Day 5 — 00:05:04:30

     Daybreak, the temperature in the 50’s but the brisk wind made it seem colder. After a quick breakfast Janie went back to Windmill Hill and I went to the sawmill to take over from Joe. He updated me on the past ten hrs of operation, good progress and no real problems, but he said an extra bot or two would have helped. I agreed and told him what I’d heard about the dustup in camp, but since it happened before Janie and I got back in last night, I really didn’t know much. Finally I mentioned that Jules Parker was going to preside at a memorial service for Thompson, Arte Clarke, and Harlan Allison in a couple of hours and how sorry I was I wouldn‘t be attending.

     Joe said, “I didn’t hardly know Thompson but he carried his own weight and was with us on the cruiser action and that makes him the next thing to a blood relation. I’ll pay my last respects and tell you about it tonight.”

     “Thanks Joe. And if you can find the time before you hit the rack will you make a cage, or see that one gets made for the Armadillo the Jeep captured last night? Just make sure it’s sturdy and has a lock and is screened to keep the curious from trying to stick a finger in or pet it. I’m not sure about the teeth but the spikes on that tail are vicious.”

     As Joe walked slowly away, these hours were taking something out of all of us, Eugene ‘Snitch’ Washburn came over and said “Morning Bart.”

     I handed him the plastic thermos and a couple of breakfast rolls and some reconstituted eggs and ham I had taken from the mess tent. Eugene had volunteered to work last night at the mill on a midnight to noon shift. He had brought with him his robot R.Krebbs. I thought he might be trying to distance himself from Jack the Blade. Not a bad idea in my book.

     We needed two armed humans here at all times if we were to continue working this far from camp. The nearer tents were still barely a quarter mile away but it was the treeward side that worried us the most. At night we needed to have two bots doing nothing but stand guard, constantly alert. Up till now during the day we had been dispensing with that practice but after the various sightings of the past several days reported by the Benjamins that didn’t seem like it was such a good idea after all. With R.Krebbs, RoDan, R. SirTom, R. Mycroft, R. Nug and the Jeep as the full robot complement, Joe had been very short on help.

     Joe and Eugene had been cutting from logs that took 4 bots to lift at one time, those 16 inchers in diameter and smaller. The planks they cut came near to filling up all the available drying racks. They had kept both saws working almost at maximum. With better light I needed to do more clearing and cutting of larger trees. The largest logs the big mill could handle took eight bots to load. Plus I wanted to get a good supply felled for chainsaw work and to leave enough logs stacked near the mills for Joe tonight.

     “Wait a sec before you start eating Gene and keep the saw going, I got a call to make.”

     I commed back to camp and will wonders never cease, Reye and his wife Judith had left their bots Hadrian and Augustus in the general pool and both were unclaimed as of yet. With all of the work being done clearing stones and rocks from the land we intended to farm I would have thought every bot in camp taken by now. On second thought, after the fracas last night, (I was almost sorry I missed it), that wasn’t such a surprise. Well for the next almost ten hours they were mine. Then I called over to the windmill and left word to send over the first two recharged bots destined for the general pool.

     “Help is on the way.” I said. And as Eugene finished his coffee I filled him in on our schedule for today. Pointing at the grid map on my comm screen “We’ll keep going south on the Q’s and P’s until we get everything cleared down to about 6. That will probably take at least another full day. After that we have some decisions to make. I think it might be best to just keep moving south beyond the break but a case can be made for going westward or even to the north of the Community Building. In any event Janie should be back at noon to relieve you so lets get to it.”

     We had been working for fifteen minutes when R.Augustus and R.Hadrian showed up. I wondered what had kept them. It shouldn’t have been more than a five or six minute walk at best. Then I saw the red low charge light blinking through the clear material on Hadrian’s chest.

     Damn! That fool Reye hadn’t even bothered to make sure they were charged! “Over here.” I summoned, pointing at a spot by the head of the saw. “Jeep come over here too.” I soon had the Jeep operating the mill which was for him low energy work and Hadrian and Augustus both tied in taking on a charge. Two hours of time and valuable labor from each was going to waste. But there was nothing to do about it. I shouldered my Ruger, picked up a chainsaw and headed to the forest edge. RoDan worked with me and kept all of his sensors active.

     File under things to do. See if I can get some .30 cal hunting type bullets made. The UNWG penetrators are too hard for game and will pass right through any animal without dumping much energy and that means even a direct hit to a vital spot might not make for a one shot kill. And at this time, except for the Giant Slizard we don‘t know anything about the other animals or their vital spots. I’m using explosive rounds for now but don’t want to waste them on anything small.

     By the time Janie and EmyCee showed up just before noon Hadrian and Augustus had been working as intended for a couple of hours and had enough charge for about seven hours more. We had a good rhythm going. As Janie took over the larger saw, which was actually easier to handle because it had more powered features, I said I’d message her from the other saw after I set Eugene free.

     I walked the hundred yards and reached Gene just as another cartload of planking was pulled off towards the Community Building. “Good days work for you Gene. I’m not sure how to manage it but I wouldn’t mind if you were out here permanently.”

     “Think I’d like that too Bart.”

     “What about Jack?”

     “To hell with the bastard! He don’t own me, at least not now, and It feels good to be useful.”

     “Good then, I’ll see you at midnight.”

     “You’re gonna still be here at midnight?”

     “Yeah were so short handed I’m working through. When Joe gets in he’ll relieve me at this saw and I’ll take over from Janie. That’ll let me spend the last five hours mostly standing at the power controls. See ya later.”

    I let Eugene get a couple of hundred yards away then messaged Janie. “Switch it to private darlin’, (I had picked that up from Ash but was still experimenting), and tell me about your day so far.

     “Went good.” she said, “The foundation sections were all complete and with the practice yesterday the bots knew pretty much what to do. The only real problem we found out about as soon as we raised the first mill up. With the wind speed today we were getting high rotation rates and gusts close to the blades shear limits. So what we did was take out a section to shorten them a bit. We still get our 20 KWH and have a little room to keep operating even if the winds pick up some more. If the wind gets too strong the blade edges will turn to face it, just like feathering a propeller, and rotation stops automatically. We can change back for more power if we find average wind speed slow down in the summer.”

     “After all three were mounted and operating I still and had time to get to camp for lunch. I heard Joe made a cage for the Aladillo and went for a peek. All the kids must have been there trying to give it a name just like it was a pet. Some of the suggestions were hilarious. Did you eat yet?”

     “Not yet but I can do it now and then I’ll fill you in on my morning.”

     ….. And as I finished up talking about the bots I said, “And considering by all accounts his accusing Jaisa Benjamin of being incompetent was last nights trigger, I sure hope the asshole isn’t around when I get back tonight cause if he is when I see him sparks will surely fly again.”

