Cyber Viking 2

by Marcus Sloss

  I was halted by the severity of the change in our storage area. The first problem was we now had over a thousand forks and spoons. I immediately thought of plastic bricks I could trade. Our rare metal bricks were stuffed on shelves to the point I gasped. The high-carbon pile had overflowed as well. Goldie was there, patiently waiting for me to talk.

  “So, are we anywhere near our allowable transformation?”

  “Not even close,” Goldie replied dryly.

  Wow, it looked like we would be able to buy a lot of items. Perci tugged me to go outside instead of drooling over the supplies. By the time we stepped out onto the grassy fields, we had eighteen hours left and a clamoring of people wanting to go shopping.

  CHAPTER 2

  There were a lot of vehicles piled up around the gate. Even Isaac had a half-dozen trucks outside the southern golden portal. I checked my Gpad. Since the loot was easy to secure and restricted to residential homes, we had plucked clean most of our zone. There was one resounding idea that would have to wait until the next golden event. Denver.

  I focused on the here and now. A table had been set up between our RVs, which were parked in a triangle. Citizens were going in and out of the gates to get translators. We had the majority of our personnel and vehicles staged outside our local Xgate, which we had named Xgate 232. I went to the center of the triangle and heard Torrez and Gary debating intensely. Eddy was the captain of our Charlie Team. They quieted their conversation while both giving small waves as I passed. There were my team leaders sitting in a circle of chairs in the middle of our gathering zone.

  Alpha Team leader Mclain was rocking in a chair I intended to trade away. My second-in-command, Jevon, was rocking his girlfriend Becca in the chair Winston delivered to be specially made. My eyes went wide and I ran to get him up.

  “Jevon, that is vital to trade. Notice how it is built for someone bigger than us by a few feet. It is important nothing happens to that. Actually, let us load it up in this truck bed,” I said urgently. He huffed but helped two people carry it.

  I saw Miguel Torrez and Felix Delcroy find a section to sit. They were our supply leaders. Dedric was beside them; he was the Tango Team leader who handled our transportation. Delta Team leader was Nancy, who was addressing her team. I saw Slister rounding up Bravo Team. Most of our leadership, if not all of it, was here for this part. Great. Bonnet was sleeping at the base for a night guard shift and Mitchell was on the wall.

  “Listen up!” I shouted.

  The crowd quieted and the five-hundred-plus gathered people started to pool around to hear me talk. This was a defining moment for our community. We had busted our butts since the aliens arrived and now we could turn that hard work into something nice.

  “I purchased animals. Not a whole lot, but enough to eat fresh eggs on rotation and hopefully drink delicious milk. One of them will even eat that nasty gargoyle meat for us and produce twice as much egg mass!” I said to a round of applause.

  “Okay, we have rare minerals in digital devices of old. Perfect. That has given us a surplus of spending power. So, what else do we buy besides toilet paper—yes, that item is on the list. I want to cover something controversial first. Prisoners. We call them prisoners, the vendors call them slaves. We are not entering the prisoner market today. I see no justification in spending our resources to free others. I know, savage—however, hear me out. We will. I promise we will stand up and do the right thing down the road. With that said, if I do not put the needs of the community before the needs of those less fortunate, we could fail. If we fail, we help no one. For the community,” I said almost in a prayer tone.

  The words were repeated back.

  “A caveat is that we are getting more tavers. I saw the price compared to our wealth. You might be asking, Cap, why do that? The answer is simple. In two interactions, I have had tavers’ productions traded. These rocking chairs are already sold. Really nice, right? Don’t break them, by the way.” There was a soft laughter at the mini joke. I emphasized this by pointing at those currently occupying the chairs. “So, tavers will help us generate income when we run out of stuff to loot. They drain nothing besides lake space and probably muddy water we are literally turning into shit creek further downstream. I see little downside.”

  A lot of nods and agreements were made.

  “Next, Torrez, come over here,” I said, waving my friend over. The man had cybernetic legs and loved to show them off. Torrez leaped a dozen feet into the air knowing I would slow his momentum. He landed with a thud and I yanked him back with planted feet. He performed a slight bow to the clapping applause. “Torrez, brief us on weapons.”

