Chapter 58

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."R. Frost

Well I was up and at 'em bright and early the next morning. Balzai was still clinging to me, her right arm over top as she laid spoons with me. I gently moved her hand off and carefully got out of the furs. First thing I wanted to do was drain the lily. My morning wood could poke your eye out if you were too close. Once relieved, I went into the office to do some work. I specifically wanted to check the scans from last night. I wanted to see if Mr. Hagan was overextending his welcome. I asked the computer to show me the activity for Festus throughout the night. The only thing I saw was him making up to one of the widows. Or maybe it was the widow making up to him. They went for a little tumble in the hay as he would say. I didn't watch too long, but it seemed he knew what he was doing and she though he was doing a pretty good job at it. I guess I needed to ask what his intentions were with her. That was going to be fun. I reviewed the village population figures and decided to agree with the computer. We could stand to have about 150 more adult villagers inside the compound. The statistics indicated that our compound would sustain 325 people provided I continued my hunting practices or the men would learn the new method once I issued bows.

'We've got enough for everyone in the village to have one.' He thought to himself. 'I intend to teach every man, woman and child how to shoot. We also need to start a fletching class to teach them how to make the arrows.'

I asked the computer to give me a geological survey of minerals for the immediate vicinity of the compound. When the report came back it had every mineral deposit within 100 miles. It was printed on some sort of material that looked like it was laminated plastic. That would be very handy. Next I asked for a map of the indigenous population. It came even quicker, since they had already been mapped. It was dated today. They have been monitoring all groups of 5 or more. The maps were were color coded and showed movement in the last 30 days. If I was reading it correctly there were 11 traveling groups and 7 stationary groups. Size ranged from 5 to 77 people. They would nicely fill up our openings. The traveling groups included most probable movement within the next two days of travel. One group of 11 was headed toward us and projected to be within one mile within 4 hours. Another large group of people, around 41 was projected to be here sometime tomorrow morning. I asked for aerial recon video of both groups over the time since daylight so I could observe. I had to wait ten minutes for the video to be ready.

Michael, your videos are now ready for you to view. We have analyzed the movements of both groups and we stand by the arrival predictions. Since the smaller group will be near in the next four hours we will play that video first. We have edited out any periods where there is little or no interaction between the members of the group. We also edited out views of people exercising normal bodily functions. We have advanced the speed to 2x, which can be slowed as necessary. All you need do is say play, slow, stop or resume.

"Thanks, DAVE." I replied. "That will make this a much easier task. I thank you for that. I will see the 1^st group now and view the 2^nd one later."

"Play video one" I stated to the computer. The screen lit up and the first video started playing. There were 3 men, 5 women and 3 children. One of the men was very old, as was one of the women. One man in his twenties and a young man, or boy. As I watch, I noticed the respect shown to the elderly. Two of the women were older and one woman handled two of the children and the other took care of the smallest child. The older of the men was paying attention to the younger woman with the single child. He was courteous to the other woman and didn't disabuse anyone in camp. When the old man needed assistance he looked like he willingly helped out. The other two women, or girls would help with the children. This is a group we must add to our village. They behave like our own people do, showing deference to the elderly and assisting with the children. I didn't expect trouble from them, so I got Hamlin and Jaklow to saddle Red and three paint mares. Then I went to find Shanana.

"Hey there you sweet thing." I said as my arms surrounded her body. I couldn't resist a grab on one of her tits. I cupped it in my hand as I hugged her to me. "I think we should go for a ride. There will be a group of wanderers near here in a half hour. They are a family group that I think would fit here nicely. Do you want to go with me to get them?" I tongued her ear a little and squeezed a bit on her cupped titty. I gave the extended nipple a little flick. Then I rubbed her rounding belly. It wouldn't be too much longer before she couldn't go with us.

"Yes husband, father of my child, I would like to ride with you while I still can. My belly is swollen with this baby. I know you like the way it made my boobies bigger. Just wait til I get full of milk. Then you and your child may both nurse on me at the same time. I hope I make enough milk for you and the baby too." With that she kissed me solidly and went to get her leather breaches on for riding. She has taken to the habit of wearing the short dress that allows me easy access. All my mates have adopted that style so there wouldn't be any access problems to worry about. As I watched her dress hiked up a bunch and I saw her cunt lips rubbed together as she walked. I started to get hard just by watching her walk. She came back wearing the leather pants and was eager to get started.

The four of us mounted our horses. Hamlin and Jaklow rode side by side and Shanana and I sorta did our own thing. We were riding close together when Jaklow spotted them. We were riding slowly up to them when they spotted us. We were on the eastern slope away from the tree line. We stopped our horses and waited. It took them another minute to navigate their way to us. They spotted the horses and the two younger boys started circling to the east, in hunter fashion. The older women gave the children to the girls and took up defensive positions. The old man and woman moved to the back. The man I assumed to be leader came forward slightly. He stopped about 50 yards away, a good spear throw away. I motioned with my head for the boys to spread out a little and told Shanana to hold back. I rode three steps forward and stopped. I raised my right hand to the square and called out.

"Peace to you, brother traveler. We welcome you to our home. Are you well? Do you require assistance?"

He copied my motion and called out "Peace to you." He waved his hand in the air in a peculiar manner and the boys turned back to the group. The women took the children back and the whole group strode forward. I signaled dismount, knowing there would be no trouble here. We all got down. I had to help Shanana. My hand slipped a little and I got a handful of crotch. Too bad it was covered by the leather pants. She just spun around and tickled my tonsils a bit before turning back to the advancing party.

When they got to us, again he made the sign of the square. I answered then extended my hand in friendship. He had never seen this before so I showed him we grasp each others forearm. He caught on and insisted that everyone exchange handclasps. Even the little one, a girl about 5 wanted to do it. She was so charming. Shanana just had to pick her up.

The man spoke first. "Elmo is elder here, he will speak" With that the younger man differed to his elder.

"Yes, I am Elmo and this is my mate Zena. Her daughters are Tema and Nanatowan. Tema's mate was killed by wanderers. Larmo, the big fellow here is mate to Nanatowan. Their daughter is Pilmi. The other two girls are Wend and Quannat. They are Tema's children. Larmo is a great hunter and feeds us well enough. We were all in the forest when a group of wanderers came to our village. All the men were killed and all the women were taken captive. We are trying to rescue them. We travel in the same line, only we can go faster. We set traps for the wanderers. So far we kill 3 of them, but they not find us. We now half day ahead of them. They more careful since we kill others. Not as easy to save village."