     “Yeah. Tell you what. When I get back after five I’ll find some way to make sure Reye finds out how pissed you are. Unless I miss my guess that will make another reason for him to keep a very low profile for a few days. Both he and Buchanan were missing from the group at his usual table when I went in for lunch. But the rest of his henchmen were there. Talking about making a ‘serious complaint’. But who do they think they can they complain to? I’m sure the message will get passed. Day after tomorrow the Hist says we are going to have a town meeting and set up some rules and procedures. That’ll probably be the best place to handle it.”

     “Sounds right to me. Well lets see how much we can get done before Joe arrives.”

    Several times that afternoon we had to get more of the pole pines cut and placed for drying racks. The thinner roofing boards we were working on now took up more space than what we had been cutting. With another human to help supervise we could have kept twice as many bots busy.

     Joe was a half an hour early and brought dinner to boot. Janie and Joe kept both saws going while I ate and then Janie went back to camp.

     It was getting dark, and seeing as how we didn’t have enough remote lighting to keep the farmland preparations going round the clock, Joe told me he had a couple of those bots lined up to be here in an hour or so. I’d send R.Hadrian and R Augustus over to the windmills and tell them to get in line for a recharge But for now I had them stacking small branches and useless scrap in a number of burn piles. Joe could light them and keep them going through the night as needed. Besides illumination, which might scare off animals, the ashes ought to be good fertilizer, or if we can make the processing containers be converted to potash. Potash is an extremely useful chemical I had learned, but more on that later.

     RoDan was getting a charge from the Jeep right now and both would soon be our advanced warning system. I know I say that once any bot can do something they all can… But for some reason I feel more comfortable trusting the Jeep.

     Gene Washburn showed up at 18:00 two hours early and told me he would pick up another two hours the next day. And from then on he said he would work with Joe on the night 5 to 5 and Janie and I could handle the day shift.

    “Thanks Gene,” I said, “I’ll try and recruit a few more people on a rotating basis to help out here. I don’t fancy any of us want to spend the next, God knows how long, doing nothing but cutting wood no matter how important the job is. And working nothing but nights is a real drag anyway and definitely not the way to see a new planet.”

Mariana

Kurt’s call basically caught me by surprise. I had not planned to allow for any examination of the DNA scans but, we needed to calibrate the array and we would use nobody’s but our own. I looked at Andy and he just shrugged and pantomimed “Why not?” So, I told Kurt to go ahead and we would meet him at Hanna’s!

On the short walk over, Andy worked on his wrist comp and sent Kurt specific authorization to use our files. “Might as well cover his rear,” was his comment! After Kurt got his samples and left, we proceeded to have a leisurely breakfast. I looked at Andy and asked, “What are you going to do today. I have to amble around and find someone willing to be a clerk for the Lab. When we get rolling it’s going to be a full time job to track the incoming samples to the person who brought them in!”

Andy took a long pull on his coffee, “Wander around and see who I can help. Not much I can do with the slizzard till the Lab is up. Hydro projects on hold till I pull the bots back from Joe and he needs them today! So, go see who needs some plain ole muscle.”

With that we finished up our coffee, cleaned up our table and left!

Andy

I was actually able to kill most of the morning doing just what I had said. It was amazing how many different things that people had going that six foot four and 250 lbs could help with. Robots could easily apply more energy but, I did not have to be trained. I actually saw Ash leaving the showers with a shave no less. Something had to be going right! Moving around like this let me meet more of the people and build up my reserves from yesterday. I had spent most of the long drag back with the slizzard on the edge of speed. That took more out of me than most people would guess!

I was walking out of Hanna’s place after a sandwich for lunch when Ash’s call cracked out of the blue. I had no idea what could be happening at the Lab but with Ash going into mil call signs and calling HOT I was not about to ask! Speed run to the tent, then back into speed for the run over the bluff. Dropping to the ground in front of the Lab I shouldered open the door with both Colt’s in hand. To see Ash’s face suddenly realize what he had said and Kurt Kellerman in shock as he was face to face with the Reaper for the first time!

“Ash, what the hell are you doing. Are you trying to scare Kurt to death or what?”

For once the jerk actually looked contrite! “Sorry Andy, the time component is certainly a HOT situation. I am just so damned tired I forgot what your response would be!”

I holstered the Colts and stacked the Robar off my shoulders and into the corner. “OK, Ash whats the great problem?” As he went into his explanation I could feel my anger at Mariana’s EX starting to mount. Damn that bastard. Did he just have to ruin every life he touched. I found myself asking Ash, “Why the hell did he do this?”

His reply was the last I was expecting, “To provide a cover story for the Deputy Director of Operations for UNWG Military Political Intelligence.”

“That bastard killed my chance at children for a cover story?”

Then the bombshell from Kurt, “Not necessarily, with the right RF equipment I can kill that implant!”

I stared at him for a moment then asked, “What do you mean and why is it a secret?”

His answer came in as cold a voice as I had ever heard. “I felt that we should have a means of killing that non-removable implant just in case a mistake was made. Of course in doing so I implied that the UNWG could possibly make a mistake! They hounded me out of my practice and with the threats I could do very little!”

“So you let some threats keep you from stopping this kind of shit!”

Kurt’s stare was as cold as I had ever seen. “They did not threaten me asshole, they mentioned things like brothels in East Timmor. Sally is not Mariana Stuart, She would not survive that crap!”

Ash and I traded looks that could only be described as stunned, what would we have done in his place? Kurt Kellerman was no tame wolf, there was no way he COULD have gone down fighting!

“OK Kurt, believe it or not I understand. What do you need to make this work!”

His answer was to reach to his collar and pull up a cord which suspended an old fashioned USB jump drive. “Got anything that can read this?”

Ash grabbed out of his hand in a flash and plugged into the unit we had put into the Lab. “Kurt, when you find something one of Andy’s little monsters can’t do I’ll let you know! Damn Andy, it’s engineering specs!”

I stared at the file and rapidly paged though the 60 pages of specs and requirements. I knew even Ash could barely keep up but, for once I did not care!

“OK, I can do this! It will take several days at least! One thing is paramount, no one says anything to Mariana until we are sure we are ready to go. Understand?”

I got two very affirmative nods in reply and a look from Ash like he finally understood this guy! In a way so did I.

“Kurt, have you ever told Sally what they threatened you with?”

His reply was sharp and short, “No and the only person I have ever threatened was the Goon who was going to tell her!”

I gave him a look I hoped he would understand, “When this is over I will. I owe you one and her big time! Kurt, call Mariana and tell her the Lab is open for business. Ash meet me at our tent in about ten, I have to get out of the “Scare The Bad Guys” rig. Kurt, our house is your house; your fight is our fight. Now, get to work!”

With that I collected the Robar and left. The file of Kurt’s was now accessible from any unit in the array and they did not know I had the Daddy of the whole shebang in my pocket!

Ash

Kurt looked at me and asked, “Was that what I thought it was?”

“Yep, The Sword of Clan Stuart now guards your back. There’s you Ace in the hole! Now get to work and make it mean something. Sally is safe, get that crap out of your mind! The UNWG is not going to threaten her here. Not unless they get through Andy, Me and Mariana first. I have the distinct feeling that we won’t be the only one’s.”

