The Trek: Darwin's World, Book II (The Darwin's World Series 2) (2 page)

Tribes grew and populations spread during that period on Earth Prime. Humans lived in the Americas, Eurasia, Africa, and Australia as well as on a number of islands. Emulating nature, the Futurists transplanted their human specimens to the same locations.

Some transplants failed; people died. Knowledge is not enough; skill is also needed and that is gained through experience. Determination counts. Experience grows, but learning comes from mistakes survived. An element of luck enters the mix; life or death often happen by simple chance.

But thousands of transplants are soon in place across Darwin’s World. They adapt and learn; some of them survive. The descendants of the transplanted will become transplants in turn, educated and placed into the highly-evolved world of the Futurists, in the hope that they can revive a dying civilization.

#

There are no laws on Darwin’s World other than those that people make for themselves. There is no civilization and no culture. If those are to exist, the Transplants must invent them. When children are born, the Transplants must protect and educate them.

They must choose from their memories the elements of downtime society they wish to retain and decide which ones they will discard. The civilization the transplants build after this winnowing of ideas will not be the same as what developed on Earth Prime. They have among themselves the knowledge of history, as written by humans who came before. They know of the great cultures of downtime Earth…but how many of these are useful, in a world that’s savage beyond anything known to humans of historic time? Where humans aren’t masters of nature but only part of it, not children of success but prey?

And some of the predators on Darwin’s World are human.

Prologue

Pavel was waiting near the front of the column when Lee approached.

“Pavel, I want you guarding the left flank when we move out. Get food from the kitchen and move ahead to where you can watch as we leave camp. Stay off to the left and look for danger, and if you see tracks, let me know. We need food, and if there are tracks then the animals are beginning to move back. We can send out hunting parties as soon as it looks worthwhile.”

“Do it yourself, kid. I’m busy with my group this morning, and I plan on looking in on the group you’ve been with. I won’t have time to wander around in the woods because you think it’s a good idea.”

Robert had come up while this was going on. He watched for a moment, waiting to see how Lee would handle this.

“Pavel, you were told before. Do what you’re told and work for the whole group. Or take your stuff and hit the trail, anywhere except where we are. That’s still the only offer you’ve got. You’re flank guard or you’re out. We’ll leave without you.”

“Suppose we just keep up with the rest of you? We’ve been doing that so far, and we can keep on doing it.”

“Not you, Pavel. You’ve been a little slow to understand, so I’ll lay it out in a way that even you can’t mistake. We’ll go on, you won’t. If that means we leave you dead alongside the trail, so be it.”

While speaking, Lee had unslung the heavy spear that always hung across his back. The long, sharp blade now pointed directly at Pavel’s eyes from less than a foot away. Pavel turned pale and took a step back.

“You would kill me because I won’t pull your guard duty?”

“No. I’ll kill you because you’re eating our food and not doing your share of the work.”

Robert spoke. “Pavel, does this mean you’re leaving?”

“No, Robert. I’ll do the guard if that’s what you want. But this kid has no right to be giving orders! I’ve been part of this tribe for a long time. Why is he giving commands?”

“He commands because I trust his judgment, Pavel. Matt and I delegated that authority to him. It’s his until I decide it should go to someone better qualified. I don’t know anyone better qualified.” When he said this, Robert looked directly at Pavel.

Pavel stalked away and took up his post as Robert got the tribe moving. Travel would be slower by necessity; everything now moved by travois and backpack.

Robert missed Matt. It was not easily explained, but the man had exuded confidence. You simply knew that whatever came up, Matt would deal with it. It was hard to believe he was dead. Briefly, Robert wondered how Gregor and Vlad had found Matt and Pavel. Coincidence? They were all traveling in the same direction after all, so it was possible.

#

Pavel came into camp late and decided to look in on the women who had been part of Matt’s group. They now cooked for themselves rather than sharing the communal kitchen; did they have treats hidden away?

