Chapter 1

Two goddamn months! I had two months to prepare for my new life ... in the Stone Age. You heard me! I said: Stone Age. Not in our worlds past, but on another planet, like ours, but was just in its Stone Age.

It all started after I 'died.' I woke up in a morgue, for fuck's sake!

I came to, lying on a cold metal gurney, with a sheet over me.

What the hell? I thought.

I pulled the sheet down to look around. Huh! Nothing like a few dead bodies lying around you on the tables, in various stages of autopsy, as greetings.

"What kind of drugs did they give me?"

"We didn't give you any drugs Gary Williams," a voice from the darkness said, before stepping into the light.

Well ... it wasn't a 'little green man.' This being was short, but was also stout, much like a mystical dwarf, but with a grayish skin tone. Oh, and look at that! Its hand only had three fingers, but it had two thumbs. There was no long braided beard, or anything; but it had a feline nose, and a slit for a mouth.

My brief examination over ... I laughed like hell.

While trying to catch my breath, I replied. "Call me 'Doc.' Yeah, okay, no drugs; then I must be dreaming."

That thing walked over to me, leaned slightly over and said, "Does this feel like a dream, Doc?"

Then it slapped me. Not a light smack either. A 'slap the taste outta your mouth, ' slap.

Since I was now looking at the wall and feeling like my cheek was pulsing with fire. I was duly chastised and starting to get a little afraid.

"I apologize, but you have to understand the position I am in. It's a little frightening. When I am scared, I laugh."

The being eyed me carefully and said, "I probably should have pinched you, but I don't like being laughed at, and we Dremin like to play a little rough," it finished with a wheezing sound that I assumed was a laugh.

I sat up, pulling the sheet around me tightly, because that was all that there was. Not even an 'ass hanging out backwards' gown. I was commando, in a sheet toga.

"What now, boss?" I asked.

"The name is Gronfa and it's time to make a deal," it said with more damned wheezing.

Gronfa told me I would be made younger, healthier, stronger, etc. Then I would be allowed two months to gather and/ or build all I wanted to take with me. I was to settle a new world. It was a copy of the earth, just a few years in the past ... roughly thirty-five thousand years, or so. My job was to live my life, while helping the indigenous people to become more viable for the future.

Here were my guidelines for supplies:

Things could be requested but had to fit within my world's current technology.

The exception was that vehicles and equipment with combustion engines would be converted to run on water. Electrical power, water and waste disposal would be provided.

I was the only human allowed to go.

Guns and weapons had no limits, but locals could not be given firearms, except for my immediate family.

No full size vehicles. (Example: No car, truck ... ahem ... semi-trailer rig.)

The allowed vehicles would be one small sized garden tractor, with implements. (Example: Nothing bigger than a B series Kubota or a 3000 John Deere.)

One domicile and two out buildings, which I would design and they would build.

A fifteen foot high palisade wall to enclose the whole thing.

I was given the area of a football field as my staging compound.

I would be able to pick where I was placed.

After I was in place, an additional 2000 lbs. of supplies would be provided each year for the next three years. Bonuses would be given for good performance.

Productive consumable items would be replenished upon use. Hydraulic oil, hay, animal feed, etc.

No human foods ... damn it.

"So that's it, Doc," Gronfa concluded. "Either take the deal; or you die, for real, right here, tonight."

"Best offer I've had in ages," I said, and truly meant it.

I was forty-three years old and dying of prostate cancer ... had died, apparently. I had lived my whole life on a farm in Montana, except for my stint in the Navy, as a SEAL Medic. I'd had aspirations of becoming a doctor but being on the lines during Desert Storm, and later as support in Somalia, I was cured of that dream. I had seen enough of death and disease. So I went back to Montana to help my uncle who now ran the ranch, since my parents had passed on. Then I got sick. Cancer took my step dad, too. Mom died of a broken heart. Three weeks of debilitating pain in the hospital, and I was ready to die, anyway.

"We're happy you decided to help us," Gronfa replied. "Are you ready to get your body fixed?"

"Yes, Sir," I said snapping a salute.

"I'm female."

Surprised, I blurted, "No shit?"

Then everything went black.

I think she punched me.

I woke up in a camper trailer, needing to piss something fierce. Staggering to and fro, I searched for the bathroom. I finally found it ... the bathroom not my dick ... and pissed for a full minute. Doing the classic 'double take' in the mirror made me piss on the floor. After that shock, I admired a view I hadn't seen in years. Hell, I had hair, again. My face was still the same, minus the gauntness. I was a little taller, and a lot more muscular. I had the same brown eyes and hair, but no body hair. It wasn't that I'd ever had much, but what I'd had, was now gone. Brushing my teeth I wondered if I had clothes to wear or if I'd have to resort to the toga, again.

While searching for the bathroom, I did discover this thing had a washer and dryer, a stocked pantry, and a kitchen. My 'closet' was more like a wall cabinet. It was full of my favorite clothes. I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table. There was a laptop open, just waiting for me to snoop around. Next to the laptop was 'The Black American Express Card, ' a debit card, a rather large stack of wrapped bills ... oh, and my wallet and a satellite phone.

Scooping a spoonful of Honey Nut Cheerios into my mouth, I powered up the laptop. The computer came to life and a movie file of Gronfa's 'pretty' face started playing. She told me the laptop was a gift. On it was an atlas program to help me find a place, so they could plant me on the new world; a CAD program to design my new digs, out buildings, and any other items I might need them to make for me; and Internet Explorer and Office Works to round out the notable programs they had installed. She reiterated the rules, which also happened to be the background image on the desktop. A countdown timer popped up in the upper right hand corner when the video file ended. Nothing like a little pressure to get my ass in gear.

I was up in the hills on a parcel of land near Kansas City; the property had an address, so deliveries could find me. Exploring around, outside the camper I found a Dodge Ram 2500 was left for me to drive. The truck had a seven foot by sixteen foot enclosed trailer attached to it as well. There were four telephone poles stuck in the ground at the corners of my allowed area. At first I was overwhelmed by the size of the area, and then remembered the ranch I grew up on, and realized it wasn't that big. I stood there imagining the layout of certain things and eyeballing where I wanted it all to be.

First things first; I went in and pulled up the PODS website and had them deliver three of their 8'X8'X16' storage containers. They promised they would be here in the morning. I worked on a list of what I wanted for most of the morning, stopping only to make a sandwich for lunch. I left the list for 'fresh eyes' for the next morning. Then, using the CAD program I made a layout for 'The Fort', as I had decided to call it.

I chose my home to be a beefed up stone cabin with a basement. The basement would really be a large cellar, cool and dry, for storage. There would be two entrances into the basement; one would be the normal access from the floor above. The other would be a ramp with narrow steps alongside, accessible from outside at the back of the house. The only walled off rooms in the basement would be a mechanical room, and a vault with a surprise ... if I could find the right spot for it to be placed. I wanted to put in central heat and air in case I really needed it. Though to heat my home I planned to mainly use the fireplace, with small wood stoves in each of the rooms. During the hot summer months I counted on the all concrete construction, with a stone exterior, to keep it nice and cool. Ceiling fans would keep the air moving. I can't sleep without a fan.

The roof I designed was almost an A frame, though not quite as steep. Storage shouldn't be too much of a problem with that attic, plus I could finish it out for more bedrooms, if needed. I just wanted to know how the aliens were going to attach the slate roof.