What Ever it Takes.

Chapter 8.

With the Artemis powered down and covered with a camouflage net the crew settled down for the night. The next morning as the crew were eating breakfast, Owen was sitting at the head of the table with Helen next to him. Bill, Joan, Grant and Joe were sitting down one side of the table while, Jones, Turner, John, Andrew and the Chief were sitting on the other side, Owen knocked his glass on the table and addressed everybody.

“I took over the command of this ship, after the destruction of the Space Odyssey because the situation demanded it and I did the same when forced to, but things are different now. I don’t think it proper for me to continue telling you all what to do, it’s about time we made things more democratic, said Owen.

“I think we should thank the Captain for all that he has done for us,” said Bill.

Everyone said, somewhat together, “thanks Captain.”

“Thanks,” said Owen, he then looked around the table, paused for a moment, before continuing, “but there is one thing I would like to talk about, I know from talking with you all, over the last few weeks, that some of us are planning to stay with the ship and become farmers. Others are planning to travel to Heather’s settlement and hopefully live there. I think we need to be careful making contact with Heather’s group, not because I think we will be unwelcome, but because we don’t know what might have happened since we were last here.”

“I think the Captain is right,” said Bill, who then added, “we don’t know the lay of the land, some women could be pregnant and that might have brought them to the attention of the authorities. So we should not just go walking into their settlement, we need to be careful.”

“Two of you should go to the settlement covertly, assess the situation and make contact,” said Owen.

Andrew, John, Turner and Jones all said, “I’ll go, Captain.”

“John, and I think someone from the military,” said Owen.

“I’ll go, Captain,” said Turner.

“Good man,” said Owen, he then added, “it’s a two day walk, get everything you will need, food, water, weapons and protection from the weather.”

“You will need a radio,” said the Chief.

“Go and get yourselves ready, go with them Chief,” said Owen, he then looked over at Joe and continued, “Joe, check the surveillance probes and work out a route for them.”

John, Turner and the Chief headed towards the store room, while Joe made her way to the bridge. The rest of the crew made their way of the ship and waited near the exit ramp for John and Turner.

John and Turner made their way down the exit ramp ready for their trip, they were all kited out, a back pack each, water, food, everything they would need for the two day trip to establish contact with the group of women they had encounter last time they were here. John was very keen to get going, he had formed an attachment to one of the women and come close to remaining when the Artemis was last on the planet. All the single men were keen to rekindle friendship they had developed last time.

Owen shook hands with both of them, as did everyone else, while the crew were saying their farewells to John, Owen took Turner to one side.

He handed him a list and said, “Here is a list of things we need, and things we can do for them, try to do a deal with them.”

“Yes, Captain,” replied Turner.

“Be careful,” said Owen.

“Come on, let’s get moving,” called out John, as he started walking away.

Turner hurried to catch up to John, they both turned and waved before heading of through the scrub.

“Alright everybody, let’s get to work, I think we need a tarpaulin shelter just over there and some of you, get some tables and chairs from the Mess Hall,” ordered Owen, who then turned to see if he could see John and Turner.

Helen came over to Owen, took him by the arm and said, “they will be alright.”

John and Turner made their way through the scrubby bush, they had a direction device that kept them on the correct heading, but they needed to keep away from any trails, roads or open country. This meant their route was not always direct, sometimes they needed to skirt around open country, this added distance and time to the trip.

The country side was for the most part flat, with scrubby bushes, in some parts the bush was thick, but not thick enough that they could not walk through it. But thick enough to hide them from anyone they may encounter along the way.

After the first day, they had not seen anyone else or even evidence of other people, only the occasional animal. They did come across a herd of cattle grassing on grass in an open scrub free area, they did not look like wide animals, more like farm animals.

After a restless night in small tens they started out on their second day still in high spirits and feeling positive about the outcome of their mission. The closer they got to their destination, the harder it became to find cover as the country side was more open pasture type country with fenced in paddocks. Most of the fence lines were planted with trees as wind breaks so they kept to the fence lines for cover.

Still two km’s from the settlement, they were walking along a fence line, well hidden amongst the trees, when the saw someone in the distance. Turner looked through a telescope to get a better look, it was one of the women, she was herding some sheep.

Turner gave the telescope to John, who looked through it for a few moments.

“That’s Jenny,” said John, he paused for a moment before continuing, “and she’s pregnant.”

Turner took back the telescope and had another look, “your right, she is,” said Turner.

“She was pretty friendly with Andrew, when we were here before, wasn’t she?” said John.

“And Jones, and me,” said Turner.

