Chapter 71

Author’s Notes: The last portion of this chapter is very graphic in detailing the cruel death of a sadistic killer guard in Prison # 184. She self inflicts the damage by my mind control of her. I am not kind or considerate of her pain or pleasure and it goes on for a while. Please be warned, the squeamish or delicate should not read that portion of this chapter.

The more I sat on that tractor seat, the more I thought about what Fred had said. He was right though. The grass was drying out with all the heat from the bright time and very little was green. So most of the nutrients were already gone from the grass. We would probably have to supplement with some other grasses and some meal material to make up the difference. But wait, these animals have survived on this type of thing for a long time now. Until the last three weeks most of the grass was green, so they already got most of the good stuff they need. What is available during the winter is further south and probably not green now either. Unless they can really roam far south, but then they should have left already at the rate they graze on the plateau, they only move about 1-2 miles a day. So that means we can use this grass; even if they didn’t go much further south, the snow would cover most of the ground, so how would they survive then? Maybe they’re are like a bear and over feed in the summer so they can survive in winter from the extra fat and added muscle tissue from gorging themselves.

I just had another thought. The aurochs had developed a second eyelid that protected them from the bright time. What’s to say that they can’t slow their metabolism down during winter so they can survive on less forage food and more on their stored fat? They would be somewhat lethargic and slower except in emergencies, like predators. But our herd has no predators, so they would be slow and not need a lot of feed. We need to feed them a little and see how they react. Then come up with a feeding schedule accordingly. You know this sitting and thinking ain’t half bad. It sure makes the time go faster. Time for me to let Dignar spell me on this thing for a while. When I stopped, Dignar came over and we swapped drivers. I went over to Harlou and Fretail and looked at the power meters on the ATV’s. Since they were running up and back down the field, one in front and one behind the tractor, I thought they might be low on power. Both were down to about half and the tractor was at 3/4 full charge. I had them break out the recharging antennas and let them run that way for a while to see if the power would build back up. The tractor had a larger capacity battery for added power the ATV’s didn’t need. The ATV’s were lighter and had less space for a larger storage battery.

Tovar and I positioned ourselves on a small hillock overlooking the plateau about 50 yards in the grass, from the edge of the cut grass. The hillock was about 5 to 6 feet higher than the surrounding area and about 15’ across. We could see from our power windmill to the end of the cut grass area as the hill was nearly in the center of the 1 mile swath we were cutting. The main thing we watched for was grass moving when it shouldn’t. I ended up putting the power antenna on the front of Harlou’s ATV so Tovar could ride behind him for protector duty.

I used the binoculars to scan the horizon for moving things, and then called to Lisa the lioness. ‘Lisa, where are you today?’

“Bob I see you, but you are very far away. We are stalking a bison herd today, far from you and your people. I have asked our pride not to bother you or your people. You give us meals when you can during your hunts, so we respect that. We will not approach you unless we are very hungry or need something from you. It is funny I cannot call you but you can call me and I can talk back. Do you know why that is Bob?”

‘Let me see if I can fix that Lisa.’ I concentrated on her brain and I saw the problem. She needed a certain sequence of neural pathways and it would not always run through. I fixed the pathway and came back to myself. I said, ‘Lisa I think I fixed it. I will stop talking and you see if you can call me.’

There was a pause and then I received a call, “Bob this is Lisa, can you hear me?”

‘Yes I can Lisa. I think that it will work much better now. You can call me when you need me. Thank you for asking your pride to stay away from us. I will do the same for you. When we can help with meals, we will let you know.’

“Thank you Bob, this is a strange thing between us, but it is beneficial for both of us.”

Just like that she was gone. I could still feel her presence, but the link was gone completely. I continued my scanning for predators, but I think all the commotion was scaring them away. That and no blood smell.

I had Fretail stop on the next pass and I got the bag of stew and the tripod I made from some scrap rebar. I tied the bars together about 4” down from the end and then when you spread out the legs you had a tripod. The bars were about 6’ long so I could hang a stew bag on a hook I hung on the junction of the tripod. I would just build a small fire under the bag and we would have a warm lunch. When I opened the bladder bag a little ways to vent for the cooking, I got a whiff of fish. So it was fish stew for lunch today. We had another bladder with water that had the neck tied off. When we came up here, I dug a hole in the hillock and buried the bag about 2’ under the dirt at the base of the hill, away from the sun. This would keep the water cooler than being out in the sun. It wasn’t cold, but it sure tasted better than hot water. If we wanted tea, then we would lay the bladder in the sun, on an area where we had removed the grass. This would warm in the sun and steep the tea — you know sun tea.

