A New Beginning Ch. 09

Doc and I clubbed one to death with our axes while Anthony and Vickie each hit the other two. They didn't kill theirs; the beasts ran off into the forest. We brought the dead one back to camp for dinner that night. I can't quite place how they taste, maybe rabbit but it's been a long time since I've eaten rabbit.

David and Josephine smoke most of the meat we kill. We needed some way to preserve our meat so they built a small smokehouse near the edge of the kitchen fire pit. It's not very large. I figure it's about twice the size of a normal oven. But it is large enough for now. If we have to enlarge it, there is plenty of room under the James Cook's wing.

We had our first argument, Vickie and Beth. Vickie has been a changed person since we landed. She's not the whining, complaining, hypochondriac she was while we were traveling in space. Now she's always the first to volunteer and always lending a helping hand. She never seems to tire.

Anyway, Beth left a dirty cup and plate on one of the bamboo tables. Vickie had just finished cleaning up and she let Beth have it. She called Beth a lazy, spoiled brat among other choice words. Naturally, Beth took offense and began to holler right back.

David and Doc Yves broke them up before their argument went beyond hollering at each other. Beth cleaned up her mess and Doc took Vickie upstairs to his infirmary to have a chat with her.

Come to find out, Vickie still had the jitters over the Hawkosaurs that we encountered earlier. But Yves pointed out to her how easily these monsters are intimidated. The slightest threat from us causes them to run away. He also pointed out that the dinosaurs cannot possibly compete with our superior intelligence.

Vickie cheered up; she apologized to Beth and the two of them then went with Anthony, Natalie and Aleks on a food forage. They returned about two hours later with two baskets full of something resembling strawberries in color and shape but tasting like cherries. They picked them off some bushes growing along the edge of the dried up lake bed just west of camp. We called them cherry-berries.

A Marineosaurus came into our camp two days later. I'm pretty sure it's the same one we saw in the meadow earlier. Those who weren't still sleeping were eating a Cretaceous breakfast.

I'm calling it a Cretaceous breakfast because none of the food came from our supplies. The breakfast consisted of Oviraptor eggs -- they taste like duck eggs -- fried Hawkosaur strips, biscuits and honey and a mint we use as tea. David found a honey bee nest and Regina Aurora found the mint.

We are using less and less of our supplies, which is good. I don't want to depend on the food we brought with us. I want us to depend on food gotten from nature. It's the only way we will ever become self sufficient.

Suddenly the PrimusPrimates scampered to the top of their tree -- it's an oak tree -- and became deathly quiet. The PrimusPrimates act not only as our watchdogs but they have also become as pets to us. They are very friendly and often eat right out of our hands; they are omnivorous. At least they eat anything we give them.

They also love the shower. So much so, that Aleks demanded that we fix the door and put a lock on it. She was taking a shower with the door leaning against the stall when a PrimusPrimate climbed in with her. She was not expecting it and it frightened her. In the middle of our evening movie she ran out of the shower stark naked hollering, "get that monster out of there."

The night before we had watched Psycho, a 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, in which a woman is murdered while taking a shower. I'm sure the movie is probably what was on her mind when the PrimusPrimate climbed in with her.

To make a long story short, Natalie consoled her and told her it was only a PrimusPrimate. She came back, "I don't give a fuck what it is. I don't want to shower with it. Joshua where's your gun? I'm going to shoot it." It took several of us about thirty minutes to calm her down enough so that she stopped demanding the death of the malefactor. Then she finished her shower and we finished watching our movie; Casablanca, 1942 love story set in the Moroccan city of Casablanca during World War II, staring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

But getting back to the Marineosaurus, it was a little before zero eight hundred when suddenly the PrimusPrimates ran to the top of their tree. We knew something was approaching. The monster appeared unexpectedly from out of the bushes near the nose of the James Cook.

We all froze and watched it sniff the air several times. I mouthed to Joshua, 'where's the gun?' He pointed up with his finger, letting me know that it was upstairs in the James Cook. There were 11 of us eating breakfast and I knew that there was no way all of us were going to get up the stairs into safety. I thought for sure that someone was going to die as dino dinner that morning.

