A Comet Visits Earth

The Comet's Tail Ch Fourteen

Years Pass

The tenth year came. They now could raise their crops by hand, and they had enough for their needs. The dam was working. It was holding back the water, and the lake was four feet deep. At this rate, it would take another four or five years to fill the lake to the desired depth. They were in no hurry. Bill and Doug were still working on the turbine to generate the electricity.

They had taken one of the engines apart on one of the helicopters. They took the turbine off to see if they could use it. This turbine was powered by jet fuel, but they would have to see if they could use it to generate electricity while turning because of flowing water. It would not turn nearly as fast as it did in the chopper.

They had exchanged the smaller generator for the huge one they brought from the base. They had done it while they still had the trucks running. Now the small generator was sitting in the barn. They decided to build a small shed at the lake and put it there. It would generate the electricity to charge the batteries. Exactly how it would work would be figured out later.

It seemed like the run on children had paused. Lilly had been cut off, but the others could still get pregnant. They had eighteen children, from nine to five. None of the women had gotten pregnant in the last several years, and it appeared that would be all. The nursery had been closed until needed again, and they had gotten enough beds from the homes in the town for everyone. It was crowded, but they made it work.

Now was the time for the next phase. They had to decide what type of schooling they would provide for their children. They wanted them to know about the past, but they also wanted them to know as much as

they could about how to do the manual things they would need to do to survive on their own.

The former owner of this ranch had a nice library in his den, and they had been availing themselves of it since they arrived. The town also had a small library. It had the basic schoolbooks they needed. They asked Emily to try to work out a curriculum for all the children. She had begun tutoring the children when they were four. They could all read and write by the time they were six. She taught simple mathematics and basic English. The older children were able to complete simple math. She tried to determine each child's strengths and interests so they could have the others teach them in the areas they were interested in.

It was during the tenth year that Lilly got sick. It seemed like she was growing weaker and weaker. The stress of having four children and taking care of other's children had taken its toll. Liz tried everything she could, but she didn't have much medicine.

It came down to the final days. Joe stayed with her constantly, and they talked about the past ten years. They would lay there and talk, and cry, and talk, and rest. The children came in and stayed there as often as they were allowed. Her oldest was only nine, and they ranged down to five. The day finally arrived when she lapsed into a coma. She lasted a day, and quietly passed.

It devastated the entire family. They had a memorial and sat with Joe talking about how much she had meant to everyone, and each told a story of something sweet or helpful that Lilly had done for them. They decided to bury her beside the former owners of the ranch and Benny. They also decided that would be the cemetery for all of them. They didn't have stone for markers, but Jesus made a fine, hardwood cross with her name, the year she was born, and AC or after Comet year she had died.

They knew the real year, but it didn't seem to matter much to them any longer. Lilly was only thirty-eight.

Tisha had settled in with the old herd very well. One of the older females had been fighting with the males. She didn't want them on her any longer, and she was resisting. When Tish went up to her, she head-butted Tish. Tish then slapped her in the face and pushed her down. The old cow looked up at her in shock. Tish then helped her up and pointed to the male. The old female hung her head and went over to the male. The male looked at Tish, then at the female, and walked away. Tish went up to the female, nodded to her, and left. It was done. None of the males bothered her again.

When Tish had moved into the pen, she had Ray bring blankets for everyone in the pen. Tish might want to spend the winter there, but she wasn't freezing her ass off doing it. The others were confused until Tish wrapped herself in a blanket and laid down in the straw. The others quickly figured it out and grabbed a blanket.

By the twelfth year, the old herd had lost a couple more. They were down to thirteen, not including Tish.

The herd children were increasing in size. The first eight were followed by another seven a year later. The town couple even got into the act. They were mated now, and she had a baby the following year. Ray had let the young male go into the birthing stall with her because he seemed gentle with her and was very agitated when Ray tried to separate them. When Liz came to deliver the baby, the male stood back and watched quietly. His eyes got big when he saw a baby's head emerge from between the female's legs. The rest of the herd had always been kept away from the birthing stalls, and he had never seen an actual birth. After the birth, Liz cleaned the baby, cut the cord and placed it on the mother's breast. She wrapped mother and child in a blanket for warmth and departed. The male carefully edged closer to

the pair. The mother smiled at him, kissed the baby's head and closed her eyes to rest. He lay down beside both.

Ray and Liz were standing outside the stall watching. Liz smiled at Ray and headed back to the house.

The crew knew they needed more structure. In the fifth year, they had elected a council of five to make the day-to-day decisions. Rick was the chairman, with Susan, Liz, Doug, and Bill as the other members. This group have met regularly since to discuss whatever was needed.

