John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 66

After the meal was over Deimeta followed Danlo back to a rendezvous with the mammoths. As most people drifted off Dotallto, Georgo and I stayed at the table. I wanted to ask Georgo's opinion about a plan for the four couples at Caato's former camp and decided that it wouldn't hurt anything to get Dotallto's thoughts too.

"It seems that those at Caato's old camp are determined not to join us so I'm thinking of showing them my first cave. If they like it we could easily take their things there for them and they would stand a much better chance of living through it there."

"I think that is a good idea, caves are much more protection from a harsh winter than huts are. They are also easier to heat. Your former cave will be even better since you put up such a good covering for the entrance," Georgo said.

"I wonder if they are the people that left one of the far camps I visited. The leader was very overbearing and four couples along with eleven unmated women left the camp during the night. The leader did not send anyone to look for them and seemed glad that they had left," Dotallto said.

"It must be the same group. There were eleven unmated women with the mated couples and they all came here. None of them wanted to tell us anything about the others that were left behind though."

"Of course the story I got from the leader was that they were all trouble makers but talking to others in his camp let me know that he was the cause of all the trouble," Dotallto said.

"I guess I can understand why they would not like to go to a camp with an unknown leader. I think I will go to their camp and tell them about my first cave."

"I would like to go also, can we leave early in the morning?" Georgo asked.

"It will be as good a time as any."

Our conversation ran out of steam about then and I left for my office. Of course I checked the camp in question as soon as I could click to the video. The women were working on a couple of smaller deer and the men seemed to be off hunting again. I wondered if we would find the men in camp tomorrow when we visited. It didn't really matter since we could wait around until they came back if they were off.

Argent messaged me then and my world changed.

"John, I have some terrible news and I am so sorry but I have no control over the situation," He sent.

"Jesus Argent, don't type things like that. What is the news and am I going to live over it?"

"I'm sure that you will live. Our mission has been recalled to our own dimension for discussion of this project. We will not be here watching over you for the time being. You will not have access to the video feeds while we are gone. Almost all details of your current situation are going to be reviewed," he said.

"Does that mean that you might have to remove some of the things you have given me?"

"All I can tell you is that everything will be reviewed and I want to reemphasize that I have no control over this," he said.

"The timing here is bad. With winter coming we will be up shit creek if you put us out in the cold."

"I can't make any promises but I don't think anything will be actively done that would put any lives in danger. If critical supplies or equipment are removed I don't think it will happen before spring for the reason that you mention. I have some hints about this and there is no expectation that any harm will be done to any of you," he said.

I hope that Argent didn't consider that reassuring because it damned sure wasn't to me. Unless they took away something we would be fine until spring. If they took away everything we would probably still make it but I wasn't sure that I would. There was no telling how things would shake out if I suddenly went from the great hunter to just another guy with a fucking flint tipped spear. I didn't want to find out either.

"After this review will I be able to go back to my previous life if I don't want to stay anymore?"

"I don't think that they would go so far as changing our original agreement without allowing you to go back. I do have to tell you that some drastic changes have occurred to your former planet. You might be better off here, even if we have to take back everything but your original freight," he said.

"Then you don't think that they will leave me here and take back my original allotment?"

"I can't imagine that it would come to that. No matter what happens I'm sure that they will stand by the original agreement," he assured me.

I knew it was useless to seek more information. I could tell from his demeanor that he was telling me everything he could and also that he was as shocked about it as I was. It was hard to get a handle on his attitude via the text messaging but I thought that he seemed dismayed rather than angry. I know that I was confused and in only a few minutes I had gone from worrying about the four hard headed couples that didn't want to join us to worrying about my own ass and the welfare of my people.

Whatever happened I was going to stay with them unless they ran me off. We had a good group here and even if Argent took away everything he had given me we could still have a better life here than they had before I came. My knowledge and experience with more modern thinking would give us more than a commanding advantage over everyone else in this time.

If I did get to keep my original freight we would be set because even a couple of rifles, a shotgun and a glock were awesome firepower for here and now and if that freight was also taken we would get by. We had the spearcasters from our previous dealings and I knew that Mundo and his pals could learn to make bows for archery if they needed to. They wouldn't be nearly as good as the bows we had now but they would beat the hell out of any others that were around because no others were around.

"Argent, when will you be leaving?"

"As soon as we finish this meeting," he said.

"Do you have any idea how long you will be gone?"

"None, I'm not even sure that I will be coming back," he said.

"Will anything besides the video be terminated when you leave?"

"You will no longer be able to access any information that resides on the computers on the ship. Everything that you have there will still function though. Much of the information that Frank, Phil and Ralph use for teaching your mates and others and a tremendous amount of related information is stored on site," he said.

"So we would be wise to review all of it that we can while it is still here?"

"I hate to tell you this but for your safety and well being I think that you should," he said.

"Is there anything else I should know before you leave?"

"Not that I am able to tell you and in fact I really don't know anything that would help you now. I apologize for getting you into this situation and I'm going to do my best to return to this project guided by the same understanding that we have now," he said.