Then out of the corner of my eye I saw Thomas creeping down the stairs with the .45 in his hand; it was cocked. Doc Yves was right behind him with a taser gun and an axe. The two of them were in the infirmary when they saw it through the window.

Just as Thomas reached the bottom step the monster saw us. It stomped around the kitchen wing, heading for us. Thomas raised the gun and fired, hitting it in its heart. The beast stopped, gave Thomas a puzzled look, wobbled slightly and then fell over on its side.

The giant was breathing laboriously. Thomas aimed again for its head but Joshua stopped him, telling him to save the bullets. It died a few moments later. Then we butchered it up.

We saved some of it to make steaks for our evening supper -- it tastes like pork chops. We smoked some of it and threw the rest out onto the dried up lake bed, saving the teeth to make weapons. The PrimusPrimates didn't come down out of the tree until the last of the beast was gone.

About 500 meters out on the lake bed is where we burn all our garbage and our refuse. After discussing it over, we decided that that was the safest and easiest place to do it, in order to keep it away from our camp. The Daffyducktus vultures are frequently there eating it.

I just hope that those who remained with the living section won't see the smoke from it or if they do they'll think it's from a small volcano or brush fire or something.

Aleks and I used the laptop and did some calculations to try and figure when and if they would come over us. We discovered that when they fly over this hemisphere, they are over what will someday be North Africa. So maybe they won't even see the fire. I've watched for them at night a couple of times, looking up through the windows through the tree leaves, but I haven't seen them.

A silver and black bird-like animal with a red head -- similar to the one that I saw on our first day -- gave David a scare the day after the Marineosaurus incident. There are a lot of these Blackraptors all around the place -- that's what David named these beasts.

He was cooking some Marineosaurus steaks. He had just put one in a plate on the side of the grill when it flew down from a nearby tree, landed on the table next to him, scooped up the steak and flew off with it before David could react.

While it was perched in the tree eating its stolen steak, Louis shot it with a crossbow. It was the first animal to be killed with this type of weapon.

We've also had two more incidents with the Hawkosaurs. Two days after the Blackraptor incident Regina, Laci, Anthony, Thomas and Aleks were out searching for food. They came upon seven Hawkosaurs feasting on the carcass of an animal they had just killed. Anthony and Regina each shot one with a taser gun. The five of them then proceeded to attack the remaining carnivores with their axes and clubs.

They figured it would be easy -- five against five. But they didn't count on the tenacity of these small but vicious carnivores.

Regina, Thomas and Anthony killed their targets with ease. But Laci and Aleks both had trouble. The one Laci attacked bit her on her forearm; she required seven stitches. It was about to bite her again but Anthony hit it in the head with his axe, killing it immediately.

Aleks swung at her target but missed. She fell over. It was on top of her in an instant and bit both of her arms and her left shoulder; she needed a total of 15 stitches.

Thomas hit it on its head with his club. It stopped attacking Aleks and came after him. It knocked him over and was on top of him when Regina hit it with an axe, nearly severing its head. It fell onto his chest; its blood squirting all over his chest, neck and face. There was so much blood that for a moment everyone thought the animal bit Thomas on his carotid artery. Luckily, he only had a few small cuts on his chest and left arm.

Then Anthony and Regina killed the two they shot with the taser guns.

At supper that evening I didn't know whether to admonish them or thank them. I wanted to save the taser guns and use them as defensive weapons for when we are attacked. I didn't want to use them to kill our food. However, they did manage to rid the surrounding area of several more Hawkosaurs -- they too are all over the place -- and bring home some food.

In the end I just decided to casually mention that the .45 and taser guns should be used as defensive weapons if at all possible.

The second Hawkosaur incident was a little more harrowing. It was just after sunrise a few days later. Joseph and Josephine had just gone upstairs from the zero four hundred to zero six hundred fire watch. Juan, David and Chantelle were downstairs lounging in the patio. I had spent the night in the infirmary with Doc Yves and we were still there.

Five Hawkosaurs crept into our camp, presumably looking for food. Chantelle noticed them first and grabbed a meat cleaver. She signaled Juan and David. Juan grabbed a taser gun and David picked up a spear. Ever since the Marineosaurus incident we've kept several weapons at various spots around the patio.

