Comfortably stuffed, and warmed by companionship, Rod stretched out on the shelf after breakfast and stared at the sky. Jack put out the fire and tossed the remnants of their meal downstream. Something broke water and snapped at the liver even as it struck. Jack turned to Rod. “Well, what do we do today?”
“Mmm. . . what we’ve got on hand ought to be fit to eat tomorrow morning. We don’t need to make a kill today.”
“I hunt every second day, usually, since I found this place. Second day meat is better than first, but by the third . . . phewy!”
“Sure. Well, what do you want to do?”
“Well, let’s see. First I’d like to buy a tall, thick chocolate malted milk or maybe a fruit salad. Both. I’d eat those”
“Stop it, you’re breaking my heart!”
“Then I’d have a hot bath and get all dressed up and flip out to Hollywood and see a couple of good shows. That super spectacle that Dirk Manleigh is starring in and then a good adventure show. After that I’d have another malted milk . . . strawberry, this time, and then”
“Shut up!’
“You asked me what I wanted to do.”
“Yes, but I expected you to stick to possibilities.”
“Then why didn’t you say so? Is that ‘logical’? I thought you always used logic?”
“Say, lay off, will you? I apologized.”
“Yeah, you apologized,” Jack admitted darkly. “But I’ve got some mad I haven’t used up yet.”
“Well! Are you the sort of pal who keeps raking up the past?”
“Only when you least expect it. Seriously, Rod, I think we ought to hunt today.”
“But you agreed we didn’t need to. It’s wrong, and dangerous besides, to make a kill you don’t need.”
“I think we ought to hunt people.”
Rod pulled his ear. “Say that again.”
“We ought to spend the day hunting people.”
“Huh? Well, anything for fun I always say. What do we do when we find them? Scalp them, or just shout ‘Beaver!’?”
“Scalping is more definite. Rod, how long will we be here?”
“Huh? All we know is that something has gone seriously cockeyed with the recall schedule. You say we’ve been here three weeks. I would say it was longer but you have kept a notch calendar and I haven’t. Therefore . . .” He stopped.
“Therefore what?”
“Therefore nothing. They might have had some technical trouble, which they may clear up and recall us this morning. Deacon Matson and his funloving colleagues might have thought it was cute to double the period and not mention it. The Dalai Lama might have bombed the whiskers off the rest of the World and the Gates may be radioactive ruins. Or maybe the three headed serpent men of the Lesser Magellanic Cloud have landed and have the situation well in hand for them. When you haven’t data, guessing is illogical. We might be here forever.”
Jack nodded. “That’s my point.”
“Which point? We know we may be marooned; that’s obvious.”
“Rod, a twoman team is just right for a few weeks. But suppose this runs into months? Suppose one of us breaks a leg? Or even if we don’t, how long is that thornbush alarm going to work? We ought to wall off that path and make this spot accessible only by rope ladder, With somebody here all the time to let the ladder down. We ought to locate a salt lick and think about curing hides and things like that that water skin I made is getting high already. For a long pull we ought to have at least four people.”
Rod scratched his gaunt ribs thoughtfully. “I know. I thought about it last night, after you jerked the rug out from under my optimistic theory. But I was waiting for you to bring it up.”
“Why?”
“This is your cave. You’ve got all the fancy equipment, a gun and pills and other stuff I haven’t seen. You’ve got salt. All I’ve got is a knife two knives now, thanks to you. I’d look sweet suggesting that you share four ways.”
“We’re a team, Rod.’
“Mmm. . . yes. And we both figure the team would be strengthened with a couple of recruits. Well, how many people are there out there?” He gestured at the wall of green across the creek.