The Tides of Space - Chapter 5, by Linda

The Tides of Space

by Linda

~~~~~

Chapter 5: Becoming One Community

July 2, 2153

It was a haphazard arrangement with goods from the Vahklas stacked wherever the shuttle had landed at the time. Sleeping shelters had been thrown together and food was being preserved in refrigerator units run by generators. Water containers were piled near the lake. Everything would be fine for a while, but when the fuel ran out and the batteries ran down, they would have to get creative.

Tavin stood when they all were assembled in the improvised mess hall. He looked at the faces of his people, trying to read their mood. “Well, we made it. Thank you all for your hard work. With your continued cooperation we will survive. But we have difficult times ahead and have already learned a hard lesson. One of us was lost in the wreck of the ship. I carry the responsibility for that. I grieve for him. We must honor his memory by heeding the lesson his death has taught us. We will do everything in partners. When I assign people to a task, I expect them to stay together. When I assign them to a place, like the mess deck or the shuttle bay, I expect them to stay there.” Tavin paused, remembering there was no more shuttle bay. “ If they feel they must move, they are obligated to get my consent. That will work here in the camp just as it should have worked on the ship. If we are stranded for more than a few months, then we can vote on a different community structure. But for now, for defense and quick action, we will keep the shipboard leadership in place. I am in command, Tolaris is my second, Silek, Kov, and Sipik my advisors. The senior staff for less immediate decisions will include Doctor T’Mor and the colonist leader Betty Miller. Does anyone wish to dispute this?” No one did. Tasks were assigned and they were told to assemble at 17:00 ship’s time for the evening meal.

People split off to various tasks or some private corner to meditate. Tolaris sidled over to Nancy and put an arm around her. She made a weak attempt to shrug him off, and then ceased resisting his attentions as she slowly walked toward her job building a pen for the sheep.

….

The sleeping shelters were not convenient to the community social needs as they consisted of two thrown together ‘rooms’, one for males and the other for females. Tavin asked Kov and Liz to survey their building materials and to start designing living and working space with heating, lighting, and storage areas.

“The extent of our planning should depend on how long we are going to need it,” Kov insisted, slightly exasperated.

“Plan as if you are going to spend the rest of your life here.” Tavin shot back. “If nothing else, it will keep you busy. You and a lot of others.”

….

After the first week of eating emergency rations and sleeping with seventy-five others in one room, irritations were building. Liz thought it would be a lot better if mated pairs could have some privacy. Even the benign Tavin was testy and had begun sleeping in the improvised sick bay that his wife T’Mor set up. The two of them put pallets on the ground at dusk and set up a ship’s cabin door to cover the doorway in the thin metal walls.

During the day, sick bay became a chemistry lab. T’Via was chemically analyzing native plants for nutritional value with the assistance of T’Mor and the colonist women Mary and Carla. So far, they had established that only two plants were toxic. Liz was recruited to draw a poster of these plants, which was labeled in English and Vulcan and hung in the temporary mess hall. Tolaris and Silek explored a forested area, bringing back samples of wood for Liz and Kov to consider as building materials. There were one hundred and forty-nine people to feed and shelter. But as Tavin looked at it, there were one hundred and forty-nine people to put to work.

The big excitement was who would be chosen for the shuttle expedition to the wreck to determine what was salvageable. Tavin said four people would go. That would be himself, Kov, and two others. “Not you, Liz,” said Kov like an overbearing spouse. “You have been through enough and I want you safe.” Liz rankled about this and it provided evidence that Vulcans do actually have marital spats. At least Vulcans with Human wives. But she did see the ‘logic’ in staying behind to continue work on the community design project, and finally wished Kov well on his expedition. Betty Miller had copies of the Human colony town plans, so she and Liz set up a canvas tent over one of the Vahklas’s mess tables to work out of the bright light of this new world’s sun. A cool breeze that was blowing most days, keeping them comfortable under the canvas. The two of them stood in their tent watching as Silek and T’Via joined the expedition and they waved to the shuttle as it rose and headed west.

….

The first news that Thomas had been found alive came over the communicator in T’Mor’s sick bay. Betty had heard it beeping and answered the call. She rushed two of the women who had EMT training to the sick bay to prepare for setting broken limbs. Others were put to work making soup to nourish a man who had only been living on bottled water and granola bars for a week. T’Mor took over when an hour later she came back from her daily foraging walk.

