New Gaia - Chapter 4 - Making Plans

Gabrielle waited for a few seconds, before donning her new mantle as Chief, and then began the process of getting them started.

"All right, first, I need those volunteers for driving the cars to their respective destinations." She got half a dozen raised hands. "Great. Remember to wear gloves. Tom? Why don't you take my car and pick everyone up when they're done. Anybody else who wants taxi duty, go for it."

The volunteers started to leave, but Gabrielle called a halt.

"Wait! You guys should wait for the cover of darkness. Don't start until around midnight. There'll be less chance of anyone spotting you dropping off the cars," she reasoned.

She got nods from all of them and they took their places in the group once again.

"I guess now would be a good time to go over my ideas for what I think this whole enterprise is going to entail. Let me start by saying I have a one-year time table already started in my head. This isn't going to be an immediate trip. You have one year to settle your affairs in this time before I expect us to be ready to leave."

There were many shocked expressions directed her way. Apparently, most of them had assumed they'd be leaving pretty quickly.

"I think it's going to take us that full year to prepare ourselves for what we're going to attempt to do. We have a lot to learn and a lot of decisions to make."

Robbie raised his hand and got a nod from Gabrielle to speak.

"Well, I think a good place to start is how our government will be organized. Like how long will your term of office be? Are you the only one in charge, or are you going to have advisors like you suggested for Tristan. And will you choose them or will we choose them by vote?"

Gabrielle had been waiting for the first question, but the others showed him to be an insightful young man.

"Well, as for your first question, I think, in the beginning, my term of office should be indefinite. Though I believe leadership should change hands regularly once our colony is thriving, changing leaders when we're first starting out will only undermine the stability of our community. As to advisors, how about you guys nominate some people, and then I'll choose from them. After that, whatever style of government we, as a community, design will take precedence over these first necessarily autocratic decisions. We can start right now by setting up a committee to research the various types of governments that have been used before to help us create our own. Who's interested in researching law and government throughout history?" she asked.

Robbie raised his hand and Justin was just a split second behind him. Gabrielle smiled.

"I believe your name is going to be very appropriate, Justin," she said, and he blushed at her comment. "All right, you guys are our Lawmakers, but that doesn't mean the rest of you can't participate. If you have an idea for a law, a way of choosing government offices, or anything to do with this area, I want you to submit it to Robbie and Justin for review," she commanded.

She addressed Robbie and Justin directly.

"And I'll expect reports on what you're working on and any progress you're making. You might also want to start collecting hard copies of any documents you think we should take with us. I'll expect monthly progress reports at the very least," she concluded.

"This brings me to my first official act as Chief. Gregory? Would you please come forward."

Gregory moved through the group, stepping over people as they moved aside to let him pass. He stood in front of her and looked up into her green eyes.

"Gregory. Where we're going, there will be only one already established law, and that's the law of the jungle. We're going to need protection. Will you be my First Warrior? If anything happens to me, you will lead in my absence, until a new Chief can be chosen. I will expect you to defend our colony with your life and teach everyone in our group, who wants to be a Warrior, the moral and ethical code that I know you live by. All the Warriors will need to be trained in hand-to-hand combat, as well as archery, knife and spear throwing, and anything else you can think of. They're going to be doubling as our hunters when we first get there, so they'll have to be good at hitting moving targets. Do you accept this responsibility?"

Gabrielle wasn't sure where the officious sounding words had come from, though she suspected her high school debating class had something to do with it. She just knew this was important. Their very survival would depend on their ability to protect themselves and bring in food for the colony.

Gregory looked down for a few moments, deep in thought. He understood the ramifications of both accepting and refusing the appointment. It only took a moment for him to decide that he was in this for the long haul.

"I accept," he replied solemnly.

Gabrielle let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Her smile lit her face for a few moments and then she turned serious again.

"You'll need to research how to make bows and arrows and arrowheads from scratch and anything else you come up with. You're in charge of anything and everything that has to do with weaponry and defense and with recruiting our friends into the ranks of the Warriors."

She squatted down on the table and grasped his arm to seal the pact and then looked around at her people.

"Does anyone have any objections to this?"

Everyone shook their heads in negation and a few people laughed outright at the idea that anyone would oppose the Master Instructor's new role. She looked down at Gregory and winked.

"Guess you're stuck with the position," she said quietly, and he grinned.

Gabrielle let out a long breath and stood back up, releasing Gregory's arm in the process. He went back to his seat next to Tristan.

'Okay, on with the show,' Gabrielle thought, as she tried to pick up where she'd left off.

