100 Will Work For Food (1/2)

”... and it should be ready by the end of next week. At the latest.”

Kirk blinked. He was looking, at pretty close range, at a small wooden hut standing in the middle of a row of similar small wooden huts. He took a deep breath and found himself inhaling the aroma of human excrement. He coughed, and heard Adam laugh.

He turned and saw his son, dressed in a tan suede jacket and pants. The pants were tucked into stained brown leather boots whose tops ended just below his knees. Two men leading horses by their halters were passing behind Adam, talking in low voices. The ground was covered in dead leaves, and the trees in the background were already half-naked in preparation for the coming winter.

Adam laughed again and said:

”Dad, you got me completely fooled. I was sure you were here all along. You arrived just this moment? I'll be damned.”

”Let me collect my thoughts,” Kirk said, meaning it very literally. Whenever he entered his second self in the New World, he got access to the memories and insights his double had collected in the meantime. It took time to adjust; things definitely worked smoother when there was telepathic contact between the two worlds.

”You were saying the new latrines will be ready end of next week?” he said.

”Yes,” said Adam.

”It's taking a hell of a long time.”

”That's what I was getting to. There's been all this rain, and the wood is taking a long time to dry.”

Kirk nodded.

”I understand you haven't started working on the ship?”

”Not yet. I guess we'll build it in the spring.”

”That's not good,” Kirk said sternly. He lifted his chin and looked his son in the eye.

”We must reconnoiter the whole coast right down to the Channel Islands,” he said. ”Because Channel Islands is where Bernard will be building our southern base.”

Adam let his breath out with a hiss.

”You're really got it for that Placek woman, don't you, Dad,” he said.

”Don't call her a woman,” Kirk snapped. ”She doesn't look like one and she doesn't like to be called one, either. If you called her a woman to her face she'd have probably slapped you. Correction: she'd give you one of those killer punches they teach at anti-rape workshops.”

”I really can't imagine anyone wanting to **** her,” Adam said.

”You've got a limited imagination, son. And a bad memory. Remember that kid couple of years back? The one that preyed on widowed grandmothers? The youngest was sixty nine and the eldest eighty, and he raped them all.”

Adam shuddered.

”Did he get life?” he asked.

”Sure he did. But he had one of those difficult childhoods and if he plays nice, he'll be out in twenty. Who knows, probably less, with all the shit that's been coming down they'll be releasing people much earlier. Anyway. We must get going on that ship. It's the least we can do for Bernard. You know he'll be going down there with a bunch of people to start a new settlement. Scouting out the location in the New World is the least we can do.”

Adam shook his head.

”It's six thousand kilometers, Dad,” he said. ”You realize that? Six hundred times ten. It's going to take years.”

”Well, we've got nearly three years,” said Kirk. ”He's planning to go in June.”

”He'd better make it very late in June,” Adam said.

”Not possible. He's got to start the settlement in the early summer at the latest. Late June makes it winter.”

”Can't he wait an extra couple of weeks, then? He could get it going in the spring.”

”We're going to lose a whole year. ”

”Bernard can catch up on that,” Adam said. ”He'll just hit Placek harder from Day One. He'll get all the colonizers along her bit of coast screaming blue murder within a few years, or few months, depending on your choice of time zone, so to speak.”

”It's not enough to get them screaming blue murder. Her whole region has to take a significant economic hit. I need to have a solid reason to replace her with someone we like.”

”We'll do it, Dad, don't you worry,” Adam said. ”You know what we should do? Get going on a second ship right after we've launched the first. A caravel, not another fucking cog. Much faster, and sails better.”

”We need the cog to transport goods. A caravel won't carry half as much.”

”I doubt greatly we could fill a rowing boat with the goods we're likely to trade with anyone in the next couple of years.”