Resolutions

Chapter 1-2

Irene Harris came out of the house. “What’s going on, Annie? Your dinner is getting cold. How are ya, Heather?”

“Hey, Doc, all of us are fine,” Heather yelled.

“They need a place to sleep until tomorrow,” Annie said. “They’re going with me to see the new arrivals.”

“You make it sound like a trip to the zoo.” Harris chuckled.

“You mean, it isn’t?” Annie flashed to Irene. “I hope Kevin can corral the beasties.”

“Sure, bring them in,” Irene said. “I’ll get Roy-Boy to rustle up something for them to eat.” She turned and entered the house.

“You know he hates it when you call him that,” Annie flashed, and motioned for the rest to follow Irene as she brought up the rear.

Murdock was standing a few paces from the campfire, gazing out into the night.

“You know what I have in mind,” he flashed to Beron. “Will you help?”

Murdock knew the huge bear was lying atop the step above the camp, keeping a watch of a different type. He also knew Bridget was lying next to him, as usual, her focus directed to the human children, whom she adored.

“We will help all we able.” Beron replied. “You know all need is ask. Bridget guard families.” Beron paused. “Why use food for travel?”

A picture of the deer popped into Murdock’s mind. “They are what humans call draft animals. They are stronger than humans and can pull for a longer time. I appreciate that you remain invisible to them. Seeing you would frighten them and cause disruption.”

If there was such a thing as shrugging while communicating telepathically, that was what Murdock perceived.

“We remain hidden from you kind at these events,” Beron flashed.

When Murdock woke Declan for his watch, he had gathered more wood for the fire, enough to last through the night.

“I’m going to get things set at the landing,” Murdock whispered. “I’m counting on you to see to it that camp is struck and our families are transported. Bridget is watching and will help. Not that I’m expecting any trouble, but you never know.”

“What about you?” Declan said.

“Beron is going with me, so, I’ll be fine,” Murdock said as he slipped off into the darkness.

Murdock was above the landing site, atop the plateau that was across the stream from the landing area, gathering poles needed to mark the barrier, when he heard a strange noise coming from the trees. He checked the breeze and found it blowing into his face, so he froze amongst the saplings.

As he readied himself with his bow, he could hear snuffling and grunting sounds headed his way. He crouched as the creature broke into the open. A wild boar… sort of. It must weigh five hundred pounds, and what a tusker! That head almost looks like a warthog. It may be a cross between a warthog and a razorback.

The boar stared at him, stomped the ground and snorted before continuing to forage. As it turned, Murdock drew back and let an arrow fly. The beast dropped.

“Destroyer,” Beron flashed. “Stray. Difficult control and confine.”

“This is a destroyer?” Murdock replied. “I should have known. They eat anything they can find, leaving little, if any. It never occurred to me.”

“Why you take?” Beron flashed.

“Where humans come from, they are good to eat. Many have tamed them.”

“Strange, you kind.”

A few hours later, Murdock levitated the processed porcine and two dozen one- to two-inch diameter poles off of the ridge above the landing site. As he did, he saw Declan and their families heading his way.

“Where did you get the tusker?” Declan asked as he dismounted.

“Up there.” Murdock indicated the ridge he had just descended. “Get it cooking while I place the poles, and then I’ll help with resetting camp.”

After the poles were set, marking off a three-hundred-square-yard area with the pods inside, Murdock helped to get the tipis set up again. There wasn’t much left for him to do, as his family, and Declan’s, had worked together to get the tasks accomplished.

It’s amazing what can happen when everyone works together.

“Raise the pig,” Murdock told Declan. “Slow cook it and turn it so it’s not dry. What do you think of trying to trap some young ones and tame them?”

“We’d have to make an enclosure to keep them in and predators out,” Declan said, “but I don’t see why we couldn’t try to tame them. I’m sure the older kids could do quite a bit of the raising. It would secure another food source for us.”

“Hey, Murdock!” Annie Cooper yelled, from a distance.

Murdock turned and saw her. Heather, Kathy Watkins, and Mark Lantz were further away.

“What’s going on, Annie?” Murdock flashed.

“They need help. Not too bright to venture out unprepared.”

“What kind of help?”

“They need replacement craftsmen, metal and wood mostly.”

“If they’re not armed, bring them in.”

Annie retreated to talk to the trio, and then all four proceeded into the camp.

“Not too bright venturing out unarmed and ill-prepared,” Murdock said, as the four entered the camp proper. “Heather, you know better.”

Heather moved over to Murdock and gave him a hug. “I know, but someone insisted we didn’t need them,” she whispered in his ear. “They refused to travel with me if I were armed.”

