Chapter 7

"Hey!" Will reminded Becky, "You're already one over the limit, here. You said you'd stop at five!"

Of course, Carrie had to rub his nose in one glaring fact. "Hold on there, buster. All we did was send Vicky out to see you! You did the rest all on your own!"

He thought about arguing, but Will knew he would lose. She was right. He didn't regret what had happened, but he resolved to be more careful in the future. Knowing his limitations, he pleaded

"I'm only a man! I love you all, but this can't go on. I need your help to keep myself from getting carried away. Can you do that for me?"

Will thought he had chosen the right tactic, for a change.

"He is right," Gia said. "After his short, but brave, resistance of me, it has become easier for him to accept more wives. If we do not wish to be crowded out of his bed, we must protect our man."

"I quite agree," Kate added. "It would be difficult to fit two more into our bed. One would make it nice and cozy, Provided she wasn't too large."

"We'd probably be better off waiting on that," Carrie volunteered. "Will and I have only been here a couple of months, and look how fast we've all gotten together!"

In the end, Will was amazed. He actually had the women on his side, for once. They promised to watch out for him, but Dominga was happy to add, "Unless we discover a woman that we decide deserves you!"

Will would settle for that, since it was a better deal than he had expected!

For most, the day was spent getting the new settlers 'settled', and beginning to build their homes. Will's project was to start building the infrastructure for the new power plant. There were actually enough people for him to have some help, now.

Frank's crew stayed busy in the forge, but the people he had trained on the portable sawmill and band saw were put to work making lumber. They had been working steadily, even after the construction had temporarily stopped. There was a good supply of lumber, but it would be used up quickly. The youngsters that had made the shingles, trained a couple of newcomers as they worked. Hank and his crew even stopped by to pitch in.

Vicky was busy in her lab, but Will's other wives volunteered to help him. Will figured that they must be growing faster than he thought, when people he didn't recognize volunteered to help him.

A couple of them even offered suggestions. It seems that they were millwrights, and had built one before. Without getting into too much detail, Will described the differences between what he wanted, and what they were used to. He liked the solutions they came up with, and went with them.

Within a week, the generator was ready to move. Most of the new houses were built, too. Instead of stopping, they began to lay out, and build, a town.

Will's truck caused a sensation! It wasn't easy to explain, but he did his best. In the end, they just accepted it as another one of his and Carrie's 'inventions'. After the generator was placed, the building was finished. The last wall, and roof, had waited until the machinery was in place.

The generator was placed using a block and tackle, in conjunction with the winch on Will's truck. With a little help from Frank on the connectors, the generator was attached to the wheel/gear assembly.

Twelve-foot poles were sunk at intervals between buildings, for the new wire. James had taken the time to make glass insulators, and they were working out fine. It would still be two more weeks before they were ready to test the setup.

In the meantime, their community grew even more. It wasn't only because the Miwok village moved close by, either. The two millwrights were just an example. Somehow, word of the community where slaves weren't held, and women were treated as equals, was leaking out. People who liked the idea were drifting to the settlement in small groups, and were welcomed.

Another mill was being constructed. This one would be for grain. It was scheduled for completion, easily in time for the harvest.

The Miwoks were quickly becoming more prosperous than they had ever dreamed of being. The purchase of their wares by the small settlement, combined with sales to the nearby towns, assured it. They avoided being cheated by having white a settler act as a middleman.

Will had also acquired an unasked for helper. 'Little Moon' was the girl Becky had refused to trade for. She remained persistent, though. She was constantly near Will, and was learning English at an astonishing rate.

Will actually enjoyed having her around, so he didn't complain. It was a bit distracting after his wives outfitted her in jeans, however. 'Moonie', as he had dubbed her, was a great help in processing the first batch of refined penicillin. She seemed to bask in any praise she received, and he wondered about it enough to ask his wives.

