Second Chances (83 page)

Mitch nodded, listening attentively. The others looked to him to object or bring something up but he just listened. The colonel looked at him with cold triumph. At least he'd muzzled Chambers, making the man take a back seat.

------*------

They worked out the initial steps to a basic economy expanding on Paul's convoys. Barter was first basis of trade, food and materials most critical. Trying to work out a schedule for the convoys was tricky as well. Paul was currently going from base to East Village, then on south through Prairie to do a turnaround at Dunn's fortress for the return loop. Villages that were bypassed had to go to the nodule villages he stopped at to pick up their goods or have someone bring their goods out to them. Not everyone had transport, which was an issue.

“How did you trade for the trucks? Or the compact track loaders?” John asked curiously, looking to Jack.

Jack snorted. “Easy. Barter like the man said.” He indicated Mitch. “We traded ore and materials for them.”

“Ah, so they weren't gifts or loans?” Trinika asked slyly.

“No,” Mitch said simply. “Sale. No warranty, no guarantee of parts. No fuel. We do supply a manual. Strictly barter. Quid pro quo. We set up the term agreement in advance. Payment can be made in installments or on delivery.”

“Okay, I get that. So you what, traded ore and other materials for the finished goods?”

“Enough ore to make twenty of them,” Mike said, sounding annoyed.

“Raw ore,” Mitch sighed. “
Not
refined. It takes a lot to get what we need out of the raw ore, less than 10 percent is actual iron or copper. The rest is impurities and slag. And hey, it's a finished product. My people busted their ass refining the metal, extruding it, cutting it, and shaping it, the plastics....” He waved a hand. “I'm not going to argue with you. It's done. If you don't like the deal, then don't do the deal.”

“I wasn't saying that,” Mike said, now sounding defensive as he hunched his shoulders and set his jaw. “Just explaining. We barter,” he said with a nod to John. “In my case raw iron ore, timber, granite, and some local materials for finished goods, food, water filters, and support.”

“Back to basics,” John observed with a nod. “Extending what we're doing locally, the four essentials of survival to the macro,” he said.

“Exactly,” Chief Roberts said. He nodded to Jack and Mike.

Trinika leaped on that, eyes gleaming. “Why are you even here?” she asked, looking at Mike and then the chief. “You are satellites, really satraps, puppets of Chambers,” she said, looking coldly to Mitch. Mitch blinked in surprise. “You are using them to pad the votes in your favor,” she said, her English accent slipping a bit as her Haitian accent reasserted itself.

“I'm no one's puppet,” Mike growled, eying the woman.

“Each of the groups started as their own village; they just had a turn of bad luck,” Jack interjected before the discussion became too heated. “For the record, I don't know you miss so I don't know if you know the history,” he said. He went on to explain what happened to Chief Roberts and his people.

“I can talk for myself, Jack,” the chief said when Jack stopped for a moment to get a sip of water. They turned to him. “He's right though. We got stomped flat by that Leviathan. We were forced to abandon and headed where it had come from figuring wherever it was going we wanted to go in the opposite direction.”

That got a couple chuckles and knowing nods. “That's when we met up with Jack's people,” he said. “Well, met up is a bit off, we met at a run. We ran into a pack of those damned shark hounds in the savannah near his village near nightfall. Paul and his people were coming in and went and picked us up.”

“How many did you lose?” Gunny Usher asked.

Chief Travis closed his eyes. “Too damn many,” he muttered.

“Sorry,” Gunny Usher said quietly.

“We're putting it behind us. When we got to Copper they took us in and dressed our wounds. They flew in medics and medicine and then transported our worst hurt here,” he said indicating the base. “There are a few people here; I think you saw them missing a limb?”

A few nodded. Trinika scowled. “Well, they were with us. Most of them,” the chief said. “Gina lost her hand recently, but that was also on me.”

“A different story, Chief. And no, not your fault. Shit happens,” Mitch said quietly. They turned to look at him. He nodded to the SEAL and then to Mike.