  “I agree with Gary here, Cap,” Torrez said, and I grew confused. Gary walked over to raise a hand to talk. I nodded.

  “There is a mineral detection device for sale at a few vendors. If minerals are a big money-making resource I think we should buy a few detectors. I want to buy a half-dozen scanners, head home, and try to see if we have any rare minerals in the mountains around Stronghold Mansion. Few reasons why. There is a digging tool for sale. It is electric, expensive, and only a few are for sale. It will eat up a lot of our money. We could still buy guns and a few sets of armor. With that said, I would prefer a digging machine to increase our wealth over a tree planer or wood chipper. Especially if we can haul trees into the gate. Watch this.”

  Gary signaled a team of men and women. There were ten of them around a tree. They brought the twenty-foot-tall tree upright. Then, they dropped it into the golden shimmer of the portal. Poof, the tree vanished. The team walked in. Less than a minute transpired when they exited with seven roofing trusses from a single tree. Gary beamed happily and I smiled.

  “See, we do not need woodworking tools or fancy equipment. A mining machine we do, though. The detectors are cheap. But we are down to seventeen hours,” Gary said. As a collective group, we glanced at our Gpads to see the timer. “An hour to get home. An hour to scan. Still plenty of time to adjust and buy armor and weapons instead.”

  Gary won me over. Jevon gave a thumbs-up. The other officers did as well.

  “Do it, Gary. Use Bravo Team. Slister, find us resources. We are not done!” I said as people started to scatter. “A few things need to happen. We need to haul our animals to their new homes. We need to drag our trees over. With that being said, if they come back empty on the scanning results, I am buying new weapons, armor, and maybe some vehicles. The remainder will be used for the community’s needs. Hopefully, everyone will get a chance to go shopping. Oh, Perci, toss the flapion—”

  “On it,” Perci said with an eager tone.

  Torrez nudged me. “I built a weapon list. I even have it laid out how best to get to the vendors we need. Let me do the buying. I have been studying the vendors. The higher priced ones are the cheapest. Trust me.”

  “I do, Torrez. I do.” I patted him on the shoulder. I saw Perci booking it for the gate. “Get me the tavers, Perci, then we are heading home.”

  “Yes, Cap!”

  “Alright, team leaders. Haul trees over if you are not ready to ferry animals home.”

  The team leaders started shouting orders to sergeants who organized working groups. I went for RV3. My hands-on part of dealing with the trading was over. It was time to trust the troops. My weight creaked the RV steps. The sound of a snoring bulldog was audible before I even opened the door. Felix the dog sure was a sleeper. The sound of a kid’s movie consumed the space, trying to drown out the dog snoring.

  I kicked Felix out of my spot that he liked to keep warm. From my perch in the RV passenger seat, I watched the teams work. We had a plan, we had a purpose, and we were going to have a better base in a few hours.

  My amused grin from watching Willow and Nancy herding a slonger was noticed. The boxy animal was hefted into a truck bed by Eddy’s team. The next animal was shooed out of the golden shimmer and the process repeated. When they lifted the thousand-pound creatures, they did so with three people per side. I was able to see thr
ee sets of udders under the body that were inlaid in ring patterns. I heard the door open behind me.

  Nancy slipped into the driver’s seat with Willow plopping into my lap. Maria came over as we got comfy.

  “Watch the girls? I could use a break.”

  “Of course,” the three of us replied out of sync.

  I peeked over my shoulder to see Jasmine and Mary curled up watching a princess flick. I picked up Willow, who giggled at being hoisted. When I found the perfect spot for her I set Willow down. Nancy waited with her hand out, bent at the wrist like a princess from the TV. I accepted her hand and used a tight jerking motion to get her in my arm. We piled into the blankets, with me snuggling Nancy in one nook and Willow in the other. The little girls snuggled into my lovely ladies. The spot was so cozy, so warm, that I closed my eyes to rest.

