Darwin's World: An Epic of Survival (The Darwin's World Series Book 1)

by Jack L Knapp

  The rest of the steel went into a pack along with spear blades I’d chipped from obsidian. Maybe Robert’s group had someone who could make spears; there wouldn’t be enough steel blades, but obsidian was much better than the wooden points Philippe and Marc had described.

  #

  Lilia and I took the trail the following morning. Sandra, Millie, and Cindy remained behind, preparing our own gear for travel.

  Following the trail to Robert’s village was routine now, and traveling gave me time to think.

  I kept mulling over what needed to be accomplished before we left. We would take essentials, but nothing else; we couldn’t afford the extra weight.

  Considering the lack of weapons skills among Robert’s people, their camping abilities wouldn’t be much better. Everyone would have to do routine tasks and be willing to pitch in to help others get them done. We would also have to share things.

  Personal weapons, clothing, and emergency kits, those belonged to the individual. Cook-pots were a tribal asset, as was food. A sled could hold bedding for four adults, and there would doubtless be some switching among groups as people adjusted to the hardships of the trip. Even my own small group might undergo some rearranging.

  We needed to teach the tribe, but what? They had some skills, even if those were adapted to village life, which would be a help. We could build on those.

  So, then; how to defend themselves, and when, because escape might be the only acceptable option someday. How to set up a camp and get tired people fed and bedded down; how to break down the camp and pack everything on the sleds, and after we abandoned the sleds, divide the goods into pack and travois loads. What to look for in assessing whether a sled needed an immediate fix or whether repairs could wait until evening; for that matter, how to do repairs without wasting scarce supplies.

  Add to that, how to build a shelter out of snow. Shelters later on would be made from whatever we could find, but we could figure that out when we got there. How to put up a protective barrier or organize a defense while the rest escaped; these would be essential trail skills.

  We couldn’t foresee every problem, but the more knowledge the tribespeople had, the better our chance of survival.

  We were nomads. Living in the cabin and in Robert’s village had masked that fact, but we’d have realized it soon even without the problem caused by raiding mine guards or a harsh winter.

  We had no old or sick people to care for; if we had any advantage at all, that was it. As for the incompetent, lazy, or uncooperative, we might have to deal with that issue at some point.

  Knowledge? We had a lot, much of it useless. It would help us build a civilization someday, after we quit moving, but in terms of practical knowledge the nomads of my own timeline knew much more than we did.

  For now, Lee, Lilia, and I would teach. If Robert or his people had the skills we needed, they could help too. What the tribespeople didn’t learn before we left, they’d learn on the trail. That would at the least be time consuming. So our first few days after departure would progress slowly.

  In addition to better weapons, Robert’s people needed emergency kits. Maybe they had some of the things we’d need.

  Otzi the Ice Man, frozen into a Swiss glacier centuries before my time, had such a packet. Our versions contained a small flint knife, a length of cord, a piece of steel, and tinder. The knives had short blades and rawhide wrapping for the handle, with thicker flint exposed at the end. The rawhide could be unwrapped and used to make a snare, the steel could produce sparks by striking the exposed flint of the knife’s hilt, the cord could be used for another snare or fishing line.

  Every adult on the trek would need such a kit, all enclosed in a pouch that would be tied to their belt. Anyone might find themselves separated from the group; the emergency packets cold help the lost one stay alive long enough to rejoin us. We probably wouldn’t be able to search for lost trekkers, although a final decision would depend on circumstances at the time; the well-being of the many took priority over the few.

  Deerskin pouches were easy to sew, but steel strikers and flint might not be available. Flint-and-steel was efficient, such that it had survived until the development of matches; this was the method we seven used for starting fires now. Flint and steel was a huge improvement over friction-starting!

  There was so much to do before we were prepared to leave, so very much; for now, push on, think, plan, watch for danger.

  #

  We arrived at Robert’s village late that afternoon and were soon fed and bedded down.

  Next morning, I helped Lee select the first group of people for trail security and scouting. He would be in overall charge, so he made the final decision about assignments. In time, we would rotate security so that everyone shared the risks.

  Pavel was making arrows, so that kept him out of trouble. Philippe and Marc, not part of his eastern group, worked with him.

  His small group of allies would be among those assigned as scouts and security when we moved out. Lee was now training them for the task.

  Robert had charge of spear making and deciding who would get the steel bladed ones. The longer steel blades required considerable strength to use. We didn’t have enough to give them to people who couldn’t use them.

  Metal blades killed quicker, because they caused massive blood loss inside the body cavity. Obsidian edges were sharper than metal, but making the edges too sharp also left them fragile. Spear points could be no more than three or four inches long before they became too fragile, so while the obsidian and flint spears were useful, they lacked the penetrating ability of the steel-bladed spears.

  Arrowheads took more shock in use, so obsidian arrow points were shorter than spearheads. Still, the points were lethal, and they didn’t require the strength that the heavy steel-bladed spears did.