I left as Kurt was making the call to Mariana. Took my time going to Andy’s place and timed it about right. He was back in his normal “wouldn’t hurt anything” look.

His first comment was, “Lets go to Hanna’s place and get some coffee!”

Sounded good to me so we went over and went in the side flap of the big tent. The scene was ugly and looked like getting worse.

Suddenly Andy barked, “Stop now! If any of you spineless roach eaters take one more step your ass is done!”

Of course I added, “Yall don’t want an old fashion ass whoopin to go down in here, do Yall?”

Surprise, Surprise. The wanna be Wolves slunk off and the Benjamin’s closed ranks.

As we walked out without our coffee Andy commented, “One of these days those punks are going to make me do something!”

Having seen too many times Andy’s ‘Having To Do Something,’ I just grunted “Hope they are smarter than that!”

I just watched Andy staring at Jai Benjamin comforting Emily Parker and saw his face. Dear God I hope they are smarter than that; for as sure as life Clan Stuart was committed to defend that Young Lady!

Day 4, evening

Jaisa

“I have killed men,” I said quietly, “but I am not responsible for his death. Here,” I held my hand out towards an empty table, hoping to calm things, “let’s sit d-”

“And what about y-” Reye started. I could tell what he was about to do. I could feel it. By the time his hand was moving I had already stopped it.

“DON’T! Don’t even think-” before I had finished Buchanan started to move towards Em. He had gotten less than half a step by the time he was on his back with my hand around his throat. I was shaking with rage. If either of them had harmed a hair on her head blood would have been spilled this night.

I crouched down and whispered so only he could hear. “If you so much as look at her wrong you’ll live to regret it.” His panicked eyes flinched away from me. “If you hurt her you won’t. This is not a threat, it’s a promise. Tell your friend.” I held his gaze for another moment, long enough for my full meaning to sink in.

“Do NOT mess with my little girl,” my dad bellowed, throwing Reye into a nearby table as I stood up. Nice of him, though I wouldn’t have minded flattening that one’s reproductive organs as well.

“Stop now!” Andy barked at the few slackers dumb enough to be moving towards us. “If any of you spineless roach eaters take one more step your ass is done!”

Then Ash, “Yall don’t want an old fashion ass whoopin to go down in here, do yall?”

As I left the tent I could hear the colonists begin to talk in a rush. No doubt a dozen different versions of what just happened would be circulating by the end of the hour. No matter. Those two wouldn’t go near Emily again. Everything else was irrelevant.

Day 4, evening

Connor

I don’t care what anyone says, those two blowhards got exactly what they fucking deserved! They were just fracking lucky that Jai took it so god damn easy on them. Next time they decide to pull a friggin stunt like that they’re going to get more than a swift kick to the groin, that’s for god damn sure!

Connor (an hour later)

Ok, now that I’ve calmed down a little I’m going to try to relay what happened as accurately as I can. If you weren’t there I’m sure that you’ve already heard one version or another of what happened, although if one of Reye’s cronies told you about it you better believe you got a biased recounting of the event. Now, I admit that I’m biased too (Jaisa is, after all, my daughter), but I assure you that this is the most truthful account that you’re going to get. Why? Because, frankly, Jaisa’s actions were completely justified. I don’t have to lie, unlike Buchanan and Reye. Ok, so, what just happened?

It was a while after sunset and Jai and I had just collected the twins from the Parkers’ daycare. Emily Parker and Maylin Yamasak joined us, as Aya and Arra were the last two kids there (Liza had already went ahead with Karyn and their parents). After we got our food we all went and sat with the Parkers and Yamasaks. The meal was going fine, though everyone was a bit subdued from Thompson’s death last night. The slackers sat off by themselves, as usual, though they seemed to be a bit more agitated than usual and certainly took a few more glances in our direction than they normally would. Maybe that should have tipped me off, I don’t know.

After a bit Jai and Emily got up to refill their water and as they did Buchanan and Reye got up as well. That did tip me off that something was going to happen, though I never thought that those two would choose to get physical so all I did was turn around in my chair to watch. They seemed much more of the arrogant verbal abuse type. Maybe all these days with absolutely no physical activity had gotten to them. Maybe Reye was still smarting from getting his ass knocked down by Kara the other day. Whatever it was, they apparently decided to pick on someone they thought they could push around. Big mistake.

The dumbass duo walked in front of the girls, blocking them from getting to the bar. Jaisa sighed. “Yes? Was there something?” she asked.

“Yeah, there was. You seem awful glib for someone who just cost a man his life.” Reye said.

“Say what now?” I could tell Jaisa already realized what they were talking about. We had talked about the same thing last night – she had been kicking herself for not catching any of the electric plants in her survey. After we figured out which were which earlier today (with myself, Sin, Jai, the two Yamasak girls and several others combing the entire area we had previously searched) we realized how they had been missed. The two smaller, flowerlike ones had been pulled up by their roots on the initial pass (thus bypassing the mechanism) and Jai had been lucky enough to clip a branch off of the shrub without brushing any stray leaves. But that certainly didn’t stop the slackers from jumping to conclusions and flinging accusations.

“You heard me young lady. You were in charge of finding the dangerous plants and you didn’t,” Buchanan shouted, stabbing his pudgy little finger at her. “That means that you killed him!” I got up and took a step towards them, but Jai quietly motioned me to stay back.

“I have killed men,” she said quietly, “but I am not responsible for his death. Here,” she motioned towards an empty table, “let’s sit d-”

“And what about y-” Reye started. His hand had just started to extend out towards Emily when Jaisa’s fist shot out, slamming into his wrist. He couldn’t have gotten it more than a couple inches before she intercepted it. I had never seen her move so fast.

“DON’T!” she bellowed. “Don’t even think-” she was interrupted by Buchanan sneering and lunging for the slowly backing up Emily. Almost before he started moving he was on his back, curled up, face contorted in pain. Jai’s knee hammered into his groin as her elbow connected with his face. She was crouched over him, hand around his throat before I think he even realized she had moved. She started whispering fast to him – I don’t know what she said, but even in as much pain as he was you could see the color drain from his face.

Reye, in a move that could only be described as monumentally stupid, made for her back. I grabbed the back of his neck and sent him skidding into an empty table. I honestly did him a favor by not letting him reach his destination, but I don’t think he sees it that way.

“Do NOT mess with my little girl,” I roared.

Jaisa let go of Buchanan’s throat and slowly backed away. The whole episode, from Reye making the (rather enormous) mistake of trying to shove Emily to him sliding unceremoniously into the table, took two, maybe three seconds. A few of the slacker cronies had started moving towards Jai and I (Emily was back at the table with her parents), prompting Andy and Ash to step in (they had come in the side entrance a moment after Buchanan started yelling).

“Stop now! If any of you spineless roach eaters take one more step your ass is done!” Andy barked in his best drill instructor mode.