“Well, one of you are going to be a dad,” said John, with a big smile.

“Let’s get closer, this is a great opportunity to make contact,” said Turner.

They followed the fence line till they came to a gate in the corner of the paddock, around a hundred meters from Jenny, she was herding the sheep towards the gate, so that just kept to the tree line and waited.

Jenny opened the gate and then herded the sheep through, as she was closing the gate, John stepped out from behind a tree and said, “hello Jenny.”

She was startled at first but as soon as she recognised John, she smiled and ran over and hugged him. She then saw Turned, he face lit up and she hugged him as well.

“Is Andrew with you,” she asked.

“Yes, he is back at the ship,” replied Turner.

“Is the baby, Andrews?” asked John.

Jenny looked puzzled, as if she did not understand the concept, of, who the father was, that or it just did not matter.

“I don’t, what do,” said Jenny, completely perplexed by the question.

“Don’t worry about it,” said John.

“Would we be welcome at your settlement?” asked Turner, before adding, “we need to talk with Heather and Marry.”

“You would be very welcome,” replied Jenny, she then added, “would you like me to take you there?”

“Yes please,” said Turner.

“Is it safe?” asked John.

“Yes, yes, completely safe,” replied Jenny.

Jenny closed the gate and all three of them walked off towards the settlement.

“How is Ann?” asked John, somewhat tentatively, Ann being the women John had formed a close attachment to last time he was there.

“Oh, she is good, she will be so happy to see you,” replied Jenny.

“Is she pregnant?” asked John, his voice portraying his nervousness.

“Yes, most of us are,” replied Jenny.

John smiled, not that long ago, that sort of news would of been, bad news for John, but not now, he could hardly hide his joy.

“Does your Government know about the pregnancies?” asked Turner.

“Yes, we had a visit from the health service and when they discovered all the pregnancies, they wanted to know everything,” replied Jenny.

“What did you tell them?” asked Turner.

“We all said it was a travelling stud,” replied Jenny, she then added, “we said that he arrived one day, just walked in out of the bush, stayed a week and then left.”

“Did they believe you?” asked John.

“I don’t know, I think so, as they searched the area for weeks, they interviewed all of us but in the end they left. The health service drops in every four weeks to check on us, but that is all, but don’t worry, it’s safe, they were just here last week, they want be back for weeks,” replied Jenny.

It took a little over half an hour to walk to the settlement and as they arrived they could see Marry, with her back to them, digging in a garden.

“Marry, Marry,” called out Jenny, while waving vigorously.

Marry turned around, on seeing John and Turner she dropped her shovel, put her hands on her hips and showing a rare bit of emotion, she smiled.

Once they got closed, Jenny said, “look what I found.”

Marry shook John and Turner by the hand and said, “you better come with me.”

They walked a short distance towards the house, it was a large farm style house, verandas all the way around, there was a fence around it with an ornamental garden, that looked well maintained. The house looked like it needed a coat of paint and some tender loving care.

Heather was sitting on the veranda in a large old arm chair, on seeing John and Turner, she struggled to her feet and said, “now here’s a welcome site.”

John and Turner removed their back packs and placed them on the ground, before they, with Jenny and Marry all walked up the few steps that lead onto the veranda. Heather sat back down in her old arm chair while Mary sat next to her.

“Sit, sit,” said Heather, indicating they should sit on some chairs in front of her, there was a large coffee table between them, on it, was a bowl containing some vegetable.

“Go and find the others, Jenny,” said Heather.

“Are you all back?” asked Mary.

“Yes,” replied Turner, he hesitated before continuing, “the rest are back at the ship.

“For good this time,” asked Heather.

“Yes, for good this time if that’s alright with you,” replied Turner.

“It’s alright with me,” said Heather, she then looked at Marry and added, “Marry?”

“It’s alright with me to,” said Marry.

“There are some details we need to discuss, if that is alright?” asked Turner.

“Go ahead,” replied Heather.

“Four of us would like to come here and live with you, John, Andrew, Jones and myself, how do you feel about that?” asked Turner.

“I think that would be a wonderful thing,” said Heather.

“Marry,” said Turner.

“It would be great,” said Marry, who paused for a moment before adding, “we would have to work out a system to hide you all from visitors, like the health service.”

“Yes, we can help with that, our ship will detect anyone approaching so we will have some warning,” replied Turner.

The front door opened and Melisa and Ann walked out, John jumped up and he and Ann hugged and kissed, they then disappeared back into the house, Melisa sat down next to Turner.