  #

  Robert and I conferred every night after work. On the second night, I brought up the topic of tools.

  “Robert, can you get more steel tools from the mine?”

  “Matt, I don’t know. The stuff I gave you before was all I could get my hands on, and then only because the mine operators didn’t know I had taken it.

  “I had friends among the cooks and miners, some of the guards too. They’ll remember me, but I don’t know whether they can get more than what I already took. I can’t ask the supervisors; they weren’t happy about the stuff they knew about, and they’d have been really mad if they’d learned about the other stuff. I only told them the first time and they went along in order to get the meat, but after that I figured it would be easier to get forgiveness than permission.

  “Their policy was to not pass anything to people that might give us too much of an advantage. They were like the transplanters, they wanted people here to survive as best they could. They were willing to risk introducing limited numbers of steel swords to get whatever they’re taking from the mine, but they didn’t like it. As for giving us things like bows or spears, forget it.”

  “Are you willing to try? We need as many pots as we can get and anything at all that’s made of steel. We can make our own metal things someday, but it’s going to take a long time. Life will be much easier if we have metal to start with.”

  Robert finally agreed, and we decided he would wait for two weeks before making the attempt. The mine operators would have little time to react, and if they waited more than a day before trying to recover the items, we’d be on our way. The farther away we got, the less likely we were to have problems with them.

  So Robert would lead a small party to the mine and be ready to bring back whatever he could get. If he found it necessary to steal, he would try to clean out the shelter where the tools were stored. If the guards proved more alert this time, Robert’s group would deal with them. None of us had any love for the guards; the expedition wasn’t intended to be a raid, but if guards got killed, we wouldn’t weep.

  As for Robert, he needed to show that he could lead fighters. That meant he had to be a proven
warrior himself. He had supervised miners, but could he and his people be competent killers? Was Robert a war leader as well as an organizer?

  Sending him off in charge of the group left me uneasy, but the trip would test him as well as the others. It had to be done, and better now than later; Laz would go along and observe. I would judge Robert by how successful the trip was and what Laz said after they returned.

  Laz, onetime member of Robert’s tribe, was now thoroughly integrated into our group of seven. He had used the weapons I’d made, he’d stood with us at the little snow fort. I could depend on him.

  As for Robert, I liked him, but that wasn’t the same as relying on him. I had to be certain. Only then could I feel safe when he was in charge. If I couldn’t depend on him, we would have to leave the group.

  If Robert was questionable, Pavel was on the bubble. I would use him if possible, keep him out of trouble as long as I could, and if that failed, expel him or kill him. If it came to a choice between Pavel and the group, I wouldn’t hesitate.

  Hopefully, I would never have to make that choice about Robert.

  #

  I spent the next morning teaching how to make a fire atop the snow.

  We cut two small trees to make a base, sawed them into sections about three feet long, then laid them on the snow. Adding a second layer at right angles across the first made the platform thicker; the fire would burn longer before the base burned through. The two layers together were about eight inches thick when finished, and we had left gaps for air circulation.

  The fire was then built in the usual way atop this platform. It would burn through eventually, but people would have plenty of time to get warm, and cook the evening meal before that happened.

  Breakfast and lunch would be eaten cold, the noon stop would be as brief as possible. Building the platform and laying a fire took time, so we would only do that when we stopped for the night.

  Laz, Lee, and I took separate groups out and showed them how to build a snow house and a hasty snow fort. The groups practiced, leaving space between the shelters for the sleds. Lilia moved from group to group, showing the women how to set up the snow houses for sleeping. She and Robert would still have to check them nightly to make sure that vents had been left open and the vents had windbreaks. Some of the couples spent the night in the snow houses, while others went back to the village.

  The tribe’s hunters had ranged out on overnight trips during the summer, but the rest had become too dependent on them. Some, the potters and the Wise Woman for example, worked only within the village. That would have to change now; everyone would need to be self-reliant on the trail because there might be a time when no help was available.

  Philippe and Marc had been two of the tribe’s hunters; now that the lack of game kept people from hunting, they attached themselves to Lee, or to me if Lee wasn’t available. Two of the others who’d been hunters were members of Pavel’s group. They might have the skills, but I couldn’t trust them.

  The women from the cabin had spent considerable time outside. Since few men were available, our women had hunted and fought just as we men had. Not so the tribe’s women; they had to be taught, and even then it would take time for the lessons to become reflex.

  The teaching went both ways, however. Pavel and one of his men described dwellings two stories high with an entrance on the second floor, used when the snow was deep.

  I thought about it and realized that a two-story house with a second-floor entrance and a ladder for access made a lot of sense. Building one would be labor intensive, but we now had people to help, and pulling up the ladder at night made such houses secure.