Mike cleared his throat as they looked at him. “If you must know, we got off to a bad start that just got worse in the first year. We ended up getting chased out of the caves we'd set up in the middle of winter. We lost a lot of people on our own trail of tears,” the Indian said in a tone of iron. “Freezing to death, starving, animals,” he shook his head. “Mitch's people saw us on our last legs with one of their drones. They came out to meet us and brought us in.”

“He's a stubborn Indian. I'm glad to have him on our world,” Mitch said, nodding to Mike. “When I mentioned the iron mine I was using he jumped at the chance of resettling his people and other volunteers nearby,” he said, “on his own terms.”

“It wasn't just us is what he's saying,” Mike said catching their attention again. “When he first set up here there was a village north of here,” he said waving a massive hand. “I've got a few of the survivors from there. They had some sort of political coup; the women took over and made a hash of things. They survived because Mitch tried to help then went in after them and pulled them out before the rest of them froze to death,” he said.

“So yeah, a lot of people owe Mitch their lives. Mine included,” Jack said. “But that doesn't mean we're anyone's puppet. He's got his problems, and we've got ours,” the man said, growling as he directed his attention fully on the colonel. “And yeah, sometimes we agree to disagree. Sometimes we don't get our priorities straight. But that's why we're here,” he said.

The gunny nodded, glancing at the colonel. “We can understand that,” he said.

“They are independent; I respect that. I admit my problem is delegating and letting some things go. I busted my ass, poured my fortune, blood, sweat, and tears into this base. It's my baby. It is
my
home,” Mitch said. “I don't like anyone coming in and telling me what to do. Not here, not in my home.”

“I can understand that,” the colonel finally said.

“In regards to what they've accomplished, it is their home. For the record, I'm not putting any claim on them or what they have achieved. They are my friends I should hope, and well, trading partners,” Mitch said, nodding to each. Each of the others and Jack nodded back to him.

“We have topazes the size of my fist,” Olaf said. “Will you take them in trade?” he asked, looking to Mitch. “We have found other gems in the same area,” he said.

“I'm not sure,” Mitch said slowly. “Gems are a luxury, I don't do that. But,” he tapped the computer and then nodded. “There are some industrial purposes for gems, like cutting tools and lasers. I'll go over the list and print it for you to look over. If you have something, we can do a sample trade. If it works out, we'll work out a long term deal,” he said. Olaf nodded.

“I heard about the balloon,” Curt said with a nod to Mitch. “I wanted to ask why?” he asked, cocking his head.

“Which part, why balloons in general or why send one up to the stratosphere at all?”

“Both.”

“Well, weather balloons are great to carry payloads up, scientific equipment to keep an eye on the weather,” Mitch explained slowly. Curt nodded. “We can also loft a thin light antenna to extend the range of our radios beyond the horizon,” he said. That got an additional nod. “But as far as the stratosphere, I wanted to get a look at our new home. One from space.”

“And did you?”

“Yes,” Jack said, grinning. “I saw the video and images. Helen has it as her new wallpaper. Or had, now she's got a picture of one of the newborns up instead,” he said.

“How did you see it?” the colonel asked.

“I'd like to say I was monitoring the telemetry, but all we could get was the basic radio signal, not the data,” Jack said. He shrugged. “Mary was a bit put out over that.”

“So how did you get it?” Trinika asked. “Not that it matters.”

“Flash drive,” Evan supplied. “I've got one too. Paul came by and showed it to us. Noel copied it. I had a look; it is impressive,” he said, nodding to Mitch.

“I just had the gear; Jim and his crew put it together,” Mitch said. Evan nodded.

“It's still impressive,” Evan said as Mitch turned and put the video up on the main screen for all to see. All eyes turned to it.

“So what's next?” Evan asked after a moment. He already knew the answer.

