Chapter 9

Roger and his new group of colonists made it back to Birmingham in mid June. He was extremely anxious to see what progress was made on the tasks he left his men to work on when he departed. He had assigned the blacksmith and his helpers the task of beginning a mining operation for the metals they would need as well as the coal to smelt them with. They were going to set up the smelting operation near the deposits of metal. Other men in the group were assigned construction tasks and to the burgeoning farming operation. Bear Stalker was assigned a small group of men to teach the Indian way of moving through the woods. When he was satisfied with their capability he would then teach another group until all were taught what he could teach them. Roger had done the same with those he took with him on the trip. He was also continuing the modern military training and had begun training his new colonists as well in the modern methods of warfare and hand to hand combat. Before he was done he expected his army to rival the U S Army of 2010 in individual capability and tactics.

Roger also planned to build more modern rifles and even some primitive body armor and helmets that he hoped would turn musket balls and arrows. In the future he hoped to build primitive tanks as well. He knew the great influx of settlers was already in the works and he wanted to be ready to repel the English and pick and choose those who he would allow to join his colony.

After they returned home Roger gave the camp three days to celebrate their return and to integrate the new citizens into the group. While the new colonists were being integrated into the settlement Roger took a day to inspect the progress made while he was gone. Most of the primary tasks assigned were completed and the secondary ones well underway.

As he walked around the settlement Roger was pleased to see some new families being formed between the Indian women and some of his men. Three of Margarita's female relatives were paying amorous attention to three of Roger's men also. Some of the new families were already busy working on their cabins instead of relaxing as Roger said they could.

On the morning of the fourth day after his return to Birmingham Roger called his senior staff together for formal reports and a planning session. After he got the reports Roger discussed his next priority for the colony. He had designed a rudimentary blast furnace for smelting the metals and wanted to begin building it and then smelting the mined ore. One of the first runs would be some new knives and farming implements for the colonists. After those were completed Roger had plans for equipping his militia. Roger also wanted to begin building wheel barrows, small trailers, and even an engine. He knew the engine would be difficult, even using those from the future for examples. They did not have the high quality steel and other metals required for a truly robust long lasting engine. Roger was frustrated. He had so many wants, so much knowledge of what was possible but it was currently impossible to make those items.

One of the ongoing tasks in the small settlement was forming a bond and teaching all the people English. Roger planned to hold school for all from the youngest to the oldest during the winter. He would continue to teach them to read, write, and think in the modern way. His plans were to use any and all the books he found in the wrecks. He knew many of the words and concepts would be well above the initial capability of his students but he had been a firm believer for years that our modern day schools did not work well. He felt students could learn more at a younger age than was usually taught. He knew individuals had varying abilities to learn and different interests. He hoped that by introducing concepts early he could identify a person's capability and channel their education in that direction earlier. He also intended to 'simplify' the English he taught. Some spelling did not make sense to him and he intended to "correct" that. He also intended to do away with many words that had similar sounds such as too for also and so forth.

Roger's concept of education was a Hodgepodge of theories and concepts he had seen, been subjected to, or read about in his life. He wanted all his settlers to be able to read, write and do basic mathematics. He also intended to stress education in ethics and law. He intended to institute and enforce capital punishment for violent and serious offenses. From that base he would develop experts in the various fields. He initially intended to stress education in the sciences, manufacturing, engineering, and medicine. He would allow the arts as a hobby initially and would decide at a later date if they would ever be a subject for classes in higher education. Currently, he felt as if they had no place in higher education.

The rest of that summer, Roger and his small settlement spent preparing for the winter and stockpiling supplies of all types. Additionally, they improved the defensive capabilities of their small settlement. Roger was afraid they could not continue living without some attacks as the local Indians and even the Spanish began to fear and resent their colony.

During the remainder of the summer they also began building some more modern items to make life easier. Roger designed and built carts and wagons that could run on roads or, by changing wheels, on the rail system he planned to build. Lengths, widths, heights were standardized. Roger also standardized containers where possible. As much as he hated to do so he scrapped the old English system of weights and measures. He taught and they used the metric system.

By the time it turned cold they had a large pile of the various ores ready to process and an even larger pile of coal. Since smelting was a heat intensive process Roger intended to run his smelters mostly in the winter until such time as they needed large volumes of metal. Roger did allow his settlers to bring some of the coal to the settlement to use for fuel. He had to limit its use for two reasons; their stoves and fireplaces could not burn it efficiently and he did not want the pollution near the settlement. Roger intended to limit pollution as much as he could from the beginning so it would never be the problem it had been in his time. He intended to do everything he could to protect the environment.

In mid November Roger's camp was honored with a visit from the tribe of Indians he befriended when they were returning home. To Roger's surprise there was a white woman with them. She had a young child with her, a baby. When she saw Roger she slumped to the ground and hugged the child to her breast as she cried. Roger looked at her then turned his attention to the Brave who seemed to be in charge. Roger still had not mastered the language used by the Indians in the area. He could understand some of it but still relied on Sunny to translate.