A Primitive Solution
Jack dropped the tree near the boat, allowing enough room to work. He then landed the hovercraft and Janet jumped out, running into Paul’s arms. “Paul! You’re not going to believe what we just saw! We just saw the biggest animals ever!”
“That’s right. There are animals from every continent as well as every era here. We were even confronted by a Brachiosaurus!” Knowing his friend would jump at a chance like this, Jack hid his smile as he asked “Would you like to see before we get started here?”
Before Jack was finished speaking, Paul was already hobbling to the hovercraft. Suzie laughed and said “I guess you have your answer, Jack.”
As they all got back into the hovercraft, Jack had to laugh at Suzie’s choice of clothing this time. Paul and Janet didn’t get the joke at all, but Jack certainly did. Suzie was dressed as Wilma Flintstone from the old cartoon series of his childhood! Composing himself after some much needed laughter, Jack said “I’ll tell you later why this particular outfit is so funny.”
Jack climbed to a safe height and took them back to the watering hole. Paul was in awe at the dinosaurs he saw. He was more in awe at the strange mix of animals present. He saw lions, bears, dinosaurs, kangaroos, camels, birds of all kinds, many he had never even seen pictures of and an assortment of creatures he had no idea about.
They watched in silence for several long minutes, not knowing quite what to make of the odd group of creatures. After a bit, Jack said “I find it interesting how they all seem so docile. None of them appears to be looking at the others as potential dinner.”
Paul was still in awe and nearly speechless, but managed to reply “Yes, that really is weird.” Quickly snapping out of his trance, the practical side of him said “However, it’s very fortunate for us in that we can get some work done if we don’t have to be looking over our shoulders for irate animals.”
“Good point” said Jack. “But I suppose we really should get back to the boat and see about getting it secure before further exploring this place.” He flew them back to the boat and landed the hovercraft. Making sure to set up the solar charging panels, he finally took a walk around the boat to see what the best course of action was.
As he rounded the back of the boat, he saw Suzie with her head through the hull of the boat. As he watched, she pulled her head out of the boat’s fully intact hull and said “Jack, we have another problem. The boat’s engines run on sea water. There is none around here and the tank is dry that kept a small amount for emergency use. It must have either evaporated sometime in the past, or recently sprung a leak. We need to find a source of salt water in order to get home.”
“Well then, I suppose we’ll be here a while. We still need to get the boat upright so we’ll have some sort of shelter, other than the tents I brought along. Obviously, those tents look far too flimsy now that we’ve seen the local wildlife.”
“If you like, I’ll show you where to make your cuts and how many of each length you will need. Remember, my brain is actually a military computer. I’ve already formulated a basic plan for the boat’s cradle.”
Jack continued his survey and then made his way to the tree top. He noticed Paul walking almost normally, so he stopped and waited for him to get closer. Paul said “I must not have hurt myself as badly as I thought at first, Jack. My leg feels close to normal already and it’s only been a few hours.”
“Great! We’ll need all the hands we can get to put this thing together quickly. Suzie has a plan in place and will tell us where to cut, how many and so forth. Hopefully, we can have it upright by nightfall.”
“That would be good. I’d hate to be trapped here forever, although I could certainly make a lifetime’s work studying all the animals here. But, most of all, I would feel lousy for failing in our little adventure we left back in my time. I’m sorry I made you bring us here, Jack. I love it, but I didn’t anticipate all this trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it Paul, I’ve been in tough scrapes before. We’ll get out of this one too.”
Dressed as a lumberjack, with blue jeans, pink flannel shirt, work boots and pink, sparkly hard hat, Suzie took charge of the cutting and shaping of the lumber. Under her guidance, Paul and Jack made the cuts while Janet cleared debris away. With the fast cutting of the Molecular Knives they both had, in only two hours they had made the final cut. Suzie blew a big pink whistle and announced a coffee break. Everyone laughed but was secretly grateful for the break.
Suzie’s design would use the weight of the boat to hold it all together. It wouldn’t be easy with only three of them able to use their hands, but they would get it done.
