System Escape, page 38
Johnny just shook his head.
“Okay, I won't tell you that, but she used to freak out when we brought things back without butchering them first. So, better to butcher while we can.”
I wonder about the feasibility of that, Marc thought. I mean we can rig something to drain the carcasses, but butchering the whole thing will take a while. I suppose we could just give any beef we loot to them to use, that ought to be the equivalent of butchered, right?
“Anyway, we'll head out right now, if you like, and hopefully be back before dark, depending on how long it takes to drain and butcher,” Marc said.
He'd already told Melissa he was going to borrow some of her hunters to get the meat.
“So, you sound like you can do this all on your own,” Johnny said. “What do you need us for?”
“Well, Rob here can butcher, but he's not super quick about it,” Marc replied. “Plus, why shouldn't you folks have to help when we're getting something for you and your Safe Zone? We'll get some for ourselves also, but still.”
“No reason for us not to help,” Allan said. “I think Johnny was just worried about your motivation.”
Johnny nodded.
“I got no problem with helping out. Just wondered why.”
“Quicker butchering and so your Safe Zone has a presence in the kill,” Marc said. “That work for you?”
“Sure enough does,” Johnny said. “So what are we waiting for?”
Five minutes later they were unloading food from the zeppelin, so Melissa's Safe Zone would have variety and the zeppelin would have its cargo space freed up. Then they were in the zeppelin and it was lifting into the air, heading in the general direction of where they'd seen the herd of cows before. Marc was still trying to figure out why Rob had brought a ten foot section of tree trunk that was bigger around than his thigh into the zeppelin also.
It was a little less than two hours later when they spotted the herd. It was on the edge of the grasslands closest to the border of the forest that the most recent Safe Zone they'd visited was located in. When they saw them, both Johnny and Allan froze.
“Those things are a few miles off still, right?” Allan asked.
Rob nodded.
“Why are we seeing them now then?”
“Did you not register the big as pickup trucks part of what we said?” Jeff asked.
“Naw, I registered it. I just didn't believe it. Maybe I should've,” Allan muttered.
“Okay, we need a plan here,” Marc said. “We can probably put them down easily enough with a bunch of spells. How do we get the rest of the herd to move away so we can butcher our kills, though?”
Ella grinned.
“I've got that part. Back in the Uni Safe Zone, I traded spells with Todd. I gave him my Light spell and learned his Air Horn spell in return,” she said. “I think that'll do it, don't you?”
“Not if you're going to set it off inside of here. None of us will be able to hear anything for an hour,” Jeff said.
“Oh ye of little faith. I can target it up to a hundred feet away from myself. So you just have the zeppelin close enough to the ground and I can make it sound like it's coming from there,” she said.
“Well, lets get down in there and get some beef. Been months since I had a good steak,” Johnny said, leaning towards the front window to stare out at the cows.
“Johnny, be good,” Allan said.
“Hardy har har, everybody's a comedian,” Johnny said, “and some of them are even funny, unlike some others.”
Allan flipped him off, but Marc noticed that both of them were grinning and he figured the banter was some sort of running gag.
“Alright, we'll pull over the top of the herd and, assuming they don't spook, hover and open the door and a couple of windows for attacks. Spellcasters can attack through the windows, people with physical weapons will have to stack up at the door. We only want two cows, not the bulls though. Probably some of the smaller cows are good, unless there are calves, leave those and their mothers alone if there are.”
“How are we supposed to tell what's a calf when they're all that huge?” Allan asked.
Johnny, still staring out the window, spoke.
“They're the ones that are nursing, like that,” he said, pointing.
Marc glanced out and saw a cow with a nursing calf. The calf was probably bigger than any bull he'd seen before the System arrived, but just like a normal calf it was latched on to drink milk.
“Jeff, try to put us over some section without any nursing calves if you can manage it, okay?” Marc said.
“You got it, got to leave some steaks for next year, right?” he asked.
* * *
The zeppelin slid into place and since its shadow wasn't directly beneath it, the cows there didn't even move.
I never really considered it before, but the zeppelin is almost silent with this gaseous generator/propulsion unit in it, Marc thought.
“Alright, on three. Ella and I will wait and see which cow is struck before we cast,” Marc said.
Then he counted down.
The hunters were both leaning out the door and they fired their bows in unison. The arrows that struck a cow looked like toothpicks in comparison to its size, but the cow still panicked and started kicking and trying to run. It was in the middle of a bunch of others so it wasn't getting very far.
Ella and Marc both released a Mana Dart spell aimed at the cow. Even with the two arrows and the spells, it didn't drop.
Rob's pilum drove straight through the cow, pinning it to the ground momentarily. Then the cow stood back up, pulling the pilum head out of the ground and went even more wild.
Another pair of Mana Dart spells from Ella and Marc stopped the cows thrashing, but the rest of the herd had caught onto the agitation now and the cows were starting to run. Two bulls paused, swinging their heads to look around for the problem or predator, but saw nothing since they didn't look up.
“Pick another one quickly, before they get away,” Marc called out.
