Further:

by Travis Mohrman

  “This facility has a large garage underneath the landing strip to house crafts for various functions. Would you like me to bring a boat similar to the one you mentioned?”

  Cooper had no idea where the landing strip was, but told the computer that he wanted to see the boat anyway. There was no harm in looking at it, he reasoned.

  Nothing happened after he told the computer to do that, so he went back to gathering some supplies. He wasn’t sure what medicines to bring back, but he was reading through the instructions and bringing the most basic ones. He mostly had various things for pain and lots of things called antibiotics. When he was flipping through the medicine book in the library, many things seemed to call for antibiotics and he had found an entire crate full of some called ‘broad spectrum’ that worked for many ailments.

  After gathering the medicines, and some very nice bandages, he headed out of that supply room to go to the one full of food. As he exited into the hallway, the computer came back through the speakers. “Your request has been fulfilled; a boat is waiting for you. I took the liberty of testing the motor and it functions. It is operating at a high rate of efficiency.”

  Cooper hadn’t heard any sounds and looked around the hallway, half expecting to see a boat sitting out there. “Where is the boat?”

  “It is sitting in a slip that was opened along the river.”

  “We asked you for a boat before, why didn’t you mention all this then?”

  “This facility possesses no boats capable of breaking ice.”

  Cooper didn’t have time to dwell on his own frustration at this revelation. The redhead stashed his supplies on his bed and went running outside. He had no idea what to expect to see when the door snapped open, but he was still surprised by what he found.

  Near the river on his side of the field, two huge doors had opened in the ground. Much of the dirt and plants had sloughed off to reveal the black metal of the doors. With the snow having melted, the soil was all piled up in large muddy clumps.

  As he approached the doors, they were standing straight up in the air and were easily twice as tall as he was. Floating patiently inside a square chamber under the doors was a single black boat. It looked to be about the same size as the other one, slightly larger perhaps, but very nearly the same.

  The engine looked totally different. It was just a large square box on the back and it didn’t have a tiller arm for steering. This boat had a wheel for steering in the center of the craft, like the larger boat that Cooper had only seen Tom use a handful of times. The computer had said it worked and it certainly looked nice.

  The ice was still on the river, but it was pushing out. When it was gone, he didn’t see why he couldn’t leave with this boat and simply tow the other one behind it. He could not only bring Tom’s boat back, but another one as well!

  +++

  After checking out the boat, Cooper walked back to Handro. He could see him standing there, staring across the field. The tall metal doors were even visible from that distance.

  “What happened up there? I was about to walk up and see what it was. There was a loud blaring sound and the field shook and then the ground opened up!” Handro shouted as the redhead got close enough to hear.

  Not wanting to yell back, Cooper waved his hands to let him know to just wait a bit. He laughed when it didn’t seem to satiate the dark skinned man as he started stomping though the muddy ground, still with a slight limp.

  “I was coming your way to explain it. You heard a blaring noise?”

  “Yes, it was really loud, the dogs started barking like crazy.”

  Rufus and Lupe padded around the two men, occasionally looking up the field and letting out slow growls. They obviously didn’t appreciate what had happened.

  “I asked about the information for fixing an engine, like you wanted me to, but the computer said it had a boat that we could have. I told it that we wanted it and then nothing happened until it told me it had brought the boat up. I didn’t hear any noises or anything, but it looks like the field opened up and pushed the boat out. I think we were right about the field being man-made, but I don’t think it’s just a field.”

  “What do you mean?” Handro asked

  “I think it is another storage place. The computer said it had many crafts, I think they are all underneath our feet!”

  Handro looked down at the muddy soil beneath his feet. “Wonder what else might be stored down there?” he said in a sinister tone.

  Cooper was oblivious to Handro’s foreboding tone. “We can check it out on a return trip. I want to get everything ready to leave. We can take the new boat and use it to tow the old boat back. Then we can fill the old one with even more supplies.”

  Cooper watched Handro think it over and look down at his foot. He knew what he was thinking.

  “I will use the sled for wood to bring the supplies back here and then you can load them all in.” Cooper was happy to have found a solution that still gave Handro an important task. “You’ll need to pack everything in nice and tight so we don’t lose anything.”

  Handro smiled and replied, “I think I can manage that. Do you want any stew? I made some with several rodents the dogs brought back. It’s pretty tasty.”

  The redhead thought about it and realized that he was already tired of the meals from the bunker. They were certainly easy, but they didn’t taste as good as a fresh stew. Plus, he needed the energy. He was going to have many trips to make across the big field.

  As he got closer to the old campsite, he could smell the stew. He looked up at Handro and smiled, excited for a delicious meal before the preparations began.

  25

  Aria sat on her porch as John stomped up the path towards her. She could tell by the determined look on his face that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation.

  “Hello John, how are things?” She asked with a pleasant tone, hoping to calm the man down. She wasn’t afraid of John, not by a long shot, but she knew that he was ruled by his emotions and she didn’t want to make him angry.

  “I am leaving. I’m going to find Cooper.” He didn’t even offer it up as a question.

