Chapter 9

I slide out of bed early and stoke the fire just a little. We need a change from the eggs, so I go to rummage in the pod.

I find the box of instant flavored oatmeal I saw the other day. We don't have any milk to put in it, but she won't know the difference. I could search for canned milk, but I'm in a hurry.

I draw off some hot water and put it in a small pan. While that starts to boil, I show Sarbun how to open the packet and put the dry oatmeal into a bowl. She watches carefully as I measure out the water and stir it into the oatmeal. I explain that it must sit for a few minutes before she can eat it.

Sarbun goes nuts over the maple flavored oatmeal and makes herself another serving. "This is so very good, Steve. I have never had anything that tastes this good. Two bags of this and my tummy feels full and I feel nice and warm," Sarbun says. "I hope there is very much of this. I like it the best of all food. It is even better than chili, which I did not think I would like. Let's have this every day."

"You're so talkative; I have not seen you so excited about anything. I think you must really like it, Sarbun," I declare with a hint of irony. I am trying to be gentle with my humor; it must be the new 'me' at work. Still, she doesn't react to my current humorous comment. She will catch on though; I've caught hints of that already.

"We will not eat the same foods all the time. A good variety will keep us healthy. We will soon have lots of food from the garden.

"We will have to make a place to put the food, because I do not know what all is in the pod. I had asked for some tools and some food, but there are many more things here than I had asked for. The pod was made for me to bring supplies here," I explain. There is such a variety of food in the pod, I wonder if they just emptied a grocery store and gave me a grab bag of things from it.

Aside from the pod, everything we own either hangs on a peg on the wall like the pots and pans, or sits on a shelf in our home. We are out of room and very crowded. I have to think about what I want to do about that, too. We really need a bigger room.

I start to pack for our trip. Sarbun watches me curiously and helps me as I instruct her. I include some light rope and twine, a few knives for trading, a box of salt, lots of jerky, and a few small cans of vegetables. I strap a small camping hatchet onto my belt, and put a quiver with ten arrows on a rope and tie it around Sarbun. We have six arrows on each of our bows - a mixture of the Navigator and the broad head tipped arrows.

"Steve, I do not see a tent. You say you are bringing a tent. I have yet to see your tent. So, where is it?" she asks.

"Here; this is my tent. It is made of special material, and is folded neatly in its own carrying bag." I show her, and she doesn't know what to make of it. "You will be amazed when you see me raise this tent. Not only will it keep the water off us when it rains, but it will keep out bugs too, even mosquitoes."

"Mosquitoes, too? This I must see. Mosquitoes get everywhere, even in a tent, and bite many times while you sleep. This is why I never camp near a swamp."

"Oh, so you know about that, do you? Soon you will see; this will keep the mosquitoes away, then you will believe me," I explain to her.

Sarbun has already fed the critters, so I close the door behind us and we fix the packs on our backs. We head off to the camp of the Other People, taking the dogs with us.

Will they have anything I really want in trade? At this point, I can only guess. Well, at least we can go to visit and get to know them, if nothing else. Mostly, I look forward to the hunting. I know we are in some foothills similar to the southeast of France according to what Kemon told me early on.

We come around a bend in the stream and we are surprised to find a bear. I think it is a male brown bear. The dogs go ape shit when they see the bear and run around making a horrible racket. No thanks to all their racket, the bear charges us. He probably thinks that because we are not moving around, he can handle us easily.

I know our bows are no match for a bear. I want to run away but I am afraid the dogs would end up as hamburger. Watching this bear come at us, I know an arrow would only make it angrier.

Sarbun tries to get an arrow ready, but her fear has taken away her coordination. Poor thing. She's shaking from fear; her eyes are huge with wonder.

All of a sudden, he's gone. One minute he's there, and the next he's not. Sarbun and I look at each other; we look to where the bear just was; we look back at each other.

"I need to sit down a minute. That bear really scared me!" I exclaim. Sarbun curls up beside me, and I touch her shoulders softly, trying to comfort her. I have an idea where the bear went.

I call up "computer" to ask Kemon if he has made the bear disappear.

"Yes, Steve, we took care of the bear. He is safe about ten miles away from you right now. We are surprised you did not shoot the bear with your arrows. We rather expected that," Kemon tells me.

"Bows are not the weapon of choice to kill a bear. If ten of us are shooting at a bear, the bear would still probably get several of us. Only a gun with a big bore would kill a bear. I am worried about Sarbun. She saw the bear and is quite frightened by it, and now she cannot explain what she saw," I tell him.

"We took care of that. She no longer remembers the bear. We made her forget it. She is now resting, and believes that you are resting, too. She will soon be ready to continue the journey with you. We want to thank you for getting her as a mate. This proves to us that our experiment is going along quite well."

"Well, you didn't say whether I could have a mate or not. I just don't want to spend the rest of my life here alone; it has been difficult being here by myself. The aurochs were a real problem. I lost meat two times trying to get it all back to camp. I worked very hard getting that meat."