“Pavel, you should be over at the kitchen. They’ll be shutting down shortly and if you don’t eat now, you won’t get anything before morning,” Lilia said.

“I came over to get to know you ladies better. We need to work together now, right? So I thought I’d have my dinner with you. What are you making?”

“We’re only making enough for ourselves, Pavel. We think of ourselves as family, so we’ll be cooking and taking our meals with family members for now.”

“Still, there are four of you women. You’ll need men around to help you if there’s danger.”

Pavel felt a sudden coldness beside his ear. He reached up absently to brush it away…a bit of snow fallen from the tree, perhaps…but froze when he felt the sharp tip.

“I wouldn’t turn my head if I were you, Pavel. Sandra’s pretty good with that spear. And if she’s not, you might spare a glance for Millie.”

Millie was now holding her own spear, relaxed, but ready to use it without wasted effort.

“I’ll go, I’ll go! There’s no need for threats! I was just trying to be helpful, like.”

“We don’t want your help. You might remember that. Next time, the lesson will be more pointed. The kitchen is right over there,” Lilia said, pointing. Her expression might have been amused.

#

After they finished the meal, Lilia spoke to Lee.

“I’m not satisfied with Pavel’s story. Matt slipped on the riverbank and somehow lost his parka and weapons? What happened to his bow? He had a backpack with food and there was a quiver of arrows too. What happened to those? How could Matt lose his parka when he was wearing his weapons belt around it and the quiver was strapped over the parka too? If he had taken the quiver off before he slipped, there was no reason why Pavel and Gregor shouldn’t have brought it back. And why were Gregor and Vlad even there? They should have been scouting a mile or two away from Pavel and Matt. Their story is just too pat; I think they ambushed Matt and killed him.

“I can follow their tracks. There were three of them, and they have about as much regard for hiding a trail as a mammoth! If I can’t find Matt’s body where they left it, I’ll look around and see if there’s evidence where they ambushed him, but eventually I’ll catch up with the rest of you. I don’t like the thought of him just lying alongside the river and no one to even look for his body.

“Anyway, you explain it to Robert when you see him tomorrow. I’m leaving tonight after it’s dark. I’ll be back in a week or so.”

#

The cold woke him.

He was lying on a sandbar, washed up on the sand and left behind when the water receded. He was cold and damp, and his right eye was glued shut.

He pawed at his eye, trying to open the eyelid. Finally he scooped up water in his hand and washed his face. In the process he found the large bump over his eye but had no idea where it had come from. More washing removed the crusted blood and finally he got the eye open. Blearily, he closed it after a moment; he’d seen two images of the small tree that leaned over the bank. He blinked, then closed the eye again and that felt better.

He had a severe headache and the lump was sore, but at least it was no longer bleeding.

Muddy, shivering, he crawled off the sand and found a pile of grass. Blown flat during the winter, then left ashore when the river’s spring flood receded, the grasses now slowly decayed on the river’s bank. He wormed his way into the drift and pulled more of the grass around him.

He needed fire, but that would have to wait until he could see better. He remembered having a parka, but that was gone; maybe the grass would help. He pulled up handfuls of the fallen stems and stuffed them inside his shirt. They prickled, but he added more. Presently the shivering abated.

While pressing the grass inside his buckskin shirt, he found a small pouch at his waist and opened it. Inside was a roll of string, a small flint knife, and a scrap of steel. There was also tinder but it was wet, useless. Still, he could find more tinder; there would be a downed tree nearby, and beneath the outer bark would be a layer of dried cambium.

He felt warm enough after a while to pull more of the grass together. Judging finally that he had enough, he pulled off his wet clothes and wrung them out as best he could. Naked, he crawled into the pile and burrowed further until he felt warmth from the decaying material.

He was hungry, cold, and exhausted, but no longer shivering. It took only moments for him to fall asleep.

He had a strange dream before he woke. A man stood before him and said, “Your name is Matt.”

Chapter 1

Lilia walked slowly through the camp.