  Something like the Pueblos of the southwestern Americans, perhaps? Adobe bricks are fireproof and could be made large for thick walls. Making and stacking the bricks made building the walls easy, and adding an overhang by extending the floor beams and adding floors would protect the lower walls from weather damage. Use the bottom level for storage, perhaps? Maybe put in a door for bringing in supplies, but with a sturdy crossbar that could resist even a bear? If we built houses such as this around a courtyard and included a sanitary system, we would have a fort that could withstand a siege! Especially so, if there was a water source inside the courtyard.

  After we stocked it with food, of course. Take up farming, raise animals for food and work?

  Such simple forts had grown into imposing castles during the Middle Ages. They had been the ultimate refuge until gunpowder ended feudalism.

  Daydreams could wait. We would need to get there, find someplace for a secure settlement, then begin the long process of building a civilization.

  For all of us to survive the trek would require a miracle.

  Chapter 33

  Robert and his small crew left two weeks later. We’d talked about his plans the afternoon before.

  “Matt, I want to get there fairly late. I’ll approach whoever’s working in the kitchen, see what I can talk them out of, steel pots and utensils, anything they’ll give us. If there are any maintenance workers around, I’ll talk to them too. I know most of them from when I supervised a crew, they may have tools they can let me have. It’s only been a couple of months since I left the mine, so I’m sure they’ll remember me.

  “The supervisors stay in the main building, so I doubt they’ll see me. If they wanted us they sent a messenger and we went to their office. I’ll try to avoid the messengers too, just in case, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Late afternoon is just before shift change, there’ll be people moving around, so we won’t stand out.

  “I’ll be on the trail before daybreak. The moon on the snow is bright enough that we can travel at night, and since I’m taking six men, there will be enough of us to handle problems if they crop up. The food and bedding will be on two small sleds and we’ll take turns pulling them. It’ll be cold food, jerky, and bread but with some of that trail mix your people use.

  “As soon as I’ve gotten everything I can from the mine, we’ll start back before they can change their minds. If we find ourselves out on the snow during daylight, I have snow-masks. If the guards do send a patrol after us, they won’t be prepared for snow blindness.

  “I’ll take one man into the camp with me. The sleds will stay in the woods with the other four men. If the foremen say they can’t give me anything, then the two of us will leave. We’ll join the others, catch a short nap until it gets dark. As soon as the moon’s up, we’ll go in and steal anything we can find. With luck, we’ll have a head start before they realize what we’ve done.

  “Let’s hope that there are no guards posted. They mostly watch for predators, and there aren’t any around right now. Plus the guards are lazy, it’s why they’re guards. They won’t be awake, I hope. If they’re not asleep…well, I didn’t like them before, and I don’t like them any better now.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got it figured, Robert. Even if the guards are awake, I doubt they’ll follow you at night.”

  “You’re right about that. We’ll travel for a few hours, find a place to set up an ambush, maybe four of us waiting while the others take the sleds on. I know what I expect, but maybe one of the guards is smart enough to do something different. If it happens, we’ll make them sorry. But there’s no reason why they should show initiative. The only thing they do is guard the mine, so unless there’s a supervisor awake to send the guards after us, all we have to do is get away.”

  #

  The foraging party, not a raid unless it was forced on Robert, had left before I woke up next morning. I was nervous, but I’d felt that way before. It’s part of being in charge.

  I grabbed a light breakfast and got to work. The tribe had made tremendous progress during the past two weeks, but there was still more to be done.

  Lilia had spent the last two days working with the women. I wanted to get her opinion, so we ate lunch together. I picked a spot a little apart from the tribe.

  “Are they ready?”

  “Matt, they couldn’t h
ave done it before, but they can, now. They know how to fight, they’re armed, they can build a hasty shelter or a fort, they have the means to start a fire and know how to build one. They know a lot of other stuff too.”

  “That confirms my impression, but I wanted to hear it from you. I’ve spent most of my time with the men, but the women are going to be just as important. What about our own women?”

  “We’re ready. I want to move our group here today; all we’re doing at the cabin is eating food that should be saved for the trek.”

  “That soon, Lilia?”

  “Sooner the better. I think we should be ready and leave as soon as Robert’s back, cross the grasslands while they’re still under the snow, then just keep going southwest. We won’t get a better chance.

  “Working outside and traveling in cold weather, we’ve been doing it for several months. Unless there’s a late blizzard, we shouldn’t have any problems we can’t cope with. Even if that happens, we’ll just build snow houses and wait until the storm blows out. We’ve got food for at least six more weeks, but there’s nothing left around here. Everything’s under four feet of snow.

  “If we wait another two weeks, we’ll only have a month’s supply of food left. We’d have to go on short rations before we got away from the snow.”

  I was surprised; I’d thought there was more food, but Lilia would know. She’d been working closely with a woman named Monika, the chief cook for Robert’s tribe, and the two had a good handle on what perishable supplies we had left and how fast we were using them.

  #

  It had been three full days, and I was increasingly concerned.

  I had expected Robert back by the end of the second day. Many things could have happened; the trip took most of a day each way, and Robert might have been forced to wait before he could slip into the camp. But there was no sign of them, and we found ourselves looking often to see if they were in sight.