Chapter 13

I detected movement out of the corner of my eye. I watched as Bella stretched and crawled out of bed. There was no denying that she was a beautiful girl. I discreetly ogled her plump breasts and puffy labia as she prepared to take her morning shower.

She strolled naked across the room and I heard a sharp gasp from the shower cubicle as the cold water drove away the last vestiges of sleep. Returning moments later, she held up her robe, sniffing it tentatively to determine its suitability for wearing. Discarding it onto the bed, she fumbled under the mattress for a change of clothes, affording me a splendid view of her crouching form.

"Are you awake?" she asked, slipping into a thin cream-coloured robe. I opened my eyes and nodded, staring at her exposed flesh through the parted folds of her gown.

"I thought I saw you looking at me."

"I didn't mean to cause offense."

"It doesn't worry me. I'm not ashamed of my body."

"Clearly," I grinned.

She closed the robe and tied it together with the sash. "Do you want something to eat?"

"Please," I replied, reaching a hand from under the sheets to pick up my robe and wait for an opportune moment to slip it on.

"You're not planning to wear that horrible thing again are you?" she asked.

"I don't have anything else."

Bella disappeared and returned with two gowns, both considerably better than the one I'd wore. "These are a couple of Haden's old ones. I'm sure he won't mind."

"Thanks." I removed the laser knife from the pocket and handed her my old gown.

"This is just about good enough to cut into strips and bind tool handles. Where on earth did you get it?"

"The citadel jail."

She laughed. "The Guardians have no sense of style. What's that?"

I held up the knife and then used it to trim off a few strands of my hair.

"Citadel technology. I'll bet they don't know you've got it."

"Probably not," I confirmed.

"Show it to Darian. He'd love to see it, and can probably find a way for you to keep it charged, provided you let others use it from time to time."

"That sounds fair. I used it a couple of times to start a fire to keep warm. I also thought it might make a good weapon."

"Why would you want a weapon?" Bella asked.

"I had a close encounter with a Trog."

"They won't bother you provided you don't threaten them."

"I was told they were quite vicious."

"Only if you try to separate them from their food."

"I admit it did seem to lose interest in me once I gave it some berries."

I partially shifted out of bed to pick up one of Haden's robes, exposing my chest.

Bella gasped and put her hand over her mouth.

"What?" I demanded.

"Your body ... why are you so hairy?"

"It's a long story."

She reached out and touched me, running her fingers through my chest hair.

"It's so soft," she declared, her fascination evident.

I was half-minded to slip my hand into her gown and fondle her breasts, but resisted the urge. She seemed far too young and innocent, and I didn't wish to shock her. After allowing her a few moments to indulge her curiosity, I turned my back and donned my new robe, removing temptation.

Breakfast turned out to be a thick sludge that bore a passing resemblance to porridge. Whilst I've never been a great lover of the cereal, it was filling and surprisingly flavoursome. Bella devoured every scrap, doubtless a necessity with a full morning of physical chores ahead of her.

She escorted me through the village, reeling off the names of those who lived in each cabin, before finally arriving at the large building that dominated the centre of the settlement. Inside, a section was set aside for food storage whilst a large open area contained winter shelter for livestock.

Within his workshop, Darian used a hand-powered grinding wheel to restore the edge to a long handled scythe. Even to my twenty-first century eyes, it looked like a scene from a Victorian costume drama. He fawned over Bella like a lovelorn adolescent, trying desperately to impress the teenager, but failing miserable to attract her attention.

"I have to go," she sighed. "The cows won't milk themselves."

I watched her depart then turned my attention back to Darian. My admiring glances of her had not gone unnoticed and he looked slightly peeved.

"She's a bit on the young side for me," I confided. The words seemed to reassure him, and he visibly relaxed.

"I'm sorry. Every time somebody new appears in the village, I have this uncontrollable fear they'll steal her away from me."

"The two of you are partnering?"

"I live in hope," he replied wistfully. "One day."

He finished his chore and then gave me a quick guided tour. Dozens of familiar stasis cabinets lined one wall in the storage area, filled to capacity with food to feed the villagers over the coming months. Five were empty and deactivated. Darian informed me that repairing them was beyond his skills.

"Why doesn't the citadel replace them?" I asked.

"They send us only the absolute minimum. Life here is far removed from what you're probably accustomed to."

With his help, we dragged one of the defunct stasis units into the centre of the room and I removed the rear access panel. I tried to recollect the internal schematic from the time I'd worked on one of the units, in order to boost its power. I traced the circuitry, leading me to identify a burned out induction coil; the charring around the outside of the component was a dead giveaway.

