Chapter 2

“My darling man, I know that you have many wives, so as long as I get my share of your loving, you can fuck the others as much as you want. I have seen some of your babies already, so I know you are a very fertile man. I want several of your children of my own, then I can visit my sister and show her our healthy offspring and tell her what she missed out on by her stupidity.”

“Kekona my dear, you must not think that way. It is better to forgive her and not punish her as you envisage. She will see for herself how happy you are, without you saying a word about it. However, she might by then have learned to be a better woman and may be married to a Chief who loves her. She might even have her own children around her. You can become friends again, in that case. To me, that is the better outcome.”

She thought a little before replying, “If you say so, my husband. You are known to be a wise man and a shaman, so your words speak truth. I shall act like you say, John.”

“Thank you, Kekona my darling wife. You are a woman who is quick to learn what is right, and that is good.”

The next day or so was a learning experience for John, as he got more used to the new capabilities of his body and mind, or rather his body and brain. The nanites had managed to tweak his brain to work a little more efficiently, so that his memory was improving; probably strengthening the link between short term and long term memory. As a result, his recollection was more accurate of what was kept where in the storage units at the back of the cave.

In addition, the likes and dislikes of each of his wives was much clearer, allowing him to say and do the right things to make each woman happy. He was able to recognise each of his children more effectively, which made all the women pleased with him.

The nanites in their own way had improved his life. His only concern was that he might hurt someone accidentally through his stronger muscles. He thought that his improved physique could enable him to cope with felling the larger trees. On the subject of moving them, it occurred to him than by using the pulley system of a block and tackle common in the Royal Navy in the days of sail, that he could move large tree trunks nearer to the water’s edge for collection by his northern continent friends. He could find a drawing of a standard pulley and duplicate it in a strong wood. Each extra pulley in a system is a force multiplier, with only the need for much longer ropes to transmit the force through the pulleys. How much rope did he have available, he wondered.

Two days later, Chief Numa and her sister Noma both began being excessively hungry, just as John had done, so John and his other wives made preparations for them to be cared for while they slipped into the deep sleep that John had experienced earlier.

As expected, this was what happened, but this time there was no major concern over the women’s health, just caring for their bodies as they slept. They woke after about the same length of sleep as John, confused and uncomfortable with the unfamiliar changes to their bodies, and a thirst for water. They were fed with a soup to start their new internal chemistry back to normal conditions. Once they had recovered sufficiently, John quizzed them about the apparent alterations to their bodies. They reported a stiffening of their breasts back to pre-pregnancy levels, and after exploring with their fingers, admitted to having their hymens back.

Numa giggled to John, “We are back to being virgins again, my love. You will have to take our virginities again, it appears.”

John looked her over speculatively. “By the look of you, my love, I think I am going to enjoy taking your virginity again. This time, we both know what we like in lovemaking, so we can have fun with it. You are not pregnant just yet, are you?”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t missed a monthly for some time. Sheila gave me some medication that prevents pregnancy until I want another baby.”

“Ready for starting one now, Numa?”

“You mean tonight?”

“Or right now, if you fancy losing your virginity quickly and being fucked into pregnancy. I am assuming the nanites have disposed of Sheila’s preparation, just as they gave you a new hymen. Like the idea of our second baby?”

“Hmm ... yes. My second baby, your umpteenth one. I stay the Chief, though, so I rule the whole family as well?”

“You are Chief Numa, my first wife, my first love, and the mother of our child; the Mother figure of the tribe as well.”

“You have a persuasive tongue, my man. I think I will let you fuck another baby into me. Noma probably wants another as well, if she is not going to bleed as much this time.”

“Actually, I suspect that the nanites have learned from that experience and will install blocking devices in her blood vessels for the time of birthing; that or something similar. If they can start a replacement tooth for me so easily, they should be able to protect Noma and other women from blood loss at birthing time.”

“Your tiny miracle workers are amazing, John. I am surprised that you didn’t know about them before you arrived here.”