By the time of their next pass, lunch was ready and I took over driving the tractor, with Tovar on the ATV. We made two passes and then it was our turn to eat; while the rest went back to work. About two hours later Dignar came in for a driver swap. Tovar, Harlou, and Fretail had traded off driving chores all morning. Because the protector was always standing, they traded off more often.

We had cut about 52 acres from the 320 acre area I had planned to cut. Not bad for one day’s work with an automated cutter. That was almost twice what they had cut by hand in five days of cutting with 25 workers. We headed back and put the tractor and cutter in the garage. I noticed more space and another tractor and baler in the garage when we got back. It appeared that there could be another tractor added to the garage, but maybe not.

We were almost late for supper and we would have really missed that. The fish stew was filling, but didn’t last long. Now, I can really get into steaks or a roast. Tonight was smilodon rump roast, yummy. With the roasted veggies, it was very good.

After sunset I addressed the crowd. “We have cut more hay for the animals we have in the fence today. But what we have cut may not be enough for the animals for all winter. The Sky Spirits have said they would add more if we needed it in order to keep them well fed over the winter. But next year we will be responsible to gather all the hay necessary for them next winter. Because of that we have been given more machines. We now have two tractors and 2 more machines that will gather the grass and make it into a bundle that can be loaded easily into the wagon and truck. We will be getting a new cutter that is safer as the cutters are inside the machine. We will then stack these bundles called bales in the storage cave. This winter I will be discussing with the Sky Spirits just what additional things we will need to be able to grow food for us in our meadow and the other canyon; and we will get our grasses for the animals on the plateau.

“We have all done very well this year for the short time we have all been together. We will still have much work in gathering the grass before the rains come, but we can do this. Tomorrow some of us will be going out with the tractors and baling the grass. We will need about 25 to 30 people going with us. I will have to come back after I get the people started as I have another meeting with the sky spirits about another problem they want my help with. Several of you will have the knowledge about the baling and raking process to carry on without me. We will be taking the truck, wagon, 2 tractors, and the 2 baler machines. I will be taking an ATV so I can come back when I need to. If someone asks you for help for this task, please do not say no. We all need to learn these things so we can all survive without the help of the sky spirits all the time.”

I stopped in the office on my way to bed. “Fred I think each of the headmen, Joulnar, Dignar, Grunto, Grojan and Valkorla, as well as Teague and Olnafot should have the knowledge I have for the haying process. That includes cutting, raking, and baling, as well as knowing what areas have dried properly and what areas need to be raked again. I want to take both tractors, both balers, the truck, wagon and rake with us tomorrow. That way we have everything to get the canyon area done in two days time. I would have liked to cut some more on the plateau too, but we don’t have enough vehicles to do that. Don’t worry we can live with what we have cut right now anyway.

“Fred I was thinking yesterday while driving that maybe we don’t need so much hay for the animals. We had noticed that the aurochs have developed a second eyelid to protect them from the bright time. I wondered if they also had a slower metabolism in the winter like a hibernating bear does. The bear overeats in summer to build fat reserves so that it can sleep all winter. Then when it sleeps, or hibernates, the bear’s metabolism slows way down so it only needs the stored fat reserves to be able to survive the winter. I thought we could put out a onetime feed amount for the number of animals in one cave area once the snow comes and monitor it to see if they gorge themselves or if they are too lethargic to come get it and only eat a small amount and mainly just lie down in the cave and sleep. What do you think Fred?”

“Bob, you might be right about the animals. I never thought that they might be adapted to this 6 months of winter and 6 months of summer. I think I remember hearing some of the women talk about in the spring, they used to gather the hair of the aurochs and bison that would be lying around in bunches and using it for cushioning material for making their furs more comfortable. They also used it to insulate their clothing in the winter months. They wondered if that was what made the beds softer. So that would mean that the animals grew a longer coat of hair during the winter months. If they did that, then it might be that their metabolism might just slow down some in the winter months. Can you check with Lisa to see if her hair is growing longer for winter, or will be shortly?”

“Fred, I think we have some of the hides with longer hair. Some of the door hides had longer hair on the hides. It gave better protection in the cold. Of course that makes more sense now. I never realized why they were thicker due to the hair.”

“Bob I think you are right, you will need three tractors. Also you will need plows, planters, cultivators and probably another rake to be able to farm this area. To do that you will definitely need 3 tractors. I will have a third tractor here in the morning. I will also add 2 more ATV’s and we will have to give drivers training for more people. Please let me know who needs to be able to drive and we can help them along some.”