“We will need a lot of clay for pots,” Galmine said, “but I am good with it. I could make a tub to hold water if you get me enough.”
“We’ll start with a bunch of pots,” I said. “If we can carry eight or so on Hope, we’ll only need to make a single run every couple of days. Sheela and I can go and get more clay, and then you can show Kacerie how to make them.”
“Okay,” Galmine agreed as she slowly clapped her hands together.
“Along with that,” I said as I looked at Trel, “we’ll need a better harness for Hope so we can carry more water and clay.”
“I will think on it,” the spider-woman said as she glanced at our parasaurus. As if she knew we were talking about her, Hope let out a pleasant little toot.
“So that’s a plan for water,” I said. “We need to get some more today, and then we need a lot of clay. Let’s talk about food next.”
“Are you hungry?” Galmine asked. “Should I prepare us a midday meal?”
“When was the last time you all ate?” I asked Sheela, Trel, and Kacerie.
“It was lunch yesterday,” Sheela said, and I felt a bit of surprise that Trel had not barged in on Galmine and me last night to demand we make her food.
“Yeah, Galmine, let’s get food cooking. Trel, can you inspect the door to make sure the raptors didn’t damage it before you join us?”
“Yes, Victor,” the spider woman said, and then she bounded away from me.
The four women and I returned to the hut, and Sheela and I dragged the corpse of the raptor outside. Once he was gone, and we got the fire going at full power again, Galmine pulled the already cleaned and defeathered carcass of an orange bird out of a clay pot. It was one we killed yesterday and didn’t actually smell bad.
“Butchers often hang meat,” I said as I thought about various movies and books I’d read. “I don’t really know if it that keeps the meat fresher for longer, but we are going to have to figure out how to preserve things we hunt or gather, or farm.”
“Salt,” Sheela said.
“Yeah,” I replied to her with a smile. “I don’t know anything about getting salt or even how to use it to preserve food. Do you just throw a lot of it on the meat?”
“Yes,” Sheela answered. “The salt keeps the meat too dry for bacteria to infect. The thinner the slices the better, but we would need to find salt. We can also smoke the meat for a similar effect.”
“So we’ll need to find salt, or build some kind of oven that we can use to smoke,” I said as I thought through the labor.
“Victor, this might not be important right now,” Sheela said. “There is vast wildlife on this world, and it is not difficult to hunt or fish for food.”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I’m just worried about if we have to hunker down inside the fort because there are a ton of raptors or a carnotaurus out there. We might not be able to leave the walls, so I want to be prepared. I’ll shelve the idea for now, but let’s talk about other ways to get food. We’ve got hunting, gathering, and farming. Seems like we are halfway decent at hunting. How do we get better at gathering?”
“We need more baskets,” Galmine said as she put the bird meat on a spit and set it over the fire. “Then we need to pick the berries. There are also roots and leaves we can eat.”
“Do you know which ones we can eat?” I asked. “I’m guessing that we each have different stomach workings.”
“I have a good idea,” the gray-skinned woman said. “We are different, but some vegetables, nuts, and tubers can also be soaked to remove harmful poisons. Then they can be eaten. I haven’t been able to get out of our cave and show you all what to look for.”
“Hmmmm,” I said as I rubbed the beard growing on my face.
“The door is undamaged,” Trel said as she walked into the hut. “The logs we used are a bit rough, and they were able to wedge their claws on some of the knots and leverage themselves up.”
“So how do we fix it?” I asked.
“We’ll need to take some knives or axes and shave some parts so they are smoother,” she answered. “I will work on it later. What did I miss in the conversation?”
“Galmine knows how to identify berries and plants we can eat, but we’d have to take her outside,” I explained.
“Ewww,” Trel said as she made a choking sound. “Who wants to eat plants? That is what my food eats.”
“It is what I also eat, Trel,” Galmine said with a friendly smile. “This meat hurts my stomach.”
“Ugh,” Trel sighed. “So we have to get plants?”
“We’ll also need some for Hope,” I said. “She’ll eat the grass inside of our fort, but we’ll eventually run out. We’ll need to bring more in, or figure out a way for her to be out to pasture.”
“The solution is simple,” Trel said, and we all turned to her. “Victor needs to tame a bigger dinosaur. Galmine can ride on its back and tell us what vegetables to eat, then we can pick them.”
“Then we can put them in the baskets and bring them back,” Galmine said. “It is a good idea.”
“If I can tame a larger dino,” I said. “Even if I do tame one, where would we keep it? We might be able to fit another two or three parasaurs in there with Hope, but then it’s going to get really cramped. Especially with them pooping all the time.”
“Speaking of poop,” Galmine said with a giggle. “It is a good fertilizer. I am very skilled at growing a garden, but I don’t have enough space inside the fort. If we go out and grab some berries or other edible plants, I’ll be able to start a garden outside the fort.”
“I like the idea, but I also don’t,” I said. “I really want us to have a farm, but I don’t want you outside of the walls where it is dangerous.”
“I agree,” Sheela said.
“I don’t,” Trel said, and we all gave her a confused look. “The answer is simple, again. This isn’t our permanent home.”
“But I like this place,” Galmine said. “We all built it together and--”
“I’m not saying we need to leave this spot,” Trel interrupted. “But we built this fort this size because we didn’t have a lot of time. But Victor wants to pick berries, or leaves, or whatever with you, so having a larger dinosaur to ride will be safer, and we need more space. Now he wants a farm, we need more space. I bet that once he starts talking about defending the fort, we are going to come up with the same answer: more space.” Trel folded her arms over her magnificent breasts and gave us all a smirk. “Trust me, I’m smart. We need more space. Especially if we want to rescue more people. I will need some privacy with Victor tonight so that we can breed, and we only have room for this small hut inside of the fort. You all will have to sit outside while he inseminates me.”
“Uhh Trel, I’m not so--” I started to say, but the spider-woman kept talking.
“What happens when there are ten of us? Or twenty? Or fifty? We will need more space and private huts.”
“I agree with more huts,” Kacerie said as she shot Galmine and me an exasperated look. “If I must be here, I want my privacy.”
“Okay,” I said as I held up my hands so their attention came back to me. “I think this is a good segway into our next topic: Defense.”
“Yes,” Sheela said. “These walls are tall, but we will still have a problem with one of the larger carnotaurus type dinosaurs that we have seen. A tall one might be able to lean over the top.”
“Sounds like you are voting for larger walls and a bigger fort,” I said.
“Maybe.” Sheela shrugged. “How large do we make it? The whole clearing? It will take many months of work and be hard to guard without more help. A larger dinosaur might help us haul some of the more massive trees over, but we would have a problem lifting them into the support holes.”
“That will not be a problem,” Trel said. “I have devised a weight and fulcrum strategy that will easily tip larger logs into holes with little effort on our part. We can implement it with Hope, or we can use a larger dinosaur if you tame one.”