Bootstrap Colony (35 page)

Mitch smiled. “Man cannot live on
tofu alone miss,” he commented, giving her a slight bow.

“Who would want to?” Vance
commented acidly. She gave him a glare and began to swell.

“Miss, we have plenty of food
here. If you choose a vegetarian diet you can discuss it with Anne and Janet,”
Mitch interjected, trying to head a blow off. She continued to swell however
dashing that hope.

“
HOWEVER
,” he barked. Her
attention was suddenly focused on him. “However. You will
not
project
your attitude on others here,” he warned her sternly. She glared.

“We shall see about this. I’m
going to talk to whoever is in charge.” With a haughty sniff of disdain she
flounced off.

Vance grinned. “Thanks boss. I
just wish I could see her face when she found out that she is looking for you?”

Mitch winced. “Yeah, but I might
be in the room when she does,” he said in mock disgust. Vance laughed and
slapped his arm in passing as he left.

Later that afternoon Mitch ran
into Travis and Gunny again in the hall. It was quiet so he waved them over for
a chat. Lisa and a bunch of kids were playing a game nearby.

“I know you two have noticed the
looks you’re getting from the ladies.” They both nodded. “Be careful. Go as
slow as slow.” Travis cocked his head. “I know you're looking forward to get
your pipes cleaned, and a lot of the ladies are lining up eager, but just
remember many have had some pretty damn traumatic experiences over the past
three years.” Mitch looked away for a brief moment and gusted a sigh. “Damn,
has it been that long already.” He returned his attention to them.

“Some of the ladies,” he turned
and waved a hand in Lisa’s direction, “Were severely traumatized by a man and
are just beginning to settle and track again.” The Gunny stilled, and then
slowly nodded as he caught on to the implied event. Travis immediately looked
bitter. “Some of these ladies are from the Amazon village, did you hear about
that?” They shook their heads. “Okay, about sixty kilometers north about one
hundred or more people were dropped. It got nasty pretty quick.” With quick
words he described the Amazon base and mentality.

“So fellas, some of these women
are not completely all there, and could get nasty if provoked.” He pinned them
both with a glare. “Don’t provoke them. Phyllis told me what they did to the
guy that messed up Lisa.” Gunny nodded warily. “Staked him out cut off his
balls with a rusty knife and then stuffed them down his throat.” Both men
looked on. Gunny gave a small swallow. “I know the old joke; you’re supposed to
die at the hands of an angry spouse not on the field of battle,” Mitch said,
only half serious. The Gunny turned and looked at him in surprise.

Mitch shrugged. “Trust me; the
raptors will only eat you.” Travis snorted. “Why don’t you take a look around
and then get back to me with a report on what you think also needed improvement
tomorrow.” Gunny and Travis nodded.

“One thing right off, I want that
river fenced, and maybe even shark netting if we can swing it,” Travis said.

Mitch nodded. “Yeah, I have been
slack in that area.” He gusted a sigh. “I had planned it, but neglected it. I
don’t think we can do shark netting, we would have to clean it every month or
so for debris.” He looked off with a dark look. “I didn’t bring scuba gear with
me either. I am not too thrilled about chancing someone every month.” The Seal
gave a reluctant nod. “Netting around the banks we can do, maybe even a berm
wall topped by fence. Check with Brian and Sarge and get back to me,” Mitch
finished. Both men nodded as they exited.

Brian came to him later. “You’re
going to let me get into the college program now?”

Mitch gave Brian a look. “I thought
you already were?” he asked. Brian blushed. “I was never stopping you lad, you
could do it at any time.”

Brian nodded. “Yeah, but I was
pretty busy. I am glad you brought those guys on board, they are serious
business! I feel like a piker next to the Gunny.” He cocked his head. “So how
about it?”

Mitch shrugged. “Okay, so, phase
out of the security, but keep on call in case of emergency. You can start
taking more classes in a day or two. I think you’re a bit behind Lisa, Angie
and the others though, but we shall see.” Brian nodded and walked off whistling
a tune. It seemed like a weight had been lifted from the teen's shoulders.
Mitch reminded himself that a lot of the teens were still kids, they could
handle some responsibility but it wasn't right to force them into molds or
force them to grow up too fast. This new alien world would do that for them
enough as it was.

