Traffic Violation Ch. 02

As they travelled, John continued to work on the Atlatl and Bow and Arrow. While he worked on the new weapons, he continued to think about where he was and the strange way he felt. He explored his mind, if that is the right word, and tried to identify his new feeling of capability. Several times he felt as if he pushed something with his mind or transmitted a thought or desire via mind. He thought about laying his hands on the injuries and seeing within his patients as he directed the healing. All this was so new and exciting to him, yet he wasn't sure if he believed what happened or even if he wanted to believe it.

His charges watched him with deep curiosity. They accepted his rifle and pistol as magic and unknown to him considered him not only Shaman but Medicine Man and Chief as well. This was not a normal thing for them either. These individuals were normally different people and not normally as considerate as was John. The feelings coming from him and their observation of his mental abilities made them worship him almost as a God.

John was further admired for two more things. One, he was an adult male. He had noticed in passing that the ratio of male to female dead at the camp was high, on the order of one male to six or seven females but hadn't really thought about it. The second thing they admired was his presence or aura or perhaps just his pheromones. Those around him felt a need to obey, to do as he wished or as they thought he would wish them to behave. They all felt bonded to him and couldn't conceive of displeasing him.

By the time they had been traveling for two weeks John became certain he would never find civilization. He didn't know how it happened but he came to accept he was either in an alternate reality or far in earths past. He began planning for either possibility. He hoped, somehow, to get back home but had given up believing all he had to do was ride out to civilization. Consequently, he began looking for a place to settle. As he travelled he thought about what he, they, would need to live a safe and healthy life. He decided to push on west and settle in the Napa Valley area of California or perhaps somewhat south of there. He thought they would check out the areas around Sacramento and Sutter's Mill too. They wanted good climate, good land for growing food and an area that abounded with game for meat.

The travel was hard. Crossing the desert and arid country between Colorado and his ultimate destination would be dangerous. They met very few people on the trip and about half of those they met were not friendly initially. It was strange though how they reacted to John and his small band. The ones who wanted to attack seemed to give up rapidly when they confronted John. By this time he had stopped using his firearms unless forced to do so for either fighting or hunting. He still had well over three fourths of his ammunition remaining. Many times as soon as John confronted the unfriendly people and told them to leave them alone they did so. Many showed shock before hightailing it away.

Blue and Shadow continued to almost sense John's desires and were feared as well as respected by the natives. His companions claimed they had no knowledge of tame wolves as they considered the dogs. They believed he turned wolves into familiars to help him as Shaman. This fear transmitted itself to those they contacted as well.

One evening, after yet another confrontation, John and his group were sitting around the fire eating. He said, "I just do not understand why these people act like they are going to attack us then when I confront them they run off. What are they doing? Is it some type of ritual or something?"

Blossom looked at him strangely and said, "You Shaman. Mind Speak very frightening to people. They not know you really kind and good man. Perhaps, they not care. They see your magic strong and run."

"What do you mean Blossom? What mind speak?"

"You, I do not know, you push with your mind like hand in their head. It hurt and they run from powerful Shaman."

After several minutes of conversation John began to understand that his small group thought he spoke mentally and exerted mental pressure against their enemies. They seemed to think he healed them with his mind also. They were adamant they did not normally heal as rapidly as they did when he treated them before they began their trip. This confirmation of some of his earlier thoughts made John think about his nascent abilities once again. He began to try to use his mind to do things. One of the first things he noticed while doing that was head pain and hunger as if he had been physically active.

Over the next several days as John did the research, trying to use his mind to communicate with his group, to his surprise, many times they did understand, or receive, his thoughts and did whatever he asked of them. His animals also seemed to pick up his desires somehow. Using his mind to do other things, trying to understand what, if any, powers he had, also produced startling results. He came to believe he had a certain amount of telepathy, some telekinesis, and some type of healing ability. Slowly, he discovered many abilities that seemed to become stronger as he used them.

As they travelled, they had fewer encounters with hostiles and even some requests for help and healing because of the information his group exchanged with the friendly folk they met. John's reputation grew and spread rapidly because of the help he gave and his obvious capabilities.

The weather became cooler as the days went on and John decided they needed to hole up for the upcoming winter. They were still in the high country but had crossed the continental divide by then. In the western foothills of the rockies he found a nice valley with a cave in the mountainside he thought would make a good winter home. They set out building a front for the cave and storing meat and what vegetable matter they could for the winter.

As the weather worsened the group took to sleeping close together in order to share warmth. Somehow, it was always the two older girls sleeping next to John with the younger children on the edges. John was never able to get the women to put the children in the center to keep them warmer.

Many times John woke holding a breast in his hands while he cuddled up to an admittedly nice ass. Several times he woke feeling a hand on his cock or an ass gently moving back and forth over his erection as he cuddled its owner. He knew it was, or should be, impossible but he could feel their need for him, their desire for him to fuck them. Finally, in exasperation, he asked the two older girls (or young women) to go with him to a private corner of the cave. He said, "I know we sleep together for warmth but this has to stop. I cannot keep sleeping with you or I am afraid I will lose control and take advantage of you."