As our three friends slowly backed toward the stairs the five dinosaurs screeched and formed a semicircle around them. Chantelle hollered up the stairs for help just as the beasts attacked them. She and David were able to fend off their attackers but Juan wasn't so lucky. In his excitement he forgot to take the taser gun off safety.

Two Hawkosaurs hit him at the same time. They knocked him down and were on top of him when Joseph came down the stairs with a hand axe and a hunting knife.

Had it not been for Joseph I'm sure the two Hawkosaurs would have killed Juan. As it was he was bitten up pretty bad. He had bite marks and claw marks all over his arms, legs and body. Joseph managed to kill one of two the beasts; the other one ran off with its companions.

So, we have four wounded warriors, Veronica, Laci, Aleks and Juan. But they're not the only ones who have needed Doc's services. More that half of us has some kind of cut or injury.

Both Vickie and Akira have cuts from mishandling their knives. Vickie's cut is on her hand and Akira's cut is on her forearm; thankfully neither is very serious.

An Oviraptor bit me on my back and the back of my neck when I tried to steal some of its eggs. I needed a total of seven stitches. Josephine was playing around with her butterfly knife and cut her thumb. Joseph broke a finger when he hit it with a hammer. Beth is laid up with a broken right ankle; she tripped over a PrimusPrimate that was running around camp. Finally, David burned his hand and forearm the other day when he spilled a bowl of lizard soup he was cooking.

But as I said, we are winning the war against the beasts. We have managed to kill several of them, including one that was almost as large as a T-Rex. The score is monsters 3 and humans somewhere between 35 and 40. I haven't kept an exact count, nor have I recounted them all here.

The PrimusPrimates are all over our camp. They seem to sense that we can protect them from the carnivores.

About a month after we arrived, a PrimusPrimate fell out of the tree and broke her neck. Its baby continued to cling to its dead mother. Every few moments it would cry out but none of the other PrimusPrimates seemed to care. David tried to go near it but it ran away into the nearby bushes. When David backed off it returned to its dead mother.

Next a RedBaronibus swooped down and tried to scoop it up but missed. That's when Beth stepped in and tried to coax the baby with some food.

Then as the RedBaronibus swooped in for a second attempt, the baby ran to Beth and clung to her leg for protection. It refused to let go of her leg. Only after David chased off the RedBaronibus did it let go of Beth's leg, climbed up her back and sat on her shoulder, hiding in her long hair.

Beth began to feed it. Now it won't leave her. It thinks Beth is its mother. Of course, we all tease Beth about her motherhood.

It has become like one of the family. We all feed it and play with it. Beth named the little creature Fur Ball because he looks like a little ball of fur when he's sleeping; it sleeps with Beth and recognizes its name.

In fact, Fur Ball is the only PrimusPrimate that will enter the James Cook. They will come up the stairs, look inside but stop short of entering. I think that's because it's dark inside. We keep the lights off during the day and the PrimusPrimates sleep at night when we have the lights on. David claims to have seen Curious go inside once but none of us has seen that.

Yes, we have started to name a few of them. Their leader we named Boss Hog because he hogs all the food and pretty well bosses all the others around. He's another reason the PrimusPrimates won't go inside; he won't let them. Whenever he sees one of his troop go near the stairs he chases it up into the tree.

Another one we've named Picky because she is particular about what she eats. A third we named Chatter Box because he is constantly chattering and a fourth we named Goofy after the Disney character because it is always getting itself in precarious situations. They are very intelligent animals. Of the ones we've name, some of them recognize their names.

It was because of Goofy that Beth broke her ankle. Goofy is a juvenile. One day he was playing around with Fur Ball. After a while Fur Ball decided that he didn't want to play any more. But Goofy wouldn't take no for an answer; he insisted upon playing around some more. Fur Ball ran to Beth, who at the time was coming down the steps with an arm full of dirty laundry -- each person is responsible for cleaning his or her own laundry in the pool near the James Cook's tail.

Anyway, Beth did not see Fur Ball and tripped over him and down the steps, breaking her right ankle. After fixing up a makeshift cast for her ankle, Doc Yves made a pair of crutches for her out of bamboo. Beth cursed Goofy.