After diner the two military
experts reported in. Mitch nodded at their critique, taking notes. When they
finished they offered suggested changes. He noted these and told them to
implement the simplest immediately. “I checked with Lisa, she checked the
inventory, we only have one hundred meters of fencing left,” Mitch commented.
“Not enough to do the entire stretch along the river.”

“Any chance of making more?”
Travis asked.

Mitch sighed and rubbed his brow.
“Yeah, but it might have to wait till next year. We have two more convoys
scheduled to make the rounds.”

“What about the choppers?” Gunny
asked.

Mitch shook his head. “Sorry
Gunny, one is down. Lisa and Jacklynn spotted a flaw in the rotter shaft, a
clean hairline fracture all the way up.” He gusted a sigh when the Gunny's face
fell.

“We don’t have the tools to make
the tools to make a new one just yet. Jacklynn is a bit leery about taking the
other bird up until she has time to tear it down and double check everything,”
Mitch cautioned. Both men nodded.

“We have seven Hummers, one
command hummer five normal hummers, and one ambulance hummer. We need at least
two hummers for the convoys, to act as flank security. I keep five here for
emergencies, three for local security, one is the ambulance, and one in reserve
for repairs. The ambulance is being used to transport injured back here right
now though.” They both nodded.

“I do however have a couple dune
buggy vehicles that we can put together, they are in storage. You can use them
for local patrol. I don’t recommend them outside of the perimeter; they do not
have any protection against a raptor or other predators,” Mitch cautioned.

Travis nodded. “Yeah, we used
them in the sand box. Great speed, can hump the gear, but fuck all for
protection if it got to hot.” He sipped his beer.

Gunny looked over at him. “I saw
bikes too?”

Mitch nodded. “Yeah, and quads.
All are electric, but again, not enough protection against predators,” Mitch
answered.

“How about out running them?”
Travis asked.

He shook his head. “We clocked
the raptors doing over thirty kilometers.” Travis whistled low. “Those shark
hounds are even faster, possibly cheetah speed,” Mitch said. He sighed. “I sent
a pair of quads and a pair of bikes to Mike. He ran them hard, so parts are
getting scarce,” he sighed again.

“Janet has already instituted a
crackdown on vehicle use, anything that isn’t urgent within the walls we ride
horses or walk.” He wiggled his rear a bit. “Trust me; it isn’t all that it is
cracked up to be. I have the saddle galls to prove it,” Mitch observed dryly.
The others chuckled.

Travis pulled a pretzel out of
the bowl on the desk. “Sourdough. Nice.” He examined the pretzel.

Mitch smiled. “All natural too.
Janet got the recipe. The salt came from Copper town; they found a cleaner salt
deposit. The one we have here isn’t as pure.” He shrugged. “Recipe is from the
cooking library I think, though it might be one of Janet’s.” He picked one out
and took a bite. “I prefer mine soft. These work though.”

“We are going to put the last of
the vehicles together soon. In fact, I am going to sick Lisa and the factory
group on it in the morning. I am hoping they can turn out a couple tractors to
use before the snow hits,” Mitch said. They nodded. “By last year’s reckoning
we have about a month before winter sets in with a bang.”

The Gunny shivered. “Give me a
hammock in Tahiti any day.”

Travis saluted him with the beer.
“OOo Ra!”

Mitch snorted. I’ll take the
snow. They both looked at Mitch as if they thought he was crazy. He shrugged.
“Most of the animals head south for the winter. We only have a couple predators
running around after the first blizzard. Dire wolves, some weird snow demon
creature, and a couple others. Only the wolves moved fast. Give me a beer and a
warm place.” He waved to the cavern. “And I am set.” They both looked him over
and then shrugged.

“To each his own,” the marine
murmured. Mitch nodded.