Blossom looked at John and asked, "What is this take advantage you talk about?"

"I am afraid we will do something improper. I hold you in my sleep and have felt you rubbing me at times when I wake. I can almost feel your desire for a man. I am afraid I will break down and have sex with you if we don't stop sleeping together."

"Why is that bad? You our man. Of course we desire you. Wives have sex with their man always. Why you not want us?" She and Twanda both looked near tears as they talked.

Twanda asked, through her tears, "You do not want us for your women? Why you make us well and care for us if that so? We need a man, you need women. You take over tribe at other home. It is right we sex you. We be first among the many to come after."

"But you're too young. I couldn't do that with you."

Blossom said, "Not so. We both old mated women before you. Our man killed in fight. Our babies too. Now you our man and we make more babies. Is right."

"What! You were both married? How...". John stopped and thought about her statements. He knew in older days humans had sex and went out on their own at a young age but these girls, women, looked so young. Finally, he said, "Oh."

Once again John sat and thought. Finally, he said, "I need to think about this some more. We need meat. I am going hunting while I think." He got up and picked up his weapons before he left the chilly cave for the much colder outside.

It was nearly dark before John returned with a nice sized deer for the women to finish dressing. His mind was still in turmoil from trying to wrap itself around what the girls seemed to want. In truth, John, being male, wanted it too. He was beyond horny and the thought of finally getting some pussy was exciting. His inner moral compass was slowly slipping.

It was three nights after their discussion when John fell off the wagon. It seemed after their talk the women took out all the stops and put on a full court press on John. To put a face on it, that night there was very little sleeping going on and the next day very little work got accomplished because three of the band were very tired but you couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces.

Finally, the days began to lengthen and the weather warmed up. The winter was hard and they lost weight but all survived. The small band even grew slightly because they took in a small family group of four women, a man, and two children that would have died without their help. In what John estimated to be late March he decided to press onward to their ultimate destination. He wanted to arrive, if possible, in time to plant some crops and build a more permanent settlement.

Finally they were through the arid desert and coming into the foothills of the last mountain range in eastern California, still without seeing sign of the civilization John now admitted didn't exist in this place. John now had another worry. He was remembering things he learned earlier in his life. It was almost as if he had developed total recall. He could remember his early grade school primers and even snippets of the early lectures. Even more frightening, he seemed to remember things his father and mother learned.

During the travel the small band picked up three more females while they were laying over waiting on Shadow to have a litter of puppies. She bore two males and three healthy females. John allowed everyone to camp for three days while the new babies were born and got their first few days of life under their figurative belts. When he decided they had to move on, he made a place for the young on a travois so they could ride while Shadow did her job and roamed around the group on guard. They stopped occasionally so she could feed her litter.

The puppies bonded with John immediately and he felt their little minds settling in a corner of his mind. They were a comfortable presence as they learned the ways of their new "pack". During this leg of the journey, John learned he was to become a father as well. Both Flower and Blossom informed him they were pregnant. That same night they brought Sugar and Butterfly, two of the new women, to his bed and informed him when the third one was over her bleeding time she would be joining them too.

By now, John accepted the changes in his mind and embraced them. He felt the desire, the love, and the need exhibited by the women. He was practiced in channeling their arousal and using it to enhance both his and their enjoyment of sex. It was a long and tiring yet awesomely satisfying time that left all the participants and even those not directly participating completely satisfied. When he finished with the two new women his family cuddled up in bed and drifted off to sleep while their friends, the Aussies, guarded the camp through the night.

Finally, after months of tiring and dangerous travel John and his band found a location to call home once again. They settled in a valley near the confluence of what he thought were the Sacramento and American rivers. This was the area that, in his time, the city of Sacramento, CA occupied.

John insisted the first order of business was to prepare ground so he could plant the remainder of his beans, onions, and potatoes. Truthfully, he wasn't positive he could salvage enough potatoes and onions to have a decent crop but he intended to try. They badly needed to expand their diet and these three things would be a good start along with the wild vegetables he intended to domesticate.

Growing their food in one place was a new and strange concept to the small group but whatever John wanted, John would get if his women had anything to say about it. After the garden was planted they set out to build a more permanent settlement. John didn't want it to be done haphazardly either. He used stone and logs, building to last. This, too, was a strange concept to his band. They were used to temporary camps, constantly moving after the wild game and vegetables in the area were depleted.

After they had a small settlement built, John insisted they prospect for metal so they could make better tools. In this, his expanded "memory" was exceedingly beneficial. It seemed he knew almost exactly where they could find the items he wanted to mine and he had knowledge of the older forms of smelting. Their settlement grew as they added adults. John was worried and surprised by the low ratio of males to females however.

It seemed there was five to seven females per male. The birthrate was lopsided, favoring females over males by three or four to one, then, as they aged, the male mortality was greater because they tended to do the more dangerous activities and thus died more frequently. This imbalance held true for John's progeny also. Over the years his children were born in those same ratios.