“Is that true, Lantz? Did you refuse to travel with Heather if she were armed?” Murdock scowled at him.

“This is not that hostile of a place,” Lantz said. “Weapons are not needed most of the time.” Lantz said dismissively.

“How would you like to walk home alone? I know the dangers, and I go everywhere armed. You are a fool!”

Lantz backed up a step or two. “Are you saying you won’t help us?”

“I don’t suffer fools,” Murdock snapped, “but you’re worse! You’re an imbecile and a fool. Anyone who would ever listen to you is asking to end up as dinner. I told you about the cougar. Did you or your people take care of it? There are also wolves and pirates. What was your plan if you ran across one? Push Heather out in front of you so you can run?”

Lantz took a couple more steps back.

“You can take your stupid ass right on back to where you came from. I’ll have a powwow with Heather, and then decide for myself.”

“But… but… I don’t know the way home.”

Murdock arched his back, let his head hang back, and exhaled loudly. “Maybe, sometime in the last five years, you should’ve gotten outside your house for more than five minutes.” He stomped over to Lantz and grabbed his upper arm, instinctively digging in his fingers to separate the bicep and tricep muscles, to reduce the amount of resistance Lantz could affect. He dragged the taller man to the first pole. “See pole? Follow pole, that way,” Murdock said condescendingly. “When you get to the cliff, you can do everyone a favor and jump off. Or you can turn left and go to the river. At the river, you can drown yourself, or turn right and follow the path home. If you ever endanger Heather or Alvin—or anyone else, for that matter—I’ll show you, firsthand, what the wolves can do!” He shoved Lantz back, causing him to stumble. “Now get your dumb ass home! You see what I have to put up with?” He entered the camp. “And people wonder why I am the way I am. And you, young lady!” He scowled at Heather. “You should’ve never left the house without something, anything. I thought I taught you better than that.”

“Lantz wasn’t going to give her the annual allowance of flour if she didn’t guide him unarmed,” Annie said.

“Why you?” Murdock asked Heather.

“Because no one else knows where the medical facility is. I knew because Declan told me on one of his visits.”

“So, you and Alvin don’t live with the rest?”

“No, we moved about a mile toward the stream so we could do what we needed with the deer. Built our own place and have been improving it. We’re both still expected to help with the harvest for our bag of flour.”

“As well they should,” Watkins said, then seeing the glare from Murdock, decided silence would be the better option.

Murdock turned his attention back to Heather. “What happens if you need help?”

She shrugged. “Deal with it ourselves, mostly.”

“But if they need help, you better show up fast, right?”

“That’s about the size of it.”

“Do they use your mounts?”

“Most of the time they just take an animal they need for plowing or whatever.”

“Payments?”

Heather shook her head.

“And why should there be any payment?” Watkins said. “None of us get paid. Labor is donated for the good of the community.”

“You need to move your operation across from the medical facility,” Murdock said. “Let them see the value of you being there. Think about it and discuss it with Alvin. How’s that pig coming along?” he asked Declan.

“You have another issue to deal with.” Annie pointed discreetly toward the landing pods.

Murdock turned to see one of the pods opening its ramp. He stood there, sucking saliva through his teeth as if he had something stuck between them.

“I’m not in the mood for this.”

Curtis Griffen held up his arm to block the sunshine from his light-sensitive eyes as he made his way down the transport pod’s ramp. The meal inside the pod was insufficient for him, and his rubbery legs protested. I hate that feeling.

Once his eyes adjusted to the sunshine, after he’d reached the bottom of the ramp, he thought he could make out something. Are those… Indians? With a couple wigwams, no less. Am I hallucinating? Maybe I’m still in stasis and this is just a dream… or a nightmare.

A few seconds later, as everyone moved toward a figure walking toward them, he could see two men and three women wearing buckskins, and two women dressed much as the rest of the newcomers, just more worn, almost threadbare. The man coming toward them was short and appeared to be well-armed. From what Curtis could see, a bow, arrows, and two machetes. He walks with authority and a purpose. Danger!

“I am Murdock,” the man said, “and I have been here for ten years. If any of you think they know more than I do about this place, then speak up. I’ll be more than happy not to think about you when winter comes and you’re starving and freezing. If you look that way,” he pointed at the sticks poking up from the ground, “you’ll see sticks. Stay away from them. There is a barrier there for the safety of all concerned. If you look toward the stream,” he pointed the other way, “you’ll see a cliff face. Don’t go up there. If you look behind me, you’ll see another cliff face. You can go up there if you want to, but not the one behind it. Off toward the poles is the river. Once I’ve released you, you are free to go that way. There are lots of fish in the river. This planet has various wildlife. There are deer, wolves, and mountain lions. Deer being the most plentiful. There are also bears, but don’t hunt, bother, or molest them. All the wildlife is bigger than you’d expect.”

