A World for the Taking Ch. 02

It was a chill early spring day shortly after dawn when the first major change in thirteen years came to Mackey Station.

"Pa," Mike said, interrupting his father in the middle of servicing the spinner.

Bob looked up, finding Mike standing a couple of meters away with his hands thrust deep into his overalls' pockets and his eyes fixed uncertainly on the frost covered ground. Bob put aside his tools and straightened, considering the teen.

"What is it, Mike?" he asked.

"Well, sir, I'm seventeen," Mike began, finally lifting his eyes. "In a couple months I'll be able to go out on my own."

"That's right," Bob said with half a smile. His boy was looking more like a man every day. Mike was already taller than Bob and filling out, though he suspected the boy would take after Deborah's side of the family more than his own.

"I was thinking," Mike went on. "My parcel will be my responsibility then."

"Yes, son, it will," said Bob.

"And it's a fair piece away. All the way down by Big Lake." Mike pulled his hands from his pockets, squared his shoulders and blurted, "I need to build a cabin."

Bob grimaced, considering the issue seriously. Slowly he began to nod and then fixed his son with a firm look.

"Shipping in prefab is too expensive, Mike," he said. "Your ma and I haven't got the money for it. And you're not a toe-holder like your ma and me, so the company isn't going to give you one. What's your plan?"

"Um..." Mike began self-consciously. "I... At first I thought about selling a piece of my parcel, but nobody around here would have the money for it."

"Not likely," his father agreed. "I don't think anyone would feel the need to have more than they've already got, anyway."

Mike bit his lip and nodded.

"So what else did you come up with?" Bob pressed his son.

"Well," Mike began and glanced at his father. Bob nodded encouragingly and Mike went on, "I was thinking I could sign out one of the robots from town utilities and build the cabin from local stuff the way you and Ma built the extension."

"Could be done," Bob said. "You'll need more than one robot and a lone cabin won't be enough. You're going to need stock to ride and a barn to keep them in. A corral and a feed silo. Have you got a space picked out?"

"No, sir," Mike said, relaxing just a bit now that his father had not flatly refused. "I think it would be best if I built it near your parcel. There's a lot of good territory there and I would be closer to you if you or Ma needed me. Closer to town, too."

"Son," Bob said, tilting his head to the side speculatively. "This got something to do with Susan Watts?"

Mike's eyes snapped up to his father's in surprise.

"I thought so," Bob said with a grin. "She's a good one, Mike, but you're both pretty young."

"I know, Pa, but it's just a cabin," Mike said in a rush. "I'd be building it for me. It would be there when I need it, you know."

"And having the cabin already built would be really handy when you go to propose," Bob said. His smile turned wry. "And you're right. Even if you don't propose to Susan it would still be good to have a place to move into right away."

"I don't think it would be all that tough to build," Mike said, hoping his father would lend a hand.

"Not all that easy, either," Bob replied in a firmer tone than he had been using. "But, it wouldn't have to be done all at once."

Bob leaned on the fan well of the spinner and wiped grease from his hands with a rag.

"What's your mother say about this? Talked with her yet?"

"No," Mike said uncomfortably.

"She's got a say in it, too." Bob tossed the rag into a bucket and pushed off the fan well. "Come on. Let's go talk to her and get it figured out."

*****

Tammy and Jean crested the last rise and their brother's station came into view. There wasn't much to look at yet. A cleared space for the corral, holes where stumps and boulders had been blasted out and a large pile of branches too small to be used for anything but firewood. It had taken a full year to get clearance from Tyne & Harper to build a new station and to harvest trees rated as 'promising'. And then there were other minor restrictions to be dealt with. Now it was spring again and as soon as the weather had warmed enough Mike had called on his best friend Roy to help clear the land.

A robot was currently constructing a foundation wall. It spit dirt into the hopper of another robot and fixed blocks of cut local stone into the trench with a cementitious grout that would essentially fuse the stones into a single piece. Mike was catching and stacking boards as fast as they came out of the portable sawmill. These boards would be fed into a finisher that would treat them with chemicals to make the wood weather and insect resistant. Across what would become the station yard Roy was working with another robot to layout the frame of the barn.

"It's a beautiful spot," Jean said with a wide smile.

"Pa helped Mike pick it," Tammy said, nodding.