After months apart John and Ann’s connection had not faded, their commitment to each other had not diminished. In the house they sat and talked, Ann talked about the last few months, thinking she would never see him again. John spoke of his adventures and how all he wanted was to come back to her.

“It brings so much joy and happiness to an old lady to see that,” said Heather.

“The rest of our crew are planning to stay with the ship and farm the nearby land, but they know nothing about farming. They were hoping that one of your group would be prepared to live with them for a while to teach them?” asked Turner, as he looked at Melisa, he then added, “I know our Chief engineer would very much like it if Melisa would fill that role.”

Melisa smiled and blushed and looked away.

“I think that would be fine,” replied Heather.

“They also ask if you could spare some seeds and may be a few animals, just to get them going?” asked Turner.

“We will help with that,” said Marry.

“We have Doctors on the ship that can help with any of your medical problems,” said Turner.

“I think we are on the same page,” said Heather, while Marry nodded.

Jenny returned with Kate, Kate smiled at Turner and he smiled back.

“Do you mind if we continue with this a bit later?” asked Turner.

“I think we have covered it all,” replied Heather.

Turner stood up, took Kate by the hand and they walked off the veranda, and then disappeared around the side of the house.

They sat down on a garden bench, in what was a very ornate formal garden and talked, it was a picture book setting. They talked about the future and their hopes, Turner commented on, that not long ago he was going down the road towards a military career and how now all he wanted was to be a family man. Kate talked about how she never thought, even in her wildest dreams, that one day she would be a mother and not only that, but she would have a man in her life.   

Sitting around the dining room table that night, Turner asked, “if it’s alright with you I would like to head back to the ship tomorrow, just to tell them the good news.”

“Melisa can go with you and, take the horse and cart, it will be a lot quicker,” said Heather.

“Thanks,” replied Turner.

They spent the rest of the evening talking, not about problems, but about the future, they all enjoyed themselves. John and Turner talked about adventures in space while the women talked about life on the land and the joy that comes from some of the simple things in life.

Early the next morning Turner and Melisa headed to the ship with a horse and cart, Turner had never see a horse in his life, let alone ride on a cart pulled by a horse. They made good time, arriving at the ship just before lunch, all be it a bit dry and dusty.

Their approach was detected by the surveillance probes some time before they arrived, so there was no surprise when they pulled up outside the ship. The whole crew were sitting in the shade, under a tarpaulin shelter as Turner climbed down from the cart.

The Chief came over and helped Melisa down from the cart, they hugged and then walked away under the ship and sat on the ground.

Melisa and the Chief, both found themselves surprised by how much they had missed each other, given that they had not known each other all that long. They did not say much, they didn’t need to, they just knew, they sat under the ship feeling content with their lives.

Turner sat with the rest of the crew under the tarpaulin and reported on the negotiations with Heather and Mary. He outlined their talks and their outcomes, he expressed his view that they all understood each other. He talked about how they planned to stay hidden from the Government and that he thought the agreement they had come to was a good deal for both sides. 

Sitting in the mess hall that night the conversation centred around farming and the challenges of living of the land. Melisa was a wealth of knowledge when it came to farming, but she did not sugar coat it, she made it clear that it would be a hard life.

The next morning, Turner, Jones and Andrew gathered their possessions, loaded them on the cart and got ready to leave for the settlement where they would be living. It would be a long way from their old lives but one they all seemed keen to get on with.    

The horse had them all bluffed, but as Turner had travelled on the cart already, he was nominated as the driver. Melisa gave him instructions and assured him that the horse would drive itself.

Owen shook each of them by the hand and wished them luck as they climbed aboard the cart, Turner flicked the rains and the horse walked off.

“See you soon,” called out Owen, as the cart moved away.

Owen watched them as they slowly disappeared out of sight.

“Today is a rest day, but tomorrow the work starts, and if what Melisa tells us is true, it will never stop, so relax and enjoy while you can, said Owen.

Bill and Joan walked up the ramp back into the ship, the Chief and Melisa went of exploring the surrounding area, so Melisa could get a feel for the area and plan  the farm lay out, while Joe and Grant headed up the hill behind the ship to admire the view.

Owen and Helen sat down in the shade of the tarpaulin shelter.

“You know, I never thought I would want to live like this, space has been my life, but here I am, about to live off the land and I’ve never been happier and that is down to you,” said Owen.

“It’s not the life I had planned for myself but, your right, I have never been happier,” replied Helen.

Owen looked up at the blue, cloudless sky and thought to himself, ‘one minute I’m a Captain of a war ship, the next minute I’m in a relationship with a beautiful woman, living on the breakaway world, who’d believe it.’   

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