Chapter 33

As I left the back door of the house and entered our storage cave I saw Biltee and Crallet dragging their travois in through the entrance. They were taking turns pulling the travois with the three deer George had predicted. Biltee seemed surprised there were no women waiting to dress the kills.

"Sorry about the lack of help Biltee, but I'm sure all the women are exploring the cave I found this morning. You'll have to dress and skin the deer yourselves. At least the women will probably show up in time to deal with the hides and cutting up the carcasses," I said.

"You found another cave?"

"Yes and you will have a hard time believing it." I said, and George asked me if he should deal with the deer.

"I don't think so. There's no sense in letting them get used to you doing everything," I thought to him. It made me realize how handy this type of communication was going to be, since Biltee and Crallet didn't even have a hint I'd talked to anyone else.

"It won't hurt us to skin and clean them. We might as well do it near the old refuse pile though. Maybe we will attract something else for an easy kill," Biltee said.

"I think you're right. If something comes snooping around it'll be better if they snoop around at the pile. We don't want them exploring the horse pasture," I said, then George told me he'd make sure nothing bothered the horses.

"That's fine, but keep it to yourself. I don't want them to get as lazy as I am."

"I see," he said.

"Biltee, there have been some changes with the new cave. You won't have to cut up the deer, just get them gutted and skinned and bring them into the kitchen. We have a new place to cut them up now. I'll be waiting to show you where they need to go."

"We will do it, and it shouldn't take long."

I headed back to the kitchen and on my way I asked George to let Taachachi know I wanted to see her there. I hadn't asked if he could do it though I was sure he could. If I'd considered it more carefully in the first place I might not have had him reveal himself to any of them at all. That cat was already out of the bag though and by now I didn't see a reason to keep from using it.

Taachachi was in the kitchen only a couple of minutes after I made it. I asked her if she could think of any reason not to have everyone come and see the new cave and the things in it.

"No, they can put off whatever they're doing and join us. Except Jondah, I don't think we should leave the hobbled horses outside by themselves," she said.

"I'll go help him bring them inside for now and you can send a few men to help us while you're showing the others the way to the new cave, if you would. Please have someone wait in the kitchen to show Biltee where to put the three deer he and Crallet are skinning. I thought they could be cut up more easily in the new kitchen."

"I'm sure they can be, but I'll send Teechi out to find some skins to wrap them in before they bring them through the house. I don't want blood dripping on the carpet. It looks so nice now and there's no need to get it dirty. Bloodstains are hard to clean up," she said.

"After everyone sees the new cave they will know to bring their kills there and we won't have to worry so about the carpet. Maybe George could even make a hall from the other caves directly too the new cave. It would cut down on people walking through the house."

"That would be best. Can he really do that? Will he?" she asked.

"I'm sure he can and will, but I'll ask him and see what he says."

Taachachi stayed in the kitchen to give Biltee and Crallet directions to the new one. I went to help Jondah with the horses. He was surprised that I wanted to put them away so early in the day and I told him he had an even bigger surprise coming up.

I got a surprise of my own when I broached the idea of more tunnels with George.

"I had noticed that it was becoming inconvenient for the traffic to all come through your house. You needn't worry about the carpet getting dirty or worn, because I can simply tend to it. I do think the cave's positions will lead to more traffic through your house though. I should probably rearrange things slightly, bringing all the caves closer together and giving them a shorter tunnel to a central intersection area.

"In fact I believe I'll close the current entrance to your home from the resident cave. I'll put the intersection of the tunnels just behind your kitchen entrance and route the others there too. I think by adjusting the size and placement of the caves I can keep the tunnels shorter."

"That sounds like a much better plan. Can you do it tonight while everyone is asleep?" I asked.

"Yes. I think I'll need to move the current bathing facilities in the residence and horse caves, but I will improve them while I'm at it. Some people like showers best and others like baths. I'll put a few of each in both caves and I'll also replace the toilet you had to remove from the extra bedroom," George said.

"I think you might as well increase the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in my house while you are at it. I'm hoping we can get most of the alarming changes out of the way and then keep things fairly stable. It does seem inevitable that I will collect more mates and children though and we might as well get ready for them."

"I will take care of it then. As a matter of fact, I can return the "medical" bedroom to its original use and create a separate small clinic near the intersection. I will improve its facilities and you should probably select a few women for me to train. If something truly serious comes up you could be the Doctor and I will guide you in treating the patient," he said.

"That might be better than letting you take care of injuries."

"I'm sure you are correct. I'm sure I could prevent all accidents or injuries, but I don't think that will be the best policy, even though it would not tax my resources."

"No, I don't think that would be best either. They should be reminded that life is not just for fucking off all the time, and a few injuries would help them remember. I still hope you'll do your best to keep them from getting killed, if possible," I said.

"It is my main concern for any of your clan."

"On another topic, I have received complete reports from all disabled vessels now. All have petitioned for rescue and want to be under your control. The nearest one is especially anxious. However, there is one not much farther away that is significantly newer and it is larger. I believe I can construct a robotic repair bot that can bring it online much more easily than all the others. It is also considerably faster. Once it is completely functional we can turn the repair job over to it and we'll be done until they all can arrive here under their own power."

"That is excellent news, but how can it be larger and also easier to repair?"

"Because of better and slightly more suspicious planning on the builder's part. It has accessible switches to cut the AIs off from manipulable equipment. All the other ships had to be shut down by physically damaging specific cables. The creators had come to distrust the AIs lately and so made them easier to disconnect. I will construct a bot that the large ship's AIs will be able to manipulate through radio communication.

"The ship I must construct for the bot can also be much smaller and weigh much less, since I won't have to provide life support or inertial compensation for its vehicle. It will be able to make the longer trip to the larger ship in less than four months."

Oh, what a beautiful morning, Oh, what a beautiful day," I said.

"What?"

"It's a line from a musical. It means things are working out fine."

"Oh. Yes, I've found it. What is Oklahoma?"

"It is a state in the United States. I'd have thought you knew that," I said.

"In fact I did, but the question popped out before I completed my search. I was also temporarily distracted examining a large group that seems to be coming here."

"How many are there and how far away?"

"There are sixteen armed males. They are two days out still, but from the conversation they appear to be intent on attack. Would you like to see them?" George asked.

"Can you show me video?" I asked.

"Of course, but I was asking if you'd like to go there and take a look. I can place you hidden among some trees they'll pass by soon. You should get a good view with binoculars. In fact, I can provide some that are much better than the ones you have," George said.

"Sounds like it might be fun. You aren't going to make me walk back are you?"

"What, why would I do that? Oh, that is something you thought of as a joke, wasn't it?