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 A World of My Choosing   An Out-of-this-World Story by Gil Gamesh   Chapter
Forty-Nine

   Anna and I were in bed together, her sleeping peacefully by my side, me
not yet sleeping but thinking about the mystery of Aimee and her creation.
Suddenly a few pieces of the puzzle fell into place in my subconscious
mind, I suppose, and I knew the answer to one of my ponderings.  Another
avatar must have existed before my arrival.

   Aimee had said that she had no memories of anything prior to my arrival
and it was clear to me that my arrival was the event which triggered her
coming into existence.  She had knowledge of prior events in my old world's
history but no memories, just as I had knowledge of events centuries prior
to my birth but, of course, no memories.  She also had knowledge of my new
world but no memories.  Memories are knowledge of events occurring to
individuals after their creation.

   Aimee had knowledge that there were no dangerous animals on the mountain
and that she had a shield which prevented them from crossing the isthmus to
the mountain.  In its wild state, there would have been bears and wolves
and cats of various kinds on the mountain, just as there were on the
mainland.  Therefore someone must have hunted them down and killed or
immobilized and removed them.  That someone wanted to give us an
environment in which rabbits and deer flourished as a food source for us.
As large as our mountain retreat is, that would have been a time-consuming
task.

   The universe in which Aimee exists had to be created long, perhaps
years, before my arrival.  A shield would have been just as useful to those
who created our home as it is to us.  An avatar would also have been as
helpful to them as Aimee is to us.  That previous avatar would have
accumulated memories.  I know memories are somehow encoded in my brain. 
Would the memories of a previous avatar be recoverable from what is now
Aimee's brain somehow?  If so, how?

   Aimee had knowledge of the escape route through the secret door leading
to the tunnel at the far end of our quarters.  She did not know about the
secret door behind the weapons storeroom and the contents of the room
there. Someone must have given her knowledge of the first secret door.  Why
not the second?  What were the builders thinking when they made decisions
about the secret doors?  Why hide one from us and not the other?  That was
another why question which might never be answered.

   Why does my mind persist in thinking about such mysteries?  Damn, it was
all an endless nesting of Russian dolls.

   I turned over, spooned up to Anna, and put my arm over her chest.  She
caught my hand, moved it to her breast, and held it.  Maybe she wasn't
asleep after all.  I wondered what she was thinking and whether she ever
pondered our existence in this world like I do.

   <><><>

   The shipment to build us a real communication system arrived one night
shortly before dawn.  As instructed, Aimee called me and no one else.  I
awakened to her whispered calling of my name and dim lights in our
bedchamber.  Another arrival, probably Brian's and Brianne's father Aiden
was not expected for about eight days so when I staggered out into the
hallway I was not surprised to find the communication equipment we had
requested.

   I greeted Aimee and then stood looking for a few minutes at what had
arrived: boxes of mixed sizes, wrapped in tough clear plastic, probably two
by four by two meters in width and length and height.  I knew we had a lot
of work to do.  I went to the toilet to piss, to the bath chamber to wash
my face, and returned to the hallway.  I walked around and around the
shipment, just looking at the boxes.  There was writing, in English, on the
outside, and, from Aimee's instructions I knew the first task which had to
be done.
I tiptoed back in our bedchamber, found the Boys, returned, and began to
cut away the plastic, piling it up for somebody to fold and save for other
uses.  I knew some of the equipment was to be carried up to the top of the
mountain and some was to be used in the room at the end of our hallway.  I
read the description of each box aloud, probably unnecessarily since I
assumed Aimee could read too, and began to separate the boxes into two

piles at her instruction.

   Two days later, four of us were at the top of the mountain, crowded
around under the clear dome covering the array of solar panels.  James
crawled out from under a large piece of equipment and smiled at me.  I knew
he had succeeded in installing the last piece of the equipment puzzle as
per Aimee's instruction.

