Chapter 619

The Prison Planet

Well after noon, Diana stepped away from the cave entrance, cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to her husband, knowing that he, above anyone else, would hear despite all the noise that the equipment was producing. “Jeff, tell everybody that lunch is ready, please.”

With the big diesel tractor running, along with the sounds that the trenchers produced, in addition to everyone being scattered out over a two-hundred yard area, it took Jeff a few seconds to attract their attention. Jasmine had put a small table outside the cave with water, soap and towels so everyone could wash up where it was convenient.

I can’t wait to have a bathroom, Jasmine thought as she watched them shut their equipment down and start toward Diana and her.

“Sorry for my idea about the big tank,” Evie said as her husband walked over to take her hand while the two waited for Kim and Linda. “Because of how deep the ditch will have to be near the tank, I started the trench twenty feet or so from where the tank will be set.”

Dave shrugged. “No problem. As we said when we started, I’ll dig the deeper section with the backhoe. With the slope there, the ditch for the piping won’t have to be deep for long, but I want to make sure there’s a slope, even for the first few feet, in case Morales should ever need to drain the tank completely.”

Evie nodded. “I agree.”

“Our ditch for the wiring is finished,” Kim said. “Should we help Jeff and Morales with the spring house?”

“When we start back, check with them and see what they want you to do,” Evie instructed.

A while back, the Matthews had brought a big charcoal grill and a long table that Diana and Jasmine had set up just outside the cave. Morales had kept a rifle near him all morning, as had Jasmine, and he now propped his weapon against a nearby bush within easy reach. When the rest of the group got to the wash-up area, Jasmine motioned to the grill and serving table, “We have buffalo steaks, baked potatoes and coleslaw. There isn’t a great deal of variety, but there is plenty of food.”

Dave chuckled. “If the rest are as hungry as I am, all they will be interested in is the amount.”

Jasmine pointed to the pile of steaks that Diana was taking off the grill, and spoke to everyone. “If you want medium rare – yours is ready. The rest will be done shortly. As I’m sure you guys have noticed, the steaks are quite large, but if you are still hungry after your first, there are more marinating and ready to go on the grill.” Before the men could comment, she smiled and continued, “And just in case some of us girls also want another, we have plenty of extra and more waiting in the stasis chamber. So, eat up everyone.”

After a brief prayer of thanks, they did just that with appetites derived from hard work and fresh air.

Much later in the day.

Darkness found them gathering up tools and covering the trenchers and tractor as clouds began moving in. “Crap, I hope it doesn’t rain,” Dave said as he and Jeff finished tying the tarp down. “The water system is complete except for a couple of connections and filling the ditches, but that’s going to be a bitch with everything turned to mud. At least, we weren’t bothered by animals.”

Jeff grinned at his friend. “Ship told me she had to move a saber-tooth a mile away three times before he got the message.”

“I didn’t realize her tractor beam would reach out that far.”

“In space, I think it will reach several times that distance, but when she detected the tiger, it was still a half-mile or so away. With so many trees in the way, she couldn’t just move him with the beam, so she moved to his location, picked him up with her beam and moved herself and him a mile away before releasing him. She had no intention of hurting him. The third time she moved him, he gave up and changed direction.”

“Crap. I would never have thought a wild animal would come around with all the noise the equipment was making.”

“Well, as Morales says, ‘this isn’t Earth,’ and the animals here don’t necessarily act precisely the way animals do on Earth. For all I know, the tiger might have thought the noise the equipment was making was just the normal sound of an animal that he wasn’t familiar with. Or perhaps he thought we were trespassing on his hunting grounds. Or maybe he is smarter than animals on Earth and wanted to check us out. Crap, who knows? I’m just glad we didn’t have to kill him. Morales would be pissed, because he would have thought he would have to skin the tiger and scrape its hide, and that would have been after a long day of work. No way would he have let that beautiful pelt go to waste. I’m sure all of us would offer to help, but our help would probably screw up the hide.”

Ashley and Christine had begun cleaning the grill when Jeff walked over. “Ladies, I have an idea.”

When they stopped to look at him, he had a short, mental conversation with Ship. An instant later, the grill disappeared as her inertialess tractor beam whisked it away. After a few minutes, it came back so clean it was shining.

Morales’ women hugged Jeff, but he told them he had nothing to do with it. Smiling, they looked above, where they thought the invisible ship would be, and thanked her.

Jeff responded, “She said you’re welcome.”

Turning to the others, Jeff made sure everyone knew about the saber tooth’s almost visit.

