Eden's Children (Earth Exiles Book 2) (2 page)

Now they stood on top of a rock wall built from the stone that had been pulled from the cliff face in the back of the valley.  The top of the wall, what they called the landing, stretched across the mouth of the small valley.  The wall was about eighty feet wide, anchored directly against the cliff faces on the north and south.  The landing was sixty feet deep.  On the south side of the wall, to his left, adjacent to the landing, they’d carved out a new home, the rock cut back to create an overhang with a ledge underneath it.  A single opening led to tunnels that had been carved into the cliff face to create a secure place to live.  Large pillars supported the weight of the overhang.  Anchors had been drilled back into the cliff face with nets woven from indestructible monomolecular carbon fiber attached and stretched the rock face to stabilize it.

Life hadn’t gotten much easier with the move, though.  It was a very lean time for everybody.  The licky-chewies were long gone.  Razor blades and other toiletries were gone.  Office scissors were used to keep hair short.  Some things could be made by the tech team, but other things were definitely in the rear view mirror.

Food was the big problem.  The dragons owned the valley floor, so it was hard to forage.  It wasn’t hard to lure predators to them, but vegetables and fruits were hard to come by.  Diets had changed considerably.  Mike could only dream about the days he could walk into a grocery store and buy as much food as he wanted.  Everybody in the compound was a lot slimmer than they had been when they arrived on the new Earth.  Some of the older engineers and techs were pretty happy to see their toes again.

Of course, life would have been a lot harder if they hadn’t had Matki Awrani to help them on the new world.  They’d saved Matki when they first arrived on new earth, and his advice had saved them in return.  Since their first meeting, Matki had been their native guide.  Matki was able to point out the different plants that his people used, and the plants that were dangerous to eat.  With his knowledge they’d been able to find food.  He also acted as scout to find out what the dragons were doing out on the valley floor.  The dragons were dangerous adversaries, and it was good to keep an eye on what was happening out there.  They had a drone that helped, but wind shear through the valley discouraged them from pushing it too far out.

Everett shielded his eyes and looked out into the forest, “I think I see him.”

Tom looked at Everett, shaking his head, “No you don’t.  Not if you’re looking in that direction.”

On the other side of the clearing, bushes shook and a short man, reddish brown skin, long, braided hair and beard streaming behind him, broke into the open.  He sprinted across the clearing.  Matki’s speed was amazing.  No human from old Earth would be able to keep the pace that he was sprinting at.  He would easily beat any Olympic runner from the twentieth or twenty-first century.  He was carrying an atlatl in his hand, with arrows across his back.  There was only one entrance through the wall, and he was headed directly towards it.

The opening was in the middle of the wall.  It was just wide enough that two people could walk through side by side, built like that so that the larger predators couldn’t get into the tunnel.  At the back of the tunnel, the pathway was blocked by a rebar portcullis, to keep dragon spawn and other, smaller carnivores, out.  Right now, the portcullis was raised so that Matki would be able to get inside quickly.

Tom turned towards the back of the landing and whistled.  Murphy and Joseph were standing on the back of the landing, close to the portcullis.  Murph waved and watched, waiting for Matki to clear the tunnel.  Murph and Joseph were Air Force security police that had worked in the DARPA facility on old Earth.

Mike kept watch, looking for the ancient dragon to reappear.  Matki cleared the entrance, and Mike relaxed.  It was a dangerous world out there.  Mike heard Murph’s size fourteen boots kick the latch, and the portcullis rattled down.  The portcullis slammed against the ground with a loud clang.  Murph locked the portcullis closed.  The trio turned and walked to the back of the wall.

One mech was always on guard.  It was currently walking across the landing, Daughtry in the driver’s seat.  Four mechs were in the linebacker position under the overhang, techs working to make sure they were in top shape.  Behind them, the tunnel mouth stood dark, framed by the rock.  A rebar cage was set into the opening, a door of rebar in the center, ready to be closed and locked if a predator made it to the landing.