"All right. The biggest problem we're going to be facing is a lack of readily available technology and power sources. We've all seen the science experiment with the potatoes and copper wire powering a clock. Well, that's great, until you realize that in order to get the copper wire, we'd not only have to find a natural formation of the metal, we'd also have to mine it, and then work it and draw it into wire. Which is going to take smithing skills. And smithing tools. Not to mention the damage that mining in general can do to the environment, if we got carried away. We could bring wire with us, but it's not like we'll be able to go to the local hardware store to get more, when it's all used up," she said, as she tried to inject some humor into her little lecture.

At least she got a few chuckles.

"Of course, there are a lot of different ways to generate power that are environmentally sound, like windmills, waterwheels, steam. Technology also covers how to make tools, pottery, crop irrigation, tanning leather, making paper, and on and on. I want some volunteers that will work on accumulating as much technology know-how as possible. I want a library of notes, diagrams, and anything else you think will help us survive, since we'll be starting from scratch. Are there any volunteers?" Gabrielle asked.

Melissa, Andrea, and Carter raised their hands. Gabrielle nodded to each of them.

"You're our Techno Seekers. I want you to ferret out all the inventions that have ever been invented that could prove even remotely useful to us. Remember, we'll need to start from earlier technology and work our way up, building tools that we can use to build better tools that will help us build machines and so on. So don't throw something out because it seems too primitive or not primitive enough. Think ya can handle that?"

She got nods all around.

"All right, this next thing is important for our future generations, which may seem strange to think about now, but it's the entire point behind what we're doing. Our children are only going to know the world they're born into. In other words, they're not really going to understand pollution or the detrimental effect cutting trees down without replacing them will have on the environment. In fact, a few generations down the line, our beginnings are probably going to sound a lot like the Greek or Christian creation myths. I want anyone who is interested in history to work on compiling a history of the world. I know, this is a daunting task, but I don't want dry facts about so and so being killed on such and such date. Heck, dates themselves are going to be a little confusing.

"What I'm looking for is a strong, point-by-point analysis and synopsis of the past. I want the mistakes illustrated in glaring and realistic detail, so that future generations will be able to avoid the pitfalls that our current civilization went through to get to the fucked up now. I've watched too many sci-fi flicks where the younger generation didn't listen to their elders and ended up making the same mistakes all over again. Nuclear power and the Holocaust are just a few of the mistakes I'd rather our children didn't repeat. I want all the high points, the achievements of our greatest scientists, like Galileo and Newton and Einstein, depicted as well.

"I want anyone who reads it to be able to trace where our species has come from and how it got to where it is. Above all, it needs to be unromantic. I don't want anything that sounds like myth, unless it is specifically describing myth. We don't need to spark any new religions," she joked.

"Whoever chooses to work on this particular committee should also be aware that they will be keeping notes on the progress of our colony when we go back, as well as what we're doing now. You'll be responsible for how our great grandchildren view us and themselves." She glanced around. "Any takers?" she asked hopefully.

Joshua, Larry, and Trisha stepped forward and raised their hands.

"I kinda figured you'd wanna be on this one, Trish," Gabrielle smiled. "All right, you are now our official Historians. You guys might want to start taking notes now, this being kind of a landmark meeting and all."

Larry jogged over to an antique roll-top desk decorating one corner of the spacious room, and flipped open the lid. He found a pad and pencil and sat down, writing quickly to document what had already taken place.

"Well, I guess we're down to just one basic question with a lot of different answers: what can everybody do? We all know Claudia's a doctor and she took pretty good care of us when we were in the past last time. Alan majored in archaeology and Tony's a math wiz.

"Each of us has skills that are going to be needed when we go back. Whatever you're specialty, you're in charge of making sure that whatever you need to use your skill and pass it on, comes with us, if possible.

"Luis, Gloria? You guys took over cooking while we were in the past. Whoever knows anything about agriculture, you're going to be working with them and collecting recipes to bring with us, or whatever you need. Claudia? Whatever medical texts you need to bring with us, do it, and brush up on every area of medicine you can. You've got a year. Anyone interested in becoming her nurse, talk to Claudia," Gabrielle advised.

"I can't think of anything else right now, except that it's getting on time for dinner," she grinned.

Luis and Gloria stood and acknowledged the obvious hint to get to work.

"I'd like everyone to start thinking about what you can do. Can you knit? Do you know how to work a kiln and fire pottery? Do you know more than one language? Whatever you come up with, write it down and give it to me. I need to know what my resources are," she explained. "All right, class dismissed," she said with a grin.

Everyone started moving around, the buzz of excited conversations picking up quickly, as people wandered out of the room.

Gabrielle climbed off the table and went to Tristan, who was still sitting with Gregory. She sat down on Tristan's other side and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm insane," she said tiredly.

The room was nearly empty and Tristan turned and kissed the top of her head.

"Yup," he agreed wholeheartedly.

She slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

"You were supposed to tell me I'm just a gifted genius who's taken on more responsibility than I can handle and that you'll agree to be my First Advisor?" she asked, mock indignation degenerating into shameless begging.