  ∞∞∞

  I stirred in the bed, uncertain if I had overslept the morning wake-up again. My right eyelid opened and I hissed at the sunlight. Mary was snoozing beside me with hair in her mouth and drool spilling from her cheek. Ha! Kids were awesome. Jill looked down on us from the loft, a yawn showing she had napped also. I glanced behind to see Nancy and Willow balled up. I laid where I was, unwilling to bother them. The RV was giving a slight bump, telling me we were over rough terrain.

  My Gpad indicated we were near the gate. Oh man, I had napped for over an hour! Maybe I deserved the gray hairs on my head. I would blame portal travel as being tiring. My Gpad located Perci in a truck behind us. Her vitals indicated she was asleep too. Hmm… it was definitely worth investigating. That woman never napped.

  Since we were here, I tried to sneak out of bed. Mary latched onto me while crying out at my lost body heat. I soothed her by picking her up to rest her tired head on my shoulder. Torrez drove RV3 into its parking slot. Maria was holding a sleeping Jasmine in her seat. When the tires stopped moving it was like a switch was flicked. Nancy and Willow woke up, as did Jasmine. Mary was zonked out with me holding her. I chuckled as we walked down the RV steps.

  I missed this place. Stronghold Mansion was home. The valley we lived in was surrounded by three natural walls in an oval shape. A long wall of dirt-filled containers sealed us off from the rest of the world. We had double-stacked the southern wall containers with trees planted in the top hesco sacks. Inside the stronghold, a dirt road had been converted to a pebbled turnabout and vehicle staging area. I walked to the gate to take it all in. On the left side, there was long-term vehicle parking. As in, gas guzzlers that would not be driven unless there were a drastic emergency. I saw a few missing for today’s looting.

  Further into the base was the first guesthouse, the mansion, and then the next guesthouse. The buildings were close together with a Japanese stone theme to the building design. A kids’ playground was nestled in front of them with a swing and sandpit. Beyond the second guesthouse was the barn. The barn had all the solar panels we brought firmly attached to the roof. Our power generation still vastly surpassed our consumption. To the right of the gate was where RV1 and RV2 lived. They were our constant adventuring vehicles, built with bulletproof materials and meant to live forever. Further inside the base, on the right side, was where our longhouses started.

  My eyes glanced over the ten longhouses. Their brown simplicity with gleaming metal patchwork roofing. The aluminum street signs had proven vital in helping keep the rain away. The buildings were staggered in their layout with no matching reason. It was as if Gary simply pointed to an area while saying “start there.” The first three had walls with windows. Four through seven had sections of walls up. Now that we had enough space to live semi-comfortably, we finished a communal dining area and started building our first construction-slash-working barn. I wanted to be able to keep up production with the rain crashing down. We were in the early spring rain season.

  I walked with Mary between the longhouses as more of our convoys rolled into the base. I heard the clucking of chickens, which finally jostled the little girl awake. A drool stain marked my shoulder. She saw it was me and snuggled in tighter while enjoying the walk. I noticed Jill trailing us and I was surprised she gave us space. We left the confines between the longhouses for an open area.

  The back-right side of Stronghold Mansion was our farm. Our bunny pens were still sticks in the ground. There must have been a thousand boxes where Dalila and Tina were managing the bunnies by shifting them over fresh grass. We had electric mowers with bags in the caves; I would need to drag them out, especially since there was still so much wild grass. The four chickens clucked, the seven ducks quacked, and I smiled seeing we had space for the other animals already arranged. The key was keeping the ramoths fed to avoid issues. Their pen was far away on the other side of a carrot field.

  The rest of our farm fields had been created by hand tools. Norm, with his infinite seed knowledge, created two farm fields here so far and was breaking ground on the third. He waved, taking a break in the area he toiled in. I guess he was not interested in looting or shopping. I had actually forgotten to talk to him about potential seed purchases. Beyond the two farm fields were more empty fields. All those were on the convert-to-farm-fields list. Beyond those were trees until we ran into mountain slopes. I scanned left until I found the cave road. I had asked for the slongers to be dropped off there since they would eat forest-floor shrubbery and pine needles.

  I went to watch them adjust to their new habitat when I received a call from Mitchell. I reached around Mary to tap the answer button.