  In a sense, Aria was happy for John to have found his voice and take charge of a situation; she just wished it wasn’t in this particular instance. “Do you think that’s wise, John? The last attempt was nearly disastrous.” She was still keeping a pleasant tone.

  Again, without hesitation he said ,“I am leaving. He would come for me if I was in trouble. Plus, it’s warm now, it’ll be safer.”

  “We have no clue how long ice like that takes to melt. It is probably still on the river.”

  “None of that matters, I’m walking. I will just walk along the river until I find them. They have been gone for over three weeks!” His voice was getting louder now and several people had stopped to watch the exchange.

  “John, we would need time to prepare you for a journey like that and you need training.” Aria was growing slightly irritated with his tone, but was trying to give the man leeway since he was obviously distraught over his missing friend.

  “I don’t care about any of that. I’ll just fill a pack with some clothes and leave. I know how to make traps and what plants to eat.” John raised his eyes to hers and slowly said, “You can’t stop me from leaving,” in a deep, throaty tone.

  Aria stared into his eyes, glassy from emotion. She was struggling with the best way to handle him in this state. She wished Katherine was around; she had such a calming effect on the big man.

  Instead, she hoped to remind him of other things he cared about. “What about the children? What about Albert? They need you. You know how they all look up to you. They would be devastated if something happened. I’m shocked little Albert isn’t here with you right now actually. She peered around him as she said this.

  His voice faltered as he responded. “I told him to stay behind and he did.” She had struck a chord. “I am leaving and that’s all there is to it.”

  Aria heard
a noise and turned to see Ceannt emerge from his porch. He had been watching the conversation with great interest.

  “Hey John, let’s calm down here. You need to trust in Cooper, the lad knows how to survive, he’ll be back.”

  “I need to help him. He would do it for me. You can’t stop me either.”

  “Actually son, I can. I might be old, but I know I can stop you. Come on now, let’s relax up here and think this through.” Aria watched Ceannt try desperately to coax the big man into a chair and calm him down, to no avail.

  John began yelling and Ceannt tried to keep his voice steady when responding to him. He tried all the same issues that Aria had tried herself.

  “We need to wait, just wait. Give it another two weeks, John. After that, I’ll throw you on my back and hike you up there myself if we don’t hear from them.”

  John looked up at him. Ceannt was now blocking his path, something Aria hadn’t noticed at first. John quickly shoved the short and stocky old brewer’s shoulders, attempting to force him out of the way.

  Aria stood up, hoping to calm everything down, but it was too late. Like lightening, Ceannt’s thick hand sliced through the sky and smacked across John’s head. The big man collapsed onto the path like an oak on the forest.

  Ceannt, obviously not wanting to hit him, knelt down to try to calm him down and not escalate the situation. As he grew closer to John, he could see he was crying now and mumbling, “He would come for me,” over and over again.

  “I know he would, fella, I know,” Ceannt scooped John up into his arms. With only a little bit of wobbling, he carried him inside and laid him upon the grass-filled bed to rest.

  Aria slid up behind him. “If he leaves, he won’t survive out there.”

  Ceannt looked back to her. “Maybe not alone, but I think he’s far more capable than most people realize.” Ceannt placed a cold wet rag onto John’s eyes, he had drifted off to sleep. “I wasn’t lying. In two weeks time, if we haven’t heard anything, I’m going out to find him too. I can’t bear the thought of that carrot top out there needing help and all of us just sitting here. That boy’s family now.”

  Aria placed her hand upon the old man’s back and sighed. She was afraid it was going to come to this. She silently said a prayer that they would return before Ceannt’s self-imposed deadline came. She knew she couldn’t stand to lose him too.

  26

  Packing had gone easier than expected for the next several days. The sled made transporting things a breeze. Cooper had watched Handro braid together the thin tree bark to make a solid rope in order to tie all the supplies down. Cooper had learned how to make rope long ago, but it had never turned out as strong or tight as what Handro had quickly spun together.

  Handro had refused to use the rope from the bunker, choosing instead to make his own; the reason being that he didn’t have much else to do as they waited for the last of the ice to push down the river.

  Cooper had realized they would need some sort of staff to keep the boat being towed from slamming into the boat in front when they stopped. He had spent a half day hiking, looking for the perfect tree limb with a wide fork at one end. His work had paid off and he now had two large braces strapped to the main boat that could be picked up and used as necessary. He had even gotten a metal hook from the facility and attached it to the end in the event that they needed to pull the tow boat closer to them.

  The previous day, they had awoken to an ice-free river as far as they could see. Cooper and Handro had decided to wait one more day to allow the ice to move down river and melt, hopefully.

  Seeing as the boat they had was new to them, but probably hundreds of years old, they decided to try it out. Cooper did most of the driving, although he made sure that Handro drove enough to be familiar with the craft. Remembering his bonk on the head while coming back from the old city, he wanted to be prepared in case he couldn’t drive.