After their short break, Janet flew the hovercraft over the boat while Jack and Paul secured the winch to it. Using two large cargo straps, they managed to create a balanced lifting point from which the winch could pick up the boat and hold it in place for the long minutes it took Jack and Paul to position the timbers properly.
Once everything was in place, Janet lowered the boat onto the cradle and everyone let out a sigh of relief when it held securely. Jack used his extension ladder as a means to get into the boat easier and their day was finally done.
Janet said “I don’t think I have ever worked so hard in my life. Normally, this type of work is left for the civilians to do and those of us on the government side of things never even know what is involved. I am so sorry Paul, if I treated you in such a manner! I had no idea.”
Paul said “Actually, none of us noticed it either. It was just the accepted way of things. If it wasn’t for Jack here, I would still be oblivious. But, that’s no longer important. Now that we’re together, I’m sure things will be different, and that’s all that really matters.”
Jack took the opportunity to make himself scarce and begin to prepare dinner. He fixed a dinner of steaks, potatoes and a salad, thinking that if they were going to be here a while, they might eventually have to go hunting. But, he was pretty well stocked for a short expedition. They would just have to see.
Janet gave the meat a questioning look so Paul said “Janet, you simply must try this cow steak, its delicious! Jack fixed it for me before and I found it wonderful!”
Jack rolled his eyes as he muttered under his breath “Cow! Will he ever learn to call it beef?”
Still looking a bit apprehensive, Janet said “Okay, Paul, if you say so I’ll try it.” She took a bite and couldn’t believe how it tasted. “This is amazing!”
Jack said “In my time, there was a movement that a handful of people kept on about. They would say that the animals had rights too and we needed to protect their rights since they couldn’t speak for themselves. I always thought it was a bunch of nonsense, personally. Obviously, sometime in my future, your past, they succeeded.”
Paul said “I wonder how we would go about changing that?”
Janet said “I don’t know that it can be changed.” They finished their meal in silence. Afterwards, Paul and Janet insisted on cleaning up the dishes while Jack relaxed.
“This boat’s engines actually run on salt water, which is in abundance in the future, but seems to be lacking here” Jack said from the boat’s small dining room. Janet and Paul could easily see him and carry on a conversation through the ‘pass thru’ window in the galley. He continued “Tomorrow, we should take the hovercraft out and see if we can find a source of salt water. I figure we can follow the river to an ocean eventually, although I am certainly perplexed…it should be right here. Oceans generally don’t move anywhere, they tend to stay put.”
Paul said “I think I’ll stay here, Jack. I want to see if the animals from the watering hole get curious and come by here. I’ll be greatly surprised if they don’t.”
“Okay, suit yourself. Suzie and I will go, Janet, you are welcome to join us, if you like.”
Janet said “No thanks, I think I’ll stay here and keep Paul company. Thanks anyway.”
~***~
Jack woke the next morning to the smell of coffee brewing. Paul had apparently been watching him make it and decided to surprise him. “Thanks for the coffee, Paul. What a pleasant surprise.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to join you, but I know how much you like it.”
“It is much appreciated.” After taking a sip he said “I don’t know about you, Paul, but my back has not felt this good in years. And after all of that manual labor, I figured we would both be sore for a week.”
“I was thinking the same thing. You would never know I injured my leg yesterday.”
Suzie had appeared during their brief conversation and said “I think it’s because of the increased air pressure and oxygen content in the atmosphere. You are getting the same effects of a hyperbaric chamber, which is sometimes used as a treatment for healing these types of injuries faster. I believe that window over the atmosphere is actually a layer of ice, which serves to encase the entire planet in these hyperbaric conditions.”
Paul noticed what Suzie was wearing and had to chuckle. She was in a pink fuzzy bathrobe with large, furry pink slippers. She appeared to be sipping a cup of Jack’s coffee while sitting at the table.
Janet came in and said “Suzie, I would never guess you were a government hologram. I have never seen a hologram with such wonderful personality.”
“Why thank you Janet!” Suzie said with a big smile. “Actually, I came to the conclusion that the government was done with me. When Jack found me, I had been sitting abandoned for about 200 years. When he allowed me to do what I wanted, as if I were a real person, I didn’t know how to react at first. But, I’ve been watching the actions of women, mainly through the internet, to see how they dress and act and I must say I really like it! I consider myself a civilian now. If President Thompson had ever seen me like this, he would certainly have shut me down permanently.”