By the twelfth year, they had built six cabins. They all had electricity and a working stove. Abe and Juan had talked it over, and decided to ask the council if they could share one of the cabins. The council agreed and Abe, Kittie, Juan, and Queen moved into one. It had no bathroom, but Abe and Juan went to the house. Kittie and Queen have been doing their business outside from the beginning, and they didn't take showers. Abe and Juan have been washing them down from the beginning. Queen had no hair, and Abe had decided after a couple of years of having to clean her hair, that he didn't want to continue that. So, he asked to have Kittie's hair cut off. It took a while for her to get over that, but she eventually got used to it.

The next winter was not as cold or deep in snow as the previous years were. Abe and Juan were able to keep their cabin warm with wood in the stove. Cutting down enough trees to build all these cabins produced a lot of branches. The branches had been stripped into the wood, and it was being stacked against the barn. Abe and Juan had taken a good bit and stacked it against their cabin. They kept their stove lit and it was keeping their cabin warm. By spring, the council knew it was possible to live in the cabins in Montana in winter.

Joe was busy raising four children by himself that winter. With Tish a "cow" now, she wasn't helping with the children.

Joe told Mary, his oldest, that she would have to help with her brothers and sisters. She was only nine years old, but she was able to help her dad. Rick had told Joe that his main job that winter was to safely get his kids through it. While his kids were in school with Emily, he was helping Doug in the workshop on the dam problem.

They had rejected the helicopter turbine as impractical. It was a fan like an airplane engine, and they needed something with more surface space, like a hamster wheel, only on a much bigger scale. After scouring through the town, it was decided Doug would have to build one of his own. In the fall, they had gone back to the chopper and cut strips of aluminum. They wanted something as light as possible that would not rust. Now he just had to figure out how to weld aluminum. They knew the width of the sluice gate, and wanted a turbine as big as they could get. They cut eight strips three inches wide and one foot long. They measured the size of the end plates and cut them out of the aluminum. They had a gear box that they were going to put in the center. They could then put a connecting gear and that would power the generator, hopefully.

Over the next couple of years, the older herd continued to die off. Three more died. They only had ten left.

By the twentieth year, Doug had solved the turbine problem. There was an old windmill sitting at another farm in the neighborhood. The blades had stopped turning years ago, but Doug thought the generator inside might be rescued. He and Jesus rode over to the ranch and climbed up to look. After they had determined what it would take to remove it, they went home. The next day, they came back with ropes and tools. Rick had come with them to see for himself. It took most of the morning and a can of lubricant to get the bolts loosened. Doug removed the generator and lowered it down to the ground.

The lake was at a full ten feet high. They had to open the overflow sluice gate to keep the water from overflowing the top. He had solved the welding aluminum problem. It is much more difficult because it melts much easier than steel. After destroying several blades, he was able to get the touch right. He welded a platform under the sluice gate for the gearbox to sit on. The turbine was installed in front and slightly below the gate. The generator from the windmill that had been fixed was installed in a box beside the turbine. They then hooked the wires up and ran them to the power station they had built on the bank. They had the old batteries from the first generator there to build a charge. Once the batteries were fully charged, they could start the old solar generator with the batteries. They would have to test it out to see how long a charge of the batteries would provide electricity.

They had an alternative source of electricity, even if it was not full-time.

The council met to discuss the future. Rick summarized where they stood.

They had a sustainable food supply. They replenished the seeds every year, had cattle and chicken to eat. They also had hunting as long as the ammunition held out.

They had eighteen children for the next generation. Emily was teaching them enough for general knowledge. Each person was instilling their children with the specialty knowledge they had.

Liz was teaching Mary Schwartz the basics of medicine. Liz estimated Mary would have ten years of experience by the time Liz was either gone or retired.

They were continuing to cut trees down, even though they were now needing to go further and further away to not strip the woods near them. They had a huge pile of firewood behind the barn. They would continue cutting wood until the next generation took over.

The water generator was ready and had passed its test. They would not need it in their lifetimes, but they had taught their children how it works and how to fix it if need be.

The herd's children were growing. They had spayed the females after they had enough babies to continue the herd. Their children could decide what to do about the children's reproduction capabilities.

They had depleted the town's resources. What was left was falling apart. There was not much left of materials. Their children would not have much to look forward to there.

The puppies had grown into adults and had taken over the guarding responsibilities after their parents had died.

The horses had died off by the twentieth year. The cattle herd had maintained itself. They only slaughtered on every other year, and the herd had a calf or two every year. They now had nearly thirty head. The decision to eat more beef was made because the herd was getting too large.

The first round of children were now adults, or close. They were doing much of the physical labor for their parents now. Richard had begun sitting in on the council meetings.

Everything was proceeding better than they could have dreamed of twenty years ago.