"No matter what happens Argent, I think that I'm better off here and now than I would have been back on earth."

"I can tell you that you are correct in that assumption. You would no longer be alive if you had not left earth," he said.

"So my cancer was even worse than I thought?"

"You would not have lived long enough on earth for your cancer to have bothered you. I can't tell you anything more than that about it. You would have died on earth though. There is no doubt about that," he said.

"I can't think of more than a thousand questions that you surely can't answer anyway; if you don't have anything else I'll just say it's been good knowing you and I wish you good luck."

"I wish you good luck also John and I hope to be back soon so that we can continue," he said. Then he was gone.

What in the fuck was going to happen to me now? Me hell, what was going to happen to all of us? There wasn't a way in hell I could know and nothing I could do about it. Nothing could be gained by worrying but that had never stopped me before. The safety of the four couples at Caato's old camp had taken a seat way in the back of the bus in the last few minutes. I had to concentrate on things that I could do that would help my people out. If the eight of them came on hard times later and if we had a way of knowing about it we would do what we could for them then.

Now that time was short I could think of a lot of things that I wish I had already done. The main one being reading lessons. I knew that my mates had dabbled a little and Racaato had too. I needed to get them going hard on those lessons now and there were a few others that would benefit from them also. Hearing information to learn something was adequate for some things but it the computers were going to be taken away they would at least need some notes to refer to later.

Notes. How could they take notes since they couldn't write either? Even if they learned to write it would be a bitch to keep notes in the dirt or scratched on rocks. If everything were taken from us we wouldn't even have paper or pens and pencils to write with. A lot depended on what, if anything, we would have left. If we got to keep everything we had no worries but if we lost everything our standard of living would take a big hit.

I thought that the best thing would be to assume that we would lose everything and concentrate on learning things that would help us keep what advantages we could from the information we could absorb before it was taken away.

These people knew how to get food before I came here and I was sure that they could go back to the old ways without much trouble. If we could teach Mundo and his friends to make bows and arrows we would be a lot better off. If I could learn how to make gunpowder it would be even better. Even black powder with no firearms would be miles ahead of defending ourselves with spears, spearcasters and archery and I had no doubt that we would be attracting attention next year, probably some unfavorable attention.

If, if, if; everything was coming up if. They were my main trouble, all the ifs. I didn't see how I could make any intelligent decisions without a few answers but I knew no answers would be coming until much later. I had to hope that much later wasn't too late.

I needed to do some serious research with the map. I desperately needed to locate resources nearby. Coal or at least peat would be a big help; the proper clay to use for firebrick would also be a boon. We lived in limestone cliffs so it should be easy enough to figure out how to make a simple type of concrete. Making pottery was a skill we were going to have to acquire rapidly too. There were hundreds of things that we should all be starting to learn right away and the others didn't even know it yet.

How was I going to tell them that the "spirits" had deserted us? What would they think of me when I did? Georgo was the one I had to talk to first and it wasn't going to be easy with him, much less with the others. Would they run me off for offending the spirits? This day wasn't starting off to suit me, not by a long shot.

It took me at least an hour to settle down from the whizzing questions that came faster than I could keep up. My mind jumped from one disaster scenario to the next with no plan and no answers. I had to talk to Georgo and try to get some kind of reading on how he felt about the news. It was going to be a big shock to him for sure and I would need his help to minimize the impact on the others. We were set for the winter unless the meeting was over soon and they came back to take their toys and go home.

I hoped that it took them a long time to argue over what ever they were going to argue over. It wouldn't bother me if they didn't come back until next winter. Every day with the things that we had would mean a day we could do something for ourselves, especially the computers. A few people were going to have to learn to read and write and someone needed to make some kind of paper, ink and pen. Didn't people write with sharpened feathers once? I hoped it was that easy.

I remembered the phrase that described my current state. I didn't know whether to shit or go blind. That's the process I was trying to work my way through now. Georgo, I had to talk to Georgo. Maybe he could share a few words of wisdom. Who was I trying to kid; Georgo wouldn't know what to think either. And just what was I going to say. Oh by the way Georgo, the spirits are flying off to another dimension and won't be back for a few months or years or maybe never. Man, I was fucked.

I grabbed my mouse and clicked on the video feed's icon, nothing. Then I thought of the real tragedy that was coming soon. There would be no beer for the celebration; everyone would know I was on the spirits' shit list by tomorrow night. I wouldn't miss the beer but a lot of my people would. I knew that some of them were looking forward to getting shit faced, even if they didn't know the phrase.

I decided to go back out into my cave and find Georgo. Now was as good a time as any to begin facing the music.

The first things I saw after opening my office door were beer kegs in iced barrels. That was a big relief and if I ever had any more contact with Argent I was going to thank him. I hadn't gone ten feet toward the beer when Racaato came out of the practice cave's tunnel and called to me.

