Chapter 7

Author’s note:[ and ] delineate mind-to-mind dialog.

Julia’s agreement to travel with me was such a relief that I felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Now there was the task of rearranging the wagon/RV to accommodate three people. I had the vehicle’s width expanded to 10 feet and the body lengthened to 25 feet. I had the shower reinstalled and the toilet reconnected as it originally had been.

Our bed was widened to accommodate two adults, and a bed was added for Susan. A partition was installed between Susan’s bed and ours, and it was made virtually sound-proof. Our bed was at the rear of the RV, then came the toilet and shower, and finally Susan’s bed. The partitions were arranged so that this was very much like a very small apartment. There was a dining area just behind the driver’s box.

The presence of the Replicator made it totally unnecessary to have any storage space for food, water, or clothes. The suspension was reworked to give us the smoothest possible ride, but it could be adjusted to handle any sort of travel conditions. The dining table could be used as a desk if and when that became necessary. This arrangement suited me fine. I just hope it fit within the females’ comfort zone.

The RV was now so large that it needed two draft animals, so Replicator supplied us with a second mule. Neither Julia nor I had ever driven a two-mule team, but that was not a problem because both robots were controlled by an internal AI and mental commands from either one of us. For example, we could command, “Follow the road,” and the AI would do the rest.

Replicator did all of the work on our robots and RV in one night, and we made an excursion to test out the system. We were gone a week and returned to Clear Wells with a glowing report. Julia told her parents, “I was expecting something crude, but the wagon, or the ‘RV’ as Jeff calls it, was the greatest sort of luxury. As far as Susan and I are concerned, everything is perfect, though we might want to make a few minor adjustments as we become more accustomed to living this way. The two robot mules were simplicity itself to drive. It was possible to command them to follow the road and snooze with the assurance that there would be no problems. I am not afraid to go anywhere with Jeff in this vehicle.”

To show them that we knew what we were doing, we even made a day-trip with Sarah and James to prove that we would be safe. They were impressed and gave us their blessing. Everything was protected by a variation on the body armor, so they were convinced that we were safe from attack by Indians or by bandits.

We decided to stick to Texas for now, so we headed south generally toward San Antonio. We both wanted to see the fabled Alamo. It was not yet preserved as a historical monument or tourist attraction, so I was interested in seeing how it differed from the Alamo that I had visited up in the 22^nd Century.

We generally traveled at 10 MPH, but we stopped to view any sight that attracted our attention. On the other hand, we did not have to stop to rest the mules, and we could eat at noon while on the move, so we usually were underway by 8:30 in the morning and didn’t stop at the end of the day before 6:00 PM. The long days of spring and summer gave us plenty of daylight for anything we wanted to do.

Our only difficulty was that there was so little room left to move around in the RV. We stopped for a few minutes every couple of hours so that all of us, especially Susan, could walk around and get a little exercise. By not being on a schedule, we could do as we pleased, and that made the trip a lot more pleasant. If we never got to San Antonio, so what? The main thing was for us to have fun and enjoy being together.

I admit to being a softie on one topic: I asked Replicator to seal up the RV and provide air conditioning (A/C) whenever we needed it. I noticed that Julia occasionally suffered from allergic symptoms, and the A/C helped her considerably.

When we didn’t need the A/C, Replicator put an armor shield immediately behind the driver’s box so that we could use our guns conveniently if we were attacked. We were soon too far south to be bothered by Comanches, but there was still the danger of White bandits. Them we had a problem with on occasion.

We were taking roads the would take us to Austin, San Antonio, and Brownsville if we stuck with our original plans. We had been on the road for almost two weeks and had not yet reached Austin when we had our first bandit encounter. I was driving, well, I was holding the reins in my hands, when four men blocked the road ahead of us. [Julia, be ready to use your pistol. I think that we have just encountered some road agents.]

Susan was sitting between Julia and me and she said, “Daddy, why are those men blocking the road?”

“Sweetie, I think that those are bad men who want to rob us. Mama and I may have to shoot them.”

Just moments later, one of the men said, “Hold it right there, Mister. This here is a robbery, and that there woman sure looks inviting. We just might have a party before we let you pass.” That was when all four men drew their pistols.

I said, “Sweetie, I was right. Those men want to hurt Mama. Please sit on the floor so that we can move easily. Do not be scared. They cannot hurt us as long as we are wearing our armor. Julia, draw your pistol, and make sure the men see you holding it.

“You men get out of the way before lead starts to fly. I guarantee that you will regret it.”

“Ha! There are four of us. We ain’t afraid of a woman with a funny looking pistol. Stop right now, or we will shoot your mules.”

“Shoot them, Julia. This is getting out of hand.”

Julia did not say anything, but began to shoot. Those galoots were very foolishly discounting Julia because she was a woman, and I wanted to boost her confidence in herself. I would draw if it became necessary, but I figured that this was a situation that Julia could very easily handle by herself.

Julia hit the four men with four shots—they were that close. Two of the shots were center of mass hits, one was a hit in the left shoulder, and one was a hit in the head. The last man she shot did manage to get off one shot that hit Susan. Of course, Susan was not injured, but she was frightened and began to cry.

“Sweetie, there is no need to cry. That bullet did you no harm, and you can see that Mama has taken care of the men so that they cannot hurt anybody any more. Take a deep breath and kiss Mama to congratulate her on her great shooting.”

Susan hugged her mother and kissed her cheek. Those were the first men that Julia had ever shot, so her face was dead white, and she looked like she was going into shock. The hug and kiss from Susan was exactly the medicine that Julia needed to bring her back to the real world.

[Congratulations, Julia. That was excellent shooting. I am very proud of you, and so is Susan. Go lie down if you want to, and I will take care of cleaning up this mess.] “Susan, go with Mama and help her lie down on the bed. I think that she needs to rest. I will get the road cleared and find a place to park. I will join Mama in bed as soon as I can.”

“Yes, Sir, Daddy. Come along, Mama. I will take care of you.” Julia smiled at that, and I knew that she would be okay.

I had Replicator clean up the road and remove the tack from the horses and release them. As soon as there was room to get by, I move to find a place to pull off the road. As soon as I could, I joined Julia and Susan in the bedroom.

Susan had gone all the way in getting Julia into bed. Julia was covered by a sheet, but I could see by the clothes set to one side that she was wearing nothing but her body armor, and that was a good as being naked for what I had in mind. I said, “Sweetie, let us let Mama sleep for a little while. You go lie down on your bed, and I will call you later, so that you can join Mama and Daddy in bed.” Susan got a big grin on her face and ran out of the room.