“Really?” I asked. “How does it work?”
“I can get into it now,” she said with a shrug, “but it isn’t immediately important. Just know that I can do it.”
“We can build around this fort,” Sheela said as she gestured out of the hut. “If we go another fifty feet out, we can make a new outer circle using the same design that Trel thought of. Then we will be able to fit in a garden and a larger pen for more dinosaurs.”
“But then we’ll have to rebuild another wall when we get more people,” Trel said. “We should go a hundred feet out. Our current fort is about seventy-five feet in diameter, so if we go a hundred more feet out, we’ll have a bit under sixty thousand square feet.”
“That seems big,” I said as I remembered that an acre was around forty-three thousand square feet and a bit smaller than a football field.
“It will be too hard to defend,” Sheela said. “It will also take too long to build.”
“If this one cooperates, it will take us another six weeks. I have already done the math.” Trel pointed to Kacerie.
“I don’t know how to build anything,” Kacerie said. “It sounds like a lot of work.”
“Welcome to our life,” Trel scoffed. “Believe me, I’d rather be at home sorting through my line of male suitors from atop my throne of silk pillows, but we are here now.”
“It will still be too hard to guard,” Sheela argued.
“We will find more people to help us,” Trel said. “There is one of those sky beams every few days, and I will give birth to my brood in three months. If we only go fifty feet out, it will leave us with twenty-four thousand feet. That sounds like a lot until we factor in a garden for Galmine, a pen for more of Victor’s dinosaurs, and huts for the other people who might join us. If we do a larger fort, we won’t need to upgrade again when we have another four people. We’ll probably be able to fit twenty, and once we have those twenty, it will be easy enough to expand the wall out so that we take over the whole clearing.” Trel’s voice came out in an excited flurry of words, and it seemed like she was fighting the smile on her face.
“Six weeks?” I asked.
“Six weeks,” Trel replied with a nod. “If nothing goes wrong, of course. It might even go faster if you can get some extra dinosaurs to drag trees and dig holes faster. Yes, I’m liking this idea even more. We’ll have enough space to let your pet dinosaurs graze inside the walls. We can even make moveable pens so we can cycle them through different pasture.”
“Alright,” I said as I tried to forget about her mentioning her brood. “I’ll think about it.” Six weeks didn’t seem like a long investment to rebuild the fort walls, but then I realized that I’d already spent a month here, and I had no idea if I’d ever get back home.
“We will need to create platforms on the interior walls, of this fort, and any future fort we build.” Sheela gestured outside again.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“If I wish to shoot an arrow or use my spear, I must climb on top of the wall. We need a platform where we can stand elevated and shoot arrows down on creatures trying to gain entry.”
“Ahh yeah, that makes sense,” I said as I turned to Trel.
“I can build one tomorrow,” the spider woman said with a nod. “Will take me about half the day, but only a few hours if someone else helps.”
“We will need more than one,” Sheela said. “So that we can shoot from multiple angles.”
“How about three?” Trel asked. “Two flanking the door, and then one at the rear should work. If you both help me, I can get them done tomorrow. Then I can build larger ones when we have our new and improved walls built.”
“You are really into this,” I said as I smiled at the beautiful spider-woman.
“Hmmm.” Her lips curled a bit. “I guess I have a knack for building stuff. It’s strange since I never cared about it before coming here.”
“You are smart,” I said with a shrug, “it just sounded like you didn’t have to work much before you came here.”
“Oh, my dear Victor,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “You had no idea how hard it was picking out suitors. I don’t need to worry about that anymore.”
“You don’t?” Galmine asked with confusion.
“No,” Trel said as she wrapped her long stiff fingers around my bicep. “Tonight Victor will impregnate me. I’ll use my venom on one of the raptor corpses outside. It won’t be perfect, but the muscles, bones, and fat of the thing should be ready by the time I give birth. Then they will feed upon it and grow stronger. Life will be easy then since they will do my bidding.”
“Uhhh, Trel,” I said as I looked down at the hand she had wrapped around my bicep. “I’m not really sure I can impregnate you.”
“Don’t be silly. I am ovulating. You will impregnate me.”
“It doesn’t quite work that way,” I said as carefully as I could.
“What do you mean?” she asked. “Does your penis not work?” Trel turned to Galmine.
“Oh, it works wonderfully,” Galmine said as she smiled at me.
“That’s not the point--” I started to say, but Trel asked Galmine another question.
“Does he not make sperm then?”
“Oh, plenty of sperm,” Galmine moaned and licked her lips. “Plenty of delicious sp--”
“Ewwww!” Kacerie shouted. “If you are going to talk about his dick all day, I’ll just leave.”
“We are having an important discussion,” Trel said to the pink-haired woman. “Just as on my homeworld, my pregnancy here should be considered with the correct amount of awe and reverence. Victor and I are the most important people in our little tribe, and our offspring will ensure that we all survive. Really, you should be honored that I’m allowing you to take part in this conversation.”
“Is she always like this?” Kacerie asked Sheela, but the cat-woman just shrugged.
“Trel, we are different species,” I said. “We can’t have children.”
“I don’t see why being different species has anything to do with it,” Trel said, but then her eyes narrowed. “Unless you do not find me attractive.”
“Uhhh, no. I mean, ahh, you are--”
“Ha! I know you find me attractive,” she interrupted me. “You are male, and I am beautiful. I watch your pants bulge whenever I talk to you. I already told you I would not kill you afterward, so what is your problem?”
“We just won’t have children. It’s impossible.” I tried to calm my pounding heart as her black eyes stared into mine.
“Fine,” Trel sighed. “I see how this is going to be. I’ll take care of everything.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as my stomach dropped. Having a night of sex with Galmine had really given me a boost in my self-confidence, but that was quickly withering under Trel’s dark piercing gaze.
“I’ll do all the work. You can just lie there, and I’ll ensure you fill my womb with every last ounce of your--”
“How did we get here?” Kacerie interrupted. “I thought you all were going to talk about survival, not having sex.”
“Good point, Kacerie,” I said. “Let’s get back on topic.”
“Whatever,” Trel hissed as her fingers tightened on my arm. “I’m not done with you.”
“So we need to build a new wall, and it will probably help to get another parasaur.” I thought about my Tame ability and wondered how big of a dinosaur I could control. Hope worked great, and she fit inside of our fort, but if I could get a big triceratops, it might be able to knock over a tree without us even cutting it. “I also want to get another parasaur so we can test out someone else riding it while I’m not around.”
“What do you mean?” Sheela asked.
“We’ve both ridden on Hope,” I explained. “I’ve also been by myself. I’m wondering if you can ride her to the lake or stream without me.”