"How do you ride these things for so long?" whined Yoshi Takemori, coming up the trail behind the girls. He was grimacing uncomfortably and sweating in spite of the mild temperature. His mother had insisted he wear his winter coat and the boy did not have sense enough to take it off and strap it to his saddle.

"We're just used to it," Jean said, smiling at him.

The two of them had been seeing more of each other since New Year's Eve. He had faced the fierce regard of Bob Mackey with sincere promises of his good and honorable intentions and finally had been allowed to accompany Jean to Mike's station site.

"You'll need to do better if you want our pa to take you seriously," Tammy warned him. A three day journey on steelie* back had turned into a four day journey thanks to Yoshi and Tammy was a little irritated with him. "Can you shoot?"

"A rifle?" he asked.

"Anything," she said.

"I can use a bow pretty good," Yoshi said.

"You do hunt, don't you?" she asked.

"Of course he does," Jean said, coming to her paramour's defense.

"I got two deer last year," Yoshi put in. He glanced at Jean and smiled gratefully.

"That helps," said Tammy judiciously. "Probably will help a lot. We can teach you to use a rifle."

"You can start with mine," Jean said and pulled her Buller 30 from the boot on her saddle. It was a fairly light weapon firing a 9mm slug powerful enough to bring down deer at long range and bear at closer ranges.

"Come on you two. Gee up, Boudi," Tammy said, thumping her mare in the ribs with her heels. The steelie's proper name was Boudicca because she was big and strong, but Tammy just thought she was too sweet for that name and always shortened it. "Let's see what we can do to help out."

Mike laid the last board on his stack and straightened, looking pleased to see his sisters. His smile faltered at sight of Yoshi, but quickly reasserted itself. He had nothing against the younger teen, but like big brothers throughout history, he felt protective of his little sister. Roy came up at a trot, his face split in a grin. Tammy slid off her mare and hugged Mike.

"Hi, Roy," she said with a knowing little smile and a glint in her eyes.

"Hi, Tammy," he said, not as bashful as once he had been, but he still blushed.

Tammy took him in at a glance, noting the stubble on his chin and the spread of his shoulders. His thick copper colored hair was mussed and damp with sweat and his hands were dirty and calloused. What was more, Roy now stood at least ten centimeters taller than her brother which was a good twelve centimeters taller than herself. He had grown considerably since their first kiss.

"Are you growing a beard, Roy?" she asked, her sly smile spreading.

"I... Um..." Roy looked at her uncertainly, his blush deepening. "I was sort of thinking about it."

"It's coming in pretty good," she said and ran her palm over his cheek. The stubble felt prickly and tickled. "Give it a few more days before you decide."

"I... Um... I will," he said, his deep red blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears and down his throat. That hadn't changed.

Once the steelies were picketed Mike took his sisters on a tour of the new station while Roy took Yoshi down to help with the barn. The younger teen kept casting glances after the Mackeys, but did not try to join them.

"You really like Jean, don't you?" said Roy when they got to the level space where the barn would go up.

"Jean?" Yoshi said. "Yeah. I like her. I think she's great."

"Jean's nice," agreed Roy. "Known her since I was a little kid."

"Do you actually like Tammy?" Yoshi asked.

"Of course I like her," Roy replied, eyeing the younger boy.

"I mean, like, really like her," said Yoshi, missing the look in Roy's eyes.

"I really like her," said Roy, squaring off on the smaller boy. His face had turned red again, but it was not from blushing. "I like Tammy a lot. And she likes me a lot."

Yoshi could not mistake the tone of the big teen's voice nor the clenched fists.

"Okay, okay, man!" he said, holding up both hands in surrender. "I just didn't know."

"Something wrong with me liking her?" Roy growled.

"No!" Yoshi backed up a pace. "I... Look, I used to like a Vespan. Back on the station where my parents worked before we came here. It's not a big deal, Roy. I just... Tammy's a jZav`Etch. That's all."

Roy just glared at Yoshi for a minute before he shrugged it off and turned to set a couple of 4X8s at right angles to each other and glued them.

"Shut up and help with these boards," he said after another minute of silence. "We need to get this barn together by tomorrow night. Rain is coming in and we can't leave the stock out."

By evening the barn was fully framed and the wall planks were going up. The foundation for the main cabin was completed and the robot was working on laying out the plumbing and electrical wires. Thick cables ran from a central point where the power cell would be installed and there were coils at the ends that would rise to the level of the outlets once the walls were framed. Progress was good and Mike was very pleased.