Kov and Silek unloaded the improvised stretcher from the shuttle and hurriedly carried it to sick bay. Silek came out and everyone crowded around him. He moved away and everyone moved with him until he was out of the hearing of sick bay. “He went to an escape pod when he realized the ship had entered the atmosphere. It was too late to attempt a launch, which can only be done in space. The pod had some protection against the shock of the landing. There was food, water, and breathable air in there. Still, he sustained broken bones due to the impact and pitch-poling of the ship.” Silek looked around at them. He was not quite smiling but it was definitely the Vulcan equivalent. “He will recover.”

There were cheers from the Humans, dignified head nods and clapping from the Vulcans.
The group started to break up and move off and the work of the day resumed. Only Tolaris scowled as he watched Nancy run toward sick bay carrying the brightly patterned Indian blanket Thomas had brought with him from home.

….

Kov was unbraiding Liz’s hair outside the sleeping shelters. They were sitting on empty overturned storage canisters. “Tavin is tired,” announced Kov.

“What does that mean in Vulcan terms?” asked Liz.

Kov gently loosened a snarl where Liz had caught her braid on a tree branch while foraging with T’Mor and T’Via. “He has been holding in the stress of responsibility for all of us a good long time. He has frequent headaches and tires easily. He blames himself for not being forceful enough to make a Human like Thomas adhere to his rule of staying with his partner onboard and for not searching for him right away after the crash. Because of this, he feels he both overestimates Human obedience to orders and underestimates Human creativity in an emergency. He needs your people to give him more cooperation.”

Liz was quiet for a couple of minutes while Kov finished her braid and wrapped it on top of her head for sleeping. When she turned to face him, he was sitting still with the patient Vulcan poker face she had come to know meant this was something serious. “The women are having a meeting tomorrow, both the five Vulcan women and the sixty-eight students and colonists. I think I know what to say, how to explain it so they will show more cooperation. We must become one community. I am not a psychologist or a sociologist, but I am aware of what is needed here.”

“That will be good Liz.” Kov started to rise.

“I miss you. I want you beside me at night so I can feel your breathing and fall to sleep by its rhythm.” Liz rested her head on his shoulder and nestled into his neck.

Kov put his arms around her. “I know. Me too. I am restless without your nearness. We will build a temporary private shelter. Shelters. Others need their mates too. The permanent structures can wait while we finish the plans and get approval from everyone. Besides preparing the building materials will take a long time.”

No one objected to Liz and Kov sitting there holding each other as people drifted into the sleeping rooms. Proper Vulcan behavior and even proper Human behavior was beginning to adapt to a new blended code.

….

The women settled under the trees at the edge of the woods. They sat on blankets and a few chairs. Betty opened the discussion. “We have a problem. Every seven years Vulcan males enter a state for about a week where they must mate or die. There are only five Vulcan women here, so we Humans will have to, well, accommodate these males or loose them from our community. We cannot afford to loose anyone if we are to survive until rescued. Now a few of us have been pairing off already. These are permanent pairings, but T’Mor says crisis intervention mating does not have to result in a permanent bond. What are your feelings about this?”

Silence reigned for a long minute. Then Carla snickered and raised her hand. “I had a boyfriend when I was a teenager who tried to get me into the sack by saying it was unhealthy for boys not to have sex. What a crock!”

Betty held her hand up for silence and the laughter rippling through the group stopped. “T’Mor assures me that with Vulcans this is deadly serious. It is a real problem. Between these seven year periods, they can easily control their urges. In fact, it takes quite a lot of stimulation to activate them when they are not in Pon farr.” This brought another round of laughter and some whispering that it was not THAT hard.

Betty continued. “This Pon farr is just one of nature’s ways to insure the survival of a species. I am not saying anyone here has to enter into a relationship they don’t want. And I am assured no male will force a female. That is not their way; they would rather isolate themselves and risk death. But with sixty-eight Human females and only five Vulcan female to seventy-two Vulcan males, the demographics are such that we have to help. With a seven-year cycle, that means it is likely that nine Vulcan males will be at risk each year. It would help if there were more permanent pairings, and I am sure there will be. But we have to plan for an unpaired male emergency.”