“Yall don’t want an old fashion ass whoopin to go down in here, do yall?” Ash drawled. The slackers gathered up Reye and Buchanan and slunk out of the tent.

It was dead quiet for a second, and then everyone started talking at once. Jai left the tent with Emily running after her and JJ and Linda following her as I gathered up the girls and left as well, with Andy and Ash not far behind.

Day 3

Jaisa

Dad had left early with Andy to survey upstream, leaving me in charge of my two sisters. Not that “in charge” really had anything to do with it. Truth be told, they could basically take care of themselves if they needed to. They need us emotionally, of course, but that’s different. They really are frighteningly smart, and they don’t suffer from the lack of common sense that so many smart kids (and adults, for that matter) seem to have. Like Buchanan and Reye and their slackers – brains, but no concept of reality or sense of responsibility. Hell, I’m 17 and I know more about contributing to the common good than that whole lot combined. Shit, even if they care about nothing but themselves they should help out, if just to avoid making enemies. But nooooo, they just don’t get it. God I can’t stand useless people.

But anyway, that’s not the point. I had just sat down to breakfast with the twins at Hanna’s when a girl not much older than me came over to our table with her tray. She was tiny; beautiful. Delicate. I almost laughed. She reminded me a lot of me, when I was eleven or twelve, only I’m pretty sure she’s college age. In some ways she did look her age, but she still had the innocent, carefree look I lost years ago.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked.

“Of course,” I replied. “Pull up a chair.”

“Yeah!” Aya agreed. Arra chimed in, “Have a seat May.” They were sitting on either side of me, stuffing their faces with the MREs.

“Ok Arra,” she laughed, sitting down. “I will. I’m Maylin, Chen-Ling’s daughter,” she said to me. “I’m helping out Em and Liza with the daycare, which is how I know these two rascals!”

“Good luck! They’re holy terrors!” I exclaimed, mussing Aya’s hair. “Remember that time you lit your babysitter’s hair on fire?” Arra glanced at the slowly whitening young woman and winked. The poor girl looked terrified! Aya giggled and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh jeez, I’m sorry. They’re little angels, really. They could be no end of trouble if they wanted to be, but they’re really just about the nicest girls you’ll ever meet, honest.” She laughed, though she still looked a little uneasy.

I noticed Kara getting breakfast and waved to her to join us. As she sat down I clapped her on the back. “Congratulations on being the first person on Alchibah to slug one of the slackers. And from what I hear you did a pretty good job of it too. Ol’ Les still has a bit of a shiner!” I laughed.

“Pompous jackass,” she muttered. “I mean, really, houses! Houses! And if that prick calls me ‘little miss’ one more time, so help me…It did feel pretty good though,” she admitted, almost sheepishly. “The only thing I regret is that my hand is still sore. Hard headed little…”

“Oh don’t you worry, I can take care of that. Before I’m through with you you’ll be able to punch him in the face whenever you feel like it!” We all got a good laugh out of that.

We finished the meal, talking about how the first few days on Alchibah had been. Maylin also asked a bit about what I had been doing, which was kinda annoying because I didn’t really have any results to speak of. The lab wasn’t up yet, and without the lab there was little else I could safely do with the samples Sin and I collected. There were other ways of determining toxicity and poison content, but they weren’t as reliable or safe and to do them right could take a fair amount of time. So for now I had to be content with the answer “collecting plant samples.”

As we were walking over to the daycare the girls were running ahead, playing. Kara split off, towards the cargo area, waving goodbye. Maylin seemed like she had something on her mind.

“Yes?” I asked. She looked up, startled. She hesitated, and then spoke up.

“So, your dad and my older sis seem to be getting along pretty well, huh?” she asked. I don’t think my face or body language showed anything, but I was definitely doing a serious mental double take.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, she helped him collect samples all day the day after we landed and then this morning she went and had breakfast with him before he headed out. I mean, he’s like ten years older than her or something, but I think she likes him,” she confided. Yup, this was definitely not something I had the foggiest about. Pops has some serious splainin to do.

“Huh. I dunno. I’m sure it’ll work itself out.” Hmmm…could I possibly have been more non-committal? And then, thankfully, we reached the tent. I mouthed “later” as we walked in.

As I was leaving Emily came up to me. “Do you mind if I join you for a while? May and Liza have this covered and I’ve been feeling a bit cooped up. I’m sure I can help with whatever you’re doing. I’m a quick learner.” She asked hopefully. Truth be told I didn’t really want her in my hair. She seemed nice enough, but I’m used to working with people like Sinopa and my uncle Gabe, not, well, high schoolers. But while I certainly don’t have what you’d call good social skills I knew that alienating one of the only people my age within 500 trillion miles of our new home wasn’t a good idea. So I said yes.

Our first stop was Hanna’s again for a pot of coffee, then on to Ash’s fortress of solitude. That man was working himself to the bone. I figured the least I could do was make sure he stayed fully caffeinated. I poked my head in.

“Ash? You still alive in there buddy? Got your bi-morning pot of coffee.”

“You’re too good to me girl,” he said, his bloodshot eyes looking up from their computer screen. “And you brought company! Where are my manners?” He started to get up, I presume to kiss Emily’s hand or some such silliness.

“Oh sit down you old rascal! She’s no older than I am and besides, you look like someone just killed you.” He slumped back.

“You’re no fun,” he sighed. “One of these days I’m going to find a beautiful woman around here that isn’t off limits. But until then, thanks for the coffee. Now get on with you. We’ve both got very important business and no time to waste on chit chat.”

“I’m going, I’m going!” I laughed. “Good luck, and get some friggin sleep.”

As we left the tent Emily gave me an odd look.

“What?” I asked. “He’s not that bad. And you have to understand, I’ve spent most of my life around little boys like him. They all work the same way. I’ve been one of the guys so long that Ash is a breath of fresh air after having to be around so many polite, upstanding people.”

“If you say so,” she said skeptically. “He still creeps me out, but I’ll take your word for it. Anyway, where to next?”

We headed to the landing site to meet the next shipment and pick up a couple of robots for the family. We had been holding off on getting them until now because we figured the ones that were already on planet would be of more use to the other colonists who were doing more manual labor. I also think that our independent streak was getting the better of us a bit. After roughing it for years it was going to be weird to have our own personal state of the art robots. I also needed to pick up Dad’s supply crate that he had shipped ahead and make sure everything was in order. Not that there was much we could do if it wasn’t.

I gave the two robots their names: R.Lewis (mine) and R.Eddings (Dad’s – I’d transfer ownership later). We were going to hold off on getting the twins’ until they were used to ours. After they had downloaded the accumulated knowledge of the other robots I had them grab the crate and we started back up to my tent. This whole time Emily and I were talking, about everything from life back on Earth (I was, shall we say, a tad less specific than she was) to how things were going so far to our hopes and dreams for the future.