He saw where the hunters were aiming their next arrows and, as soon as they struck, released the Water Jet spell he'd been casting. Ella's Mana Darts struck the cow as well, slowing it some. The Water Jet hit and Marc ran it along the cow's side and then onto a back leg.
The cow was now limping and being left behind by the rest of the herd. Another pair of arrows struck it and Marc cast one more Mana Dart at the very far end of his possible range. The cow stumbled and fell, still alive, but unable to continue moving.
“Bring us down, Jeff, we need to put that one out if its misery,” Marc called out.
As the zeppelin lowered, Ella used her Air Horn spell near the herd where they were slowing. The cows immediately sped up again, fleeing farther away.
Jeff brought the zeppelin down to where they could jump out. Once everyone except Jeff and Crystal were out, Jeff bounced the zeppelin back up to keep an eye on the herd while they butchered the two they'd killed.
Well, that we killed and are about to kill, Marc thought as Rob trotted out and finished off the second cow.
Rob dragged the carcass of the second cow over next to the first.
“Hey Marc, can you build one of those earth wall things in a particular shape for me?” Rob asked.
“Sure, why?”
“I want to embed this in the top, and have it hanging out both sides high enough up to string up these cows while they drain,” Rob said, gesturing towards the log he'd thrown out while he was exiting the zeppelin.
So that's what it was for, Marc thought. That was a good idea. It might speed things up if they can hang and drain that way.
It took a little bit of finagling, but soon enough Marc had the log support about twenty-five feet off the ground. Rob hurled some rope up and over it, then tied it off to the rear legs of one of the cow carcasses.
“Is that rope going to support it?” Marc asked.
“I hope so, it's made out of the spider silk, so it ought to be really strong, right?” Rob replied. “We'll find out.”
With the last he started hauling on the other end of the rope, getting the back of the carcass off the ground.
“Now we wait,” Johnny said once both cow carcasses were strung up and bleeding out.
He stared at the cows.
“This isn't exactly the way I'd prefer to do it, but it'll do. Especially since they're just too damned big to do it the way I'd want and that would take longer.”
“Everyone who shot them, make sure to loot them. Now that we've got them draining, the corpses shouldn't vanish,” Marc said.
He proceeded to follow his own advice and came away with a massive cow hide and approximately four hundred pounds of beef. He blinked for a moment and looked around. With five of them, if they all got the same amount of meat, there would be about a ton of looted beef.
We'll go ahead and give all the looted stuff to Melissa's Safe Zone, he thought. I'm more certain that it will actually get used that way.
“How much beef do you think we'll get from these things?” he asked.
“Geez, I don't know,” Allan said. “Probably more than a ton per cow. The damned things weigh in at over two tons a piece. I don't think they ought to be able to even move any more with how heavy they are, but the whole herd running like that tells me I'm wrong.”
“The System,” Marc said.
Allan nodded.
“Gotta be almost. I'm amazed those ropes held though.”
Marc looked over again at the ropes Rob had used. Each of them was made up of six strands, each strand a normal sized spider silk rope like the ones Jeff used to moor the zeppelin. He just cocked his head at Allan and shrugged as he explained.
“It's a System material and those ropes are actually six ropes each, so it's not that surprising. I asked him if they'd hold before I realized that he wound six ropes together into one.”
The cows were nearly finished bleeding out, so Allan and Johnny got to work on butchering them. It was all rough cuts, the final cuts needing to be done later, and it was messy work. Marc had actually created the Earthen Wall that held the tree trunk with stairs along its edges so they could get high enough to do the work. Even so, it was still problematic for some of the cuts to be made. They got it done though and an hour later, Marc was transferring parts of the freshly butchered beef into his inventory.
We'll put as much as we can in inventory to keep it fresher, he thought. The rest can go in the cargo hold wrapped in moistened cloth and hopefully stay good. I wonder if we should have only killed one instead?
He arranged for Johnny and Allan to get all the looted beef as people rearranged and put the freshly butchered meat into their own inventories. Then he motioned for Jeff to come down and pick them up. They loaded the cargo hatch with the rest of the meat and the remainder of the carcasses. He also held a little of the offal back with him, thinking the Beggar might like a snack as well.
Before they closed down the cargo holds, he had Ella use her wand to freeze the beef they were trying to keep from spoiling, hoping that the cold would be sufficient to the task.
Once in the air, he laid the offal down on a scrap of cloth in the back of the zeppelin and, almost immediately, Beggar shimmered into view next to it. Before digging in, Beggar looked up at him.
“Thanks,” the raccoon said, then started eating.
Johnny and Allan were staring out the front window as they headed back to Melissa's Safe Zone. Felicia was trying to draw them out with questions and before they'd returned, Marc discovered that Melissa had told the hunters not only to focus on predators, but to ignore the harmless little deer and rabbits that they'd been bringing in to supply meat earlier on.
I hope she reconsiders. I don't know that any Safe Zone has an excess of meat, and if they do it's liable to be the meats she told them not to hunt, Marc thought.
Before long the Safe Zone was in view. Marc wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible in order to get the beef in the cargo holds back to Any Port as fast as he could manage. Jeff lowered the zeppelin down to where the gangplank would meet the firing platform and the two hunters jumped out.