After much discussion, a vote was taken to tell Tavin that the women would not allow any Vulcan male to die during Pon farr. There would be a mate for him. Whether it was someone who was attracted to him or a selfless volunteer, at this point could not be decided. But they wanted the men to know they would be cared for.

Liz brought up the next item. Rules established by the leadership must be followed if they were to survive. But the rules needed to be agreed to. She told them of the leadership burden that Tavin was carrying. Then one by one they discussed the established rules: the buddy system, permission to leave assigned work area and half a dozen others. A secretary was elected to write down that they had voted to comply with the current rules. They even suggested more. T’Via suggested they have regular women’s assembly meetings and this was voted in too.

Betty closed the meeting by thanking everyone for their cooperation. “We are becoming a real community. We are taking care of each other. This is what we would have done on the colony we were originally headed for and this is what we must do here. Frankly, it is the only way we are going to survive. I agree with Tavin that we must establish a mind set that this is it. This is a permanent settlement. If we are rescued, great. If we are not, we still have a future. T’Mor said a prayer in Vulcan and they all drifted back to the day’s tasks.

….

September 2153

Bev had just cleaned her flute and left. Liz set down her fiddle after their hour’s practice. It would need a new string soon and Kov thought some of the electrical wiring might do. There were some thin wire filaments that might be twisted together into a string. She did not know what they could do when the horsehair bow wore out. Maybe one of the native animals had a tail similar to a horse. Just as she was thinking of him, Kov called her from the other side of the blanket door. “Come on in Kov, I have been expecting you. I have a jar of hot, well, still warm, Vulcan spice tea. Kov lifted the blanket and stepped quietly over to the bed and sat down. Liz poured the tea into two chipped cups and sat next to him. He had been sitting around the bonfire debating a point of Surak’s teachings with Silek and T’Mor. Glancing around at the faces in the firelight, he saw that all the

It was only in the evenings when the community sat around in the semi-darkness of campfires to save fuel, that lengthy discussions exposed a deep-seated cultural difference. Vulcans take the stance that what is not proven is not true. Humans take the stance that what is not dis-proven has the hope of being true. This basic philosophic difference made the Vulcans look stubbornly shortsighted to Humans and Humans naïve and unrealistic to Vulcans. It underlay every topic of discussion. While performing basic survival tasks in daylight, this difference could be ignored. But in the evening the Vulcans usually won arguments by attrition, as Human eyes glazed over after hours of detailed proofs being offered. The Vulcans relished these discussions and could keep all the arguments perfectly straight. But even Thomas, who could follow the conversation if it drifted completely into Vulcan, would start to nod his head from fatigue and stare hard to keep his eyes open. The Humans, not having the stamina of the Vulcans, would one by one drift off to bed. This left the Vulcans looking around at each other, wondering why they always ended up alone. The nighttime belonged to the Vulcans.

The daytime was the Human domain. Often a group of Vulcans would stand around discussing the relative merits of different approaches to a problem only to find one of the Humans had casually gone off and fixed the problem in an ingenious fashion they had not even considered. It was done swiftly and quietly and without their consent. That rankled. But they usually saw the logic of it and nothing more was said about it.

The fact that most of the Vulcans were male and most of the Humans were female also had an effect. Vulcan female elders were revered but young Vulcan females were somewhat viewed as possessions by the males. This reversal of gender status by age was difficult for the Humans to grasp. The Humans speculated that marriage must wear away the male will over time as the female will grew stronger through the experience of managing a household. But both Vulcans and Humans saw pregnant females as people to be protected. This was a positive outlook for the community especially when to everyone’s surprise, the women started becoming pregnant.

T’Mor had assembled quite a hospital and pharmacy in her sick bay. She was a researcher at heart. Intrigued by the first miscarriages of Human women with Vulcan mates, she studied the situation. It was surprising just how simply the viability problem could be solved. Vulcan genes being dominant, the fetus needed copper based blood. Transfusions of Vulcan blood needed to be feed into the umbilical cord every day for nutrients. All of the Vulcans became blood donors, accept for Kov. The discovery of this viability gave the community an open-ended future. Survival did not necessarily depend on being rescued. The life force, ubiquitous and tenacious even in the most hostile of environments in the universe, once again proved its strength.