It had been laid out with sleeping sites in two parallel rows. The kitchen, now deserted, was in the middle between the rows. Families with children occupied the sites closest to the kitchen. Others had taken sites near their friends.

There had been little socializing this evening. Pavel’s news had spread quickly and the tribespeople had discussed it briefly among themselves. Conversation lagged after that and everyone bedded down early; there was a lot of work to be done tomorrow and they would need to be rested. Friends died; the survivors had to get on with their lives.

Lilia waited at the edge of camp for the sentries to pass. They circled the small camp, passing every half hour or so, and she didn’t want to attract attention. The people from her camp already knew she was going, the rest would find out soon enough. She intended to be well on her way before that happened.

Most of the snow had melted. The ground was slippery where the sleds had passed, so she moved away from the drag marks, remaining close to the tracks but not walking on the disturbed ground.

Even so, the ground beside the tracks was muddy and she slipped a number of times. Finally, she gave up and picked a tree to spend the night in; she would continue on in the morning. It was unlikely that anyone would miss her immediately. Robert might ask, but since she routinely made the rounds from camp to guards to kitchen to help where needed, it would probably take some time before he noticed.

In any case, the rest of the tribe would be occupied with building travois to replace the sleds and packing; no one would have time to look for her.

She unstrung her bow and slung it across her back as she climbed the tree. A large branch projected from the trunk some twenty feet up, and there were limbs extending from the branch that would provide a place for her to lie back in relative comfort.

A safety rope attached her loosely to the main branch and she settled down to sleep. She was wrapped in her parka and had pulled the hood up to cover her head. Her bow and quiver now lay beside her across two of the limbs and the small pack she’d been carrying cushioned her head. If the tree wasn’t as comfortable as her sleeping furs back at camp, well…she’d slept in worse places. She ate a piece of jerky on a slice of bread and drank from her water gourd before falling asleep.

She woke up once during the night. Something moved through the forest below. She thought it was a deer, but it might have been something else. She had nothing to fear from it, whatever it was, and she was soon asleep again.

#

Matt woke up thirsty and sore. He crawled out of the pile of drifted grasses he’d slept in and continued moving the few yards down to the river. The water level had gone down considerably. The bank remained muddy and he slipped near the water’s edge. He saved himself from a dunking only with difficulty.

Had he walked instead of crawling, he would almost certainly have fallen into the water. He drank, waited a moment, and drank again. The water was muddy but he washed his face and immediately felt better.

He was shaky when he crawled away from the water but soon got to his feet by holding onto a tree. Waiting until he felt secure, he took a few experimental steps, then examined his surroundings.

Both eyes were clear and he was no longer seeing double. Reflexively, he rubbed at the swelling on his forehead. The bump was sore, but that would pass.

Sticky grasses clung to his body and he brushed them away as best he could. Shaking out his deerskins, he pulled them on. They were clammy and cold but not as dripping-wet as they’d been when he took them off. The skins stretched and soon they felt warmer as he moved about.

He needed food. Equally important was his need for weapons. He hadn’t seen animals, before winding up in the river…he still had no idea how that had happened…but there might be something else he could eat. Plants had just barely begun to green up, so there would be no fruit or even leaves from sprouting plants just yet. There might be cattails growing in the river, but he wouldn’t be able to get at their roots until the water level went down.

But there were always insects or larvae; there might be fish in the river too. He’d caught them before in weirs and he had line enough to set out a gorge hook. He could do so again.

The sky was clear and the sun was well up. He had no idea how long he’d slept, but the sleep had helped him recover from the injury and near-drowning.

Bits of grass stuck to his deerskins and prickled at his skin. For the moment, he could tolerate the itching. He had no urge to expose himself to the cold by removing his clothing again. Perhaps it would warm enough later to strip and vigorously brush away the grasses that he’d missed earlier. He could shake out the deerskins and get rid of most of the grass, then brush off the rest. Even dare a quick dunk in the river to get rid of the mud and wash the last of the grass off?