Mitch smiled. “What else? They will do another flight, hopefully on a day that isn't as cloudy, so we can get a better idea of the shape of our continent,” Mitch said. That got the colonel's attention. His eyes gleamed.

“And after that you are building a rocket,” Chief Roberts said. “I saw the mock up in Jim's room when I stopped by to say hi the other day. I'd like a couple solid rockets but having a satellite in orbit would be good,” he said.

“Yes, very good,” Evan said.

“A waste,” Kirafiki rumbled. Trinika, Adam, Tsakhia, and Curt nodded with him. “We do not need such things here,” the African said.

“I disagree,” Mitch said politely. “The satellite or satellites will serve a plenitude of purposes,” he said, “from weather tracking to GPS, to communications, to mapping our world.”

“It's a big step,” Jack said. “I think it's a step in the right direction,” he said.

“None of us can afford the things to go with it,” Trinika said, shaking her head mournfully. “We are much too poor to be able to afford your...toys,” she said.

“The satellite like a lot of the tech we produce will be set up to work with our existing technology for as long as possible. So, if you have a GPS or sat phone or other device, I suggest you keep it. It may come in handy someday,” Mitch said. “And no, I don't have many of the answers for usage yet so don't ask me,” he said, holding up a forestalling hand.

“And you can obviously do it,” the colonel said, looking at Trinika and the others.

“Well, not today or tomorrow,” Mitch chuckled. He shook his head. “It's at least a year away. Probably more like two. We have a lot of things to do to get to that point, and it's not a priority project.”

“So what is?” Curt asked, wrinkling his nose. “Do I dare ask?”

Mitch shrugged. “Manufacturing to expand the base here while keeping up with trade with you folks is,” he said. Curt nodded in reply. “Moving on then...”

Chapter 40

Mitch and Sandra tended to pillow talk when they were both too wound up to sleep or had a lot on their minds. Sandra knew it was a part of being a couple, getting the stress out of a long day. Both of them were in high stress jobs. She had to remind herself of that from time to time, even though hers seemed more immediate to the life and death decision making.

A lot was riding on what Mitch was going through; she judged his talking with her was a good way for him to unload. He shouldn't keep the feelings bottled up, so she did her best and listened. When she realized he was getting annoyed reliving events over and over she made him flip over to massage him. “No tricks? No tickling? I've got a long day tomorrow...” he asked, staring at her intently. His hands were up. She smiled at him.

“No, I'll behave this
once
. Now roll boy,” she said insistently pulling him over. He still tucked his hands under his head. She smiled as she straddled his back and went to work on his shoulders and back with her expert hands. He groaned softly as she dug into a few sore spots. “You need to exercise more. You are getting flabby,” she said. He grunted.

“You should let me do this to you. It's my job you know,” he said.

“Maybe later. Well, definitely later,” she said, then bounced on his read. He grunted. She dug in, working him over. After a few minutes, she judged he was relaxed enough again to talk without any emotional attachment to what he said.

The discussion led to Dunn and his motives. Need more intel. Eventually get him to flip over. She snuggled down into his arms and started to fall asleep until Tucker woke them needing a change. She tried to get up but Mitch rolled her off, then got up first.

“Fine, I'll let you do it this once,” she mock growled.

“Is this one of those mental games you women insist on?” he asked with the door open as he checked Tucker then moved the boy to the changing table. The baby squirmed a bit until the cloth diaper came off. “What are they feeding you kid???” his father gasped.

“I can smell it from here. Too much fruit,” Sandra said, wrinkling her nose.

“Sorry,” he said.

“You were saying?”

“Mind games. Reverse psychology. Oh, never mind. Like you'd be honest and tell me anyway,” he said, expertly working at cleaning his son up with a wipe and then bundling up the dirty diaper. He used the clean edge to give his son a wipe then dodged when the cold air hit his son's wee wee and he naturally peed. “You are just like your mother boy. Well, I'm on to you,” he said, covering the pee with the diaper before his son's sleepy aim improved. “Ha,” he teased as the leak was contained.