"We saw that. It is a good thing there are only a few wild dogs. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

"No, I am pretty happy with everything here. I am glad you have pretty much left me alone. Most of the time I don't think about you at all, but I am glad you made the bear disappear. I am very thankful to you."

"Yes, we are discussing the bear incident. I don't think we understood that situation. It is actually one of our computers that intervened. It saw that you were not shooting the bear, indeed a great danger to you. If you had shot at the bear, we would have been much slower to act. We need to fix this little problem."

"Little problem? So you understand humor, then? Well, I do want to thank you again, Kemon. We had best get going now. See you later." I turn off the computer and stand up.

"Are you ready to continue?" I ask Sarbun as she stirs from her short nap.

"Oh, yes. I am wondering how long you are going to rest. I could have sewn a tent by now," she kids me, with a twinkle in her eye. Ah, I love a good sense of humor in a woman.

"You don't need to sew a tent; I have a good one on my back." I wink at her.

"We shall see about that. You have shown me some strange things before, but that still does not look like a tent to me."

We continue on. We snack on jerky and drink from my bottle as we walk. Sarbun seems happy again. She really does not remember the bear. Good.

I have a lot on my mind. Kemon and his kind can erase memories. Have they erased any of mine? If they can erase a memory, that means they can read a memory. Are they reading mine?

It doesn't really bother me. I have lived a clean life — even more so lately - and have very little to be ashamed of. I am not that paranoid. It was obvious to me before now that they are quite powerful. They have also left me to my own devices, and have never once bothered me or denied me anything. So I guess it's not as Orwellian as it could be.

On the other hand, it is my nature to take care of myself. Have I asked too much of them? I feel the deal we made is good enough. Oh, well, why mess with something that works?

Sarbun and the dogs and I trek on. We eventually come to a small camp. There are racks and cook fires, but no tents. Evidently, the Other People sleep in those caves over there. We are expeditiously met by three men with the ubiquitous spears.

"Who are you, what do you want here?" the middle guy demands.

"I am Steve, this is Sarbun. We have come to trade with you if you will let us," I explain.

I notice that Sarbun has fallen several feet behind me and has her head down again. I don't like that deferential behavior. I also notice that except for these guys, everyone has vaporized back into the cave. Maybe she knows more about them than I thought.

"I am Goris. This is Beke and this is Doubek. They sometimes help me. Come, sit, and let us discuss trade. What is it you trade for?" Goris asks.

"I am not sure what you have. I have brought some salt and knives that do not break. What things do you have that I might need?" I ask him.

"I know your type. You will want to trade for a mate. It must be too hard for you skinny people to earn one of your mates. We would rather trade for skins, flint, or shells. We have good flint here," Goris says.

I notice that Sarbun has drifted away from us and she has the dogs with her. Perhaps her actions give me more power in the eyes of these men. This must be a real misogynistic race.

I am glad the Other People don't have dogs. I guess they are not much for pets or taking care of animals. At least Jake and Misty will be safe here.

"I don't need any flint. I can use some skins, but not very many." I say.

"Well, I see you don't need a mate. You already have one, an obedient one, at that. That is good for you, bad for us. We have many unmarried women here. Two moons ago we had a big hunt, but the buffalo stampeded and we lost this many men." He clumsily holds up six fingers.

"I am sorry to hear that. It is always sad to hear when someone is hurt or killed." I say.

"We have many unmated women and many children who do not have a father." Goris explains. "If I cannot find mates for these women, I will be responsible for all of them. I do not know if I can feed all these people this coming winter."

"I don't need a mate and I am sure Sarbun would be angry if I took another." I say, not wanting to go down this road.

"What does it matter what your mate thinks? She obviously knows that you are in charge. Humph!

"I do not know what we can trade; mostly what I have is unmated women. Some are formerly mated and others have never been married. Are you sure you do not need any mates?" Goris asks.

"I am quite — " I notice Sarbun motioning to me. "Excuse me, my mate wishes to tell me something."

"Humph!" says Goris.

I go over to Sarbun, who stands as I approach her.

"Steve, we seem to have more food than we need and we would not have trouble feeding another mate," she whispers.

"You are a good mate to me, and do not need another. I am a one mate kind of guy. Am I so bad that you wish another woman for our bed so you won't have to put up with me?" I ask.

"Oh, no. I just know that more people make the work of a camp go better, and we have plenty of food," she says while smiling. She realizes I was joking with her. Sarbun, however, is quite serious. "If they only have a few hunters, many of these unmated women will be dead next year. There will not be enough food. Do you see? The unmated women and the young ones are all in danger," she says.

"This is not my fault. I cannot take in every hungry woman there as a mate. I am quite happy with you," I explain.

"In our people, a man with more than one mate is a very good hunter. He is considered rich because he can take care of more than one. We can use the help. When we take care of hides or carry meat, we can use more help. If I am sick, another mate can cook for you and keep the fires. We can help them while helping ourselves. Let's take as many as we can," she pleads.