Past that there were stairs on the north and south of the landing leading down to the ground.  The ones on the north, furthest away from the tunnel, were notable because they looked like they had been built for giants, and in fact, they were built for the mechs to have access to the valley behind the compound wall.  Between the two sets of stairs, a cobblestone courtyard had been laid.

Matki was walking back and forth, his hands on his waist, skin glistening with sweat.  Michelle Trevino was standing there with Matki, rifle at low ready, just in case anything followed Matki into the tunnel.

Mike slapped hands with Murph as he walked by, “You fellas up for some combatives after your shift?”

Combatives, as the Army called the mixed martial arts style of fighting and grappling, was a popular way to exercise since they didn’t have a gym.  Plus, with danger everywhere, people wanted to develop their capabilities, and develop the warrior mentality.  A lot of the techs were even taking lessons.  There was usually a group somewhere teaching each other different techniques.  There were a lot of different styles involved, from Aikido to Krav Maga.

Murph replied, smiling, “Oh yeah, bring it.  I need a good workout.”  Joseph grunted, non-committal.  Joseph wasn’t much of a talker.

Murph was Staff Sergeant Patrick Murphy in his previous life, a big man when he had been lifting weights, but a lot of that mass had disappeared in the intervening months.  He was dark as mahogany, and his previously shaved head had hair cropped short.  Murphy was a college linebacker and Joseph was a bouncer in Arkansas before they joined the Air Force.  Murphy was from Detroit, and Joseph was a big, blond, corn fed southern boy.  They used to be big men, with large, muscled chests and arms, though a bit soft around the middle.  They were a lot thinner now, lean muscle replacing the bulky muscle they’d once had.

Mike, Everett and Tom started down the steps.  Murph and Joseph stayed on the wall.  Once they arrived at the bottom, Michelle walked past them.  Michelle had been a Senior Airman in the security police.

“Hey Michelle, where’s Rob at?” Mike asked.

“Don’t know, not my day to watch him,” she answered.

Trevino was athletic, attractive, with long dark hair, Hispanic.  She and Rob were an item at the moment.  Mike wasn’t sure how long that would last.  Michelle didn’t take any crap from Rob, and he was notorious for his roving eye.  In the compound, that could be bad, since men outnumbered women.  Michelle kept Rob on a short leash, though.  A combination of indifference and passion kept him off balance.  It seemed to work.  Rob wasn’t used to women being indifferent to him.  The team put pressure on Rob to curb his roving eye as well, knowing that things could go bad quickly.

Mike walked over to Matki, “Hey Matki, how are you doing?”

Matki grinned, “I am doing well, my friend.”

“You timed that one kind of close.  The Ancient was here a few minutes before you came back.”

“You should watch that.  One slip, and it’s all over,” Tom pointed out.

Matki waved off Tom’s concern, “I am too fast and too smart for that.”

Everett walked up, “I’m pretty sure that’s what you thought when we first met.  Those grasnigs had other ideas though.”

Matki’s face grew grim as he thought about their first meeting.  Matki made his appearance to the team with two ugly beasts called grasnigs chasing him.  The grasnigs were fur covered lizards, with hard, curved parrot-like beaks.  They were fast runners, and would have chased him down if Mickey hadn’t jumped in between them wearing mech armor, killing them and saving Matki.

Matki replied, “That was a tough time, my friend.  There was danger everywhere.” Matki gestured to include them all, “You had stirred up the entire forest.  There was so much noise it was very hard to hear them.”

Mike grinned, “So you’re saying it was our fault.”

Matki grinned back.  Then his expression turned serious, “Of course it was.  It certainly wasn’t mine.”

The team’s unique sense of humor had rubbed off on Matki.  Sarcasm had been hard for him to understand at first, but with his grasp of English, and the year he had spent with them, he was quickly beginning to master the concept.  He was also beginning to understand Texas Hold’em as well.  Too well, in fact, to the dismay of the team.

“Well, Matki, what’s going on out there?” Everett asked.

Matki motioned towards the back of the little courtyard behind the compound wall and started walking.  The trio kept up.

“How far did you run?” Mike asked.