  The oddest thing about the new boat was the motor. He didn’t know what was making it function. It didn’t hold fuel the way the other engines did, nor did it make the same growling noise and expel bad fumes. It expelled something from a tube near the back, but when Cooper put his hand over it, he found it to be cool. Plus, whatever it was expelling beaded up on his hand and looked remarkably like water.

  As far as he could tell, the engine was sucking up river water and somehow using it to power the craft, then expelling water vapor. As amazing as that was, he knew that Doc would hate it since it took away his reason to make fuel. He was unclear if the engine could pull that same magic with the salty water from the gulf, but he was past being surprised by these things anymore.

  The boat handled much better than the old one and was much more comfortable. It had padded seats and a soft carpeting covering most of the flooring; the dogs loved it. Cooper found that it could turn very quickly, even at low speeds, and was very excited to take it back to Tom. He imagined the quiet engine alone would allow him to catch even more fish.

  After the final day of preparations, they had gone to sleep early and awoke to pleasant temperatures and clear skies. Handro declared that it was a wonderful day to begin a journey.

  Cooper lightly patted the black metal egg tucked into his pocket, reassuring himself that it was still there before agreeing with the dark skinned man.

  With a little effort, the pair slid the old boat, loaded with supplies, into the water. Cooper couldn’t help but wonder what had been going on in the village in their absence. He knew many people must have been worried sick and was sorry to have put them through that. They were probably worried that he was out in the freezing cold, barely surviving, when mostly he was inside a warm bunker that granted him wishes.

  He knew he couldn’t change what had happened, though, and tried not to dwell on it as he pulled the new boat into position to hook it up to the old one. They were leaving a distance that was at least one boat length between the two crafts, simply to try to keep the tow boat out of the immediate wake from the one in front.

  As the dogs jumped into the lead vessel, they appeared confused, frequently looking back at the boat behind them. Lupe even barked at it a few times, although every time she was careful not to open her mouth much when she did it. It was more of a muted warning woof.

  With everything stowed as tightly as they could manage, Cooper fired up the nearly silent motor and settled into the driver’s. They had decided to not travel anywhere near max speed while pulling the tow boat. Still, with the rollers creating extra current, they began moving very quickly downriver.

  +++

  With the aid of the motor, they caught up to the ice just after mid-day. Since this was just the tail end, there were very few chunks and they appeared to have melted quite a bit.

  Rather than attempt to push through them, Cooper chose to float along with the ice for awhile. He decided to leave the motor idling in case they needed to maneuver quickly, but felt fairly secure that they were safe on the back end of the ice flow.

  As the sun weakened and it began to get colder, Cooper pulled the boat over onto one of the large sand bars along the side of the water. Handro took the hooked pole and safely pulled the tow boat up onto the shore. They created a space between the boats and, using some material from the bunker, fashioned a quick tent that was surprisingly spacious.

  The temperature was going down, but it was nowhere near the extreme cold they had experienced farther north. The shelter kept everyone plenty warm that night.

  The next day was nearly the same as the first, with the explorers catching up to the ice around mid-day, but this time there was much less and Cooper felt confident motoring between the chunks. He kept a distance of several boat-lengths between themselves and the ice.

  The third day they had found no ice and the temperature was considerably warmer.

  Cooper drove boat as quickly as he could with Handro keeping a watchful eye on the tow boat to make sure it was steady. The second boat was bouncing occasionally, but the supplies were very secure wit
h the braided rope.

  They both remarked on how smooth a ride it was going down river, but lamented that the waves would sometimes blow a fine mist over the boat as they would slice through them. Thankfully, they had traveled far enough south for it not to be an issue, but the dogs seemed to hate it and had stopped laying on the bow while in motion.

  On the fourth day of the journey, he began to recognize the forested habitat. It was the familiar mix of hardwoods that Cooper had grown accustomed to. The forest was still very thick, indicating they were not yet to the areas that they burned intentionally.

  Cooper began to grow very excited and it seemed the dogs did as well. They would get up and stick their black noses high into the air, then chase each other around the deck. Several times Handro had to scold them to get them to settle down. Falling overboard was never a good thing, as Cooper knew all too well.

  On the morning of the fifth day, Cooper was bouncing around in his seat much the same as the dogs. Thankfully, Handro did not scold him.

  “We’re going to make it back today, probably even before mid-day!” Cooper explained.

  The dark skinned man continued watching the tow boat for any signs of stress, refusing to allow Cooper’s excitement to distract him. He was also happy to be getting back to the village, but mostly it was to be away from that underground facility. He still didn’t trust it.

  “I can’t wait for a mug of fresh ale from Ceannt. Is it strange that I am looking forward to that the most?” he asked. Really, he knew it wasn’t the beer, but the company of the brewers he was sorely missing. He had grown close to Handro, but the two were simply very different people. The bawdy humor of the brewers was what he was craving; the large mug of hoppy beer just washed it all down nicely.

  “I just want to be able to walk around again. My ankle barely hurts at all anymore. I want to stroll around a landscape I know and not worry about some computer deciding to blow everything up.”