Bootstrap Colony (36 page)

Bill looked confused. “You can do
that?”

Mitch sighed. “Yeah, but it sucks
power like crazy.” He waved to the waiting palettes. “Okay folks let’s get
busy, the lady is done waiting.” He smiled at an impatient Lisa who was already
heading for the buggy pallets.

 As the sun set later that
evening the throaty rumble of a hydrogen engine was heard in the courtyard. The
crew cheered, following the two vehicles out. Bill slapped Brian on the
shoulder, Brian grinned.

Janet looked on with her arms
crossed. “If you folks are done playing with your toys, we have diner waiting.”
Some chuckled at that. “WASH UP FIRST!” She ordered. The quiet chuckle turn
into laughs as they moved obediently off.

Mitch shut the doors and watched
Lisa drive the one of the vehicles while Gunny followed behind her. “Couldn’t
wait for a test drive,” he chuckled as he walked through the gates to the
courtyard.

Maggie got into a heated debate
with Doctor Mallard when he arrived. He was enthused but a royal pain, causing
her to roll her eyes constantly when he got going off on a tangent. Their
verbal sparring had many thinking they were going to kill each other until one
morning Janet was amazed to see them kissing. Stranger things have been known
to happen was her only comment.

The two of them came up with a
temporary idea of the animal migration patterns, though Ducky was pretty
empathetic about the limited data to support their conclusions. Mitch waved
them off while listening to their lecture.

They pulled up a map of the area,
and ran it through the seasons. They pointed out that in the winter arctic
style animals like the dire wolf, mammoths, mastodons, and other creatures
ranged south into the area while more temperate creatures headed deeper south.
Come spring the animals head back north or back up into the high mountains.

Predators like the raptors seemed
to follow the herds, as do the carnasaurs and Rex's. The alien creatures with
little data to go on were a mystery. Both experts were certain that the shark
hounds were also seasonal, heading out to sea when the weather turned to cold
for them. Ducky’s necropsy of the two carcasses had added to their limited
knowledge of the creatures, they were definitely warm blooded, and gave birth
to live young. “Well, we surmised they were warm blooded since I got a peek at
them with my thermal imager,” Mitch teased. This threw the good Doctor for a
moment. Maggie dragged them back on topic, pointing out that the dinosaurs all
head south in the winter. The dinocrocs and amphibians most likely hibernate or
head south as well.

Mitch had them summarize their
conclusions and send a copy of the report to each of the other villages. Ducky
began to hem and haw, but Mitch waved it off. “Don’t worry Doc, everyone knew
it is still early, you won’t have to face a faculty board or anything to show
your evidence and defend your conclusions,” he assured the man.

Maggie snorted. “Also this winter
will allow us plenty of time to see how much is correct, and add additional
data,” she said. Ducky nodded.

Jack called Mitch, he asked him
over for a meeting. Mitch flew out with Angie and Maggie the next morning.
Mitch and Maggie came back with Paul a week later with the next load of
refugees. Base now had over one hundred twenty two refugees; twenty two were in
Iron Village, and thirty five in Copper town. A few of the families from Copper
Town offer to return to their home but Anne waved them off with a no.

Iron village and Copper Town have
mostly singles or paired couples, all of the families, injured, or pregnant
were now in Base. Fortunately the year’s expansion had given them the room for
everyone. Mitch made plans to put everyone to work as soon as possible. He
didn't want or need a repeat of cabin fever from last winter.

Janet got into hourly arguments
with the French restaurant chef and nutritionist who came with the refugees.
The chef tried to rule the kitchen, but Janet put her foot down, he was in
her
domain. Eventually they worked out a compromise; he cooked one meal a day,
giving her time off.

Two of the recovering injured
were loggers; they and their families would be heading up to Iron village to
expand the timber industry there next spring. A lot of the refugees were
slotting in nicely, from the optometrist to the x-ray tech. Mitch made it
clear, all skills were valued.

Little four year old Mateo, one
of Roserita’s kids was found in a back hall of the cave unconscious as the
weather started to turn to mid fall. Anne tried to wake him and was horrified
when a scorpion crawled out of his mouth. Doc rushed to the scene and took
charge. Mitch heard the code blue over the net and rushed in and carried the
kid to the infirmary.

One of the kids was hysterical
saying they had been playing hide and seek. Anne was hysterical as well. She
told Doc about the scorpion, pulling her aside and away from the others in a
low tone. Cassie passed them with a “What are you waiting for, come on!” yell.