"John, I knew that you were going to get new rifles for the women, like ours, but I didn't think that they would come so soon. I was going to check over their current rifles to see if they might need cleaning now that the hunt is over and I found that in each woman's locker there is also a new rifle similar to ours. When I was looking to see if there was any difference I got mine to compare to one of the new ones and mine has changed also," he said.

"How is it different?"

"The scope is different, I'm not sure what is different about it except that there is now some type of flexible extension on the back of it that touches my face, around my eye, when I hold the rifle for shooting. The scope also seems to be bigger now but I can't tell for sure because they are all the same now, even yours and Raalto's," he said.

"Remember to show it to me later today, I have something that I must talk with Georgo about quickly. I'm not saying that what you have told me is not important because it is but while in my office I had a vision from the spirits and I need to talk to Georgo before I forget any of it."

"I understand, I will look the rifles over more thoroughly and also examine the rest of our things that are stored in the practice cave. Maybe we can talk about it after lunch," he said.

"I hope so, and if you have time please ask all the other leaders if they have seen anything unusual today."

"I will," he said and then I left him to find Georgo.

Georgo wasn't hard to find, he was coming from his cave's entrance into mine and Dotallto was with him. They both looked agitated but not panicky. I joined them near the table.

"John, I have just had a powerful vision from the spirits," Georgo said.

"I have also, just now," Dotallto told us.

"I too have had a powerful vision. Let us get some coffee and go into my office and discuss it."

We didn't say anything more about it; we just headed toward the coffee pot. Geera was there and I could see that she knew something was going on. I didn't know if it was women's intuition or if she was reading more from our body language than I would have thought possible but I could tell that she knew we were worried. She had a mug of coffee for all of us quickly and she told me that she would bring one of the big serving thermoses to my office in a few minutes.

"Thank you my beautiful mate, we have some serious things to talk about but if you need any of us do not hesitate to come and knock on the door."

"We will if we need you but I think that we will be busy with things for the celebration all during the day. I see that the spirits have provided very much bruga for it but I wonder why they sent it today?" she asked.

"That is one of the things Georgo, Dotallto and I must talk over. Please remind us when it is time to eat."

She laughed at that and then the three of us went into my office. I sat behind my desk with Georgo and Dotallto sitting across from me. I wanted to hear their versions first so I asked Dotallto to tell us about his vision.

"I have never had so plain a signal from the spirits. They did not speak to me but I could understand what they wanted me to know. It is as if they are going on a journey for a while and will not be near to watch over us as closely as they obviously do here. I did not get any feeling for why they would be gone nor was there any sense that they were angry with us. Just a feeling that they would be absent and that I should not worry about it," he said.

"That is almost exactly what my vision revealed. The spirits will not be here with us for a while but they are not angry. I especially felt that they wanted me to know that they were not angry with us. They also let me know that I should meditate every day so that I would know as soon as they returned, and they seemed to be telling me that this would be a harder winter than the last several before it. Somehow my thoughts then drifted to the people in Caato's former camp," Georgo said.

From what they'd told me and what Racaato had said to me about the rifles, I was begining to think that Argent had been a busy alien in the last hours before he had to leave; doing his best to cover all the bases before he departed. He'd sent the beer that he knew would be expected and he'd also sent the new rifles that I had promised my mates. He had even nudged Georgo toward my thoughts about the people at Caato's camp.

Just then there was a knock on my office's door. I went over to see what it was about and when I opened it, Geera was there with the coffee thermos. I was glad to see her, I wanted more coffee and I also wanted a slight break in the flow of our discussion so that I could gather my thoughts.

Georgo's last revelations, about the hard winter and about his thoughts of the people at Caato's former camp, were not just a happy coincidence. Argent had broken his promise not to read my thoughts. I had mentioned those people more than once and just this morning Georgo, Dotallto and I had planned to visit them again and try to get them to move to my first cave. Argent's bombshell had driven my concerns for the safety of the four couples far down on my list of things to worry about and I had decided to forget the trip we had planned for tomorrow.

I was sure that Argent's little hint to Georgo had come because he had listened to my thinking after our discussion earlier this morning. I had pushed thoughts of helping the four couples far into the background and now it seemed that Argent wanted to give me one last hint to try again; especially with the warning of a colder than normal winter.

When I thought about it I didn't mind if he had broken his promise. It was obvious that he was worried about me when he did it and if it was what caused him to send the beer and the rifles, he was forgiven. If we talked again I was going to tell him that.

I gave Georgo and Dotallto a sanitized version of my talk with Argent, letting them know that the spirits had told me that they would not be here to help us by providing things and showing me things as they had been. I told them that I didn't get any sense of whether or when they would be back. The last part shocked them both badly.

"Surely the spirits must come back soon. They wouldn't leave us here alone from now on," Dotallto said.

"I didn't mean to say that I felt that they weren't coming back, just that I got no indication that they would come back or how soon they would if they did. I also didn't get any sense that they wouldn't be coming back either. That information wasn't part of my vision."

That seemed to make them both feel better and thankfully there was a another knock on the door just then. It was time for lunch.