RoustWriter: Blog

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...Morales hesitated for a heartbeat. “Jeff, you’re used to living in this great place,” Morales said as he swept his hand around to indicate the Retreat and its furnishings, “and you have your identical suite on board Ship…”

Jeff interrupted, “Does your suite aboard Ship need to be expanded? I just told Ship to design a suite for you and your family…”

“Jeff,” Morales emphasized, “just stop and let me get this out. The suite is beautiful and certainly large enough, but, uh, would you mind if we occasionally spent some time in the… uh, new cave? I suppose it’s hard for you and your wives to understand, but that cave and the area we live in on 2214 are special to us. If we can spend some time in the ‘cave’ Ship has made for us during our trip, well, I think my wives and I will… Ah, shit, Jeff. I can’t explain it any other way. 2214 is our home and always will be, and that ‘cave’ seems to be a perfect duplicate – at least of our living area. To a certain extent, it even feels like home. At least until you step outside.”

From the videos, Jeff had seen many of the happenings on 2214. Shit, I should have realized that the place would mean a lot to him. He’s worked for every inch of it with – as the expression goes – blood, sweat and tears.

“As far as I’m concerned, with training taking a priority, you can live in your suite here in the Retreat, or the suite on Ship, or the ‘cave’ Ship made – whichever works for the moment. If you need to check on things or get something from 2214, we can easily do that after training each day. Come to think of it, what do the wolves think about the new ‘cave?’”

Morales chuckled. “They seemed puzzled to begin with and kept going out the door only to stop and look at the unfamiliar landscape. I told them that Ship made the cave just for us, but it was on a pocket planet in another dimension. That led to questions that I couldn’t answer. I overheard Ship talking to them, but I’m beginning to wonder if they’ll ever understand completely. Hell, I don’t understand what a pocket planet is, so why should they?” he muttered under his breath.

With Jeff’s hearing, he heard what Morales said. “Our learning will be an ongoing process,” the Prime assured him...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...Jeff motioned for Diana to sit near him. As soon as the blessing was over, he asked, “Well, how did it go?”

“You know how it went. I’m bushed. All I can think of is eating and getting the kitchen cleaned up so I can sit in my favorite seat and relax.”

“I don’t think you will have to worry about that – not for the next few weeks, anyway. I heard that the other women, led by Evie, already have a schedule until this first batch of training is behind you.”

“First batch? Jeff Matthews, that is not funny.”

“You’re the Training Coordinator now. Did you think it would be over when you got this group up to speed on the pulse rifle? Handguns would be the next logical step. But you’re the boss. You might want to do something else first.”

When he could see that he was getting deeper into trouble, he relented somewhat. “It isn’t always going to be this intense. Once everyone reaches a minimum on weapons and can run ten miles without a problem, you can think about martial arts training. And,” he quickly inserted before the fuse went, “you have Helen who is quite capable of teaching that. And that training won’t be over soon. It will continue until our trip and throughout it. We don’t want to have our only defense being a weapon when a good hold or strike might end things a lot less messily,” he finished with a smile.

At her frustrated expression, “Look, Babe. I’ve been telling you this all along…”...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...“Remember,” Tosha had said, “If I can do it, then you can too. One of these days, you will begin to ‘feel’ if the shot went true before you even have time to look at the target. It will feel right, and you will know where the pulse hit the instant you pull the trigger – sometimes, even a split second before,” Tosha had said almost defiantly.

“You mean whether you missed or not?” Morales had asked.

“No,” Tosha responded. “I mean that you will sometimes know where the pulse went – high, right, and so forth from the feel of the weapon, particularly on snap shots. Many times, you will just know. I can’t explain it, but it’s more than just knowing where your sight was when the weapon fired. Maybe there’s a simple explanation, but the Security people I train with all know what I mean. We’ve discussed it on several occasions. You get a ‘feel’ for the weapon and the pulse, and it’s more than just knowing where the sight was when you fired.”...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...Jeff hesitated a moment before, “Di?”

Diana sighed. “Okay. I see your point. I suppose I could use an assistant for some things.”

“Di…”

“All right. Assistants,” she said with a sigh of exasperation. “I promise.”

“Good. Your first pulse rifle class should be waiting for you in Security’s training room in thirty minutes.”

“Jeff, that’s not funny.”

“Wasn’t meant to be,” he said as he came to his feet. “Better hurry.”...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...“If we get some heavy rain, this place is going to be interesting to cross,” Phillip worried as they scaled a washout roughly twenty feet deep and thirty feet across.

“There isn’t a cloud in the sky, so I don’t think we need to worry about flash floods catching us, Worrywart,” she teased. “If there is a thunderstorm in the mountains, the runoff shouldn’t last more than an hour or so. You’re right, though; we’ll stay away from the washouts if we see clouds in the mountains.”

Finally, they reached the main stream that came from the waterfall which was their destination. At this point, the stream was thirty feet or so across, varying from a couple of feet in the shallows to pools deep enough to swim in. At one place, the bank was a good twenty feet above the water and had crumbled away making their way treacherous.

Carefully, they followed what was probably an animal trail that paralleled the stream for a couple of hundred feet. Along the way were several trees that were barely surviving because floods had washed much of the dirt from their roots. One was undercut so severely that it was barely living as it leaned precariously above the water twenty feet below.

“Stay away from the edge,” Dessie cautioned unnecessarily, “I don’t want us to lose our footing or this ground to crumble away, and us go down into the water.”

“It’s not the water that I’m worried about,” Phillip said, “it’s those boulders and that broken tree sticking out of the bank that would make a fall down that steep slope much more interesting.”...

Have a goodun;

Roust