"She hasn't had much of that," Becky informed Will. "Her folks were killed in a slaver raid, and even though the tribe has looked after her, it ain't the same as havin' a family. She's been treated as more of a burden, than anything else. That's why they were so anxious to trade her off."

After that, Will found himself heaping even more praise on Moonie. That was what finally brought matters to a head.

As a way to improve her marksmanship, Will took Little Moon hunting. When he told her how pretty she looked in her buckskin shirt and tight jeans, Will didn't expect her to start crying.

"If you think I am pretty, then why do you not like me as you do the others?" she wailed. "Is it because I am not white, like them?"

Will did the only thing he knew to do with a crying woman. He took her in his arms to comfort her. He wasn't too sure, afterwards, what happened next. He remembered kissing her. But he had no idea what happened between then, and the point they ended up naked on his bedroll. He definitely remembered everything after that, though!

Will tried to be gentle with the small woman, but Little Moon was having none of that! She quickly grew frustrated, and had Will on his back before he could blink. She then began riding him with abandon, and her cries of joy when she reached her peak, ensured that any game within miles would be long gone.

She wanted to go for seconds, but Will managed to talk her into waiting. The ground wasn't all that comfortable!

Moonie then insisted on continuing the hunt, and after traveling a few more miles, they manages to bag a decent sized deer. When they returned home, a reception party was waiting for them.

Moonie wasn't embarrassed in the least when the women commented on the strange sounds heard emanating from the forest earlier. Instead, she seemed to glow as if she were being praised. She looked extremely smug, too!

Will was determined that it would be the last time something like this happened. He called a 'family meeting' in the bedroom.

"Look ladies," he began, "A deal is a deal. My quota of wives has been reached. There will be no more. Am I being clear enough?"

After they were through laughing at him, Gia attempted to sooth his wounded ego.

"Of course, dearest. This was our intent all along! It was kind of you to co-operate so easily but we are, as you say, done! It is a good thing you so easily reached the number seven, though. It seems that I have joined Carrie and Becky in the motherhood department. If you continue at your present pace, I fear you will lack for attention, for a bit."

Their joy at the news was matched by Gia's parents. They decided immediately that the news deserved a celebration!

Will wasn't the only one surprised at the turnout. When everyone was working over such a large area, it hadn't been evident how many people lived in the settlement.

When Will overheard someone lamenting the lack of musical instruments, he did something that really got the party started. There was a huge collection of albums, compact disks, and, cassette tapes in the house. He put two speakers outside, and selected some of his grandpa's oldest recordings.

Living out in the middle of nowhere, radio reception had been pitiful. As a result, there was a large selection of recorded music to choose from. After the confusion about where the music was coming from died down, the dancing started.

Actually, after looking a bit closer, Will wasn't sure it could be described as dancing. It sure looked like everyone was enjoying themselves, though. Even the Miwok had joined in, and actually appeared to be the most talented dancers. Hank had donated a couple heads of beef, and food was plentiful. Will watched the alcohol consumption carefully, and was surprised to see that no one was overdoing it.

That proved to be a good thing, when the first shots rang out. It still took little time for them to react. The attack came from the tree line, and the distance was too great for the shots to be very effective. A couple of people were still hit before they grabbed their weapons, and made it to the buildings, though. The injured were taken care of by Donna and Bianca, while the rest tried to get organized.

Will cursed himself for not being prepared. He knew it would happen sooner or later, but had thought later was more likely. Some thought toward defense had gone into the construction of the houses. Will's old place was actually the least defensible. He had something the others didn't though. As soon as everyone reached their firing positions, he recruited some help.

He and the girls managed to move the Gatlin gun to the window on the side where the main attack was coming from. By the time they got it set, it was no longer needed.

"Them flintlocks an' muskets ain't no match fer these here repeatin' rifles!" Jess cackled. "They was twice as many o' them as us, an' we still had 'em outnumbered! I never did see somebody skeedaddle that fast 'afore!"

