“But he’s one man with an electric fence, and no way of knowing how bad it’s gotten out there.”
“We have more than a fence.”
“Weapons?”
“We have what we need.”
It wasn’t enough for his purposes. But it’s not like Mike was going to say, oh hey newbie, let me show you my secret weapons bunker since you asked so nicely. “I’d like to be trained in how to protect us.”
“City boy who’d shoot his own foot off given half the chance.”
“I need to know I can protect my sister.”
“You already did that by bringing her here.”
“I don’t know if it’s enough.”
Mike stopped and scanned the horizon. “See those mountains. Riddled with caverns and old mining tunnels. We have enough room, provisions, to move the whole settlement there and live for months if we need to, a year if we have to. You’re safe. You’re a hard worker, surprised me. Didn’t expect you to be able to keep up.”
He didn’t want to ask what might happen to him if he hadn’t been able to keep up, if he got injured or sick, or caught retrieving a cell phone from a forest of mountain spruce. He didn’t have a good grip on the demographics of Abundance, but he’d bank on it being made up of able-bodied people under fifty. The utopian future didn’t have room for troublesome disabilities or pesky old age at any price.
“You don’t need to worry about your sister. She’ll be bonded before long and since she’s a pretty thing, might be she’ll match for life. Some do. Makes her another man’s responsibility then.”
He hadn’t known Mike had seen Rory. The idea she was being watched made his skin prickle. Imagining her as any man’s responsibility almost made him laugh. They had to find a way to get inside those tunnels, find out exactly what was hidden there.
“Are you married?” he asked.
“We don’t call it that. People weren’t made to be monogamous. That’s another reason for the rot out there. We have a choice who we lay with for the joy of it and who we have children with. The only thing we ask is that all women have children so we grow our own second generation. A pregnant Continuer is near about the most sacred thing we have here.”
Creepy thoughts on an empty stomach were even more sickening. An uncomfortable tingle ran up his spine. He didn’t know what Rory thought about having kids, now there was no Cal in the picture, but he’d never figured on being a father. He could cause enough ruckus as Uncle Zeke.
When they arrived at the camp, breakfast was ready, and it was midmorning before work stopped as a truck approached.
Mike whistled for a stop as Orrin got out of the truck. Zeke watched as the crew downed tools to gather around, coming to stand in a loose circle around Orrin as Mike talked through their progress. Zeke kept to the outer edge and watched the body language. Other than Mike, who was shifting around, pointing this way and that, the other men mirrored Orrin’s posture. Feet planted wide, arms folded, chins tucked down. It was unconscious. A deferral to Orrin’s power, a desire to be seen as his equal.
Zeke shifted into position, widening his stance, lowering his head. He was taller than the men in front of him but if he looked Orrin directly in the eye it might be taken as a challenge and that’s the last thing he wanted.
Orrin asked questions about progress and Mike answered, deflecting to others when needed and then signaled the crew back to work while he took Orrin on a tour of the pegged-out site.
“He looks pleased,” Ted said to general agreement when Mike and Orrin were out of earshot.
“Is he a hard man to please?” Zeke asked.
“Wouldn’t you be if you were building a new world, city slicker?”
“He seems like a reasonable man.” That got a laugh. “What?”
“You’re new so you’re excused. This time. Reasonable is for Sunday rest days and how strong your tea is. Reasonable is for clean sheets and a full belly,” Ted said.
“Air you can breathe and earth that won’t poison you,” said Chuck.
“A good woman who treats you right and doesn’t make a fuss when it’s time to move on,” said Lindsay. There was a chorus of agreement at that.
Ted stooped to pick up a saw from the ground. “Orrin is the most unreasonable man you’ll ever meet and that’s why we will survive,” he said as he passed it to Lindsay.
“Go on, Zack, ask the big one,” Chuck said.
Did you guys know Orrin is a fraud? Stole your money. Peddles lies. Probably has an arsenal somewhere that’s military grade. Did you know he was dangerous? Probably not the questions they were thinking of. “What’s the big one?”