Chapter 3

As soon as I entered the base, I heard Joe say, “Well, Jim, I hope you enjoyed your opportunity to get to know the neighbors. That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I advised you to get to know them, but I think you went me one better. Also, I hope you believe me now about you needing a weapon when you venture outside.”

“Yeah, I guess that I didn’t really believe you about the local wildlife. Maybe, you had better tell me of any more that might cause me trouble.”

“The only animals that we have seen around here that could be a problem are the black and brown bears, the mountain lions, and the rattlesnakes. As far as we know, anything else will run from you. On the other hand, you must always consider human males to be hostile and dangerous until proven otherwise. I’ll let you know if we spot anything else.”

“Okay, thanks. It sounds like my pistol can take care of all of those if I am forced to shoot. Is there anything else that I should know?”

“Not outside the base, but the first of your androids should be coming out of the ‘cocoon’ pretty soon. We had planned on having 2 helpers for you. They will all be androids that look and act human, except that they are programmed to take any orders from you and whomever you designate. These androids will not need close supervision. They will act as normal humans would, except that they are dedicated to keeping you alive. They do not need to eat or sleep, but they can simulate either of those actions if circumstances demand it.

“Initially, the androids will carry your supplies on their backs as they march east with you, but I suggest that you acquire pack horses and riding horses as soon as possible. The best time you can make on foot is about 10 miles per day, but you should be able to get 20-30 miles per day by riding.”

“Why didn’t you provide robot horses for us to ride to start out?”

“We are limited on our resources, and we shot everything we had into producing the humanoid robots for you. Live horses should become available to you very shortly, certainly by the time you have crossed the first range of mountains.”

“Okay, I can understand that limitation. That sounds like something that I can live with, except that I never learned to ride a horse. Will there be somebody to teach me?”

“That is something that you will have to work out on your own. All we can do is to wish you luck. Another thing to consider is that you should switch to traveling by boat as soon as you come to an adequate river flowing in the direction you want to go. I would suggest that you look for a tributary to the Missouri River, but I don’t know how you could identify that if you found it. All I can say at this point is ‘Good Luck.’”

“At least, that is a good argument against robot horses. We would have to abandon them as soon as we switched to boats for transportation, so it is probably just as well that you cannot provide them. Oh, well, we will make out.”

“Good, Jim, that is the attitude that we were looking for.”

We talked for a little while longer, but I wanted to talk to Nark-ap about finding horses. The Klickitats did not use them, but he might know where to find some that I could buy. The question of payment was important. Whoever supplied the horses probably would not want gold, but he might take meat as payment. At least, I hoped that he would. I was not going to steal the horses if I could avoid it.

I found Nark-ap lounging under a tree as any sensible Indian man would do while he watched the children play and the women work. Of course, he was on babysitting duty, but he would never admit it. This freed the women to do the necessary “woman’s work” of keeping the village going as a viable entity. The women really ran the village, but neither gender would admit it.

After the usual small talk, I said, “Nark-ap, I am on a quest. I have 2 companions who are at another place right now, but we all wish to travel to the east a very long way. To do so, we need to acquire horses. Do you know of a place where we could buy up to 8 horses and could find someone to teach us to ride. I have had a vision that we should not steal the horses if we could avoid that.”

“Hmm ... The Cayuse and Nez Perce have horses, but I don’t know if they would sell them to you. What would you use to pay for the horses?”

“I had thought to use the bear skin I acquired the other day. How many horses could I get for that skin, do you think?”

“I would give five horses for that skin, but I don’t know what other people would do. Based on that, though, two more of that quality of bear skin would get you the horses that you need. I would suggest that you offer one skin and go up from there.”

“Thank you for the advice, Nark-ap. I’ll give that a try. My next question is what would you suggest for a route for us to take?”

“If I were making the trip, I would follow our little river south to the big river. I would follow that east through the mountains until you come to Cayuse territory. As far as I know, they are not currently at war with anybody, so they might be able to help you with horses, and they can certainly direct you on the best route to Nez Perce territory.”

“Excellent advice, Nark-ap. Is there any chance that one of your people would be willing to act as a guide for us?”

“I don’t know, but from the way Shar-le-la has been bragging about your performance last night, I don’t think it would take much to persuade her to go with you if you promised to fuck her again like you did.” A great laugh followed this statement, and I had to join in when I thought about it. Hell, on the other hand, that was not such a bad idea!

Shar-le-la caught sight of me about that time and came running up with another woman in tow. “Jim, I have been looking for you all morning. This is Lora-ne-ta. I told her about what you did last night, and she wants to experience that. Do you think that you could do the same as you did last night to both of us tonight? We would both appreciate it.”

I made a show of thinking over her proposition before I agreed. That produced squeals of delight from both women and a laugh from Nark-ap. He said, “What did I just tell you?” around his laughing. I swear that I heard Joe laughing, too! That set up a pattern of me fucking Shar-le-la and one other woman for the next two weeks while the androids were being brought online. By this time, I had fucked every willing woman in the Klickitat village and was ready for a rest. Shar-le-la was disappointed at my lack of stamina, but that much fucking was getting to my reserves.

By this time, I had told Shar-le-la that I was leaving the village in about a week. She immediately launched into a campaign to get me to stay. When she saw that was impossible, she started a campaign to join me on the trek. That was exactly what I wanted and needed, now for two reasons. Shar-le-la announced that she was pregnant!

Had it been a woman from my era, I would have immediately dropped any idea of Shar-le-la going with us, but I knew that Indian women of this era were generally made of sterner stuff than I was used to, so I did not discourage her. If she thought that she could make it, then I was willing to take her word for it. That meant that she had to be told of the ultimate purpose for our trip, and she had to be let in on all of the secrets. The androids and the guns were the primary secrets, but there were others that I would break to her gradually, such as that I was actually 85 years old.

I discussed the situation with Joe, and he agreed that Shar-le-la would be an asset on my trip. With that settled, I asked if she could gain the same kind of enhancements that I had. I was especially thinking of the universal translator, since she was going to have to learn English pretty damned quick. However, the protection against disease and other things seemed to me to be a good idea. The equipment that had been used on me was still at the base, so I figured the conversion would be easy and simple.