My dad always says he’s sorry that the girls and I didn’t have a normal childhood. I say the hell with it. Sure, I missed high school and boyfriends and prom and all those other things that I was “supposed to” experience, but I certainly didn’t miss them. By and large they seem like a lot more trouble than they’re worth. Given the choice between prom with a bunch of twittering girls and drunken revelry in the northern reaches of Canada with Gabe’s Green Mountain Boys and Sin’s Fox Pack I’d chose the roughneck rebels any day. Which is why I was so surprised that Em and I hit it off so well. While I can’t really say we’ve got a lot in common, for whatever reason I really enjoyed talking with her. I almost can’t believe it, but I think I’ve actually got a friend who isn’t a trained killer.

When we got back up to the tent I had the robots put the crate inside my tent, open it and wait outside. Yup, they’re definitely going to take some getting used to. But anyway, the crate. My dad’s blacksmithing tools were there, but I didn’t bother to unpack or check them. Too much of a pain and I didn’t know enough to really do any good anyway. I did a quick check over the axe, maul and saws. All in good shape.

The vacuum sealed brewer’s yeast and the seed packets for the other brewing necessities looked to be doing fine, but I suppose there’s no way to be sure until we try and use them. I hope they work out. I love brewing beer almost as much as I love drinking it. Shame we couldn’t take any of the equipment, but I’m sure we’ll be able to rig something up. Next came the two duffels of spare clothes unceremoniously tossed into the corner. The rest of the contents I handled with quite a bit more care.

The next two things I took out were a long, thin mahogany box and a small, squat burnished steel one. I placed these gingerly off to the side. The contents of those were worth more, in dollar value and to this family, than the rest of our possessions combined. After that I lifted out the half a dozen of my grandfather’s khukuris we had managed to bring along with his bolo, placing them aside for inspection. Finally the two CTAR-45s and the two Colt Pythons, identical to mine, that we were saving for my sisters, along with the ammunition boxes.

“So you’re a quick learner?” I asked the other girl. “You ever clean a gun? No, silly question right?” I said, seeing the look on her face. “Ok, we’ll start you out with knives.”

So I showed her the khukuris; how to properly take them from their sheaths, test for sharpness, rub them down with the tuf-cloth. At first she seemed a little uneasy, but she was right about being a fast learner. Not that anything we were doing was particularly difficult, but she quickly got much more comfortable with the big knives. This was certainly no twittering teenage girl.

Next I showed her how to clean the Colts and then moved onto the CTARs myself. I could definitely see her thinking something like, “Who is this crazy girl and why is she playing with assault rifles???” Which is, I suppose, the reaction I’d get from most people if they saw me disassembling my Tavor. It requires almost no thought on my part; my hands just flow through the motions. We kept talking as we cleaned and disassembled the guns. It was almost like some sort of surreal slumber party or something. After a little while she got quiet.

“If,” she hesitated, “if I tell you something will you promise to not tell anyone?” she blurted. “I mean, not anyone?”

I paused for a moment. I barely knew this girl and she was asking for my complete confidence. This is exactly the kind of shit I thought I had avoided skipping high school. But could I really say no? We were both alone on a new world and it’s not like there were going to be friends coming out of the woodwork. I sighed. “Yes. A promise made is a promise kept. I won’t tell anyone. What’s wrong?”

“I. I’m.” She gathered herself and started again. “You remember I mentioned my boyfriend? Well, he’s more than just my boyfriend. He’s…We’re…we’re married.” The words came out in a rush now. “We got engaged then we found out he was moving away and we eloped and then we just left and I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye and I miss him sooo much. Oh Jaisa I miss him. He was the sweetest guy. He always took care of me and worried more about me than himself. And now I’m never going to see him again and all I’ve got to remember him by is the ring and one picture from when we went ice skating and this necklace he gave me.” She pulled a beautiful opal pendant on a delicate silver chain from under her shirt. As she gazed at the stone she slowly started to cry.

“Oh, no. Come here,” I said, pulling her towards me as she started to cry harder. “Shhh, it’s going to be ok. Shhh.” I hugged the girl, rubbing her back. This was so not anything I was ready for.

“B-b-but th-that’s not all. I’m p-pregnant. And my baby is never going to meet it’s f-father,” she cried, hugging me back.

“Shh, shhh, it’s going to be alright. Long as I’m here you two will be alright, I promise.” Now I don’t know what made me say that, but something really made me want to protect this girl. And like I said, a promise made is a promise kept.

I really am glad she told me. I don’t know what will come of it, but I feel like I’ve made a good friend, which is something we can all use.

I spent the rest of the day out in the woods tracking with Sinopa. We found several more signs of the predator we had identified yesterday, including scat that pretty much proves that it is, in fact, a predator. We also saw tracks for a much smaller animal that also appeared (based on the movement and claw marks) to be a predator as well as several animals of various sizes that seemed more likely to be herbivores. The largest of these we estimated to be even bigger than a moose, with half a dozen smaller species ranging in size from no larger than a squirrel to about the size of a large deer. Still no sign of the rumbler (assuming it’s as big as it sounds), though based on what we’ve been hearing it seems farther away than we’ve been investigating.

Just as we were headed back we heard the distinct roar of one of the lifeboats taking off and saw the glare of its engine through the trees. I didn’t know what was happening, but I had no doubt that it was something bad. I took off for camp with Sin right beside me. We made it back in a matter of minutes, but far too late to do anything. I truly despise the feeling of helplessness that inevitably settles in when a comrade falls.

Thompson, rest in peace. Rest in Peace.

Ash Andrews

After Kurt left I finished transferring my data into the wrist comp memory and then called Travis.

“Capt. Travis, A. Andrews priority request!” The net always took long enough to find Travis that you never were sure where he was!

Eventually, “Andrews, Travis here what is the priority?”

“I have a file to send that has specific times and look angles for four separate locations in Alchibah space. Each location has between six and eight look times. It’s going to take at least three days to get all these looks, assuming Mayflower maintains current orbit!”

“Your down to only four locations?” Travis queried.

“Yep, only four spots I can not exclude. You have no idea of the sheer power of Andy’s array when it’s time to crunch numbers!”

“I am going to have to see that someday but I see results already. Your observations should be a good final exam for the sensor operators we are just finishing training. Of course Monroe or myself will check their work and redo any that are shaky. Please send the file directly to the bridge if you could. Anything else?”

“Nothing else I can think of and thanks!”

Breaking the connection I quickly made contact with the Mayflower bridge and uploaded the file. While the file was uploading I could hear the bridge chatter in the background and the excitement was rather noticeable.

With that out of the way I grabbed my kit and headed for the showers. For the first time in weeks, I had nothing to do!

I had been asleep for maybe an hour and a half when my mil-spec wrist comp went off in “Wake the Dead” mode! As I pretty well resembled that description it took 5 rings for me to answer. Kurt it seemed was quite upset. I drug my bod into my clothes and headed over the bluff for the lab!

When I got there I knew one thing the rehab project had been a successes. Kurt Kellerman was the absolute picture of a PO’d MD in his realm.

