162 Samirs Progress (1/2)
The moment Samir finished eating, he delivered a lecture on the importance of keeping his colony a secret.
”If you tell everyone about your experiences here, about my colony, about this settlement, you're going to get into plenty of trouble. There are thousands of new people in the New World. Remember your own situation? What are you going to do when ten, twenty, thirty people show up here? What do you think they are going to do?”
”We could invite them to join us,” said Jagat, and Samir exploded.
”That's enough!” he shouted. ”You seem to think I killed those two men for fun. I am dismissing you from your post. Hunar will be your new leader.”
Everyone looked at Hunar, who smirked hideously.
”But he's just a child!” cried Devi. ”I was teaching children older than him.”
”I am fifteen,” Hunar said. ”Do not refer to me as a child.”
”I appoint people on merit,” Samir said. ”Hunar and Keya were the only ones who accomplished anything this morning on their own initiative. Their own initiative! It was Jagat's duty to organize everything. But he went off to prepare a ceremonial burial for the two killers who had tried to take over this settlement! If it wasn't for Hunar and Keya, you would have nothing to eat.”
”This is going to end badly,” said Mitesh.
”It will,” snarled Samir. ”It's going to end up very badly for you. I am going to kick you out of my colony if you keep complaining instead of working, for a change.”
He glared at Mitesh and then at Jagat for a while. Then he said:
”I must return to my capital, and I'll be leaving the moment we're finished here. I'll be back a week to two weeks from now. By that time, I expect you to have fully settled in. I expect to find a store of food, a store of firewood, and a new hut built for Mitesh.”
”I'll make sure everything is done,” said Hunar, his eyes glowing with anticipation. He had taken to his new role like a duck to water.
Samir ended the meeting by officially anointing Hunar as the leader. He handed him the spear, the waterskin, the stone ax, and the flint.
”You know what needs to be done,” he told him. ”I'll be bringing clothes and some tools when I return. But don't let that stop you from trying to make your own. Most importantly, keep everyone busy.”
”They will be,” Hunar assured him enthusiastically. Samir squeezed his shoulder, signaled to Neil, and they were off.
They'd walked just a couple of hundred steps when Neil said:
”Maybe it would have been better to stay the night, and leave in the morning. We've only got a few hours of light left.”
”They'll be staying at the house?”
”No. They're bringing tents, and they will be building a barracks. But first they'll need to build a new latrine. And I also have to hurry up the builders working on the house. I need the room where you and Amrita and the others are staying. You'll be moving upstairs, and those lazy asses haven't even finished working on the staircase. I have a lot to do, a lot to do!”