"Tomorrow," he said with a firm nod. "Tomorrow we'll finish the barn and put up the corral. This place will start looking like a real station."

"I think it already does," said Jean.

"Yeah," agreed Yoshi, though no one really paid him any attention.

"Let's get a fire going and make s'mores," suggest Roy.

"S'mores?" giggled Jean.

"I like s'mores," Roy said and started stacking kindling in the fire ring he and Mike had been using.

It didn't take long for a good blaze to get going and soon they were roasting marshmallows on the ends of sticks. Only Tammy refrained, opting for small sausages and undersized stuffed bell peppers.

"You don't want any s'mores, Tammy?" Yoshi asked, surprised.

"No," she said with a little shake of her head. "I can't eat them."

"Can't?" he asked.

"Can't," she confirmed.

"Tammy has different anatomy than we do," Mike explained for his sister.

"Right," she said. "Ma says it has something to do with the way my ancestors evolved. I can eat fruits and vegetables with sugars in them, but processed sugar goes right through me and makes me sick to my stomach."

"And when it comes to meat, watch your hands," teased Jean. "Tammy scarfs down a couple pounds of burgers every time we cook out."

"I do not!" snapped Tammy indignantly.

"On your twelfth birthday Ma put a plate on the table that was supposed to be for everyone and you dragged it in front of you and started chowing down," countered Mike with a laugh. "Dad has the video!"

"He had to cook more so the rest of us could eat," Jean added with a laugh.

Tammy's ears lay out to the sides and her tail slapped the ground behind her.

"I like meat, myself," said Roy gallantly. He popped a s'more into his mouth and chewed it up quickly, adding, "Always have."

Tammy looked at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled softly, her whiskers vibrating and a soft purr rumbling in her chest.

The five of them sat around the fire drinking beer they weren't supposed to have and singing songs for a few hours. The fire died down and everyone was pretty tired after the long day of work so they turned in, going to their tents. This resulted in a bit of tension.

"Where do you think you're going?" growled Mike, grasping Yoshi by the back of his collar and hauling him away from the girls' tent.

"Bed?" the smaller boy squeaked.

"Wrong tent," Mike said and shoved him towards the opening of his own. "Plenty of room in there for both of us."

Yoshi submitted readily and crawled inside. Jean shot a reproachful look at her older brother but he countered with a scowl that would have made their father proud. Everyone had bedded down and the camp was quiet except for the noises of the forest. Roy was roused by a sharp jab in the shoulder through his tent wall. Bewildered he sat up and opened the flap. There, eyes gleaming bright emerald green in the moonlight, was Tammy.

"What's up?" he asked.

Quick as a flash she kissed him on the lips.

"Good night," she whispered and then darted off on silent feet to the tent she shared with her sister.

Roy grinned happily and stared after her, his belly warm and his mind tumbling. It was a good night and this was going to be a great week.

*****

The following morning Roy and Tammy were finishing the barn walls when Jean called from the wood line where she had been checking the robot boring the well.

"What is it?" Tammy called back.

"Have you been walking around over here?" asked Jean, pointing at the ground.

"No," Tammy said and glanced at Roy. He shrugged and the two of them climbed down from their ladders and joined Jean.

"What is it?" he asked, looking down.

"Tracks," Jean said, brushing a few leaves aside. "Big ones."

"Puma," breathed Roy. He turned and called Mike over.

"Damn," Mike cursed when he saw the large paw prints.

"What is it?" Yoshi asked, coming up behind him.

"A puma was here last night," said Tammy.

"I didn't think we had any in this part of the valley," said Mike. "That's one reason me and Pa picked this place."

"Are you sure these are from last night?" Jean asked.

Tammy nodded. "Scent is pretty strong. Probably was here a few hours before sunup."

"You don't think it's maybe a young one, do you, Mike?" Roy asked. "Maybe got kicked out of another territory and wandered through here?"

"The size of these tracks?" Mike said, shaking his head. "This is a big male, I'd guess."

"What's a puma?" asked Yoshi. The other teens stared at him. He said defensively, "I grew up in cities and on stations."

"A cougar," said Jean.

"Mountain lion," Roy added.

"Catamount, I've heard them called," said Tammy.

"A puma is a big damned cat," Mike told the younger boy. "A serious predator. Some of them get close to a hundred kilos. Could be dangerous to us and might go after the stock."