Tristan looked at her, surprised.

"I thought you said you were going to have the others nominate people for the Advisors' positions."

"Well, Gregory here could nominate you for me. I did say I would make the final choices." She grew serious in her effort to convince Tristan to accept the appointment. "Tristan, I trust you more than anyone else I know, except maybe Gregory, but that's in a completely different way. You're smart, compassionate, understanding, and above all, fair. And you make me laugh. I'm going to need that, just as much as I'm going to need to pound on Sabum Nim here when I get frustrated when things don't go the way I want them to. So whaddaya say? Be my First?" she said seductively, and batted her eyelashes.

He couldn't help but laugh at her double entendre.

"But I thought Gregory was your First?" he bantered back.

Gregory's laugh barked out of his mouth and Gabrielle giggled.

"Somehow, I think you've got more of a shot at being Gabrielle's first than I do, Tristan," Gregory declared, the three friends knowing his preference for men was absolute.

"Sorry, boys, I'm a women-only kinda gal," she replied wistfully.

"So, when are you gonna get yourself a woman then?" Tristan asked, taking the opening.

"Oh, like I'm gonna have time for romance. Plus, getting into a relationship with anyone not going with us would be pretty stupid on my part and I don't really think of any of our friends that way. I mean a few of them are cute—"

"Ah ha! I knew it. So? Who have you got your eye on?" Tristan jumped on the first real bit of gossip he'd heard about his best friend's love life since before the time trip.

"No one, really. I'm just not blind. I mean, hell, I think you're cute, but I don't wanna do you either," she said derisively.

"Oh, thanks for the ego boost, baby," Tristan snorted.

"You have the wrong equipment, Tristan," she said, her voice taking on a warning tone.

"I'm just teasing," he soothed, even though she'd started the whole thing.

Gabrielle had a sore spot where it came to her sexuality. She'd never been with a man and had constantly been informed that not only made her a virgin, but also invalidated her 'decision' to become a lesbian because she hadn't sampled all the goods. As far as she was concerned, there was no need to test the heterosexual waters. She'd never had even the slightest interest in men. Ever since puberty, all of her attention had been focused on women and she saw no reason to change.

'And why is it that argument is never used in reverse to question a heterosexual's preferences when they've never had a 'gay' experience?' she thought angrily.

Gabrielle shook off the pointless internal posturing and came back to the original subject.

"You never answered my question. Will you be my First Advisor?" she asked Tristan once again, this time, much more seriously.

Tristan looked thoughtfully into her eyes before responding.

"This is going to change a lot of things, you know," he said, referring to their friendship more than anything else.

"I know. But you sort of were my advisor before. This just makes it official," she reasoned.

Tristan turned to Gregory.

"Do you nominate me to be an Advisor to the Chief?" he asked seriously.

"Yes, I nominate you, Tristan, to be one of Chief Gabrielle's Advisors. I think you will make an excellent Second-in-Command." Gregory frowned and looked past Tristan to Gabrielle. "Hey, how will that work? You said if something happened to you, that I would be in charge, until a replacement was found. Won't Tristan get that honor as First Advisor?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess that's how it would work. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of if something happened to me because we were under attack or something. Then it would make sense to have the First Warrior take over." Gabrielle shook her head. "Fuck it. I'll let the Lawmakers deal with it. The way I'm thinking of it is the Chief, three ranked Advisors, possibly acting as the beginning of a Council of Advisors, and the First Warrior is sort of outside the chain of command, almost equal to the Chief, but still reporting to her. Or him. And he, or she, would also have a seat on the Council. I guess in that setup, First Advisor would take over, until a new Chief was chosen, unless a state of emergency required the First Warrior to be in command in order to safeguard the village." Gabrielle groaned. "Oh, I am so glad we have a year to figure all this shit out," she moaned and laid her head down in Tristan's lap.

"You know, it doesn't have to be a year. You could always change it, if it looks like it won't be enough time," Tristan offered.

"No. I thought about that while I was talking up there, but the stronger our resolve to meet the deadline, the more likely it is we'll actually go. If I start moving the deadline around, our enthusiasm is going to wane, and we may never end up leaving. And this is too important. It's too good of a chance to waste because of ambivalence. You know?" she looked up into Tristan's face and waited for confirmation.

Tristan nodded and so did Gregory. Gregory slapped his palm to his thigh.

"Well, I think it's time to find out what smells so good," he said, as he stood up and headed in the direction of the kitchen.

Gabrielle took a whiff of the air and noticed the scent of beef and potatoes wafting into the room.

"Oooo, he's making stew, isn't he?" she said knowingly.

"Mmm, smells like it. Come on, let's go get some," Tristan replied, and pushed Gabrielle off his lap so he could stand.