Dark Coup (34 page)

Eric didn’t say anything and eventually Joel decided he needed to let Eric know what he had planned.

“We’re inviting you and Earl’s group,” Joel said, “and all the local farmers.  The force that Ben brought with him has really put a strain on our current resources and we’d like to discuss future plans with as many people as we can.  Chuck’s come up with some proposals, assuming we can come to a consensus as a group, which would make much better use of the skills people are bringing to the table.”

“You’re thinking of starting more towns,” Eric asked, “and maybe specializing a little bit.”

“Pretty much,” Joel said, only a little disappointed at having the wind taken from his sails.  “So, do you think you can convince Kyle and the rest of the group to come?  We’re having it two weeks from Saturday.”

“No promises, but I think we’ll be there,” Eric answered.  “We may even have a little surprise of our own.”

…

The fire wasn’t too large since it was still warm outside, but Eric had wanted to get the majority of the adults together and by now, a fire in the central fire-pit was the unspoken signal to get everyone together for a discussion.

“But it was Joel who made the call,” Kyle asked.  “He’s the one that reached out to us?”

Eric nodded.  “But that just makes sense,” he said.  “What he’s doing is almost purely civilian.  It may end up affecting the Army, but I get the sense that he’s the one driving this.  He even said it was Chuck who came up with some proposals for specialization.”

“So,” Kyle asked, “what are we going to do?”

“I assume you mean long-term,” someone from the crowd said.

“Yeah,” Kyle said, “I meant in the long run.  Obviously I think we should go because, well, what everyone else decides is probably going to affect us either way, so we may as well be there to represent our interests.”

Eric raised an eyebrow and Kyle nodded.  He and Kyle had been doing all of the back-channel work with Travis without having brought it up to the group.  Now seemed like a perfect time to do so.

“I’ve been kind of working with the owner of the horse ranch on something,” Eric said, “and with this meeting at the festival coming up and us deciding the course of action for the community …”

One of the women said, “Just spit it out, Eric.  Unless you’ve committed us to something ridiculous I don’t think we’re going to string you up.”

“I’ve had him working on designs for wagons,” Eric said, “horse-drawn covered wagons.”

Several people in the crowd made faces, but nobody said anything.

“Originally I got stuck in the same rut most of you are in right now,” Eric continued.  “I asked him if his farrier turned blacksmith would be able to make iron bands for the outside of the wheels and everything.  Instead, Travis and his farrier have come up with something
much
better.”

Eric spent five minutes explaining the details of the wagons that Travis was actually already building.  The looks of skepticism became thoughtful and, by the end, a few people were even nodding.

“As nice as some of these camping trailers are,” Kyle said, “they just weren’t meant to be lived in every day, year-round.  Some of them are already starting to have problems with leaks and little things breaking.  We could probably get another year out of some of them, and a lot longer out of a few of the really well-made ones, but ultimately we’re going to have to switch from the trailers to something else.”

“And until then,” Eric added, “we can’t pull these things around forever.  For all intents and purposes we’re out of gas, and we’ve all agreed that we can’t even stay in this location long-term.  Having the wagons, pulled by horses, would kill a couple of birds with one stone.”

Amanda had just been listening up to this point, but realized her idea could actually work, especially if they weren’t tied to the trailers and trucks to pull them with.  “Gypsies,” she said.

“Say
what
,” one of the men closest to the fire said.

“Hear me out,” Amanda said.  “If we aren’t tied to one spot because of the trailers and no way to pull them, then we could be on the move as often or as seldom as we wanted, right?”

A few people nodded.

“I don’t know how heavy it would make them,” she continued, “but what if the wagons weren’t just covered, but were more of a solid box…kind of like a trailer.”  A couple people chuckled.

Kyle looked at Eric and got a nod.  “One of the things we were going to trade for the wagons,” he said, “was that windmill we’ve been working on.  We’ve got templates made for all the parts of the gearbox and the blades.  It won’t be long before we’ve flooded the market here with windmills and would need to look for new…customers.”  Kyle shook his head at the thought of being a traveling salesman.

