Chapter 36

For some reason our new arrivals seemed back to their standoffish behavior toward me the next morning, but I ignored the hateful looks they gave me. It didn't stop them from eathing with us though and they were happy enough with the coffee when it appeared. Still they had regained all the attitude I'd seen from them at first yesterday.

It didn't really bother me much since I'd already figured military or not they seemed to be very much of the pie in the sky persuasion. The hard part for me was I knew they weren't out of line for the civilization they'd come from.

Their assumed superiority of the way things ought to be was annoying too. They knew what they knew and everyone else was wrong. Most of my women had picked up on it too though and I don't guess they were taking it as well as I was.

Expecting the three women to adapt to this type of life quickly was pretty much unfair and I didn't expect them to catch on fast. I didn't think they were slow learners or anything. They just weren't prepared for anything of the sort and no doubt they had to be suspicious of any man who seemed to be running the show.

They were suspicious of me and they had at least some reason to be. Mary might have been the same way if not for Chris who had known me for years and knew good and well I wasn't all that bossy in the first place. Chris and Mary weren't the problem though.

My downtime family wouldn't put up with much shit out of the three newbies. Most of them had understood within days of encountering me I was the main force bringing them a way of life which was orders of magnitude better than anything they could have ever hoped for.

With me around they felt perfectly safe and secure. Before me an encounter with cave lions would have meant a life or death situation for more than a few of them. Now, when they saw a cave lion someone mentioned it to me and the next worry was about who would skin it and remove its teeth and claws.

Jannet, Karen, and Dr Kim had never thought about being in such mortal danger. They also had no concept of having to kill their own meals or skin animals so they could have clothes. I'd have to keep a close eye on things to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible.

"What's on for today Jack," Mary asked, after we were underway with breakfast.

"We still need to do some prowling around and checking for cave lions, wolves, and hyenas. When the weather gets worse they'll have a harder time getting food and they'll be pestering our animals for it."

"And why shouldn't they? They rely on the other animals to feed themselves," Dr Kim said.

"I don't know where you grew up, but I do understand you've probably never had to provide your own food before. It doesn't mean we don't know how, you stupid bitch.

"It's simple, we kill predators so they won't kill off the animals we need to eat to insure our own survival. If it offends your delicate sensibilities why don't you just go outside and slit your wrist. We'll have less animals to kill since we won't be feeding you," Chris said, and come to think of it her tone wasn't all that jovial.

"Now Chris, we don't have to be nasty about it. It's almost no extra trouble to provide food for her," I said.

"I know it, but she can't seem to get it through her head there's no Seven Eleven around the corner to buy food from. It's obvious she traded her common sense in as a down payment for her degree. She thinks rescue is right around the corner and she doesn't want to do any environmental damage before they get here," Chris said.

"I know, but they only arrived yesterday," I said.

"By God they're already too damned slow at finding out what they're in for. My husband was in the front seat with his head in his lap as soon as we woke up from the crash and Jim was in two pieces, sliced in half by a rotor blade.

"They should be thanking their luck instead of turning up their nose at the way we have to live. Not a damned one of them turned up their nose at the breakfast we served. I'm sure even they realize it was once warm and fuzzy and walking around out there eating grass," Mary said.

"Well, they're officers, and if you know anything about the service you'll understand they don't know what to do without a first sergeant around to tell them when to wipe their asses. Breakfast was a lot better than I've ever had from the service and it doesn't bother me a whit what you had to shoot to get it. In fact I'd love to go on the next hunt," Karen said.

"We may not be staying that long," Jannet said, switching into her commanding officer role almost automatically.

"What do you mean we, paleface. It isn't my fault you failed in situational awareness somewhere along your trail to officer country. I didn't. I know very damned well we're sitting here eating breakfast with dozens of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. I have eyes. I also know there's no place on earth we wouldn't have been able to pick up at least something on the radios, not to mention GPS signals."

"But you're still in the army and I'm your superior officer," Jannet said, and I'm sure it even sounded lame to her.

"You can superior officer your ass all over the place if you want to, but you're going to have hell gathering up a bunch of MPs to take me in. You know damned well I'm a better shot then you and the doctor both, so you're just shit out of luck until you get help. Your rank went to hell when you flew us back in time," Karen said, and she wasn't trying to be extremely nasty about things, but it was the honnest truth.

"Why I'll...

"You'll do nothing. I'm the one in charge here no matter what army you think you belong to. You're free to come and go as you please, but you're not free to make someone else do anything they don't want to. I'd hoped we could get along until you realized your position. I can see Karen already has. If you haven't it's your own hard luck, not hers.