….

People had solved the dormitory problem by helping themselves to materials salvaged from the Vahklas and building their own shelters. Tavin allowed this, as long as they stayed within the compound area that he had set up night patrols to protect. Even though no indigenous wild life as yet had targeted the community for predation, a large unseen animal had been following a foraging group through the tall grass. A log stockade was built for protection. Within it, the Humans tended to create haphazard shelters wherever they found a spot that suited them. The Vulcans tended to organize their shelters in a more logical manner with a grid pattern. They closed them up more than the Humans who tended to wander into each other’s shelters to visit. The Vulcan shelters were private hide-a-ways for their owners. Vulcan-Human couples tended more to the Vulcan style shelter. Whether that was because the Vulcan of the pair was male or a couple just wanted privacy, became a matter of speculation around the evening campfires.

….

When Thomas revealed it was Tolaris who had suggested he go to C deck to continue salvaging materials, Tavin had turned a stern eye on his second in command. Privately he had asked Tolaris if this was a deliberate ploy to get Thomas out of the way so he could court Nancy. Tolaris knew better than to try to lie to his old friend. “Not consciously Tavin. I would have joined him on C deck as soon as I wrenched that cabinet off the wall in that cabin you found me in as you ran past to get to the shuttle. But I cannot say my subconscious did not influence my behavior. I am attracted to Nancy, so it would have been satisfactory to have Thomas out of the way.”

Tavin said nothing more. But from then on, there were no more pleasant evenings drinking tea around the fire with Tavin and T’Mor for Tolaris. In fact, hardly anyone spoke to Tolaris accept when there was an important scheduling concern.

Tolaris watched Thomas and Nancy walk hand in hand to their shelter and duck under its blanket door. No one wanted to share a shelter with him so he had thrown together a rough one at the edge of the compound against the stockade wall. Although his organizational skills were appreciated, he was otherwise avoided. Being a semi-pariah was starting to effect him psychologically.

….

After Ellen washed the dishes from the community evening meal, she went out the front entrance to the mess hall and sat on an empty food canister, leaning her back against the rough brick wall. This was their first brick building made from the clay on the lake shore in molds which had been small metal drawers from various storage spaces on the Vahklas. Unwrapping one of her last cigarettes and lighting it with one of her few remaining matches, reminded Ellen that she had gifted the engineering staff with her lighter with its half-filled reservoir. It was like gold to them, resources being so scarce. Taking a deep drag on the cigarette, she looked down the packed dirt street. Her husband Vinak was on his way to walk her back to their shelter. He stopped a few paces from her and wrinkled his nose. “I assume you will be giving up that unsavory habit when your last cigarette is gone. Unless you have discovered a native plant to smoke.”

Not one to take criticism well, Ellen responded. “I will deal with it. Let me have the last of my cigarettes in peace, will you?”

“It is not logical to continue this habit with a baby due in eight months. You must think of our child’s health.”

“Ok, ok, please don’t nag. That is not logical either. In fact, nagging is counter productive. It might make me irritated enough to actually try experimenting with native intoxicating plants.”

Vinak inclined his head slightly in agreement and offered his hand to help her up. Ellen grinned. “Ok, I was just kidding. One more cigarette and I am done, since there are no more anyway. I do care about our child. Hopefully we won’t find any such plants here and our children will never know what a difficult habit smoking is to break. Now, about that tunic you are wearing. It will wear out soon and I want you to give it to me so I can remove the zipper. We can recycle old zippers and Velcro in new garments for awhile, but after that you will have the choice of homemade buttons or laces.”

Vinak, ever the unruffled gentleman, said “whatever you must do to keep us clothed, my wife. What must be, must be. If it is not inconvenient, I prefer buttons.”

….

“What challenging engineering assignment has Tavin given you now?” asked Liz.

They were working in the mess hall today. Kov turned toward her from the window calking in preparation for the next cold season. “Waste disposal. We can’t just go off and squat in the woods anymore or take a bag of trash and fling it a few hundred yards from the compound. We must become good stewards of this new world. Not the most exciting task, but necessary.”