When warm weather arrived, Morales and his wives had built up the brush fence where the chickens stayed during the day. As everyone was helping to clean up after the meal, the chickens, led by Gertrude, filed by and marched on down the entranceway to enter the cave with Junior strutting behind his harem in the rearguard position.

“Why do you bother putting them inside the fence?” Tosha asked, “Obviously, they can fly over it any time they please.”

“Well,” Morales said as he chuckled, “when I first built the brush fence, I clipped the flight feathers on a wing on each of the chickens to keep them inside the fenced area. The feathers grew back faster than I expected because a while later, I had been busy and hadn’t brought the chickens in on time. I looked up as Gertrude came marching down the entranceway, reminding me of a drill sergeant with her troops. The other hens and the chicks were in a line marching along behind her. The chickens were smart even before the enhancement. From then on, they flew into their safe area on their own and came back to the cave at dusk, again on their own.”

After their evening meal, some had a card game going while others just sat and talked. There were soft drinks, coffee and still-warm sweet rolls from the stasis chamber. When they heard the muffled boom of thunder, Morales motioned to the monitor showing tree limbs swaying in the wind. Moments later, the rain began, soon coming down harder. The sensitive cameras, enhanced by strong infrared LED lighting, did an excellent job of showing near and medium distance objects despite the darkness and rain.

“I wish your bathroom were inside,” Arlene grumbled. “As soon as the rain started, it made me want to pee, but I’m certainly not going out in that.”

They all sympathized with her.

“Do you think we could finish the bathroom tomorrow?” Diana asked Dave.

“If we start early and everyone pitches in, it just might be possible to get the basics done, but I doubt we’ll get the tile and painting completed,” Dave said. “Everything that can be is precut. But the trenchers are gas driven, so we can’t use them inside the cave. The digging in here will have to be by hand.”

“We have shovels and mattocks for everyone, though,” Evie offered, “and the ditch will only have to be a narrow shovel-width wide.”

“I would have had the framework for the wall preassembled, but they wouldn’t have cleared the door into the cave. We have power, so I brought an air compressor to run the nail guns. Ship can set it just outside the cave. Evie and I will make short work of the framing. Obviously, there is plenty of room for the septic tank and field lines, and we have Ship to do the heavy lifting. If everyone pitches in the way they did today, we’ll have, at least, a functioning bathroom going by tomorrow night.”

Morales spoke up. “My wives and I can do the tile and painting. Even if you just get the room framed, the plumbing, the plywood floor in, and the commode hooked up, we can assemble the shower and do the rest.”

Dave thought for a moment. “I’ll make the final connections for the water system first thing in the morning, but I think I’ll wait until after lunch tomorrow to fill in the ditches. The mud should be dried, at least some, by then, provided it doesn’t rain again. There is a gentle slope where you suggested the septic tank and field lines should go, so maybe it won’t be muddy very far down. Either way, I’ll get started digging the hole for the septic tank and ditches for the field lines first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Dave, we don’t know what to say. We barely know you and your wives, yet all of you have worked hard all day for us, and... you’re planning on doing it again tomorrow.”

“We love to work together,” Evie commented, “not to mention that we get to visit another planet. How many people can say that, hmmm? Not that we can tell anyone, though,” she finished with a frown.

“Still, we owe you,” Jasmine said. “Maybe we’ll get a chance to return the favor one of these days. Because of you guys and the Matthews, we have appliances and power to run them. A while back, Diana even left a couple of the stasis chambers with us. You and your entire family have worked all day today and plan to do so tomorrow. And the Matthews, have not only worked all day, but they have financed all of this. We’re indebted to all of you.”

“A debt that we will probably never be able to repay,” Morales quietly said with an accompanying sigh. “I don’t know what to say other than a humble thank you.”

Diana hugged Morales. “As my husband would say, you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Jeff broke in to add, “We haven’t spent that much. Besides, you guys helped test my sound neutralizing equipment and gave me some excellent feedback which allowed me to make positive changes in my design. Now, enough talk about work. I suggest that the guys set up the sheets while I get the air mattresses and sound neutralizers ready for bedtime.”

“With so many of us, bathing is going to take a while. Once we have the bath area ready, we can start,” Jasmine suggested.

“I can put up the sheets for the bath area,” Arlene said.

“We’ll help,” Kayla offered as she and Tosha stood.

“I was worried that your work would stop the water from our source, so we filled all the buckets this afternoon,” Jasmine said.