Joshua, Louis and Thomas have made eight crossbows using wire stripped from the James Cook for bow strings. After Joshua made the first one, Thomas and Louis begged him to teach them how to make them too. Although it was originally Joseph and Joshua who planned to make the bows, Joseph has never gotten around to making any; he has been too busy with other projects.

We all want Joshua, Louis and Thomas to make a crossbow for each of us. They have us all making bolts in the evening, using either bamboo or tubing from the James Cook. Sharp carnivore teeth make excellent arrowheads. Using the bolt cutters, we also make arrowheads from metal cut from the James Cook.

Yes, we are stripping the James Cook of whatever we need to make our home safe and comfortable. We are taking everything we can use off her but we are careful to keep the outside hull in tack.

Every time someone takes some wire from her or cuts a piece of her inner wall out or removes anything from her, Joseph pretends to complain. He warns us that if we continue to strip her of her vital parts then she'll never fly again. We tell him to take it up with his UNESA representative at the next UER meeting.

David also asked Joshua's team if they could make two smaller pistol crossbows, something that could be held in one hand. He wants them for him and Josephine to keep in the kitchen. Louis is working on that now and says that he should have them finished in about a week.

Also, everyone has either a meter long club or a spear that they carry with them everywhere they go. Anthony and Akira finished the last of them last week. Doc Yves also made some spear throwers for us.

Some of us have decorated our spears with feathers reminiscent of Native American Indians. I have some aqua and forest green feathers dangling from mine. They are from a Velociraptor that I killed. I keep one of its sickle-shaped claws in my belt; Doc has the other one.

The clubs and spears make great weapons, both for offense and defense. Joshua, Thomas and Anthony each say that a spear, a crossbow and a hunting knife or hand axe is all they need. Chantelle and I are of the same opinion. When we go out on a hunting party that is all we carry.

There is not an animal under a meter high that doesn't flee from us. The monsters are learning to fear us humans!

We know the crossbows will kill some of the smaller creatures. As I said, Louis killed a Blackraptor with a crossbow. A Blackraptor is about the same size as a duck. Also, I used a crossbow to kill the Velociraptor last week and we have all used our crossbows to kill large lizards, some of the smaller dinosaurs and other animals.

But some of us are not so sure if they'll kill a Triceratops Rex or a Marineosaurus or one of the larger beasts, although both Anthony and Thomas swear that they will. Joshua is reserving his opinion until he shoots one. He is sure that the bolts will pierce their skin. It's how deep into their bodies the bolt will go is what he is not sure of. I just got my fingers crossed.

Beth has drawn some pictures of many of the animals we have seen -- she tapes them to the plastic containers we use for the wall around our kitchen and patio area. The pictures make nice decorations for our home.

She has proven to be an excellent artist, seeing that is about all she can do with her broken ankle. She drew a life size picture of a Marineosaurus head and a Triceratops Rex head and taped them to a tree outside of camp.

We practice shooting at them, aiming for the eye. Most of us are becoming fairly good shots. We figure if we can't kill it, at least we can blind it. Joshua thinks that by shooting one in its eye the bolt might even continue on into its brain. Again, I have my fingers crossed.

Although the food we took from the cafeteria is almost all gone, I'm not worried about us going hungry. Yes, we originally only had enough to last us a couple of weeks but we have been able to really stretch our budget, so to speak. Ever since our first day here we have been able to supplement our food supply. What canned food we haven't already eaten is stacked near the kitchen.

We have found a wide variety of foods, including five different kinds of fruits, three different types of nuts and three kinds of vegetables along with something resembling the potato that grows along the ground like miniature melons. Then there is the wheat David uses to make bread. We have hopes of finding more nuts, berries and other edibles on future food forages.

But none of us are nearly as lucky in the clothing department. No one has more than three or four changes of clothes. Also, every one of us has at least two or three articles of clothing that are torn. But more importantly, no one thought to bring any sewing kits! At the rate we are going, we will all be running around naked within a few months. Nothing even remotely resembling what I had planned living naked on Nuda Earth.

To counter this Juan and I tried to tan a BuckToothus skin. But our first attempt wasn't much of a success. We looked up curing and tanning animal hide on the laptop in the encyclopedia's worth of information that I copied from the James Cook's mainframe. We followed all the steps -- skinning, fleshing and smoking. But we did something wrong; the hide came out stiff as a board.