Chapter 40: Getting Up The Mountain

As we drove back I planned to park the jeep in the usual spot and walk to the house, but I got a call on the radio asking me to get to the house where they was a loud discussion in the Chiefs bedroom.

When I addressed the Tribe and the Colony about recent events and future plans I planned to have both my grandfathers there to support me. The issue that had come up was how to get the Chief up the mountain.

Normally he would take the ski-lift and walk the rest of the way, as a signal of his health. But that was not an option today. He hated the helicopter. He could ride in a truck, but sometimes the mountain didn’t co-operate, with rockslides and washouts. Moreover, since the advent of Earth-view satellites, I had convinced both grandfathers to eradicate any signs of roads or trails beyond the goat-cart level or anything else that indicated vehicle use between the two population centers. Not having a prepared road put trucks, even large military ones, at a disadvantage for movement between the Colony and the Tribe.

The best option was the Chief’s modified APC (formerly an US Army M-113) I gave him a decade ago. A bonus was that he could take the medical equipment along with Marta and a few others inside the vehicle. He could even return after dark. But he had never actually driven any distance in the beast, it was noisy and ugly. Still, today it was the best choice.