“Ash, what the hell is this crap?”

“Kurt, you tell me! Do I look like an MD? All I have is a file of code that’s buried in Mariana’s medical chip and the same code in a file I took from the chief Security Goon on the Cruiser I was piloting. The fact that He was Mariana’s EX makes it dangerous as hell. What if some asshole like Reye’s got it and claimed she was UNWG trying to hide something. I have no idea what it means or how it affects anything. You are the MD, you tell me!” There was no way I was going to admit that I had guessed roughly what it was and had been running this whole play drawing to an inside straight!

He looked absolutely stunned, “You mean you have no idea what you are looking at?”

“One more time, I am an Engineer. I am not a Medical Doctor; I have no damn idea!” Pulling out the two chairs I motioned at one and said, “So sit down and explain to the engineer.”

Kurt leaned back and sighed, “What you have is a clear cut case of altered DNA scans. Mariana’s before scans are clearly of a genome that can not produce viable offspring. The one’s I took this morning (with the exception of some vagaries in the brain areas) are of what should be a human brood mare! Someone has deliberately sabotaged her DNA scans!”

I just leaned back and groaned, “No doubt you are right Kurt. But, that deception caused a UNWG forced abortion and an active implant to prevent inception. That’s why they can’t have kids! And of course the UNWG put the active implant that can not be removed into her!”

Kurt just starred and me for what seemed an hour but, could not have been more than seconds.

“It can’t be removed but, it can be stopped! What the hell do you think got me in hot water with the UNWG. I developed a procedure in case we made a mistake. Little did I know that suggesting that the omnipotent UNWG could make a mistake was death to your career. If I only had the Radio Frequency support I had back then, I could kill this thing!”

I stared at Kurt for at least a minute, “That’s all you need, RF Engineering? Boy, you are a damn hero!”

As Kurt stared, I was calling into my wrist comp, “Reaper, Ghost; Scramble HOT. Bio-Lab, alone and Hype!”

“Kurt, you better let me handle the first part of this. But be ready for your cue and be more that ready to talk specs in a hurry!”

Day 0:4 Morning

I drug myself from from Hanna’s precious coffee spot over to Ash’s Data Center. Opening the the flap the only question that came to mind was, “Damn, Ash do you ever sleep?”

The Bleary bloodshot eyes in the drawn face replied, “When this is over, my gift from the Stuart genes; I can go as long as I have to. Besides after I get this data request to Travis, I am gonna have a couple of days to sleep.”

“OK, but I am going to need your help to sell this little subterfuge I am fixing to pull!”

“Sure, if it don’t take great and complicated thoughts I’m up to it!”

Motioning Ash to silence I keyed my wrist comp, “M. Stuart, K. Kellerman and secure please!” After a short pause the security light flashed on my comp as they linked and the voice of Mariana Stuart replied.

“M. Stuart and what can I do for you Kurt that requires secure?”

“Well it’s a little delicate. I need to final calibrate diagnostic and for that I need to do some known to stored DNA comparisons. The three best stored’s we have are Ash, you and Andy from your military medical records. I am at Ash’s place and he has offered me the records but I feel uncomfortable digging into them without your permission. Not to mention I would like to have about three new samples from each of you to run as comps.”

There was a long pause, “OK, sounds reasonable. Meet us at Hanna’s Place in about 10 and you can have your fresh coffee diluted samples. We are going to need diagnostic ASAP, so if this works I am for it.”

I let out a long held breath, “This will give me enough data to calibrate and the array should be certified by early afternoon! Kellerman clear!”

I looked at Ash, “I hope to God we live through this! When She finds out I lied to her we might not!”

He gave me that cold family stare, “If you are as good as your reputation, we are not gonna survive. We are gonna be plain old hero’s!”

I muttered over my shoulder on the way out, “Yeah Right!”

Going to Hanna’s place I got my samples and glory be a direct e-mail from Andy and Mariana specifically granting me access to their files. Andy’s comment was that he did not know what the laws were going to wind up being here but, setting precedence never hurt! Followed by an admonition to “Get it Done!”

Walking around the bluff to the Bio-Lab it suddenly dawned on me. Ash and I had not lied to Mariana, well I had about the number of before tests we had. But, as the quality of mine and Sally’s left much to be desired (they had been done in a UNWG lab not the regional lab Sally had been running) Ash and the Stuarts were really the only high grade ones we had. OK, I was splitting hairs. But it had been so long since I had felt halfway clean I didn’t want to loose that feeling!

Getting to the Lab I began the sequence with my own and Sally’s samples. There were some minor discrepancies but those proved to be from the UNWG lab not here. Ash’s samples showed some minor calibration problems in the allergy projection algorithms but the DNA was unusual in a small deviation in the fatigue reaction area.

Andy’s was a mind blower. When I was in college there was a discussion of the effects of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) on first responders and combatants. The professor had outlined the perfect warrior. Capable of conscious control of his reactions and metabolic speed and I was looking at it! Looking back at Ash’s I now knew I was looking at the female regressive side of the same mutation. All I could think was that Fortson had been right, I too wanted a draft choice on Andy and Mariana’s first born.

Then I pulled up Mariana’s before or stored and my heart broke! This DNA sample could never produce viable offspring. Then I pulled up her shipboard sample. Then I ran all three samples I had taken just this morning.

“A. Andrews, K. Kellerman and go secure dammit!”

My wrist comp flashed the secure light and chirped, “And what can I do for you Kurt?”

“You had better bring me that third file or so help me God I will find a way to kill you!”

His reply was a chuckle, “At last another true believer. Sit tight I am on my way and the guy you really want dead is already among the dearly departed. Ash out!”

Day 5 

The meeting hall is almost done, just another day or two.  Then I believe we’re having a colony meeting….that should be interesting. 

I was talking with Travis and some others about supplies, and they weren’t completely sure how we were doing – things have been happening so quickly that no one has been keeping a close eye on inventory.  I volunteered to help track things, and they said they’d take that into consideration.  I have experience with spreadsheets and financial analysis from my old job, so while it isn’t exactly the same, it is probably the closest thing I can find.  There won’t be much need for financial analysis for a long while!

I helped Janie with setting up 2 of the windmills yesterday.  It was fun to see more of the area, and to do something completely different.  And it was the first time I spent any real time with my robot, R.LeGuin.  It was very odd (and a little creepy), but I’m starting to get used to it.  I’m not sure yet how I want my bot to address me.  Janie’s kept calling her Miss Janie, which Janie hated, but I got used to it and it seemed like a decent idea.  It helps to remind us that they are not our equals.  Geez, that sounds terrible.  But robots make me uneasy….did you ever see that old movie AI?  Luckily these guys aren’t nearly as advanced as those in the scifi novels….and I hope they never are.

