Chapter 20

CAST:

Amos Jones (mechanic, B)—Mary (B), Luanne (B), Molly (W), 4 children

Bill Zafir (chemist, W)—Alice (surgeon, W), Sarah (ballista, W), 4 children

Bob Martin (W)--recently rescued teenager

Ezra Pond (navigator, W)—Margaret (W), Sue (W), Beautiful Flower (I), 3 children

Jimmy Winslow (hunter, narrator, W)—Angie (farmer, W), Jean (hunter, W), Martha (EMT, W), 4 children

John Williams (generalist, W)—Adel (women's coordinator, W), Janice (ballista, W), Lynne (glass blowing, W), 4 children

Jim Bell (horse expert, B)—Hannah (B), Amy (electrical eng., W), 3 children

Pedro Alvarez (W)—Linda (ballista, C), Julia (W), Joan (ballista, W), 3 children

Swift Rat (hunter, I)—Helen (ballista, W), Liz (ballista, W), 3 children

Wilbur Hastings (plumber, W)—Mabel (teacher, W), Janet (teacher, W), Hazel (teacher, W), 3 children

Bill was the one who argued for taking the carts and the ballista. He pointed out that we were looking for bulk items, so we were going to have to be able to haul ore, etc. from the source back to town. If we couldn't get there with a wheeled vehicle, then there was not much reason to go. We had to admit that he was right, so we took the carts, and the ballista could go wherever the carts went, and carnivores could go wherever the ballista went. QED: we needed to take the ballista with us.

We set out toward the hot springs where the sulfur had been found; that seemed like the most promising direction for our first trip. We had not gone far before we came to the place where it had been difficult to move the carts when they were pulled by humans. The horses didn't even slow down, showing how much more powerful horsepower was over human power. It may have been that the horses were not discommoded by the rougher path, but the carts began to bounce about, so we had to be careful to pick the smoothest route, anyway.

As expected, we did not see anything of particular interest on our first day. We had already been over this route enough times to know what was available along here—nothing much. That night, we slept on and under the carts and depended on the dogs to guard us. We had complete confidence in Happy and her brood, so we did not post human guards in what had always been safe country.

That was the only night of such bliss, because we had easily traveled in one day what had taken three days when we did not have the horses. We reached Hot Springs before noon, and Bill began a search which was much more detailed and careful than his previous times. He ranged widely and discovered traces of mercury and silver, both of which could be very valuable raw materials. A few miles further on, Bill found lead and zinc ore, both in apparently large quantity and easily mined. We had really hoped for tin and copper, but we would still have to hunt some more to find them. We were also looking for iron ore; limestone was no problem, and we could substitute charcoal for coal if we didn't find any.

Brass was an alloy of copper and zinc, and bronze was an alloy of copper and tin, either one of which could be substituted for iron. The only thing iron had going for it was that it was more abundant than the raw materials for bronze and brass, but it was somewhat more difficult to extract from its ore. I guess that it was pretty much of a write off, but our life would be a bit simpler if we could start out with brass or bronze.

Bill had us move on after three days of prospecting at Hot Springs. We traveled for another three days without spotting anything useful, so we decided to head home. There must have been something magical about that decision, because we had only gone a few miles when Bill let out a shout of triumph—he had found copper! Not only was there copper ore, but there were raw metallic copper nodules all over the place. We now knew where to find what we needed to make brass. This was indeed a red letter day!

We stopped long enough to load up with as many of the copper nodules as we could find. Before we decided that we had enough for now, we had picked up a cartload and a half. Bill estimated that to be in the neighborhood of 800 pounds of recoverable copper.

That was all we found on that trip, but it was enough to pay for itself, since we looped back to Hot Springs and picked up as much zinc ore as we could carry in the remaining cart space. We had enough copper and zinc for around 900 pounds of brass, and that would keep us busy for a while.

We made a triumphal march into town with our carts loaded with some of the most valuable stuff that we could have found. There was a massive communal party that night to celebrate our success. With the general euphoria sweeping the colony, Bill had no problem selling the idea of another trip as soon as we had all rested up.

The next day, a cloud of smoke was seen from Landing Site #2. We quickly sent out a rescue party. Ezra and I led one cart and a ballista to investigate. What we found when we got there was four Utahraptors finishing a meal of what appeared to be two humans, but we may well have been too late to know for sure.

Ezra and I opened up with our shotguns firing the explosive slugs. Those damned carnivores were stubborn enough to want to attack us even when they had gaping holes in their sides. I attribute that to them having brains too small to know when their bodies were dead. It took at least two of the slugs to put down a Utahraptor, and the explosive crossbow bolts didn't do any better. It's a good thing that we did not have to bring the ballista into play—its size makes it too awkward for use in a fight against any of the raptors, big or small.

We rode up close to a large cabin cruiser and I called out for anyone aboard. We heard a girl's voice, followed by that of a boy and another girl. Well, it looked like we had another spurt in our population growth. The boat was canted over pretty far, so I figured that it would be difficult to get around on board. I rode up to the lower side of the deck and asked if anyone was hurt.

A voice from inside answered, "Nothing but a few bumps and bruises. Is it safe to come outside? Where are our parents?"

"It's about as safe as it will ever be, so I suggest that you come out now before more trouble shows up."

A boy said, "We're coming, but where are Mom and Dad?" Before I had to answer, his head appeared in the companionway, and he crawled out on deck. The deck was canted so steeply that he slid down until he was able to catch his heels on a cleat. Two female heads showed about this time and they came out, too, with the same results, but the younger girl slid right off the deck onto the ground.

When she hit the ground, she looked around and spotted some very bloody clothes. She screamed "Mom! ... Dad!," and ran to the scraps of clothing. She stood there and screamed hysterically. Janice jumped down from the ballista carriage and ran to her. The little girl latched onto Janice so hard that it looked like we would have to pry her loose.

The other girl and the boy slid to the ground and joined their sibling at the bloody clothes. The girls, who appeared to be 17 and 14, were sobbing uncontrollably, and the boy, who appeared to be about 15, was cursing at the top of his voice and kicking a dead raptor as hard as he could.

It took over half an hour to calm the children down enough to get them into the cart so that we could go home. I promised that we would return to bury their parents tomorrow, but it was too dangerous to hang around here any longer. We finally got through to them and started for home.