   She had placed a detailed list of instructions for us on our tablets but
we had never been able to communicate with her over the little devices. 
She had said that she would need some unknown time to debug the system
after all parts were installed and that we would have to be patient.  So I
was patient, sitting there against a wall of the huge solar-panel room,
waiting for Aimee to appear on my tablet.  I was beginning to give up hope
that we had done our jobs correctly when Aimee's smiling face appeared on
my tablet and, at the same time, on Toby's and James' and Brian's.

   "Hello, David, James, Toby, Brian!  As you can see, our task has been
accomplished successfully.  Please choose just one of you to talk with me
for the present.  I am capable of multitasking and talking to different
people at the same time, even in different locations, but it will be less
confusing if this conversation is with just one of you."

   The other three guys looked at me and I knew I was elected.

   "Aimee, I assume the other team was successful in installing their part
of the equipment," I said.  "Are you talking to one of them at the same
time you are talking to me?"

   "Yes, David.  I am presently talking to Matt also.  Except for those
preparing your next meal, everyone else is also here in the teaching
auditorium."

   "How do I establish communication with him?"

   "Just say two words, David," she responded.  "The person's name, Matt,
in this case, and the word please.  I set up the system to use two words
since all of you occasionally say another person's name in conversation. 
The second word can be any word like rabbit or frog.

   "I think a two-word request using please is good, Aimee.  Now, Matt,
please."

   Matt's smiling face immediately appeared on my tablet.  I assume mine
appeared on his.

   "Hello, David."

   "Hello, Matt.  Tell Jean-Nicole we'll be home for dinner in about an
hour, maybe sooner, depending on how hungry James and Toby and Brian are
and how fast they walk coming down the mountain.  How's that for our first
message."

   "Sounds good to me."

   "Any problems down there?"

   "None, except Aimee wouldn't stop giggling while we were fooling with
her innards."

   "Matt, have you ever had a bunch of naked guys and girls crawling around
on your insides?" Aimee asked.

   "Nope, never have.  Have you, David?"

   "No, but maybe it would be fun."

   "Yes, David, it is fun," she said.  "I like to have the ability to do
new things such as we are doing now."

   "Aimee, what happens if a person is not holding a tablet when I want to
talk to him or her?"

   "I assume all of you will keep a tablet close by, just as people in your
old world kept a cell-phone near.  I will use a ring tone to notify you of
a caller.  You all may establish your own ring tone for your tablet.  The
system will work just like the wireless phones in your old world."

   "And there will be no burden or distraction for you?"

   "No, David, I am capable of multitasking and I know of no limits on that
ability."

   "Anna, please."

   Anna's face immediately appeared on my tablet.

   "Hello, Sweetheart, how are you feeling?"

   "I'm fine, David, but I wish everybody would quit treating me like an
invalid.  I'm a nurse, remember, and I'm quite capable of deciding what I
can and can not do, even when I'm pregnant."

   "We're going to be dirty when we come home," I said.  "There's a lot of
dust on the floor of the solar-array dome.  Each solar panel has a
self-cleaning mechanism but it seems to just dump the dust on the floor. 
We're going to have to clean up the floor here some time soon."

   "Would you like me to give you a bath before dinner?" she asked.

   "That would be nice," I answered.  "Signing off, over and out, khoda
hafez, au revoir, jusqu'à demain, sayonara, whatever we're supposed to
say."

   "Just say goodbye and turn off your tablet, David," Aimee said and
giggled.

   <><><>

   Included with the communication-system stuff was a tablet containing
messages for most of us.  We had sent information about the fourteen of us,
fifteen counting lucky, sixteen counting Aimee including our first group
pictures, thanks to Aimee's instructions.  We did some indoors in Aimee's
room with us standing in front of her monitor and her telling us when to
smile: "Say cheese, please!" We did some outside on the terrace, some of us
lying, some sitting, some standing, with Aimee on fourteen tablets saying:
"Dites fromage, s'il vous plait!"
Iain's message from his parents was to be read in private so he had
first dibs on the tablet.  After that, Iain's parents told us that James
was not a suspect in the explosion because a friend said he was at a mall
with James when TV reported the fire and that James had probably run away

to avoid being placed in another foster home.