  “Hey, Cap, you got a visitor at the gate. A man saying he’s Isaac and his council. Seeking a conversation. They are weaponless.”

  “Thanks, Mitchell. On my way.”

  I retreated back to the gate where Perci found me. She ran and hopped into my right side opposite Mary. Mary pouted at not being carried alone and stuck a thumb in her mouth. Perci mimicked the little girl, who giggled at the silliness of Perci sucking her thumb. I set both ladies down and held their hands. Jill came over to Mary’s left side and we did one-two swings for her. The tiredness wore off with the excitement. Mary raced away for the park with mom in tow.

  “I love how good you are with her,” Perci said clutching my hand. “We all do. The community thinks the whole Saudi Arabia thing was fake.”

  “I haven’t been having nightmares. I know I owe you the story. But no rush, please. When I am ready,” I said, pausing our walk. Perci’s hazel eyes gave me that look. The one where I was normally tugged into a bedroom, a shower, behind a tree, or into a cave. “Later, my little minx. Maybe Slister can find a cure for my sperm count. Speaking of which, where is Nancy?”

  “You have not had sex with Nancy yet, what does she have to do with your sperm?”

  “Oh, not that. Give me a moment,” I said, dialing Nancy.

  “Yes, Cap, we are integrating the new tavers with the old tavers. There was a bitch-slap fight! I kid you not. I got it recorded for later. What can I help you with?”

  I checked on Jacky’s status. She was resting or asleep. Which definitely left me curious.

  “Scan your body with that device. All of us who went through the portals a bunch napped,” I said to Nancy. I saw her punching on her Gpad. “Get back to me.”

  I closed the connection to continue our walk. The guests were Isaac, a younger woman who held his hand, and then two older gentlemen beside a middle-aged female police officer. Isaac had his aviators on top of his short black hair. The man’s skin tone was a dark black shade contrasted by his diamond earrings. We shook hands when I arrived.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Queen Persephone, or Perci by her friends. How may I help you?”

  “Introductions first, young man,” the woman holding Isaac’s hand said with a curtsy. “I am Laura, Isaac’s wife. This is Officer Sarah Kallinghan from Denver, who got lucky doing a health and welfare check on an elderly couple when the aliens arrived. She was told to stay out of Denver to keep an eye out for the department. This is our local environmental lawyer, Jason West,
and our largest HOA manager, Daniel Storks. We make up the leadership of Cornerstore Stronghold, as you call it. We were hoping for a sit-down meeting.”

  “It is wonderful to meet you all. My RV is the best place for that. It should fit us all. Would you like a tour or an overview for now?”

  “Overview works. We can see most of what you have from here. What happens next?” Sarah asked. I saw Laura give her a stern glare. “What!? We are here to learn, are we not? I am brutish and to the point, I get told often. If I offended you, I apologize.”

  “Umm… no need to apologize. So we want more houses. More food. More places to work. We have acres and acres of trees to convert. Sorry you lost your job, Jason. Which I guess confuses me. While I do not mind visitors, I am interested in why you are here. You introduced these men as their former occupations. What do they do for your stronghold?”

  “Told you he would be direct. You are dealing with a soldier,” Sarah said with a scoff.

  “Is that bad?” Perci asked with raised brows.

  We arrived at the RV as the tension started to build. If I had to guess, Sarah was being open and wanting to get to the point. The others wanted to play politics. This let me deduce a few things. They were wanting out of the Cornerstore plaza. The why was apparent when I saw no military member on the council. Sarah had an empty holster from a sidearm checked at the gate. I doubted the others even had weapons. It was a miracle they survived the first wave of blue portals. Perci bounded up the few steps and set the bed into a table. I put a pot of coffee on while savoring the smell. When they were seated, I turned to them.

  “You will die if we do not defend you. Your generator is running out of gas, you’re going stir crazy as a community, and you do not know how to improve your living situation. I have seen the drone video, there is no expanding for you. That means the colonel rejected you all. I secretly want to know what Aspen Stronghold is like. I have a vision of massive mansions and swanky hotels wide open for people to spread out into. However, they will have limited space for farming and limited power generation. Enough of the city is solar to prevent long blackout stretches. Am I close?”