“Oh,” said Liz, “That sounds like a Tavin speech. He is right, and I know that my husband succeeds in whatever he does.”

Kov grunted and turned his attention back to the window frame. But he was pleased with Liz’s reaction. He was still surprised whenever she demonstrated that unconditional acceptance of him. It spurred him on to greater effort. He cherished his wife and wondered how common this feeling was in Vulcan marriages. He was certain his parent’s relationship was not of this nature. Or was it? The day he parted from his Vulcan bond mate was a great turning point in his life, though he had not realized all the implications of that act at the time.

….

November 2153

“The elements in this plant are not digestible by Humans or Vulcans,” said T’Via as she cataloged it. “Perhaps its fibers would be useful in making clothing.” The soft blue thready tendrils waved in the wind. They looked like stamen stalks inside of a flower except they trailed down to the ground and stuck fast to the soil. Tavin had tried to brush through a field of them but they acted as snares against his ankles. The mother plant would be uprooted before the tendrils let go of their purchase in the soil. Tavin sat on a boulder to pull the filaments off his legs. From this position he observed the couple off in the distance.

Kov carried a collection basket while talking with Elizabeth who held a pair of clippers in one hand. She was sorting through the specimens in Kov’s basket. Tavin watched this couple closely. He was glad that relationship had settled into a bonding. But that had forced several Vulcan males who had been interested in Liz to turn their attentions to other Human women, especially the young students. These girls were barely out of childhood by Vulcan standards, but old enough for pairing according to Human ones. And as the months passed, the Vulcan males who entered Pon farr had found willing partners.

Of the five Vulcan females, only T’Via was unmated. She considered experimenting with a relationship with one of the four Human males. After thinking about the situation logically, she knew the at risk Vulcan males needed her more. She decided to ask Stavik to be her mate because she admired his skill as a glazier. She liked art glass. But on this world Stavik’s hobby had been turned into the community craft of making windows. Kov suggested he also try making drinking vessels and eyeglasses. T’Via agreed with Kov. How had she underestimated Kov’s value? He came up with the best technical proposals. Perhaps the circumstances of their stranding brought out the best in Kov.

Anyway, Stavik considered T’Via’s proposal logical too. T’Bin performed the bonding ritual in the mess hall and love did grow out of logic for this couple who had hardly glanced at each other over the nine years they had spent on the Vahklas. Their decision to bond was the way it was supposed to be decided in the traditional Vulcan way. It was ironic that this worked for two V’tosh rebels.

The Human colonist women were a second wave joining an advance party which had surveyed the colony world and laid out the first towns. These colonists were understandably more reluctant than the students to explore relationships with the Vulcan males. Generally they were older and trying to stay loyal to their mates at the now unreachable Human colony. But as hope of rescue dimmed, even they were taking longer looks at the Vulcans. These women, having a practical outlook, which would have served them well on their intended colony world, one by one started taking Vulcan mates. Also these women became like second mothers to the students when they faltered under the pressures of a labor intensive life or broke down psychologically when they realized they might never see Earth again.

Tavin drew in a slow breath and speculated on the distant future. It was Betty who said that one hundred forty-nine people were a tenuous group for genetic survival. It was not varied enough unless people had multiple partners, which produced offspring of varying combinations. The first Vulcan-Human pregnancies were several months along due to T’Mor’s skills. Betty had advised Tavin and T’Mor to produce a child if they still could. Even without Betty’s views being public knowledge, Tavin himself had been tentatively approached by two women, even though he was married.

“The alpha male attraction syndrome,” T’Mor grinned at him. “And maybe a good deal of just plain interspecies curiosity.”

Tavin thought this multiple partner thing was a desperate measure unsuited to the ethics of either Humans or Vulcans. It was logical but not culturally acceptable. Perhaps it would not be needed. He stored the idea away with all the other possibilities in his astutely active mind.

The interspecies viability was welcome to everyone but Liz and Kov. “I should stay out of the gene pool Liz. You know why.” Kov had reminded Liz of this before. He set down the basket to brush some leaves off a rock so they could sit.

The rock was warm as Liz sat down and turned to him. “So if I conceive, you don’t want me to have T’Mor help?”