   Anna and I did not expect a message because neither of us had any living
family.  Since we were both in the Army our disappearances were simply
classified as missing in action.  There was a suspicion that somehow we had
managed to get together but no one suspected desertion.

   Toby's parents were now both incarcerated and going through drug
withdrawal.  Jemima or Jean-Nicole was now 18 and legally an adult and no
one was looking for her.  Matt was now classified as "missing in action"
also and the Navy had not given up hope for him.

   Caitlyn and Sam were classified by the authorities as being runaways,
Caitlyn with Iain, and Sam with unknown boys or men.

   The authorities were still looking for the twins, Pyotr and Petra, and
their disappearance was a widely-reported mystery.  Their stepfather's true
identity was known and he was a suspect in similar cases in the past.

   Aiden, Brian's and Brianne's father, said he was happy they were with
friends and he would be joining them as soon as possible, perhaps within a
few days.

   I was again caught between wishing that we could all have remained in
our primitive world and glad that we could communicate with each other. 
However, the concept of communicating between two different universes was
still mind-boggling.

   <><><>

   Included with the communication parts, we found ten gallons of paint,
oil-base and intended for concrete, red, blue, green, and yellow for the
Twister circles and white for the outlines of geometric shapes like
rectangles.

   Eight Mouseketeers are hard at work scratching outlines of their plans
on the floor of the hallway.  In the middle of the hallway they have done
two hopscotch diagrams.  On one, from the start, there are three single
squares, a double, a single, a double, two singles, and a half-circle rest
to turn around and go back down the hopscotch.  The other diagram is
identical but reversed, with the two half-circle rest stops close together.

   They have already outlined twister diagrams on the hallway floor nearest
the control center at the end.  There are two rectangles side by side, each
five feet wide and six feet long, separated by a long aisle two feet wide.
Since the hallway is about twenty feet wide, that leaves aisle spaces on
each side about four feet wide.  Each rectangle, of course, will be painted
with circles of the traditional four colors of red, blue, green, and
yellow. They will do four times two twister diagrams on the floor near the
control center initially and with four players on each diagram, thirty-two
people can play at once.  When more diagrams are needed, they plan to
repeat their work on the floor near the front door.

   All of us usually wear loincloths when we are inside and I tried to
imagine what the game would be like playing in them.  Better still, we
might play naked twister and that's what the Mouseketeers say we're going
to do.

   Damn, the image of a bunch of naked sweating boys and girls and men and
women trying to keep their hands and feet on the appropriate color circle,
rubbing their naked bodies against each other with hard-ons and soft
breasts and smooth butts: that's enough to cause Monster to raise his head.

   <><><>

   We continue with our exercise programs but with some changes.  Anna and
Jean-Nicole have developed a series of exercises for females and they now
gather at one end of the hallway for theirs.  Matt and I have refined the
program for males and we do ours at the other end of the hallway.  I like
to exercise in the nude and I suppose the other guys do too.  Some of the
women wear loincloths; some are naked.  They're great to watch either way.

   Matt and I have added two components to our exercise program that is
much more cardiovascular.  The first is simply a run, over an abandoned
rabbit-snare trail, probably more than a mile in length, perhaps two
kilometers.  It is a flattened loop, relatively level, one part about a
hundred meters above the other.  Naked except for moccasins, all the guys
usually do this together, not as a race, but as a paced run with the
smaller guys leading the way.

   The second component is much more cardiovascular intense.  It is a run
up the mountain.  Not far from home we found a place with about a 45-degree
slope in a heavily- wooded area but without underbrush.  Large boulders
were scattered throughout the forest floor and we tried to leap from
boulder to boulder on the way up.  The run was short, perhaps 100 meters,
but damned difficult when running or leaping uphill.  Again there is no
competition or racing element, just pitting our own bodies against the
mountain.  We did this run naked as well, except for moccasins, and it left
all of us with pounding hearts, bellowing lungs, and sweating bodies.  Some
of the younger ones have yet to finish it but the rest of us encourage
them. I'm thinking of asking the females to cheer for those who complete
it. That should be good encouragement for any male.