I’m going to swing by the lab and see if I can get a look at the new plants and animals they’ve collected (like the giant slizard!).  That is the most exciting part of the whole experience.  Maybe if I don’t end up with inventory or something, they’ll take me as helper over there.  But then again, not sure if I could disect anything :)

So we’ve got three main groups now within the camp: the people who are leading getting things done, those that are helping, and those that are not.  Luckily, those of us who are helping outnumber those who aren’t.  We’re all pretty smart and don’t need a lot of supervision, once given instructions and whatnot, and the camp is coming along nicely as a result.

Those that aren’t helping may have been smart in their line of work back on Earth, but they’re morons here.  They are more interested in their life being the same as it was instead of accepting that things are different now and we’re all in this together (and equal).

There are also a couple of camps within this group: those that help a bit, but you can tell they are up to something else entirely (Jack’s posse, whom I like to call the Snakes) and those that really do nothing (Les’ group, whom I call the Howells, which is a reference to an old Earth TV show).

So the Howells keep talking about moving to another location.  Ha!  I’d love to see how long they last.  If they do decide to relocate, I think I’ll take bets on how long it’ll be until they come crawling back — that should be fun.

Day 4  0:04:04:30

     The rains of the night before had ended and the dark sky was lightening rapidly in the east as Janie Cantarubias, with Kara along to help, went out to examine nearby sites for a spot to situate the windmills. The Jeep, Kara’s bot R.LeGuin, and R. EmyCee were acting as guards and lookouts. Now that the Community Center was being built the colonies lack of electrical generation loomed as a huge bottleneck, that’s a nonsequitur if I ever heard one, to rapid completion. With so little generating capacity it was important to determine the best location.

     Every day since their arrival the winds had blown generally from the north west and today was no different. With wind power one thing over all else was important, average wind speed. And without natural geographic features to tunnel the wind for you that meant getting the turbine as high as possible and keeping away from obstructions such as trees.

     The raised mound south of the tents at [T3], near the base of which Bio-Lab was nearing completion, was the highest nearby location. The trees to the west of it were being cleared and it became the obvious location. There were two portable anemometers. One was set up on the hill and Kara stayed to monitor it.  The second Janie took with her to the three other sites that had been determined as possibles. The wind speed comparisons almost always favored Kara’s location, usually by a considerable margin, and so by noon, (10:00 Alchibah time), the decision was made.

     “That’s it Kara”, Janie sent, “I’m gonna take the bots and see about getting a little more help to drag the Windmills up there. Could you figure the locations so we can get them raised as soon as we get back?”

     “Sure Janie, about a hundred feet apart and in a line facing northwest so they don’t interfere with each other. Sound right?”

     “Perfect, but stay as far up wind from the Bio-Lab as you can make it. Just in case. I should be up there in less than an hour.”

     The 20 KW generators with their associated control circuitry each weighed in at about 300 lbs. The three composite blades were 30 feet long and very light. They also came with enough scaffolding sections to raise the generator/blade combination 60 foot above the ground. Their natural output was 4000 volts so we needed a transformer to reduce that to something the robot chargers could use. Another transformer would be placed at the Community Building and the third held in reserve till we see where it will be needed most. Anyway it took one of our wheeled carts three trips to get everything to the hill.

     The total weight involved was no problem for the bots and the structures were designed for easy assembly. Our only initial trouble was making a foundation that would be strong enough to keep them from toppling. As a temporary measure we only raised them 40 feet and used the rest of the scaffolding to make outriggers for guide wires. We locked the generator hubs to keep them from rotating automatically to face the wind. If we had let them rotate the blades would have spun into the wires.

     By the time the last cart load arrived the first windmill was almost ready for operation. R. EmyCee got the honor of first charge. All three were spinning a couple of hours before nightfall. And we had started to do some digging for a proper foundation. Our intention was to dig down about 10 feet and put in a section resting on a base plate and fill it the hole. Concrete would have been nice, maybe in the future, Kara said she had watched the corner posts for the Community Building being set and wondered if we could do something similar here, but taller, so that we could get the windmills even higher than their scaffolding would allow. That looked promising. Too much to do too little time.

Day 4 An hour before sunset     

     We were done for now a few of robots with someone to supervise would continue to dig, set base plates then refill for the rest of the night. We would relocate the generators in the morning, that should take an hour or so apiece and we will keep two running at all times. Still… we were getting 70% or 80% of what we could have gotten from this wind speed if everything had been perfect and bots were charging. I was listening to the rhythmic whupp, whupp of the blades when the Jeep approached.     “Miss Janie, the Boss would like to know if you can spare some time to go rat hunting?” was how the Jeep phrased it.

     “Jeep, I told you before, drop the Miss Janie stuff and just call me Janie, everyone else does.”

     “The Boss said I was always to call you Miss Janie because it’s a term of endearment, and no matter what you said about it I am not allowed to change.”

     “Ok then J.P. But I will have a word with Bart about that later. Why didn’t he just message me instead of having you ask? And what’s with a rat hunt anyway?”

     “The Boss said his comm unit isn’t functioning properly so he had R. Daily at the lumber mill pass the message to me.” and after a brief pause, “I think a rat hunt is where one would hunt rats.”

     “Puhleezz!… I’m done here for now so call back and ask RoDan to find out from Bart where we should meet.“

     Almost immediately the Jeep responded, “The Boss says to meet him at the mess tent for dinner first. Rat hunting is always best when done after dark.”

     “I was sitting near the mess tent entrance waiting, so when Janie came in I immediately said, “Congratulations on getting the windmills going.”

     “We have a lot of really smart people anxious to help.” And looking over to where Les Reye was again sitting with the usual suspects, “And a few of another sort entirely. They do anything today?”

     “Can’t say for sure about all of em but I did see that one at the end, the one that calls himself Snitch, (what kind of a name is that anyway?), surveying the land east of where we were sawing. He stopped and said hello and mentioned what he was up to, seems friendly enough. Said his real name was Eugene Washburn but Jack the Blade stuck him with the name Snitch. He said Jack wanted to call him Stench but relented under pressure. There are some things I‘ll never get.”

     Between spoonfuls of … Yep stew again… Janie told me about her day and what she had planned for tomorrow. Then she got to the question I knew she was dying to ask but hoping I would mention first. “Ok Bart, what’s with a rat hunt?”

     “Janie when I was a kid my greatest source of pleasure, or time waster, depending how you look at it, was going to the dump to see if any bears were around. Bears weren’t uncommon but there were always rats. My buddies and I would take slingshots and pot as many of them as we could. We did it mostly in the daytime, but once in a while we would go out at night and shine a light around and see the glint of their eyes. We saw a lot of other things too, mice, raccoons, possums, deer. But it was certain if a rat was around you could find him eventually at the dump.

     Hanna has been saving me table scraps for the last couple of days in an empty fuel drum. This afternoon on the way back to camp I emptied it in a little depression between here and where Joe and I are sawing. No one has mentioned seeing any rats since the day after we arrived. A small animal like that has to eat all the time and or starve to death. Everyone has been very careful, even those guys.” I said looking at Reye, “Either the rats have found something to eat that agrees with them or they are all dead, and I would like to find out which. And besides that who knows what else we might see?”

