are
built differently than us.”

Hanna muttered an, “I hadn’t
noticed.” Making the group all laugh. “Is this going to be a birds and the
bee’s story?” she asked with a wane smile. “If it is you're a few years too
late doc,” she said. That drew chuckles and titters of amusement.

Doc smiled. “No, men have more upper
body strength, and are more violent. They have more endurance than women as
well. Sure we could out run them, we can have babies, but we can’t hunt as
well, carry goods as well, or farm as well.”

Phyllis one of the surviving
huntresses nodded. “Just look at what we just went though, it didn’t turn out
too well did it?” Hanna shook her head.

“Lifting took upper body
strength. Cutting wood took a strong back and arms,” Doc continued her lecture.
The girls nodded. They had experience trying to do these things on their own.
“Hunting took luck and strategy, but for a bowman, it took again, upper body
strength.”

Cassie looked at Brian, “Nice
pecks,” she teased. He blushed. “So what we are reduced to farm wives? Slaves?”
Angry muttering started up at that idea. A few dark looks were shot at the men.

Mitch raised his hand and stood.
“No, not on my watch.” They grew silent. “In these halls everyone’s
contribution is valued. There is plenty to do, and the tech I have carried over
will aid us.” Doc nodded, murmured of thanks resound around the group. “Janet
and Anne,” He waved a hand to them, “are the domestic managers,” Janet flicked
her hand in dismissal.

“Henry is in charge of our
plumbing, with Miguel as his assistant. Maggie here is our vet with Jeff and
Sean as her assistants.” He waved to them, they wave to the group. “Roserita is
our tannery expert.” He pointed to her. “Piotr is in charge of weather and
astronomy. Doc, well, y’all know Doc,” he said disarmingly. The chuckles went
around the room.

“So you’re the local lord?” One
of the huntresses’s asked. He looked to her. She waved her hand, “No argument.”

He shrugged. “For want of a
better term, I guess so.
My
stuff, my plan. Anne and Janet have better
organizational skills then I do, but with them and the others handling the day
to day stuff I can focus on the overall view,” he explained. Piotr nodded.

“No one is going to be kicked
out; we will set up a system of government and justice system over time,” Mitch
added. More of the ladies nodded. “But, someone has to be in charge, and as I
said, it is my dime.” He gave them a sheepish smile as he thumped his chest
with his good hand. “When the snows melt you are more than welcome to return to
your village if you choose.” Reluctantly the survivors shook their heads at
this idea. He chuckled.

“You spoiled us rotten, so you’re
stuck with us,” Doc commented with a sly smile.

Mitch blushed and squirmed. “We
have the spring planting to prep for, animal care, plus base expansion. Right
now I brought a tech basis to set up our entire civilization, with some modern
twists, but the first two years are all about survival.” He gave each of them a
stern look until they nodded.