"I've never seen one except in pictures," said Tammy, fascinated by the prints that looked so much like her own. The main difference between her prints and the puma's was hers were deeper and somewhat larger. Regardless, the untrained eye could easily mistake one for the other.

"Mike," said Jean, getting her brother's attention. "You know these cats have a pretty big range. Two hundred kilometers, sometimes."

"Yeah," he acknowledged. "And it didn't come close enough to the tents to trip the perimeter sensors."

"I don't get it," Yoshi said, looking from one to another. "Why would the company bring in a big predator?"

"You have to have predators for a healthy ecosystem," Tammy said and knelt to get a better look at the tracks. "We've got bear, wolves, wolverines and all sorts of other predators. Big ones and small."

Yoshi suddenly went pale and looked around at the encircling forest.

"Mostly they don't mess with Humans," Mike said, seeing the distress on the boy's face. "Didn't they tell you any of this when your folks came here?"

"I wasn't really paying attention," admitted Yoshi.

"Christ," sighed Roy, looking at him in disgust.

"Yoshi, you can't let my Pa know that," Jean said with worried eyes.

"Do we hunt it down?" asked Tammy, laying her six fingered hand beside one of the paw prints. It was the size of her palm.

"And do what with it?" Mike asked. "Hasn't attacked stock yet. Hasn't even been seen by us. As long as it keeps its distance we can't kill it or relocate it. Just have to stay alert. Don't go anywhere alone. Keep side arms handy and if you go out in the woods, carry your rifles."

"I don't have one," said Yoshi.

"Take my shotgun, then," said Mike. "You know how to use a shotgun, don't you?"

"Not really," admitted the younger teen.

"I'll show him," said Jean. "It's easier than a rifle."

"Not much easier," Roy countered. "What about a pistol? You got one of those?"

"In my saddlebag," Yoshi confirmed.

"Not doing you any good there," Mike told him. "Go and get it. Keep it on your belt. Try not to shoot any of us."

The rest of the week went well. The teens saw no further sign of the puma and assumed it had moved on down the valley away from settlers. They finished the barn and got the corral built before the rain rolled in. Fortunately there was no lightning and the robots made short work of putting up the frame of the cabin. When the weather cleared they all pitched in to install the roof sheeting and then separated to work on the interior of the cabin. It surprised everyone when Yoshi demonstrated considerable skill in connecting the wiring for all of the outlets. By Thursday night the walls were up and ready to be sheathed.

"Damn," sighed Mike, dropping into his usual spot by the fire and cracking open a beer. "I sure do appreciate all the help, everyone."

"You're welcome, man," said Roy, opening a beer and passing it to Tammy. "Glad I could help. Just remember, next year it's my turn."

"Are you going to move your sister in with you?" Jean asked.

"No," he said. "Angel gets our parents' parcel in a few years. That's the way the will was broken out."

"So there's already a station on it?" asked Yoshi, taking a long pull from his own beer.

"What's left of one," said Roy, subdued.

"It burned," supplied Jean quietly. Yoshi had not heard the story of how Roy and Angel had become orphans.

"The foundations and most of the prefab are still pretty sound," Roy said. "The barn is still good. Keep grazing stock there in the winter. I haven't been back yet this year."

"We're all heading back Saturday, right?" said Tammy.

"Yeah," Mike confirmed. "I need to get supplies and sensors and a bunch of other stuff before I can finish things up around here. And I need to arrange for a lifter to pick up the robots."

"In that case, why don't we overnight at your folks' station?" she said to Roy.

"It's a little out of the way," he replied speculatively.

"Not all that far, Roy," said Mike. "Maybe two and a half hours. The country there is fairly good for steelies once we cross the ford."

"I'd like to see it," said Jean. "Pa said it was one of the prettiest stations in the valley."

"We could pick flowers and put them on the graves," added Tammy.

"Graves?" Yoshi asked uncertainly.

"My folks are buried there," said Roy. He had gotten used to the younger teen and didn't mind him as much as he had at first.

"Come on," said Mike, not liking where the conversation seemed to be turning. "Let's make s'mores again and listen to some music. We've got all day tomorrow to figure out what we'll do on the trip back."

*****

Saturday dawned clear and bright with a considerable nip in the air which was not unusual for early spring in the valley. Mike was the first out and got the fire stoked up into a proper blaze. He set up the coffee and a small kettle of water so they could make breakfast before breaking down their tents. While the others went about their morning routine he stepped off to the side and used his data pad to call his parents.