Doc administered the antivenin,
and then asked the robot for the endoscope. They set up an IV drip, and then
checked the kid over. His face was blue, his respiration was shallow. The
endoscope arrived and she checked inside the mouth.

She was horrified by the eggs and
damage. Mitch waited outside; he spotted a scorpion as it scuttled under a
chair. Roserita arrived and howled, throwing herself into his arms. He tried to
comfort her, but he really wanted to kill that damn thing. He told Roserita
what happened, tried to calm her and let her know Doc was on the case. Maggie
arrived and was worried. Anne came in, still tearful.

Janet came running, noted
Roserita and Mitch's efforts to struggle to get away from her. With a grim face
she took her in her charge. She was at first reproachful of his insensitivity.
He turned and grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall. “What are you...?”
she asked alarmed as he lifted the chair away. She hissed at the sight of the
scorpion, it chittered angrily and thrashed its pincers and twin tails. He
slammed the butt of the extinguisher down; he felt and heard the satisfying
crunch. Roserita screamed and Janet pulled her into her arms and rocking her.
Anne bit her lip.

“What happened to the
armadillos?” Mitch demanded. He turned giving Janet, then Anne a look.

Anne squirmed, face red.
“Well...” Candy arrived.

“I said, what happened to the
armadillos?” Mitch snarled. He was growing angry. He got up, standing straight,
towering over the women. Anne looked down and away.

Candy looked on confused. “I got
rid of the ugly things. They were a constant nuisance, under foot, chewing on
things. The kids were roughing them up too.”

Mitch froze. He turned and gave
her an angry look. “Did it occur to you that there was a
REASON
we left
them alone?” he snarled, voice rising in his fury. She stopped, and then
stepped back. Her husband came up behind her.

Anne snuffled. “I thought since
we hadn’t seen any of the scorpions it would be okay. I mean...”

Mitch turned and gave her an
angry look. “Damn it Anne you should know better! Those armadillos were best
line of defense!”

The new folk looked confused.
“One of those scorpions may have killed that kid because you didn’t like our
only protectors around! Damn it!” Mitch roared throwing a hand up in the air in
disgust. Cassie came out, angrily shushing them.

Candy started to tear up, she turned
sobbing; her husband rubbed her shoulders and glared at Mitch. “She didn’t
know, she didn’t know,” Bill said. Mitch gave him glare for glare.

“You know you don’t just come
into a place and turn it upside down overnight. There are
reasons
for
things. Those armadillos killed off the scorpions and other pests. Hell, they
were even using the litter boxes!”

He glared, and then as Candy
pulled herself into her husband’s arms and sobbed he relented. Paul and Brian
came running up. Mitch turned to them, face set. “Get with Anne here and round
up some armadillos. Get the kids to help if you need them.”

“What happened?” Paul asked.

Anne bit her lip. “Anne here will
explain on the way. I DO NOT want a repeat of this. Do I make myself clear?”
Mitch snarled. Brian nodded, knowing Mitch was in a foul mood. Janet patted
Roserita’s head as she cried. Mitch looked over and sighed. “I am sorry. You
know Doc, Cassie and Dora will do what they can for him,” he said, trying hard
to modulate his tone to console her. He knew the effort was futile though. Paul
turned to leave. “Paul!” Paul turned. “Get Maggie here with a specimen bag,”
Mitch ordered.

“Bag?” Paul asked. Mitch pointed
to the squashed scorpion. Paul looked at it and then immediately put two and
two together and nodded, now cold sober. “Right, bag.” He bobbed his head and
then ran off.

Maggie arrived and noted the
taboo. “What I miss?” she asked in confusion.

With quick short words Mitch
sketched out what happened. “Mags I need you to take this...” He pointed to the
squashed bug, “...thing and see if it is female. If it is we need to know if it
has eggs, and how many,” his intent voice was savage with cold rage.

Maggie nodded, face sober and
worried. She scraped up the scorpion, being careful of the tail and poison sacks.
She rushed off as the crowd began to form. Candy and her husband moved off a
distance down the hall. Janet looked up at the crowd, patted Roserita and then
passed her to Anne. She wiped her eyes and patted Mitch’s arm.