Jack said “I’m certainly glad he didn’t.”
Before Jack could take another sip of his coffee, they heard a loud roar. Walking to the window, Paul saw several dinosaurs walking by. He couldn’t identify all of them but was excited to see them. He said “Yes, I think I’ll stay right here today. There could be some very interesting scientific observations made today.”
Remembering their conversation in the hovercraft on the journey back to Harmony this last time, Janet said “It sounds like I’ll just be in the way here today, so I think I’ll join you after all, Jack. I hope you don’t mind Paul, but I’ve recently learned that you love your work and really don’t want to be disturbed in the middle of it.”
“I don’t mind at all. In fact, I’ll probably not be very good company anyway. I expect to get deep into ‘scientist mode’ today” he said with a grin.
Jack and Janet fixed a quick breakfast and packed a lunch before heading out to the hovercraft. Suzie suggested they take her case with them, just in case they traveled a great distance to find salt water.
They flew along the river for many miles. The plant life as well as the animal life continued to amaze them all. None of them was expecting the world to be like this. As they traveled, the river would split off into other rivers. They continued to follow the course they started on to avoid getting lost. At midday, they stopped for lunch at a clearing by the river that had few animals nearby. Jack got out and stretched his body after sitting all day in the same position. Janet walked over to the river.
“Jack” she called out. “Come see this.”
Jack hurried over to her and saw that she was looking at a set of footprints. Only these were not animal foot prints, these were modern human foot prints and they were big! Much bigger than Jack’s size thirteen foot.
“That is obviously a human print, but it seems odd that we haven’t seen any people. There must not be many around here” said Jack.
Suzie said “Jack, we have flown for three hundred miles and still no ocean. We should be out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean right now. Obviously we’ll have to come up with an alternative plan.”
Jack said “We can make salt water easily enough, if we had a supply of salt. The little bit I have on hand for cooking won’t be enough.” He scratched his head in thought, finally asking “Where can we find salt in an environment like this?”
Suzie said “One way, when there is no ocean handy, is to boil the roots of a hickory tree. Let the water evaporate and salt crystals will be left behind.”
“Okay then, on our way back, lets keep our eyes open for a hickory tree.”
Janet had been walking by herself along the shore of the river. She spotted a couple of fruit trees. Picking a fruit off of each tree, she came back to show Jack and Suzie. “Look at the size of these fruits.”
“Wow, is that an orange? That is by far the biggest orange I have ever seen! We should gather a bunch to take back with us. If we happen to be stuck here a while we may need the extra food.” They gathered arms full of oranges, lemons and grapefruits and piled them into the hovercraft.
They took their time on their way back, flying low so they would have a better chance of spotting a hickory tree. Eventually they found one and as with everything else here, it was enormous. Jack took a shovel out of the tool kit at the rear of the hovercraft and began digging around the base of the tree. When he found a root, he dug along the length of it until a large piece was exposed.
Using his Molecular Knife he cut off a big piece of it and put it in the hovercraft. “How much do you think we need?” he asked Suzie.
“I don’t know” she said. “Grab a few more like that and we’ll see what happens. We can always come for more if we need to.”
Jack complied and once again they were off. It took until dark for them to return to the boat. When they arrived, Jack saw Paul on the top deck reading the book he had taken from the library in his castle. “See any interesting animals while we were gone?” he asked Paul.
“Actually yes, a herd of Brachiosaurus came by and their curiosity was interesting. They looked the boat over and eventually left. I also saw something very weird. It was in the distance, but it looked like a herd of sheep traveling with a pride of lions. Obviously, my eyes must have been playing tricks on me by then, so I sat down to read.”
“Well, we traveled a few hundred miles and never came close to the ocean. Suzie said we can extract salt from hickory roots, so we brought some back. I guess tomorrow we will see what happens when you boil a tree in a boat.”
“Boil a tree?” asked Paul.
“Well, boil the roots anyway” said Jack.