The news wasn't all good, however. Three more, besides the initial two, had been wounded. Thankfully, none were too serious. As a precaution, the first of the penicillin was used that day. Besides the one man with a broken arm, the rest were strictly flesh wounds. In this time, though, those often were just as fatal as being gut-shot.

Medicine had a long way to go, but with the way the two Italian 'medics' had embraced the suggestions of cleanliness, and the use of antibiotics, Will was pretty sure they wouldn't lose anyone.

The attackers weren't as lucky. Sixteen bodies were counted in the fields and forest surrounding the cabins. Some of them looked vaguely familiar. Will didn't waste any time beating himself up over the fact that they weren't as prepared as they could have been. They had been ready enough for trouble. In these times, you had to be. What he wanted now, was 'overkill'.

Since the smokeless powder Vicky had formulated had worked out so well, Will gave Frank some new projects. The first was an M1 Garand rifle. Frank gave the weapon a thorough examination, before proclaiming

"We can make these purty dang fast, but how is it better than t' other 'un?"

"It's a semi-automatic, like the pistol I showed you before," Will explained. "There's no lever or bolt, so it's faster to shoot. Vicky's new powder should work fine in it."

Frank brightened up considerably.

"Does that mean I kin make some of them thar 1911's?"

Will pulled a Springfield 1911-A1 Mil-Spec from behind his back and handed it over. This particular model wasn't totally original. The ejection port was lowered, for one thing. This caused the spent casings to travel more to the side, than up. While not a huge problem, he found that spent casings bouncing off of his head could get annoying, at times.

Frank was anxious to start, but took the time to show Will the first complete Gatlin Gun they had managed to produce. It looked like a carbon copy of the original. Will hoped they could do as well with the new weapons. He then took the next surprise from the bag he had brought. He thought Frank's eyes were going to pop right out of his head.

"What in tarnation is that thing?"

"This, my friend, is an AK-47" Will explained. "It can fire semi-auto, or full auto. In case you haven't guessed, that means it will shoot until you let go of the trigger, or the magazine is empty."

"Why would ya want me ta make t'other 'un then? Seems like that 'un would be enough," Frank wondered.

"I don't want these to be used yet," Will explained. "Sooner or later, people are gonna figure out how to make the repeaters. When they do, we'll have the M1's. As soon as they get wind of those, they'll figure them out, too. The AK's are for down the road a piece. We need to stay one step ahead of the competition."

Frank scratched his head, and agreed.

"I kin see how that might be, but we're gonna need a bigger place ta do all this. We done made the forge as big as this place kin hold. I'm flat outta room!"

"That ain't a problem," Will said with a laugh. "We've got plenty of help, just itchin' for somethin' to do. You might want to see if there's anybody else who might be interested in learning your tricks, too. In fact, I'd suggest we leave this place just like it is, and build another one that's bigger. I'm gonna have to talk Vicky into gettin' more help, too."

Will left Frank to figure out the details, and went to see Vicky about expanding her production. He needn't have bothered. When he arrived there, the activity amazed him. Instead of finding her alone, there were a dozen people there. Vicky was running from position to position, and passing out instructions. She smiled when she spied Will, and came over.

"After that little dust-up, I thought we'd better start thinking about stocking up for the next one," she explained. "When I noticed that the ones using the old powder were filling the place with smoke, I decided to get some help. People were having trouble seeing to shoot! What did you need?"

They both had a good laugh when he told her, and she loved the idea of the semi-auto weapons. She especially liked the 1911.

"I can't wait to get my hands on one of those, again," she gushed. "John Browning was a genius! Just make sure he makes the eight round mags, that extra shot might come in handy."

"I never even thought about that," Will admitted, "but it shouldn't be a problem. I always carried it with eight in the mag, and one in the chamber, 'cocked and locked'. I don't think I own any seven round mags. I just hope Frank can get the springs right. That has to be tough, without all the fancy machines they used to make them."