     “Ok, when does this rat hunt start? I see the showers are up and saw wood smoke which means hot water. Do I have time? Cause if I don‘t, I aint a comin’”

     “Sure, I wouldn’t think of leaving without you.”

     An hour later we were huntin’. From the small rise above where I had dumped the bait. [R1], the sound of the lumber mill 150 yards away was easy to hear in the silence. We could even make out the sound of an occasional voice in the direction of the tents. There was more insect activity at night time and we could hear a constant light buzzing and a not uncricket like chirp. That and the noise of the wind in the trees to our west.

     I had brought along a blanket, camera and tripod, a couple of strong lights and some night vision goggles. And for safety‘s sake, especially after hearing first from Sinopa and then seeing what Connor and Andy had dragged in last night, one of the rifles I inherited from the UNWG stripped of the hi-tech gadgetry. Enough Sunday practice on the Mayflower had made its use second nature to me by now. Janie wasn’t at all adverse to going armed herself; she had been carrying discretely since our first day down.

     Each of the robots was carrying a spot and had been instructed and trained to light up and track anything they detected that was larger than a rat, and immediately broadcast an alert if they detected anything. A rat, being warm blooded, should show up like a landing beacon to the bots sensors. This was open and cleared terrain with only a few clumps of scrap timber left to burn. I also warned them to be very careful if they did light up anything to make sure not to shine in our eyes. Anything large enough to be lethal by force, even if cold blooded ought to be detectable. But then, some people die from bee stings and snake bites.

     The Jeep and EmyCee were posted 50 yards north of us and separated from each other by about the same distance. The bait pile was about 90 feet away and 15 feet below us to the south. It’s a shame that the bots programming make them useless in terms of defending themselves or others from attack but that’s how it is. I was hoping, and actually felt confident, they would be more than adequate as an alarm system.

     I had picked up my comm unit from Sabbu who told me there was nothing wrong with it. He said I must have been in a black out zone when I tried it before. Our coverage was still spotty and the bots with more power and on a different band seemed to be having no problems.

     Carter, the brighter of Alchibah’s two moons was high in the sky giving us plenty of light to see by. As I spread the blanket on the ground Janie said, “Now I see why you got me out here.”

     Pulling her down besides me I said. “Not now maybe later.” as I passed over the night-vision goggles. I keyed my now working comm and said “Anything Jeep, anything EmyCee?”

     “Nothing here Boss.” said the Jeep.

     “Nothing here Boss.” said EmyCee.

     “Geez Bart, now you’ve got Emy doing it too.

     “Hush lets see what makes a visit.”

     Janie snuggled up against me and began scanning slowly back and forth while I let my own night vision adjust. It wasn’t long, less than five minutes when Janie whispered. “I see something. Just to the right.”

     “Close your Eyes, I’ll take a shot.” I had the camera mounted on the tripod and pointed, the shutter set to go when the lights came on “Here it comes.” I closed my eyes also to protect my night vision and triggered the lights. They were on for only an instant and then darkness again. “Take a look and see if it’s still there then let’s see what we got.”

     “Gone Bart, the flash must have scared whatever it was away.”

     Janie took off the goggles and we both looked at the display on the back of the camera. It sure wasn’t a rat. What it looked like was a small slizard or his second cousin. A foot long and about 4 inches off the ground. The eyes were noticeably larger in proportion to the body and seemed to be convincing evidence for a night dwelling nature. The color was hard to judge but it was uniform and likely a black or very dark blue-black. The picture wasn’t as sharp as I’d hopped for. Next time we tried this we would need to set the lights and camera closer to the bait pile and trigger everything remotely. But at least it worked so we continued our vigil for another two hours. We delayed taking pictures on some of the sightings and caught a couple right on the pile with human type food in their mouths. They seemed to enjoy it. But not a sign of a rat.

     Off and on Janie was switching her goggles between starlight and infrared view. She said that when using infrared the creatures just blended in with the background. A sure sign of a cold blooded animal and it explained why the robots were reporting nothing.

     We saw three more of the same slizard like things, what to name it? A Ratoid?, Ratile? It looked to fill the same ecological niche. Twice we saw what I’d have had to call an Armadillo if I’d seen them on Earth. I guess I’ll call that an Aladillo for now. A body about as long as the Ratoid lizard 12 inches but much fuller and lower to the ground with a tapering tail half again as long. The tail ended in a two inch ball covered with pointy spikes. It looked for all the world like a mace and I bet it was used in the same manner.

     The Aladillo wasn’t scared off by the light. It turned it’s head to face it and slowly flexed it’s tail back and forth. “I sure would like to trap one of those things alive.” I said. “I could try to get it into the empty drum we brought the food scraps in but by the look of that tail even if it let me get close enough until we know more about it’s behavior the risk isn’t worth it. Hmm…. I wonder if the Jeep could do it?”

     It turned out to be easier than I had imagined. I called the Jeep over and explained what I wanted him to do. As he moved towards the bait pile the Aladillo we were watching went scurrying into the darkness. The Jeep reached the pile and picked up the empty drum and stood motionless. I turned off the lights and we waited again. In 15 minutes Janie let us know another Aladillo was at the Jeep’s feet. “Do it Jeep.” I said, and at the same time turned on the lights. That froze the thing for an instant as the Jeep scooped with the drum. A capture. R. J.P. had the cover on and drain unscrewed to let in air by the time Janie and I got there.

     A lot of noise was coming from inside the drum as the Aladillo must have been lashing its tail in a furious fashion. “Any damage to you Jeep?”, was the first thing Janie said.

     The Jeep replied, “I, am in fine condition Miss Janie, nothing but some scratched paint.” And sure enough there were a number of scratches on the jeeps arms readily visible and a little scoring of his composite exterior. We could touch both things up in the morning.

     “Lets call it a night Bart, I’m done in and morning comes awfully early round here.”

     Oliver, the more distant and larger of the two moons, was rising above the treeline as we gathered our things. I called in EmyCee, and we went back to camp with the Jeep carrying the drum. Thankfully the Aladillo had calmed down, at least for the time being. We announced our presence to the guard of the middle watch as we approached. While Janie went on to the tent I explained to the guard what was in the drum and admonished him not to let anyone fool with it unless it was Connor and until a suitable cage was made first.

     I sent the Jeep and EmyCee back to the sawmill, went into the mess tent, grabbed a coffee, and dumped the photos into the Encyclopedia under the heading “New and Interesting“. I also wrote up a short explanation to post with them. Next I glanced at the reporters entry to check on how the Community Building was coming along. There was a nice picture showing wall construction and another good one showing a robot, EmyCee, being recharged at the Windmill. That image was captioned “Robot Charging on Windmill Hill”, another geographic feature named. And finally I hit the showers and off to bed myself, careful as I crawled into my sleeping bag not to disturb Janie.