Chapter 13

The next morning, the five Westerners were amazed by the breakfast they were served, and especially by the quality of the coffee. Karen was to take over the education of the four new women, with the key being the explanation that they were no longer whores and didn’t need to be. Furthermore, they were to leave the other men alone for now. She didn’t want them to aggravate the wives.

Meanwhile, Jake and I took the Humvee out to see what had happened to the two mules. On the way, I had picked up two of the air-powered rifles and 200 rounds of ammunition. Of course, I still had my L-gun pistol. As expected, the two mules were dead with nothing remaining but a few cracked bones.

Before we did anything else, I demonstrated the new rifle to Jake. He was good with a rifle, and when I asked why he explained that he was normally a professional meat hunter. He had concentrated on deer and elk and the rare buffalo. If he couldn’t find anything else, he would take antelope, but he normally did not bother because of the low price antelope meat brought.

Jake loved the red dot for aiming and the near silence when low pressure was used. He could not appreciate the semiautomatic fire while we were shooting at stationary targets, but he changed his mind when some predators showed up. These were the velociraptors that were almost blindingly fast. Now Jake could appreciate semiautomatic fire!

The velociraptors had feathers and looked like vastly overgrown wild turkeys, but he took them very seriously when he saw the reverse-curved toenail. I told him that I figured that these were probably the predators that had attacked the mules, so he was very happy to kill them.

We had also brought along some pushbrooms, so we quickly cleared the bones from the pavement. There was stuff that Jake wanted that was still in the wagon, so we used some rope to fasten the wagon to the rear of the Humvee after I turned it around. I drove slowly back to the garage so that I would not damage the wagon or anything in it.

Jake was much taken with the motorized vehicle, so I promised him the opportunity to learn to drive as soon as we had time. I figured that was something that was essential to survival on this planet. Jake might never learn to fly a plane, but there was no reason that he could not learn to drive.

I pulled the wagon into the garage and explained to him that the robots would move the loose stuff to his apartment if he wanted it there, and they would put the wagon into storage so that it would be available if it were ever needed.

It was now lunch time, and Jake went off the have lunch with the four women. He was treated like a king when he showed up at the apartment. All four women gave him credit for the rescue last night and the palatial conditions that they were living under. They also repeated what Karen had said about the ratio of men to women, and they had decided that they wanted him for their husband.

The women had been to the medical station for their physical examination, and each one had been treated for several minor ailments, plus June had been treated for gonorrhea. She was told that she was now cured, and it was safe for her to have children. The other three women were fine as they were, so Jake agreed to accept all of them as his wives.

Their wifely instincts kicked in immediately, and they insisted that Jake visit the medical station that afternoon. He knew that he was not going to win that argument, so he agreed to go.

His wives also presented him with the radio he was supposed to wear at all times and gave him instructions on how to use it. Okay, as a test, Jake called me to say that he was going to the medical station at the insistence of his wives. He would let me know when he was available for his driving lesson. I figured that if I worked it right, I only had to teach Jake to drive, and he could teach that skill to his wives.

While I was waiting for Jake to finish his medical exam, I discussed with AI the question of having enough food for the population that we were acquiring. I proposed to have Jake launch a hunting routine that would feed us on a regular basis and refill the meat storage lockers so that we would always have a cushion to fall back on if serious trouble ever developed.

AI said that we now had so many people to feed that it was possible that we currently had no more than one year’s meat reserve. Under the circumstances of how little we knew of this world that he fully supported my proposal. Okay, I would discuss that with Jake this afternoon or as soon as I got a chance.

Jake finished up his medical trip in plenty of time for an initial driving lesson. We got into the Humvee, and I drove it up to the highway. Just to be on the safe side, I still had the two rifles with us and plenty of ammunition. On the way to the lesson, Jake was very pleased to report that the medical computer had repaired his left knee where he had injured it some years ago. For the first time in years, he no longer had any pain in that leg. Of course, I congratulated him.

The Humvee was so easy to drive that the details like changing from forward to reverse and vice versa were grasped immediately by Jake. The other details were also picked up very quickly, so that all he really needed was to get used to a steering wheel instead of reins and using the accelerator. He had no trouble with the brakes. Jake was able to spend a good half an hour with steering practice and was quickly mastering that. I thought that he still needed more practice with steering so that he did not have to think about what he was doing, but would do it automatically.

As we were heading back to the garage with Jake driving, I broached the subject of him hunting for the community. Jake thought that was a great idea, but he pointed out that he would need a vehicle to haul the meat back to Miami. I told him that AI was already working on that, and should have what he needed in another week. That was when I explained what a truck was.

The new truck would have a hauling capacity approximately double the capacity of the wagon that we had just hauled in, and it would have a box bed equipped with a stasis field that would keep the meat fresh. Of course, I had to stop and explain what a stasis field was. By now, Jake was willing to accept any “magic” that I threw at him.

I told him that he needed a partner, and I would like to propose George for that job. He had not met George yet, so that was something that had to be corrected right away. I called George and asked him to meet us in the garage. George showed up post haste, and he and Jake hit it off immediately. George was impressed to meet a bona fide professional hunter, and Jake was snowed by the hero worship. I had to strain not to laugh at my cleverness.

I told them that I wanted them to use the air rifles with hollowpoint bullets. Neither one knew what they were, so I had to stop and explain that. I sent George to pick up a rifle and two of the L-gun pistols, with holsters. While he was gone, I told Jake that we would have no trouble replacing the ammunition in the air rifles, but no chance of replacing the ammunition for his Winchester or his pistol. Jake understood the problem and didn’t argue with me. He even agreed to let me place his Winchester and revolver in a stasis field for safe keeping.

About that time, George was back with a rifle with a fully charged reservoir and two of the L-guns. Jake and I still had our air guns from our recent trip. The first thing we did was to go outside so that Jake and George could shoot their L-guns where it was safe. We had a shooting range inside Miami suitable for the air guns, but not for the L-guns.

We walked up the ramp and Jake and George plinked at rocks for targets. Both of them were soon convinced that they could trust the red dot, so that was a short exercise. We returned to the bunker and caught the tram for the shooting range. This was mostly for George’s benefit, but it didn’t take him long to master his rifle with the telescopic sight.

Jake also needed the practice with the telescopic sight. He didn’t really trust it at first, but quickly changed his mind. Both Jake and George used the low pressure air setting for this practice. Jake didn’t think that they would ever use the high pressure setting, and I was not foolish enough to argue with him. After all, he was the professional.