   <><><>

   I told Anna where I was going.  If anyone asked, she was to tell them
that I was discussing something with Aimee and did not wish to be
disturbed. I also made sure that Aimee would tell them the same thing.

   A warm spring rain had started just before lunch and I expected it to
continue for some hours.  What better time to discuss the subject with
Aimee?  I slipped into the room at the end of the hallway, what I now
called the control room, slouched down on the couch in front of Aimee's
monitor, and issued the command: "Aimee, activate."

   "What do you wish to discuss, David?" she asked as soon as she appeared.

   "The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Aimee," I said.  "Do
you understand that saying?"

   "Do you mean that something done with the best of intentions may cause
unexpected bad consequences?"

   "That's right," I said.  "Aimee, I know you can record anything we do in
our living quarters, such as our New World Chorus singing.  Correct?"

   "Yes, David.  Iain usually asks me to record the performance and to play
it back so he can listen to it and learn how to improve your singing."

   "Are Brian and Brianne making good progress on their lessons about sex?"

   "Yes, David.  Both are very intelligent and both were knowledgeable
about the basics before we started.  Either their society or their parents
taught them well.  They also frequently discuss some topics with Pyotr and
Petra."

   "Good.  Exactly what I want.  Are they working their way through the sex
education modules?  Are you still showing them movies like the ones we
started James with?"

   "Yes, David, Brian and Brianne zipped through the basics and are now
studying intercourse.  The four young Mouseketeers often watch movies
together.  Pyotr and Brian always masturbate while watching.  Petra and
Brianne masturbate sometimes.  Brianne is learning to pleasure herself."

   "I don't know much about young girls, Aimee," I admitted.  "I know young
boys may discover their sexuality at anywhere from ten to fifteen when
puberty begins and they then masturbate sometimes three or four times a
day. I did.  I know Petra has been having periods for about a year and is
now taking the pill.  Is Brianne having periods?  Is she taking the pill?"

   "Yes, David, she's been menstruating for about six months," Aimee said.
"Anna started her on the pill soon after she arrived.  She said it was
better to be safe than sorry."

   "I know Brianne and Brian have been playing with Petra and Pyotr,
sexually playing.  Has Brianne had intercourse yet?"

   "I can not answer that question, David.  I observe what occurs in their
bedchambers but you have granted everyone privacy when they are in their
bedchamber and I must obey you."

   "Sorry, Aimee, you're right."

   "If someone is being harmed or hurt, do you want me to forget about
privacy and notify you?"

   "Yes, Aimee, that would be wise.  I leave it up to you to decide when.
Now let's talk about our new communication system.  OK?"

   "Yes, David."

   "Prior to installing our new system, the only places where people could
watch sexually-explicit movies were where there is a monitor, in your room
or in the teaching chamber.  I've told you to activate the monitor in here
only with a command from me."

   "Yes, David."

   "Aimee, now that everyone has a tablet with communication ability, can
they watch those movies in the privacy of their bed chamber?"

   "That is another decision you must make, David.  You are the master; I
am the servant.  You are the one person whose commands I must always
follow. It is your decision."

   "Well, I certainly don't want to play censor but I've never talked with
you about the kinds of sexually-explicit movies you have in your library.
Do you have knowledge about the extent to which pornography or erotica was
watched by people in my old world?"

   "Yes, David, I know that pornography or erotica was widely watched by
people all over your world, people of different ages and different
religions, even though some individuals and religions strongly condemned
it. There seems to have been widespread fascination with it.  I have
difficulty distinguishing between pornography and erotica.  Are they the
same?"

   "I don't think so.  I think erotica shows sexually-explicit portrayals
of couples who deeply love each other.  It's kind and loving and gentle. 
It can be enlightening and can help people understand their own sexuality.
Pornography is difficult to define but I think of it as anything which
harms either partner or which most people would not want to do.  It
presents an unrealistic version of sex and is commonly degrading to women."

   "Oh, I see, David," she giggled.  "Erotica is what you enjoy;
pornography is what someone else enjoys."

   "Don't joke with me, Aimee," I said.  "I've got a serious purpose to
this discussion."