“There’re other pieces of technology we could bring to people, too,” Eric said and looked at Amanda.  “We could even have a bit of a traveling school.  Heck, if we can start gathering old textbooks and things like that, we could be a traveling University.”

Amanda grinned.

“Everybody is going to be in the same boat we’re in,” Kyle said, “with regards to transportation.  When they see the wagons, it’ll probably set the wheels in motion, as it were, to start building their own.  There have got to be some other forms of transportation that we aren’t taking advantage of right now that we could bring to people.”

“I’m out of shape because I haven’t been mountain biking for a year, but if we can find bicycles,” one of the men said, “I can fix just about anything on one.”

He stopped to think and then went on.  “In fact, anything that’s beyond repair could be pillaged for parts,” he said.  “Bikes have been used for transportation for over a century.  I don’t know why we couldn’t start using them again.”

“Handcarts,” one of the women further back said.  “Every third-world, and even second-world, country uses them.”

She looked at the mountain biker and continued.  “The handcarts could even use the bicycle wheels that we salvage from ruined bikes.”

Eric had been nodding up to this point and then remembered something he’d seen onone of his deployments.  “When I was deployed to Afghanistan I had a chance to visit India,” he said.  “They use a…carriage; I think that’s even what the word means, called a Tangah.  It’s a no-frills horse-drawn cart with wooden wheels.  I know that wagon wheels were out of the question for Travis and his farrier, but we might be able to make something similar to the Tangah fairly easily.”

“How out-there are we thinking,” another man from the group asked.

“I don’t know that we’re discounting anything right now,” Kyle said.

“Okay, how about hot-air balloons…”

…

“So, what’s going to happen to us,” Ben asked.

“I’m not thinking about that right now,” Mallory said.  “And don’t spoil the mood.”

“Sorry,” Ben said, and leaned over to kiss her.

“You’re forgiven,” she said, and then sighed.  “Of course now that’s all I’m going to be able to think about.”

Ben looked like he was going to apologize again but she stopped him with her finger on his lips.  “It’s not your fault,” she said.  “We’d have had to think of something sooner or later.”

“Just because the people that came with me are most likely going to set up their own town,” Ben said, “doesn’t mean I have to go with them.  I can almost guarantee that however we decide to do it, it’s going to be more civilian than military-based.”

Ben shook his head slightly and went on.  “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he said, “it’s just that I don’t think I’m ready to walk away from the whole Army lifestyle just yet.  Are you?”

“No,” Mallory said with a small head shake of her own, “and we’re going to need to keep the military around in some shape, form or fashion.  I don’t get the impression that Joel was trying to disband the Army.”

“Good,” Ben said with a smile.  “I think he’d be in for quite the battle if that were the case.”

“As long as it isn’t anything like what we’ve had hanging over our heads for the last year,” Mallory said.

“Are you willing to be relegated to law enforcement if that’s what the world needs for a while,” Ben asked.  “Because I don’t see us having to defend the borders any time soon.”

“Yeah,” Mallory said, looking up at the ceiling.  “Over the last year I’ve come to realize something that was a real shock and a bit of a rude awakening.”

“What’s that,” Ben asked.

“We, us, the military,” Mallory said, “we don’t produce anything.  We’re consumers, and before the lights went out we didn’t even always provide a service.

Mallory rolled over to face Ben.  “That’s a hard thing to realize about yourself,” she said. 

“We
made
the world a safer place,” Ben said.  “No one would have been able to enjoy everything they
produced
without us.  That’s not ‘nothing’.”

“Over the last year, though, most of what we’ve done–most of what the Army
here
has done–hasn’t had anything to do with soldiering.”

Ben nodded.  “It was getting that way for me up at Campbell,” he said.  “It was…good I guess you could say, to feel useful when push came to shove and we were needed to fight back, even if we did end up losing the battle, if not the war.  It’s what the Army is for, what we’re put there to do.”

He sighed.  “Don’t get me wrong,” Ben said, “I’m not looking to fight a war, but I’m not quite ready to hang everything up and walk away from it all just because everything’s changed and we may not be needed anymore, at least not like we were.  That’s a hard pill to swallow.”