John's children shared one important thing with him, however. They were all born with his abilities of recall and the use of their minds. They learned to talk after they were three or four months old and could "mind speak" even sooner. As soon as they could coordinate their movements well, they began building, writing and using the knowledge they were born with. A small pocket of civilization grew rapidly because of this.

*****

COURT MARTIAL PROCEEDINGS CONTINUED (Translated)

The Adjutant saw the door open behind the court's table and popped to attention before saying, "All Rise."

Five serious looking senior officers strode to the table and stood slightly beside and behind their chairs. The Admiral pulled his chair out and sat, quickly followed by the remainder of the Board.

The Admiral looked around the room and nodded slightly toward the Adjutant who then said, "Be Seated. Court now in session," before he took his seat.

The Admiral repeated the charges against Commander Kowlic then turned to the Prosecutor. He said, "Colonel, state your case and call your first witness."

"Admiral, Members of the Court, this is one of the most serious, if not the most serious violations of the rules of navigation our Federation has ever encountered. I have undeniable proof that the carelessness and dereliction of duty of Commander Kowlic has drastically, impossibly changed the civilization on the planet locally known as Earth.

"This time, the pre trial delaying tactics of my esteemed colleague, the attorney for the defense, has aided prosecutions case. I move this court view archived video documentation of the prior, natural evolution of the planet in question then view the video of its current evolution taken from current scans. After this video I believe the court will approve prosecutions request to dispense with the testimony and convict the Commander of all counts."

The Admiral looked to his left, then to his right as he said, "Objections from the court?"

He then looked to the defense and asked the same question of the defense. The defense council looked at his client then licked his lips before he said, "If it please the court, defense would request ruling available video inadmissible. We have no way to verify the direction civilization of Earth would have developed had the unfortunately close passage of the SPEEDRUNNER never occurred. Defense requests a full trial based on facts known at the time of the alleged infractions."

"This is a valid point. Colonel, as prosecutor, how do you address defense's point?"

"Admiral, defense has a valid point. I suggest we compare archived video of the subject planet with that from its current course up to the time of the violation, ignoring developments from that date forward. I feel this will prove our point that a trial is not necessary and conviction is mandatory. Prosecution then requests maximum penalty for the offense—reduction to the lowest enlisted rank, dishonorable discharge from the service and forfeiture of all pay and allowances."

"Hummm. That seems fair. So be it. We will consider possible penalties IF the Commander is convicted however. Computer. Pull video's of the development of planet Earth from archived backup files. We will view them, then the video of the same data from current files residing in non archived, active memory immediately thereafter."

The earlier videos of Earth matched in nearly every particular. The defense and, particularly Commander Kowlic began to smile smugly as the views progressed. Views from all over the Earth were the same from archives and from current files until the early 1400's. At that time, there began to be a divergence in the views on the west coast of North America. It was first noticed agriculture began to spread from central California. Permanent buildings began to show up with well laid out roads and streets. Metal tools became abundant and the population exploded.

Over the course of 100 years the development moved out from the center near the once city of Sacramento. The entirety of North America showed different stages of this rapid progress. Central America showed some signs of the spread of this civilization.

_____

Fast forward video to April 26, 1607

Sailing ships were slowly moving toward the coast of Virginia headed for the James River. Sailors were staring through spyglasses as they talked in subdued voices. One bearded man said, "'Tis witchcraft I tells ye. Witchcraft! They be no beasts of burden pulling them carts. Tis certainly not birds aflittin' through tha air either. I see neither sails nor oars on tha boats neither."

About that time one of the boats in question came alongside the ship and hailed it. "Ahoy there. Please state your business."

The Captain moved to the rail and looked down on the boat before he said, "I am Captain Christopher Newport of His Majesty's Ship Susan Constant. We're here to take possession of this land and build a settlement by the authority of the Virginia Company with the permission of the King. Who are you and what is your business here?"

The commander of the small boat laughed before saying, "I am John Stevens V. We have been wondering when we would see you people. Dad warned us and we stayed away from your earlier explorers as well as those from Spain and France. We have left you alone and want to be left alone in return. The America's are not open to colonization. If you can find something we want, we might trade with you but that is the only interest we have in you."

2020

The other video's showed similar divergence in advancement. The final set of video's were taken the day of SPEEDRUNNER'S passage through the solar system. The archived video showed the history of Earth as those of us reading this missive know it. The current video, however, showed a hugely different Earth. Samplings of the atmosphere showed almost no pollution. The world looked almost like a well maintained park. Cities were clean, well laid out and almost violence free. There hadn't been a war in over a century. Perhaps the most damning evidence of all, however, was what happened when SPEEDRUNNER crossed the orbit of Pluto.

As SPEEDRUNNER began approaching the system it was picked up by detection devices. For almost 150 years it had been known ships from other civilizations would pass through our system from time to time. Right of passage were deemed to apply much as if the solar system had been an ocean on earth and the star ships were analogous to old style seagoing ships. The ship was watched but since no hostile intent could be determined, no action was taken. This time was different. This ship did not slow down and it was obvious its wake was effecting astral bodies on the edge of the solar system. Since that was happening, Earth's forces moved into action. At that time, Earth ships were sent out to intercept.