   "There's an element of truth in my attempt at humor," she said.

   "I agree.  The problem is that there will be a fascination with it
here," I said.  "And so much of it can be harmful.  I'm trying to create a
world here where real love, sexual or not, is pervasive.  I want all the
young people to learn to be like that.  I want them to make love when they
have sex, to be as concerned with the feelings of their partners as much as
their own, not just fuck with no regard to what the other person is
feeling."

   "Can you give me an example, David, of what you mean by just fucking?"

   "Yeah, I've seen porn at the Academy where a guy was fucking a girl in
the ass and just as he was coming, he would pull out and she would suck him
off and swallow his semen.  Of maybe the guy would have his dick in her
pussy but would pull out before coming and the woman would stick her face
in front of his dick with her tongue hanging out like a dog, waiting to
catch his semen in her mouth.  That's garbage, Aimee.  I can't believe any
woman would want to be treated like that.  I don't want anybody here to see
women degraded like that.  I don't want stuff like that to be shown to
anybody here."

   "If you give me the parameters of the movies which are acceptable, I can
screen them to see if they meet your wishes."

   "Yeah, but that's censorship.  I don't want that either.  I've got to
think about it and talk to the others on the leadership council and see if
there's an answer."

   "David, I do not understand why you think that is censorship," she said.
"If it is then you have already exercised censorship when you decided what
sort of sexually-explicit movies those here could watch as rewards for
learning their lessons.  What you have done in that regard is the same
thing you do constantly.  You make decisions to help the young ones here
develop a kind loving attitude toward others.  You permit them to see
loving and caring sexual acts similar to what I have seen you and Anna do
with each other and what most of the others also do.  I would not call you
setting parameters censorship; I would call it loving parenting."

   "Thank you, Aimee," I said.  "I struggle with knowing what is right and
wrong in helping the others.  It is a challenge sometimes."

   "David, you know I can not tell you what the others say in the privacy
of their bedchambers but I also observe and listen when they are outside
their privacy area.  Their consensus is that you are an excellent leader
for them.  Everyone has a very high regard for you and for Anna.  They
trust you and Anna to do what is right for them."

   "I'm glad, Aimee, but I'm still going to talk it over with the
leadership council first and with everybody second.  I've learned that part
of being a good leader is soliciting input from others before I make
decisions.  I may decide against them but at least their input has been
considered."

   "Then shall I let them watch sexually-explicit movies on their tablets
in the privacy of their bedchambers if the movies meet your usual
parameters?"

   "Yeah, you can do that," I said.  "I don't see how that can hurt
anybody."

   <><><>

   Two days after we finished our new communication system, we made another
foray to the isthmus.  Fourteen of us left home before dawn as usual, ate
breakfast shortly after sunrise, and marched and sang our way down the
mountain.  Of course, counting Lucky, there were fifteen.  And Aimee,
counting her, sixteen; she went with us.

   We were all dressed in full Robin Hood regalia, including home-made hats
with feathers and other decorative touches, with backpacks holding food and
drink and rain capes and who knows what else.  I carried my Brute of a bow,
a quiver with arrows, a sword, the Boys, and a spear.  Matt, James, and
Toby carried new crossbows, swords or axes, knives in home-made pigskin
sheaths, and, as always, spears.  Iain carried a paintball gun, a knife,
and a spear.  Pyotr and Brian carried bow and arrows, hatchets, knives, and
spears.

   That's just what the guys carried.  Jean-Nicole, Caitlyn, Sam, and Renee
carried bows and arrows, knives, and spears.  Brianne and Petra carried
bows and arrows and spears.  Anna was the least burdened.  At my
insistence, she carried only a backpack with raingear and a spear; I
carried food and water for both of us.  Perhaps I was too protective of her
but now that I know she is carrying two of our children, I intended to
remain that way.  I could not conceive of a situation which called for such
an arsenal of weapons but everyone else was carrying what they wanted.

   We sang our way down the mountain of course, including our favorite You
Are My Sunshine, and more golden oldies.  Matt even counted cadence for us
and we marched part of the way.