“Can you hold it here for a few minutes? Melissa told me she'd make up a list of trade goods they have and want,” Marc said.
Jeff nodded, dropping a single mooring line.
“Tie it off and it won't be an issue,” he said.
On the way out of the zeppelin Marc tied the mooring line off, then went to find Melissa. Allan led him to her office, where Marc found her dithering over a list.
“Do you have the list done? I've got a load of beef that I've got to get back to my Safe Zone before it spoils,” Marc said.
“I think so?” she replied. “Here you go. I'll give it more thought and when you're through again, I'll see if I can add anything to it.”
“Thanks. Your hunters have about a ton of beef for your Safe Zone. Hopefully that holds you for a bit,” Marc replied.
Then he dashed back to the zeppelin, untying the mooring rope, stepping into the gondola, and calling out for Jeff to take off.
“And we're off,” Jeff said. “Do we have to come back here? I don't much like the holder.”
“What's wrong Jeff, I thought you'd think of her as a kindred spirit. It sounded like she hates the police as much as you do,” Marc said.
“Yeah, but for totally different reasons. Plus, anyone who complains about not having meat, but won't let hunters hunt for meat? They're too mentally twisted for me to want to deal with at all,” Jeff replied.
“Wow, too twisted even for Jeff? That's saying something,” Rob said.
“Hypocrisy,” Jeff spat. “Can't stand it.”
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Marc found himself very eager to get back to Any Port. He'd barely spent any time there in the past month and, despite his craving to be out and about to build trade routes and adventure, he felt that he should be spending more time in his Safe Zones. There were things he wanted to build there and he wanted to get more tech advancements as soon as he could. So when Any Port came into view he was flooded with a sense of relief.
“Alright, let's get some carts and move the beef to the kitchens as soon as we land,” Marc said. “Ella, could you freeze the leftover stuff that isn't meat? Well, except for the hides, those should go to the tannery, but the rest of it at least? Then we can take that out to where those giant crows were tomorrow. Maybe we can convince them we're friendly and that they want us in the area.”
“Good plan,” Beggar said, bumping against Marc's hip. His pronunciation was better than it had been, but still not perfect. His 'Good' had come out closer to the German 'Gut' instead, he was still understandable though.
“Crows are friendly if not attacked,” Beggar continued, his words still guttural, but understandable. “Gift may help.”
“So, yeah, Beggar approves and he's probably got the most experience with the crows and other animals,” Marc said.
“I can do that,” Ella replied, finally. “Should I come freeze it again tomorrow morning?”
“No, I don't think that'll be needed. Heck, the crows probably wouldn't even care if it weren't done tonight, I'm just trying to keep the zeppelin from picking up any foul odors,” Marc said.
Jeff nodded, vigorously, in agreement.
“We can get a couple of people to help haul this stuff maybe,” Marc said. “It looks like we've got a welcoming committee.”
There were several people, other than the guards, standing on the docks. From here Marc would guess that it was his father, some of the Legionaries, and much to his surprise, Reggie.
Jeff brought the zeppelin in for the landing, talking Crystal through the process as he did so. Actually, he was asking questions, since he'd already covered this material, and she was answering them all correctly.
“And, we're docked,” Jeff said. “Are they tying us off?”
“Yup,” Felicia replied, opening the door.
Marc followed her out onto the dock and turned to his father.
“Hey dad, give me a minute, would you? We need to arrange for our cargo to get taken to the kitchen ASAP.”
“Cargo?” Sean asked.
“The Safe Zone we just visited wanted meat, so we paid a visit to that herd of giant cows I told you about. Got some beef for us at the same time.”
Sean nodded.
“I'm only here because I saw you coming in and thought you'd been planning on being out longer. I just wanted to check if there were any problems.”
“No,” Marc said, “just cargo that we need to keep refrigerated if at all possible. Our inventories are loaded with the stuff also. Each of those cows, the smallest fully grown ones, provide like a ton and a half of usable beef. We'll have to visit those other Safe Zones later because I wasn't willing to let the beef spoil.”
“Well, let's get that taken care of, shall we? Do we have enough people here to get all the meat from the cargo hold in our inventories?”
Marc shrugged.
“Let's find out,” he said.
Access to the cargo hatch, when the zeppelin was docked, was on a lower level. They went down the level and Marc opened the cargo hatches. The meat was still cold, if no longer frosty. Marc pulled out the hides first. There were four, the two that had been skinned, and two that had been looted.
“I'll need to take these to the tannery also,” he said. “Ella?”
Ella stepped up with her wand out, re-freezing the offal and other leftovers that were in the cargo hold. Marc pointed to the meat so Sean and his Legionaries could start loading it into their inventory. Reggie was hanging back and he kept looking at Marc. Marc held up a single finger in the universal 'wait a minute' sign.
Once the Legionaries had loaded their inventories, there was still meat left over.
“I'll send a few more down to get the rest of that,” Sean said.
“Okay, I'll wait here for the moment,” Marc said, catching Reggie's gaze.
As everyone else left, headed for the kitchens, Marc turned to Reggie.
“Alright, what is it? It must be important because I don't think you've been out of the room in the clock tower for weeks.”