“No,” Kov said gently. He did not want to upset Liz but he had seen her look longingly at the pregnant women. “If she doesn’t help, a miscarriage is certain. And that is better than putting energy and emotion into caring for a terminally ill child. We should be asking her about prevention methods. I know she has some effective ones, at least for Vulcan couples.”

Liz did not answer. She didn’t have the heart to tell him it was already too late for that. T’Mor had given her something to stabilize her pregnancy. T’Mor had a theory about the effect of Human genes on Kov’s condition. “Wait and see Liz. We can always terminate a little further along.”

Liz took a swallow of her bottled water and leaned back on the rock as she scanned the terrain below her. Kov rolled up the sleeves on his tunic so the sunlight could give his skin some of the elements it needed.

Liz finally spoke, determined to change the subject. “This is a good world for us if we have to be stranded here for a very long time. We chose the site well for our encampment. Is this planet really about half way between Earth and Vulcan in climate?”

Kov lay back on the rock and stared up at the sky. ‘In temperature it is about 15 % above Earth norm and 20% below Vulcan norm. It has a year 1.25 Earth norm and a day that is .9958 that of an Earth day. You and I have observed the two moons complete their cycles around the planet where they returned to their original configuration three times or about every 41 days. The seasons of cold and warm have been calculated to be half a year each. And the year has been calculated to be 455 days in which the planet takes to complete a circuit around its primary. It will do for our sustenance.”

Liz said “And that will more than do to answer my question.”

“Are you sure? I only gave you a brief synopsis of what Sipik told me from his research.”

Liz smiled. “A simple yes would have done.”

Kov sighed and set himself to continue another earlier and not so pleasant discussion. He looked at the ground, but Liz caught his stricken expression. He took a long minute to compose himself. “I did finish the level one training. But I did not accept the certification. I was not emotionally fit to heal others. Not after my sister’s baby died in my arms.”

“But Kov, T’Mor needs you. She only has two people with minimal EMT training, and that is for Human physiology. You have the equivalent of what we would call physician’s assistant training for Vulcans. Why not just spend some time at her sick bay. You don’t have to promise to continue. Most of what she gets now are Human sun burn cases, various cold viruses both Human and Vulcan, and a pregnancy or two. The worst was Thomas with a couple of broken bones.”

Kov turned his back to Liz and she could see his shoulders shaking. He knew that someday a serious injury or death would occur and didn’t know if he would be up to it. Instinctively Liz reached up to touch him, hesitated, then leaned her head against his spine. Kov shifted away slightly, then he turned and wrapped his arms around her. Liz responded by returning his hug and he spoke again. “You are being the logical one today. I will talk to T’Mor. I tried to be her backup on the Vahklas but I was not able to do it. The situation is more urgent now, so I will give it another try.”

Liz’s cooler body temperature helped to calm Kov. They meditated together. Now that his decision had been made, the emotional reaction receded. They made another decision later that day. They moved their bedding out of the temporary metal shack and into the new wood and brick house, although the roof was still a set of tarps and the glass had not yet been cut for the open window frames.

….

December 21, 2153

The night noises were strange but not threatening accept for the occasional scream of some creature that had become some other creature’s dinner. When a breeze sprang up, it moved the leaves on the weird trees and Liz could almost believe she was back home on Earth. She could relax now because Kov had built this house strong with the help of three of the other Vulcan men. They had worked efficiently and tirelessly in the Vulcan way, only occasionally referring to her drawings that they seemed to instantly memorize.
Her very own house. Well Kov’s house too. He had deferred to her professional suggestions, but she had made sure that he felt comfortable with the style, especially for his den. And the meditation garden would be beautiful when walled in. The vines were swiftly growing up the trellis. Soon they would be spreading over the top to form a sunshade and give the meditation bench beneath a sense of privacy.

Kov had designed a waterfall from a fanciful drawing Liz had made in an idle moment and tossed into the scrape pile for recycling. He secretly retrieved the drawing and delighted her with the sight of the almost completed rock structure piled in a corner of the garden. Tavin had given him permission to rummage through the piles of salvaged material from the ship to find a hose. Once set in motion, the wooden balance wheel continued to cycle the water without having to use an outside power source. To be fair though, he had made garden fountains for other people too. No one enjoyed the luxury of running water more than a Vulcan. Water was to Humans like sand to Vulcans, but they both appreciated the soothing sound of water softly trickling over rocks.