Two hours later, the innards of each of the five broken cabinets were spread out over the floor, beside one functioning unit that I used as a test bed. I swapped component after component until I identified all the faults, cannibalising one of the units to finally restore four of the broken units to full operation, and leaving a handful of spare parts for future use. We dragged the scrapped cabinet outside and deposited it in the cow field, deciding that it would make an excellent feeding trough. Darian grinned with our accomplishment, informing me that the increased storage capacity would prevent some of the upcoming harvest from going to waste.

The smell of freshly baking bread drew us like flies to a honey pot, and we scrounged a small crusty loaf for lunch. A large sack contained harvested grain and beside it, a sealed container kept the yeast dry. An idea began to formulate in my head, just requiring the location of a suitable flavouring agent to make the project worthwhile.

"I'll show you where all the power comes from," Darian offered.

The photovoltaic cells charged an incredibly compact power storage matrix. Outside, a bank of gently spinning turbines supplemented them whenever the wind blew at sufficient strength. From the central power storage, underground cables carried energy around the settlement but, with only a limited amount of capacity to spare, severe rationing took place. There was barely enough power to provide each cabin with rudimentary lighting, certainly nothing more.

It occurred to me that one continuous potential source of energy lay untapped. After Darian showed me the spare generators for the wind turbines, I began thinking of ways to make use of them. Somehow harnessed to the fast-flowing river, the power that they'd produce would probably surpass that of the wind turbines whose output varied considerably over the course of the day. Darian was excited at the prospect of tapping into the river currents, revealing the idea to Haden when he called by to check up on us.

I had already started making a list of potential projects, the highest priority being the restoration of hot water. Crawling into the roof space of Haden's hut, I inspected the heating system. Tubing ran through a large solar collector, carrying water to a heat exchanger that in turn fed a tank mounted directly over the shower. Further investigation revealed an accumulation of lime scale that reduced the water flow to a pitiful trickle. I isolated the system and pumped vinegar through it. Darian watched as a thick milky sludge emerged at the far end, slowly becoming clearer as the built-up deposits slowly dissolved and circulation was restored.

Between us, we repaired three systems by the end of the day and improvements in performance were already being reported. I collapsed exhausted into bed that night, full of grand ideas. Haden smiled indulgently at me, probably not expecting any of my projects to come to fruition. Compared to the citadel, life in the village was certainly harder, but in many ways, offered so much more potential for someone such as myself. I felt alive for the first time since my initial stasis experiments, centuries ago.

I awoke at the crack of dawn and quickly showered, anxious to make the most of the daylight hours. The water was significantly warmer than before and I took pride in what I'd already achieved. It would take two more days to repair the remaining hot water systems, after which I'd start planning other tasks. I still pined for Nella and Teel; but hoped that by keeping busy, I could prevent falling into despondency about their loss.

Grabbing a few mouthfuls to eat, I strode past a still somnolent Bella, and made my way across the courtyard to the storage shed. I appropriated a large wooden vat, some crushed grain, yeast and a quantity of fruit from one of the stasis cabinets. After a couple of hours of preparation, I added fresh water and stirred the contents with a wooden pole before placing a lid over the top. I'd brewed my own beer several times in the past, usually from ingredients specifically designed for the purpose. I had no idea how well or how badly this particular combination would perform, but was determined to attempt it nonetheless.

With the village enjoying hot water once more, I turned my attention towards the spare turbines. The bearings, impellers and outer casing were designed to withstand the elements, but I was unsure whether they'd survive complete immersion for long periods. There was a danger that floating debris and sediment would eventually clog up the mechanism or seize the bearings. Darian came up with the suggestion of mounting the generator on the riverbank and coupling it to something spinning in the water, leading inevitably to the decision to make use of a waterwheel. I found it slightly ironic that in the twenty third century, the pair of us were reintroducing technology first developed by the ancient Greeks.

Darian helped locate most of the components from scrap materials. After four days of continuous graft, we constructed a rudimentary waterwheel and were ready to test it. Attached to a safety line, I waded into the river and hammered a number of sturdy metal pylons into the sandy bed. With a great deal of help, we manoeuvred the ten-foot diameter waterwheel into the water and positioned it onto the support struts. I smiled as it began to rotate rapidly within the torrent. A long rod connected it to the input spindle of the generator. It whined as the rotors spun inside and the whole assembly seemed stable enough to remain fixed in place, at least for the time being.