“I had to run for a while.  I upset one of the dragon females.  She thought I was too close to her eggs.”

“Were you?” Everett asked.

That irrepressible grin crossed Matki’s face again, “Of course I was.  I got lucky though. The Ancient was coming out as I was coming in.  She had other things to worry about.”

Everett, Mike, and Tom exchanged glances.  They couldn’t imagine being out there without mech armor on, not with two dragons in the area.  Matki was a formidable man, his short stature notwithstanding.  He didn’t even take a rifle out with him.  His excuse was that it would slow him down.

They walked over the cobblestones of the courtyard.  Past the courtyard, the small valley opened up.  The little valley was a bowl, a natural pocket surrounded by cliffs on all sides.  The area in back of the gateway was large, about twenty acres.  To Mike’s right, along the cliff, was a small lake fed by a small waterfall.  The water used to flow out through the opening that the compound wall now occupied.  They’d diverted the water flow to pipes to bring them fresh water, with overflow directed through pipes under the new wall to drain.

The waterfall was a spring that came out of the rock wall about a hundred feet above the lake.  Above the waterfall, there was still about six hundred feet of rock before you found the lowest point of the cliff edge.  To the left, the cliff across from the waterfall looked like it had been sliced by a huge butter knife.  The tall, thin openings were small box canyons that led back into the mountainside.  Some of them ran for miles.  Every one ended in a high cliff wall, with no access to the outside.

There was some industry in the valley.  They had a smokehouse to smoke and prepare meat.  Terror bird was being smoked, and the smell made Mike’s mouth water.  There were others making soap, washing clothes, and some of the fabricators had rigged up a blacksmith forge and anvil to experiment with.

Mitchem, Mike’s old nemesis, spent his time there.  The people that worked with him swore that Mitchem was doing good things.  Mike had a hard time believing that.  Mitchem mainly worked at the smokehouse, his backyard grill time helping somewhat.  He was a decent facilitator as well.  If someone needed something, he would ask around until he was able to find it, or find someone who knew how to make it.  Mike and Mitchem spent their time avoiding each other.

Mike looked out across the valley and he saw Ben Davis working in the garden.  Ben saw them, and waved.  They waved back.  Close to the lake, land had been leveled to plant food and herbs.  Ben was a nice guy and a hard worker, but Mike didn’t have faith in his efforts.  Ben swore that he had a green thumb, but that capability was not readily apparent, though.

The garden was Ben’s big project.  It was a good idea, but, even with other ‘gardeners’ and ‘horticulturists’ helping, it hadn’t yielded much in the way of food.  Ben nourished it with love and tenderness, and like most abusive relationships, that love was neither appreciated nor returned.  The garden was a straggle of weeds that was hard to discern from the surrounding vegetation.  Ben wasn’t able to fend off starvation for the compound yet, but he was able to grow enough herbs to make food interesting.  The spices weren’t what everyone was used to, but they added flavor to the food.

Matki walked past the courtyard, walked out onto the grass, and stopped where there was a bare patch of dirt.  He squatted down, and motioned for them to join him.

Everett got there first, and sat straight down, cross legged on the ground.  Mike and Tom joined him.

Maria Roberts, one of the techs, yelled over at them, “We have some chairs up here if you want them.”

Mike waved at her, “It’s okay, Maria, we’ll be fine.”

“What’s up, Matki?” Mike asked.

“Nothing good, Mike,” Matki replied, still a little bit breathless.

Mike’s head cocked, “What’s up?”

“The Ancient.  I don’t know what he’s up to, but things are strange out there,” Matki answered.

“Strange how?” Everett asked.

“He has three brooding females in the valley.”

Mike was dumbfounded, “Three?  Are you kidding me?  I thought you couldn’t get three brooding females that close without violence and death.”

Matki nodded, “Yes, ordinarily, that is true.  But, I don’t think anything about that big dragon is ordinary.”

They waited, but Matki wasn’t forthcoming.  Tom was the first to speak, “You goin’ to expound upon that position there, Matki?” Tom asked, his southern drawl lengthening the words.