He explained to the crowd in terse
words and then asked volunteers to help round up armadillos, and to hunt and
squash scorpions. Grimly the crowd dispersed; Candy and her husband joined
them. Janet checked the chairs and then motioned for Anne and Roserita to sit.
“Damn it you two should have known better and pinched it off before it got
started,” Mitch said softly to them. Anne and Janet nodded. He sighed. “Well,
nothing we can do about it now, and pointing fingers isn’t going to change
things.” He looked to the doors. “Just got to hope for the best and do what we
can.” He nodded and moved off.

Doc came out a half hour later.
She looked tearful. Roserita clutched her hands looking imploringly, but
dreading the answer. “I am sorry, so sorry Roserita,” Doc said, hand over her
mouth as her own tears started to fall. Roserita wailed. Janet hung her head,
tears dripping down as she comforted her friend. Mitch had been monitoring the
infirmary through the computer, when Mateo had died he returned.

Mitch sighed. “Go say goodbye,”
he told her. Dora came to the door,

Doc gave her a nod. “I am sorry,
it isn’t pretty. Are you sure about this?” she asked, holding her hand.
Roserita nodded and swallowed. Janet came in with her. The door closed and
after a moment they could hear fresh sobs.

“The body will have to be
cremated,” Mitch mused eyes red.

“Cremated?” Doc asked.

“How did he die?” he answered the
question with another. She sighed.

“Brain embolism,” she sighed. He
pulled her to him and she cried for a moment. He patted her hair softly.

Anne cried as well. “He was so
young, so full of life!”

He patted her hair. “I know, we
all know.”

Doc looked up, eyes wet. “I
tried, but one of those eggs must have gotten into his blood stream.”

Mitch nodded. She wiped at her
tears with the back of her hand. “Maggie said they lay up to ten thousand eggs
Doc, there wasn’t anything you could do,” Mitch said softly. She looked torn
and bit her lip, that answer would never be enough for her he realized.
Roserita came out of the infirmary a minute later looking pale; Anne and Janet
supported her as she left without another word.

Candy and Bill approached. They
apologized to Roserita and then moved on to talk to Mitch.

“Why cremated? Why not bury him?”
Bill asked when he heard the plans.

“Ten thousand eggs. As good as
Doc is, that is way too many for anyone to count,” Mitch said. He looked sick.
“In a day they will hatch in his body.” Bill gagged; Candy pulled her head into
his chest and sobbed helplessly. “I want them to hatch just as they get
roasted,” Mitch commented with an angry hiss. “Serves them right,” he snarled,
fists balling in impotent rage. Doc gave his enraged face a look and nodded.

Dora was having a crisis of
faith. Mitch talked to her told her about how it was hard losing a patient, but
losing a child was downright heartbreaking. She fell into his arms sobbing,
clutching at his chest. He stroked her hair. Doc came around and noted the
scene. He patted Dora and let Doc know quietly that her protégées were having
trouble with grief. Doc nodded soberly, and then patted Dora. “Honey, there was
nothing we could do for Tanya or Mateo or the shark victims. We did our best.
God I wish we could have done more.” Mitch sighed, even his eyes were misty.

“Mateo’s funeral, Roserita is
insisting on it,” Mitch reminded them. Both women stiffened. He turned to Doc.
“It is her right Doc.” He sighed. “It is going to be hard though. Hard on
everyone.”

She nodded. “When does she want
it?” Dora asked softly.

“This afternoon, after he is
cremated,” Doc replied, looking anywhere but at Mitch.

Mitch nodded. “Okay, I will let
everyone know.”

They did the service that
afternoon, Janet and those that had black clothing wearing it. Janet read from
her old worn bible. The ashes were buried in the cemetery plot, covered over by
the GP robot standing by.

Mitch stepped up and began to
talk. “I know it is hard to lose a member of the community, even harder to lose
a child. We each lost someone special. Mistakes were made yes, but we need to
learn from them to better protect our future.” He waved his hands to Natali,
Frances, Hanna, and Anne’s swelling bellies.

“Each of us knows how hard it is
not to blame others. We are all to blame for this tragedy.
All
of us.
Candy blames herself for removing the armadillos. Anne and Janet blame
themselves for not stopping her. The kids and adults blame themselves for not
spotting the problem or speaking up about it. Doc and the medics blame
themselves for not being able to save him. I blame myself for not being here to
catch the problem before it began. We all feel so helpless when a loved one is
hurt.” He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. “Folks, heartbreaking things
are going to happen over the next few years.”