“My memory was suppressed when I arrived, Numa, but it recovered enough for me to be sure that I did not know about the nanites before I came. They must have been inserted into me without my knowledge, and considering what they can do, I think the people who did it were not very knowledgeable about them either. They had other plans for me, plans that would have had a bad outcome for almost everyone, so I am pleased at what happened in reality. Once Jean arrived, she was able to tell me enough about the group that ran things, so I know what they intended. She got to know much of what was going on, and that was why she was dumped here; to get rid of her, make her disappear.”

“A shock for her, I know, but she seems to be happy now that she has joined the family.”

“Every one of us was in shock getting here and discovering it was a whole new world, full of dangers both animal and human. The Nazis that sent us never really knew what they were doing; just made assumptions that turned out to be wrong.”

“Nazis? You’ve said that word before.”

“And as before, it means nothing here in this time and place. Just treat it as a group of bad men who wanted to rule the world. They failed, and that is all there is to it.”

“But, my darling, they brought you to save Noma and me from other nasty men. I am glad you are here.”

A call went up from the outer guard, “Messenger for the High Chief!”

John walked to the front area to see who had arrived. He recognised the tall skinny teenager as Balto from the fisher tribe, riding a bicycle. The young man raised an arm in greeting, and got off the cycle.

“Hail, High Chief John!”

“Hail, Messenger Balto. What news brings you to us?”

“A ship, High Chief. You remember the big ship from the Northern continent, captained by the black man?”

“I do. Another time traveller, but from a different place and era. Is he back?”

“No, and the ship is not the same. This one is smaller and sleeker, but a fast mover. The men aboard had weapons, but they said these were for defence only. They said they came from the same Northern group of traders.”

“Odd,” said John. “Have they changed their shipbuilding design?”

“I don’t know, High Chief. I can only tell you what they said. This is a faster ship to allow greater exploration of our coastline, they say. They seem to think that the coastline continues for longer than anyone can imagine. Sounds unbelievable!”

“I believe them,” said John. “The continent to the south of us will take them several weeks of sailing to get down to the end. In my time it was known to be very rough seas down there, and mighty cold as well; very dangerous for ships. I suspect they will sail down there and then return the way they went. It is safer that way, and they can report on what they find.”

“High Chief, they noticed several large trees left for them on the coast, but the trees will need to go North, and they are going south, so either the next big ship that comes this way will collect them, or they will pick them up on the way home.”

“Ah, that confirms they plan to go down the coast and then return the same way.”

“If you say so, High Chief.” Balto was not so sharp a thinker.

“Anyway, what did they want to say to me? You didn’t come all this way just to say they had arrived at your village.”

Balto gulped, having forgotten to say why he came.

“Uh, the traders said to tell you they had large pieces of prepared leather for trade. They said the pelts came from a large animal called a bison that is native to their continent and lives on the grasslands there. It gives a much larger skin than any other animal around. They asked what you would like to give them in trade.”

“No suggestions as to what they would like?”

“Not until they saw this bicycle. Then they showed interest.

‘We have heard about such machines, but not seen one,’ their captain said. ‘Do you make them?’

Our chief informed him that they were made by your tribe, and he said, ‘Tell the High Chief that we are in the market for something like that.’

And that is why I am here and telling you what they are seeking.”

“Good,” John told him. “I presume he hasn’t seen the bicycles used by the travelling traders on land?”

“I expect you are correct, High Chief.”

“Time to increase our prices, in that case. These trader bicycles are much superior to the others.”

“Why would you do that, High Chief?” Balto enquired in a puzzled voice. “They are already costly.”

“They were priced to get them out and used, so we could find out how effective they were in the conditions here. They worked and did the job, but we saw a way for improvements. That was why we altered them: for the traders to be able to carry more goods. They are now more in demand then ever, and so we can expect to get more in trade for them and therefore recover our costs in developing the machines.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you had costs in making them for the first time. You just appeared with them, and we were all amazed.”

“Balto, making something for the first time often means you have to start with a clever idea and develop it; then change the design to solve some of the problems that show up when you try it out. If a fisherman made a square boat, he would soon find it was a bad design and eventually come up with a pointed design that goes through the water more easily, right?”

“Naturally, High Chief. A square boat is silly!”

“But if you have never built a boat before, you don’t know it is silly. First there is the concept of a boat, rather than a raft. You have to try your first thought about it and find by doing that the design could be improved.”