   On the way down, the big empty pot which I hoped to fill with oysters
was rotated around the crew and the pot and lid were imaginatively used for
different purposes.  Toby fended off James' light-saber with the lid.  Matt
tried singing Ol' Man River with the pot over his head.

   I asked the Kiddy Crew to lead the way for a change.  In addition to
spears and other weapons, they carried four tablets to show Aimee where we
were going, to talk to her on occasion, and to test the range of our new
system.  Aimee was not sure how the tablet's batteries would hold up and
she made them rotate so only one was turned on at a time.  She was like a
little girl, excited to be going somewhere and seeing things she had never
seen before.  I enjoyed her company and told her so.

   We had a couple of surprises when we walked out on the sandiest part of
the isthmus.  Turtles were nesting.  I counted eleven on the beach doing
various nesting stuff: crawling out of the water, digging holes with their
front flippers, laying rubbery white eggs, covering up, and returning to
the water.  The turtles were all of the same species, maybe a half meter in
width, two-thirds of a meter in length and were like nothing I'd ever seen.
The back of their shells consisted of thirteen plates with a mottled orange
and yellow color and appeared soft and rubbery, not hard like land turtles.
Their flippers and head were green and gray.

   Then I saw that something had robbed a nest and the white eggs in it
were broken and empty.  I looked closer and saw fresh paw prints and claw
scratches.  I immediately looked up, stood there becoming cool, and
surveyed as much of the isthmus as I could.  I saw nothing but I knew what
had robbed the nest: a wolf.

   I showed Matt the nest and told him what I was about to do.  Then I ran
along the isthmus to the nearest boulder, climbed on top, and stood
looking. I saw nothing to worry about.  I decided to return but to warn
everyone so we could watch out for wolves.  I had walked almost back to the
others when Matt yelled.

   "Wolves, David, behind you."

   I turned and saw three wolves just walking out of the boulder-strewn
area.  My cool feeling had been fading but now it returned in full
strength. I ran to where the others were and yelled my instructions.

   "Bows.  Form a line across the isthmus, boy-girl couples.  Hold and
wait."

   I quickly notched an arrow on the Brute and then stood watching the
wolves and listening to the others assume positions and ready their bows.
The three wolves came closer but then stopped their forward movement and
started pacing from side to side.  I looked at Iain and saw that he had his
paintball gun to his shoulder.

   "Iain only," I yelled.  "Fire at will."

   He fired three times before he hit one of the wolves, right on the side
of the head near the mouth.  A red tongue came out and licked the liquid
into his mouth and, within a minute or so, the wolf collapsed on the ground
unmoving.  Maybe the other two blamed us because they both sniffed the
downed wolf and then charged toward us.

   I yelled for everybody to fire at will and, within seconds, two other
wolves went down, snapping and biting at the arrows causing them so much
pain.  I yelled "Spears.  Finish them off." And we quickly had two dead
wolves.  Nobody wanted to be the one to kill the incapacitated wolf.  I
didn't want to either but I knew it had to be done.  I wanted to use their
carcasses as a warning to other wolves.

   I yelled again: "Brian and Brianne, Pyotr and Petra, kill the other wolf
too."

   I could tell Brianne didn't want to do it but the others made her help.
They stood there grinning at each other, holding four spears impaling the
poor dead wolf.

   "James and Toby, I want you to help me," I said.  "We're going to drag
their carcasses back somewhere near the mainland and leave them.  If other
wolves come out on the isthmus, I want them to smell and see the dead ones.
I want their bodies to serve as a warning.  Matt, you're leader `til we
return."

   I started dragging one of the wolves by a hind leg and quickly learned
that I had a small problem.  My bow kept getting in the way.  Perhaps I
shouldn't have but I propped it and my quiver on a rock and tried dragging
the wolf with my left hand with my spear in my right.  Better.  Of course,
James and Toby did what I did.

   I knew enough about the topography of the isthmus to remember the
perfect spot for three dead wolves: a narrow spot where the boulders
blocked all but one easy pathway.  I wanted to leave the bodies just on the
other side.

