Snow Ch. 03

Davin's clock showed three in the morning as he killed the engines and drifted to a halt. His map showed him to be within a mile of the beacon and he didn't want to miss it in the dark so after resetting a couple of switches Davin set the truck crawling forward at two miles an hour using the electric motors.

After about twenty minutes Davin could see the red light from a beacon shining on the bank of snow to his left, as Davin carefully swung the truck around the bank he realised that it was actually the snow covered remains of a burnt out Centipede.

The long vehicle was the sort of thing that was used by traders, explorers and hunters, they were all different made as they were from cannibalised parts from 21C vehicles. This one looked like it was once the bodies of four transit vans with the joints between the vans shrouded in heavy canvas.

Just before the beacon Davin almost ran over a body lying in the snow. Stopping quickly Davin pulled on his cold suit and stepped out into the frigid night.

The body appeared to be that of a middle aged male, badly burnt and frozen. Fifteen feet away the beacon sat on the top of a ten foot pole attached to a small tent.

Davin walked carefully over to the tent almost tripping over the frozen body of a woman. Looking her over Davin was puzzled by why the woman had been out in the snow in such light clothing. The tent was a home made shelter made from two layers of waxed canvas filled with wool for insulation.

Carefully opening the tent Davin managed to get his head and shoulders into the small tent. Inside there was a bundle that appeared to be wrapped in the dead woman's cold suit, he could hear a soft breathing coming from the bundle.

Gently opening the suit Davin saw a baby wrapped in it's own tiny cold suit. Picking the baby up Davin made sure it's face was covered against the cold wind before bringing the baby out of the tent.

Moving as quickly as he dared Davin took the baby to his truck and stripped off his own cold suit before removing the infant's suit. As gently as he could Davin cleaned the heavily soiled little girl and checked her over looking for any sign of frostbite. Finding nothing to worry him with the baby Davin had to arrange to feed her, she seemed listless and was very quiet so Davin was concerned she hadn't been fed for some time.

Leaving the baby in a nest of blankets Davin pulled on his cold suit again and went outside. Fastened to the outside of the vehicle were several emergency pods, most were duplicated inside the wagon but there was one pod that Davin had packed just before the birth of his son. He had cleaned out the matching supplies inside long ago but had never repacked the exterior pod.

Towards the rear of the vehicle was the pod he needed. The three foot high two foot wide container was like a half of a clamshell clamped to the back wall of the wagon. Releasing the clamps Davin hoisted the pod onto his shoulder and made his way back to the door.

Inside Davin dropped the pod and set the wagon moving towards Cambelltown on the electric motors before opening the pod.

He sorted through the contents of the pod, there were half a dozen terrycloth nappies, two tins of powdered formula, one ready to use bottle of formula, four bottles, a tube of sterilising tablets, a couple of large nappy pins, a packet of nappy liners and a fleece blanket.

Taking the bottles and formula to the kitchen Davin found a pan and set up the four bottles in some sterilising solution while the kettle boiled. Pouring some hot water into a jug Davin dropped in the ready to use formula to warm.

Going to the bedroom Davin picked up the baby and took her back to the kitchen. Testing a drop of the warm formula on his hand and deciding it was ready Davin gently offered the nipple to the baby. The first couple of tries the baby kept turning her head from the bottle.

"Honey I know this ain't quite like mommy's tit, but this is the best I've got." Davin murmured softly as he persisted at trying to feed the baby. After a few more tries the baby opened it's mouth and accepted the nipple moments later she was suckling happily on the bottle.

"Honey there's no way for me to know what your mummy and daddy were calling you, so I'm just going to have to call you Eiria. That was my wife's name so I guess she would have been your mummy, if, well if she hadn't died."

Deciding the baby had drunk a quarter of the bottle he took it away from the little girl who didn't want to release the nipple. Winding the baby started her crying for more food which Davin thought was a good sign.

"I know you want more Eiria honey but you have to let your belly get used to that first."

To his surprise Eiria stopped crying and seemed to be looking at him solemnly. Taking her into the bedroom Davin laid out a towel on the bed and tried to remember how to wrap a baby in a nappy. Several years ago he and Eiria had practised with a large doll so that they would be ready for their new baby. He found it was much more difficult with a real live squirming baby than it had been with the doll.

He was almost finished when he felt the wagon stop as the battery power ran out. With Eiria secured in her nappy he wrapped her loosely in the blanket and carried her to the front of the wagon. He started up one engine and let it warm up while he swapped power modes over, after a couple of minutes Davin set the wagon moving and set the power at about 2/3. For the next thirty minutes he found it wasn't easy setting up fuel consumption problems and applying them to the map whilst holding a baby. He found himself telling Eiria everything he was doing, he knew it was silly but she seemed regard him solemnly. Davin decided that if he kept on trundling slowly over the snow as he was he would reach Cambelltown in two and a half days if he switched to electric power every evening when the batteries were as full as they could get on one day of sunlight.

An hour later Davin and Eiria went back into the kitchen where Davin rinsed out one of the sterilised bottles and mixed up a third of a bottle of formula for Eiria. This time there was no hesitation from the baby at taking the plastic nipple.

"Well Eiria, we're going to have to find you a mummy. Daddy is going to have to work most days and someone has got to look after his little girl."

After she took the bottle and was winded Eiria quickly dropped off to sleep. Davin made a nest of blankets in the empty pod and took it to the control room.

Over the next couple of days Eiria's feeding times settled down as she recovered from her ordeal. Davin found her to be a quiet baby who only really fussed when she was hungry or needed changing. Davin would spend hours at a time talking softly to her about the caves and the wonderful life she would have there.

Davin arrived at Cambelltown at lunchtime, Eiria had been fussing for a few minutes so he took time to change her and warm a bottle. Slipping the bottle into a liner that was designed to keep a coffee cup warm he bundled up Eiria and headed for "The Ice" to see Margin.

"Davin, I was expecting you two days ago, are you OK?" Margin called out when she saw him entering the warm pub.

"Hi Margin, Yeah I picked up a distress beacon and went to have a look. Um, can you spare me a moment?"

Margin was surprised when instead of taking a seat at the bar Davin moved to one of the far tables and put down a bundle before stripping off his cold suit. Shrugging her shoulders Margin drew a pint of mild for Davin and a half pint for herself and walked over to him.