Part 19 (1/2)
”That's not likely to happen Dave,” Betty said, ”but the extra s.p.a.ce will certainly come in handy.”
”How long have you lived here?”
”Don't rightly know, Zeek, but quite some time.”
Mary said, ”We've had two winters here if that helps.”
This was the first time that Mary Thomas had spoken. Her voice was soft and cultured, more so than Dave's. Somehow they didn't seem to fit together as man and wife, but they'd obviously been through a lot, so maybe that wasn't so surprising.
”We haven't been introduced,” Mary said, ”I'm Mary, Dave's wife, and this is Danny our eldest, and Sarah, and this little guy is Paul.”
”I'm eight,” Paul said, proudly.
”And I'm Jake, and this is Betty, Martha and Zeek. You'll have to watch out for Zeek's sense of humour I'm afraid, there's usually one in every bunch, and in ours, it's Zeek!”
They all laughed, and for the first time the Thomases looked like a family.
Jake took Dave to one side and asked, ”Do you know of any other survivors who may need our help?”
Dave hesitated a little before replying. ”There were some folks in the ruins, but the radiation was bad there, so I don't know if they are still alive. To be honest, we kept away from them as much as we could after the war ended. We had nothing to give them, so we headed out into the country and kept away from what was left of the built up areas. We travelled, looking for somewhere safe to live. It seems like years now since everything was blown apart, and we've lost track of time.”
He chuckled a little, ”Time has very little meaning any more. Some months ago we found this place. It's not much, but we have water and firewood, and there doesn't seem to be any radiation here. There are fish in the lake, and a few small animals in the forest, so we survive.” He paused. ”Well, thanks to you that is, we'd be dead by now if you hadn't come along. By the way, how did you cure us so quickly?”
”It's a long story Dave, let's just say we found some good medicine and were glad to share it with you.”
Jake was loath to tell Dave about Lark and Eden, having seen something of the harsh life they were living here. Perhaps later, but now didn't feel like the right time.
”Do you have any plans?” Dave asked.
”No, not yet, but we may travel and see if there are any more like you that we can help. Come on, let's get back to the others, they'll be wondering where we are.”
When they got back to the cabin they found Sarah seated firmly on Zeek's lap. ”I seem to have made a friend,” he said, smiling. All the others were back working on the new cabin.
”Say, is anybody hungry?” Jake called out, ”We brought some food with us...”
Tristran turned up for work as usual, even though his project was now completed. ”Hi Tris,” John said, on seeing him, ”don't want to go back to school eh?”
”I'd rather stay and help out here if that's ok with you John.”
”Good, I'm glad you said that Tris, cos I've got something I want you to work on. It's top secret though so don't tell anyone.”
John was obviously teasing, but it was true that he had something for Tris to do. They went into John's office and John produced some rough plans from his desk drawer.
”See what you can do with this,” he said, handing them over. ”Find a quiet corner somewhere and see what you come up with.”
Tris looked at the plans and smiled, ”Sure, John, I'll see you later.”
Tris left the office in search of that elusive 'quiet corner' and John didn't see him for the rest of the day.
Sam and Kay had been up all night talking. ”I never knew that chemistry could be so fascinating,” he said, ”you make it come alive Kay, I'm hooked!”
Kay giggled like a little girl, she was not used to such devotion from the opposite s.e.x, and she rather liked it.
”You're a good listener,” she told him, ”you make it easy to teach.”
They breakfasted and went their separate ways for work.
The following day, John b.u.mped into Tris as he entered the department.
”Had any luck?” he asked.
”Some,” Tris answered, ”but the power to weight ratio is proving troublesome.”
”Yes, I know,” John said, ”that's why I gave it to you! Keep at it, I think it would be good if we could get it to work.”
”Okay,” Tris answered, ”see you later.”
Again he vanished for the rest of the day, but John was confident he would come up with a workable design.
”Hey Jims,” Sh.e.l.ley said as she entered the house, ”I just saw Phil, and he was singing the praises of your new fuel, he said it was dynamite.”
”Actually, Sh.e.l.ls, it's an awful lot more powerful than dynamite, but I accept the encouragement gracefully.”
Sh.e.l.ley took no notice of his little bow. ”Did he tell you about the return trip?” She asked.
”No, I haven't b.u.mped into him yet, what do you know about it?”
”Well, for one thing, the rockets are extremely efficient with the new fuel, which means a little goes a long way, and the other thing was the Trion drive, the new s.h.i.+elding makes it much faster than it was before. He said something about perpetual acceleration, whatever that means!”
”Ah,” Jimmy responded, to that last comment, ”now that is interesting. Any way, I'm starved let's eat.”
The next time John saw Tris he was grinning from ear to ear.
”You've solved it?” he asked, excitedly.
”Yes I have, you're going to love this.”
Tris handed John the modified plans. John took a quick look, and almost jumped for joy.
”You have solved it haven't you. Doh! It was right under my nose all the time and I couldn't see it. Right young man, this is your project now, I want you to build it. The department is yours.”
Tris' face lit up, but all he could say was, ”Wow.”