There was much in the Vulcan database on home world architecture, and Kov had shown Liz photos of the home he had grown up in. It had helped her combine Vulcan and Human elements into their house. But coaxing information out of him about his family had been a long slow process. Then one evening over tea, stories of his sister had come pouring out. After that, he needed to be held close for much of the night. Liz told him it was ok to weep if he needed to, as crying was emotionally purging. So he did. And it was.

There was a noise outside and Liz knew it was Kov returning because he was telling her so through their telepathic bond. There was nowhere on this world that they could not reach each other’s minds. Through lessons from T’Bin and practice with Kov, Liz learned how to gently raise the privacy shield in her mind so that individuality could be protected. It was not a complete shutting out; the ‘hailing frequencies’ were always instantly available. She was glad of their bond as it added a dimension to life that was unavailable between Humans. She wondered at the ability of her species to communicate so well without it. It had forced Humans to develop a creativity that Vulcans had not been forced to develop. But they were now learning, like they were beginning to appreciate the advantages of humor…at least in her community here on this world. A year ago if someone had told her she would become this intimate with Vulcans, she would have laughed and said “Never. They are too strange, too unknowably alien. Hasn’t worked in a hundred years and never will.”

The familiar sounds of Kov checking the doors, windows, and equipment before he retired were comforting to Liz. He had his rounds like he used to have on the Vahklas. Did Human males do this in their homes to protect their families? She had to suppose that they did. There was a fluttering within her. The child. So she shifted position again, raising her knee higher on the pillow so her belly was more comfortable. She must tell Kov about the child soon before he detected the change in her body. Keeping this from him was difficult for her but T’Mor had told her to wait. She shifted to the left a bit to make sure there was room for Kov in the bed. When he did sleep, it was a very sound sleep.

….

Kov pulled on his tunic carefully so it wouldn’t tear. He had been promised a wool sweater by Ellen who now spent most of her waking hours knitting. There was plenty of yarn now because many women worked in the spinning and weaving building made of the mud bricks from the new molds Kov has designed. The framing for this, the largest of their buildings, had been done in wood planks cut from native trees in Sopek’s carpentry shop. Since it was a public building like the mess hall, large sheets of transparent aluminum from the ship were cut to give good lighting to the looms Sopek had built from drawings in the database. Nancy kept the small loom she had brought from Earth in her new residence and Thomas made copies of her spindle so women could practice the spinning technique at odd moments during their day.

This clothing industry was badly needed. The cold season would come in about another six Earth months, said Simak who was studying the planet’s axis and calculating the seasons. “It won’t be as cold as the northern Earth winters, more like the fall or spring there,” he had insisted. Still, for a Vulcan, that was darn cold. Winter clothing was being prepared and issued to the Vulcans first. The nights were always chilly, even in summer, and the community huddled under their blankets, as Liz was doing this morning. Kov bent to give the still sleeping Lizzy a peck on the check and quietly slipped out of their house.

T’Mor did not openly react to Kov’s arrival. She kept her back to him and continued to clean instruments. When he stepped to her side and started to help her wash them, she shifted to drying them and storing them away. Everyone’s skills were needed and cross training was vital to the small community. T’Mor decided to work Kov into the medical routine gently, knowing bits of his history from Liz and Tavin. Curing headaches with telepathic touch, cleaning small cuts and stitching them up, were not upsetting to him. T’Mor wanted to work Kov up to his level one training over the next few months. Having been a teacher of healers before marrying Tavin, she knew she could bring Kov up to at least a level three healer. Beyond that, it would be experimentation for both of them considering their limited equipment.

Speaking of cross training, T’Mor had started Kov and the engineering assistants thinking about the repairs that would be needed to existing medical equipment down the years, and how they might proceed to manufacture more sophisticated instruments. If they stayed isolated, it might be a century before some things could be made. This planet did have the raw materials and they had the knowledge. But they were beginning to see how civilization was an evolutionary process. It built upon itself and needed to proceed through some necessary logical stages. There were so few of them in this community. Large-scale industry that needed a population base of thousands would be beyond them for some time. First, they had to become a unified community: one culture.

But that was well underway now.

Continue to Chapter 6

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