   The wolves weighed perhaps sixty pounds but James and Toby didn't
complain.  With a couple of rests stops, we dragged the dead wolves toward
the mainland.  I noticed that they did as I taught them, spear always in
right hand.

   I was bent over slightly, dragging a wolf, looking at the sand, and I
didn't look ahead as much as I should have.  Toby saw it first.

   "DAVID, ANOTHER WOLF!" he yelled.

   I looked up and saw another black and gray wolf, one of the biggest I
had seen, coming through the narrow pathway.  I stopped and dropped the
dead wolf's paw.  The big wolf stopped.

   "Spears," I said in a normal tone of voice.  "Take positions about ten
feet behind me and ten feet to my sides.  Stand and hold."

   The wolf stopped coming closer but he never stopped moving.  He lowered
his head and moved it from side to side and, at the same time, paced back
and forth.  The wolf growled and looked menacing.  I yelled loudly: "GET
OUTTA HERE, WOLF!"

   The wolf stopped moving for a moment and then resumed walking from side
to side.  I decided what I was going to do if and when he charged.  I knew
I was cool, damned cool, and I could do it.

   The wolf took a couple of steps forward.  I laid my spear on the ground
and took a couple of steps forward too.  Maybe he looked puzzled at my
behavior.  We were perhaps ten meters apart.

   "Hold, boys," I said.  "If he gets past me, he's yours."

   I took a couple of steps forward, waved my arms in the air, and yelled,
"YOU'RE DEAD MEAT IF YOU CHARGE, WOLF!"

   I reached back over my left shoulder with my right hand and grasped the
hilt of my sword.  If I had to use it, I intended to hold it with both
hands and strike in a downward motion with all my strength.

   The wolf stopped pacing but started growling again.  He lowered his body
a little and I could almost see his leg muscles harden ready to charge me.
I took a couple of steps forward and waited.  The wolf froze.  I froze,
waiting.  I knew what he was about to do.

   Suddenly he exploded into action, powerful legs propelling him along the
sand, open mouth and bared fangs ready.  I ran toward him and waited for
him to leap.  I wanted him to leap at me.  I wanted him to launch his body
like a missile.  I knew he would be unable to change the trajectory of his
leap with all four paws in the air.  He would, in effect, be helpless.

   He leaped, seemingly in slow motion.  I pulled my sword, grasped the
hilt with both hands, and began the down strike.  Just before his body hit
where mine was a split second earlier, I twisted to one side, put both my
feet on the sand, braced about a half-meter apart, and completed my strike,
using all the strength of my back and shoulders and arms.  Perfect!  The
wolf's headless body tumbled across the sand, spewing blood from its stump
of a neck.

   I turned and started back to where I had been dragging one of the
wolves. I glanced at James and Toby and they were still frozen, holding
their spear with two hands, pointing straight out in front.

   "Shit," James said.  "Nobody's going to believe that."

   "Yeah; shit, James," Toby said.  "I saw it and I still don't believe
it."

   I didn't protest when they insisted on painting two stripes on each of
my cheeks with the wolf's blood.  Then we dragged four wolves through the
boulders, stripped off four tails, and returned to the rest of the crew.  I
knew I didn't have to tell anybody what had happened.  James and Toby
would.

   I looked quickly at the sun, estimated the time at close to noon, and
decided I wanted something to eat.  Then I remembered that I didn't have to
use sun time anymore.  I went to my backpack, retrieved my tablet, turned
it on, and was greeted by a smiling Aimee.

   "Aimee, what time is it?" I asked.

   "The time is a few minutes before eleven, David," she said.  "Where are
you?"

   "We're about half way across the isthmus," I answered.  "The signal to
my tablet is still coming in strong and clear.  Looks like our new com
system is working fine."

   "What are you doing?" she asked.

   "Well, I'm about to have a dozen raw oysters, eat my lunch, and then
help fill up the pot with shucked oysters.  After we do that, we're going
to get a couple of nice-sized sea turtles, and return home.  We should be
home about five."

   TO BE CONTINUED:













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