“That is so. I have never thought about boats having to be designed like that. I just accepted them as they are. Your words are good information. Any object has to be designed to make it the best it can be.”

“The same applies to many other things, such as art objects. The object may have a good idea behind it, but it takes effort to make it look good as art. Think also of cooking; where the cook makes an excellent meal. Ever though of what he or she had to do to turn it into a good meal? Choose ingredients that go well together, tastes that do not clash with each other, and the ability to have every part of it come to a peak of perfection at the same time. Be respectful to your clever cooks at home, Balto.”

“Yes, High Chief.”

“Go back to the fisher-town, Balto, and tell the travelling visitors that it takes time to make bicycles that his customers will be happy with. If they leave a quantity of bison leather at your village, I will see the leather is collected, and then work out how many bicycles that equals. I anticipate that the bicycles will be made and be ready for collection when he and his ship return from the tip of the continent.”

“Yes, High Chief. You said ‘the tip of the continent’, so you must know of it, but do the others on that ship know it?”

“They do, for at least one of their group is from my era, and would have my knowledge of the world and its continents. Every bit of the world is different, and each is almost as interesting as this part.”

“Amazing. You always surprise me, High Chief. Now I had better get your message back to the coast.”

“NO you won’t, Balto; not until you have been fed. Get yourself to the cookfire and have a meal before you leave.”

“Yes, Chief; at once. Thank You.”

Later in the day, another messenger arrived; this time from the south. The man stopped at the tree line, but was spotted by the outer guard, who signalled to the guard at the cave. She noted the presence and in turn notified Chief Numa.

“Chief, there is a man at the tree line. He is alone and looks like a messenger, so I don’t know why he has stopped there. What do you want us to do?”

Numa got up and walked back with the guard to the cave entrance. There, she tried to identify the messenger.

“No, I don’t know the man, but that means nothing. Get the outer guard to push him this way.”

Before that could happen, the messenger took a tentative step or two towards the tribe, and raised his spear to be noticed. The guard at the cave called to him, “What do you want?”

Startled at being challenged so quickly, he halted, then took two steps forward and plunged his spear into the ground before shouting back.

“Messenger from OverChief Rondo! Can I come up?”

The guard called back, “Message to what person?”

“High Chief John,” the messenger revealed. “Is he here?”

The guard glanced over to Chief Numa for instructions, whether to say he was here or not. She nodded, and walked back to find her husband.

The guard raised her voice again, calling out, “He is here. You may proceed. Place your spear in the ground halfway to the cave mouth.”

This was a precaution against a possibly false claim by an unknown man. The guard remained watchful of him, but also kept an eye on the outer guard. Sure enough, as the man strode up the slope, the outer guard signalled that another person was in the trees. She nodded to indicate she understood, and softly called inside, “Security guard to the entrance.”

By the time the messenger was at the entrance, two more guards had joined her, and she briefed them on what was happening, saying, “Go out and flank the other person without them noticing. No action unless the Chief says.”

They both nodded, and quickly agreed who would cover which side. They slipped out of the cave and walked to the side, soon disappearing into the background. The messenger watched this move with trepidation, and immediately said to the guard, “No threat, warrior,” while at the same time realising that the warrior was female, and that made his eyebrows rise.

Chief Numa was back and the warrior said, “A second person in the trees, Chief. Flanking operation in progress.”

Numa nodded, saying, “I’ll get John and let him know.” She returned inside to where John was donning his High Chief robe that had been made for him to use in formal situations.

“Darling, apart from the messenger there is a second person in the trees. Precautions are in progress.”

“Excellent, my dear. I like it when such precautions are used properly. Let’s go see what the messenger has to say.”

The pair walked hand in hand back to the entrance, and stood in front of the messenger. John spoke.

“I am High Chief John. You have a message for me?”

“Yes, High Chief. Message from OverChief Rondo to High Chief John: OverChief Rondo greets the High Chief and asks, “I have an internal challenge to deal with, so I entrust you with my elder daughter so that she cannot be stolen and used as a lever against me. Should you not accept this request, she will stay in hiding with my messenger to guard her. If you agree this request, send my messenger back. His arrival will be that message.”