“Why should we do anything you say?” someone asked. “Who appointed you Lord over us?”

Murdock grinned mirthlessly. “You can do whatever you want, but when you end up dead, you’ll have no one to blame but yourselves. Going contrary to what I said will get you killed, so you go right ahead. It won’t bother me in the least. I’m not here to babysit a bunch of whiny tenderfoots. I’m here to give you all a fighting chance to survive, but you can do what you want. I’ll not waste my time with any of you. I don’t suffer fools.”

“He sounds harsh,” whispered a woman standing close to Curtis.

He frowned at her.

“What’s your problem?” she asked in a surly tone.

“Shut up. I’m tryin’ ta listen.” Curtis answered.

“How rude can you get?” the woman asked rhetorically.

“I know some of you might think I’m harsh,” Murdock said, “but I’m not as harsh as nature. This isn’t a vacationers’ campground. Survival is harsh, and you might as well get used to it. You don’t have a lot of choices. You will only be as safe as you want to be, but that will take a lot of work, from you, to accomplish.”

“Where is our equipment? Did you steal it?” a man said, from the middle of the crowd.

“Why would I do that? If you listened to your briefing, it said your equipment was under the pod, unless they changed it from when I arrived. If you can’t find it, then get back in the pod, close the ramp, and never come out. You’re just too stupid to survive. If I took your stuff, wouldn’t that make you more dependent on me? Believe me, that’s the last thing I want. I have my own children to worry about. I don’t need more little babies. There are some here already that would kill you for what you’re carrying, but that isn’t me. Now then, all those who think they’re qualified to lead this group, go over to the stream. Everyone else stays at this end.”

Murdock waited while the group separated into two groups. He drank from his waterskin while he waited.

“Now, I want you to be honest with yourself,” Murdock said to the remaining, when the sorting was complete. “If you absolutely and unequivocally, don’t want to lead, then come forward. That would include those who feel you’re totally unqualified, or have trouble giving orders to others.”

The waiting continued while they thought about it for some time. Five people came forward.

“You five remain. The rest of you can go over to the stream.”

Murdock sized them up. He looked at the smallest of the five, who were still taller than he was.

“What’s your name?” he asked the smallest man.

“Charles. Charles Benteen.”

“Are you any relation to Frederick Benteen?”

“Not that I’m aware of. I don’t know who that is.” Benteen answered softly with a confused look on his face.

Soft-spoken, shortest man, doesn’t want to lead. “Well, Chuck, you’re it. You’re in charge of this… this herd. Come over here by me.”

Benteen ambled toward Murdock, hesitating at the poles that marked the barrier.

“Why did you pick me? I don’t want to lead. I’m not qualified to lead myself, let alone two hundred.” Benteen protested.

“That’s why I picked you. I’ll explain it later, after they empty the other pods and I pick the leaders. For now, you need to get all the gear in the compartments on the ground, and get everyone outfitted similar to me. Get the waterskins handed out, two to a person, and get them filled, hopefully without muddying the stream. If the other pods open, separate yourselves and don’t tell them anything about this conversation.”

Benteen nodded and started back beyond the barrier.

“Oh, and Chuck, if I call for you, don’t make me wait and don’t make me come looking for you.”

Benteen blanched. Once he was on the pod side of the barrier, Murdock went back to his campsite to wait.

“Why did you pick that guy?” Declan said, when Murdock had returned.

“Because he didn’t want it.” Murdock poked the roasting porker, then took out his six-inch knife and cut off a piece. “I’m trying to prevent those with megalomania from gaining power over these tenderfoots.” He took a bite of the pork. “That’s good stuff,” he said, around the mouthful of meat.

“Thanks.” Declan smiled.

Everyone at the campsite cut their own piece of pork.

“What about Watkins?” Heather hesitated to take a piece of the meat.

“Heather, what kind of a leader is she?” Murdock glared at Watkins.

“She mainly keeps the women in line and agrees with Lantz.” Heather kept her gaze forward and didn’t look toward Watkins. “I think they have something going between them, though.”

“If you stand there holding that meat, it will get cold and greasy.” Murdock took another bite. “I suppose she can have some, but only because I know you and you feel guilty eating in front of her. It’s not because she deserves anything from us.”