“Jack and Mike have been hassling
me for equipment, fencing, animals, and seeds. Are you two staying on here or
heading to that mountain resort?” They both shuddered.

“I like to ski and snowboard,”
Travis started...

“You like the ski bunnies you
mean," the Gunny interrupted with a good natured retort.

Travis chuckled. “Them too. I
like to ski, but I like warmth better.”

Mitch nodded. “Fair enough. Maybe
next spring you can check the South eastern villages and see if any are better
and suit your tastes.” They snorted at that idea.

Travis looked up at the ceiling
then back at Mitch. “Why do you call them eastern villages?”

Mitch took a sip before he
replied. “Cause we don’t know if they named them. So, since they are east of
us...” He shrugged.

“I noticed you're not doing much
to set up an economy,” Travis commented. Mitch looked him over. “Not
complaining, just commenting,” Travis said. He spread his hands.

Mitch nodded. “Yeah, we have a
barter trade going now, Iron village mines iron and cuts timber, Copper town
has copper and salt, and some basic tools. We are the capital center, food,
knowledge, processed goods, and tech.”

Gunny nodded. “Sort of like
Alexandria or Rome,” he commented and then took a sip.

Mitch nodded. “Yeah.”

Gunny looked over to Travis.
“Remember that bozo when we found gold?”

“What gold?” Mitch asked, now
interested.

Travis chuckled. “You just
remember it cause I fell on my can in that creek.”

Gunny chuckled. “Yeah,” He looked
to Mitch. “Travis here fell on his kiester while we were crossing a stream. He
came up sputtering clutching his rifle and a rock. One of the guys saw the
sparkle and went nuts. Gold! Gold fever.” He sighed ruefully and shook his head
in disgust.

“Morons were packing their
rucksacks with the crap till we pointed out that they were unpacking food for a
rock. A couple had sense, couple didn’t,” He sighed a raspberry in annoyed
disgust. “That one idiot went nuts, tossed everything to carry nuggets. We of
course scooped up what we could. Hell if I was going to let it go to waste.
When it came to make camp he was tired and sore... and realized he had thrown
away all his food for rocks.”

Mitch nodded. “The choice between
greed and survival.”

Travis nodded soberly. “Yeah. We
made him go without dinner. Next day we found the rocks strewn all over the
side of the hill.”

“The guy kept his head down for
the next day, even helped carry a kid, so someone took pity on him and shared
their food.” Gunny snorted. “I don’t know who was more the fool, the fool for
the gold or the fool for saving his ass,” he said.

Travis shrugged. “Both of them
bought it when the hammerheads hit us.”

Gunny looked down at the bottle.
“Yeah there is that.” He sighed. “I would have traded some pretty important
parts of my anatomy, or better yet his...” He pointed the neck of the bottle to
Travis, “For a damn flash bang or two.”

Mitch nodded. “Yeah. I am glad
Sam had them handy.” The three of them killed the beers then headed off to bed.

The next afternoon, Candy, Bill
and the others took a look in the giant cavernous interior. “Okay, so now
what?” Candy asked.

Mitch pointed to the plastic
wrapped pallets of vehicle parts. “There are the tractors. We have nineteen to
put together.” They nodded. “Travis and Gunny want those too.” He waved to the
buggies on their pallets. The duo studied the pallets of pipes and parts.

“I think we should start with
them, they are the simplest to put together,” Mitch suggested. The others made
various affirmative noises. “Most of you know where the machine shop is and
where the factory is. If we have to fab up parts we will try to make several.”

“You, I mean we can do that?”
Candy asked hesitantly.

Mitch smiled. “Yeah, I brought
along a pretty good tech base, and we are up to making simple electronics.”
Candy looked at him, clearly startled.

He waved his hands, “Oh, not
Intel or AMD level by a long shot, but getting there. We lack a lot of exotic
materials though, so it is basics right now,” he explained. She nodded. “We can
also do plastics, and have that ironed out.” He waved in the direction of the
factory. “I brought along a prototype molecular smelter, it can separate any
substance into component molecules allowing us to sift for materials from the
soil or low density concentrations.”