“But we can change,” Mallory said.  “We’re flexible.  We’ll make it work.”

“And I’d like to stick around if it’s all the same to you,” Ben said.

Mallory pulled him into a kiss.  “I think,” she said, “I’d like that very much.”

…

“Is that the same uniform you were wearing yesterday,” one of Ben’s Lieutenants said to him on his way to breakfast.

“Son,” Ben said, “it’s the same uniform I’ve been wearing for a
year
.”  Then Ben smiled.

“And not that it’s any of your business but, yes,” he said as he continued on to the mess hall.

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Are you going to be ok,” Rachael asked Joel as he paced around the house looking for heaven only knew what.

Joel stopped and looked at his wife, and then shook his head.  “I have no idea,” he said.  “I thought I knew what I hoped to accomplish with this festival, but now I’m not so sure.”

Rachael put a hand on either side of his face and made him look at her.

“
It
will be fine,” she said.  “I didn’t ask about the festival.  I asked if
you
were going to be ok.  The festival is all I’ve heard anyone talk about for the last week and a half.”

Joel closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down.  “You’re right,” he said.  “It’s supposed to be a celebration above anything else.  We’ve finally got a chance to relax a little.”

Rachael smiled and kissed her husband.  “Focus on that,” she said.  “And remember, you’re the Mayor of Promised Land and Redemption, that’s it.  The others, while important, really aren’t your responsibility.”

Joel nodded and turned his head to kiss her hand.  “Thank you,” he said.  “How long do you think that’ll work for?”

“Ten,” Rachael said with a snort, “maybe fifteen minutes, tops.”

…

The windmill had been up for almost a week and was providing all the water they could use at the ranch.  Kyle had worked with the farrier to fashion a new pump cylinder for the smaller well pipe at the ranch, but now that everything was installed it seemed to be working just fine.

Eric and Kyle were there with another dozen people from their group to pick up the first three wagons and horses.  They would be bringing the horses back after the festival, but the wagons would get towed with them back to the airport.  Travis didn’t have the room to keep more than a couple of finished wagons and build new ones at the same time.

“Keep in mind,” Eric said to Kyle, “that I have
never
done this before and I haven’t the first clue what to do.”

“Bet you never thought you’d say that again,” Kyle said and slugged Eric in the arm.

Eric just shook his head.  “What has gotten into you,” he asked.  “You’ve been on one for the last week.”

“Nothing, just glad things are finally moving forward,” Kyle said, “that’s all.”

…

“The first thing to remember,” Travis said to the group, “is that horses are
not
stupid.  They can be stubborn, they can decide they don’t like you and refuse to cooperate, they get tired just like we do and they can
act
stupid, but they are, in fact, very intelligent.”

“Once the team is in harness to the wagon,” Travis continued, “they’ll get the hang of what they’re supposed to do pretty quickly.  Unless the two in the team don’t like each other, they’ll work together because they realize it makes life easier on them if they do.”

“What if they don’t want to move,” one of the group asked.  “Or don’t want to stop when you tell them to?”

“Two good questions with completely different answers,” Travis said.  “If you want to go and the horses don’t, there’s not a whole lot you can do.  They’re bigger, stronger, and can be meaner than you if they set their mind to it.  If they don’t want to go, try to figure out why.  They may know something that you don’t.  Check the area ahead and make sure there isn’t an obstruction or something else that might be causing them to stop.  Check the horses over and make sure there isn’t a problem like a thrown shoe or rocks in their hooves.”

“Lastly,” Travis said, “make sure the brake isn’t on, especially on these wagons.  Which brings me to the next question, what if they don’t want to stop?  In that case, put the brake on.”

Travis directed everyone’s attention to the wheels on the wagon he was using for the demonstration.  “Four-wheel drum brakes,” he said.  “I know the front looks like it has disc brakes, but believe me, there’s a drum in there too.  We used drum brakes because that’s what an emergency brake in most cars uses.”