Davin's clock showed three in the morning as he killed the engines and drifted to a halt. His map showed him to be within a mile of the beacon and he didn't want to miss it in the dark so after resetting a couple of switches Davin set the truck crawling forward at two miles an hour using the electric motors.
After about twenty minutes Davin could see the red light from a beacon shining on the bank of snow to his left, as Davin carefully swung the truck around the bank he realised that it was actually the snow covered remains of a burnt out Centipede.
The long vehicle was the sort of thing that was used by traders, explorers and hunters, they were all different made as they were from cannibalised parts from 21C vehicles. This one looked like it was once the bodies of four transit vans with the joints between the vans shrouded in heavy canvas.
Just before the beacon Davin almost ran over a body lying in the snow. Stopping quickly Davin pulled on his cold suit and stepped out into the frigid night.
The body appeared to be that of a middle aged male, badly burnt and frozen. Fifteen feet away the beacon sat on the top of a ten foot pole attached to a small tent.
Davin walked carefully over to the tent almost tripping over the frozen body of a woman. Looking her over Davin was puzzled by why the woman had been out in the snow in such light clothing. The tent was a home made shelter made from two layers of waxed canvas filled with wool for insulation.
Carefully opening the tent Davin managed to get his head and shoulders into the small tent. Inside there was a bundle that appeared to be wrapped in the dead woman's cold suit, he could hear a soft breathing coming from the bundle.
Gently opening the suit Davin saw a baby wrapped in it's own tiny cold suit. Picking the baby up Davin made sure it's face was covered against the cold wind before bringing the baby out of the tent.
Moving as quickly as he dared Davin took the baby to his truck and stripped off his own cold suit before removing the infant's suit. As gently as he could Davin cleaned the heavily soiled little girl and checked her over looking for any sign of frostbite. Finding nothing to worry him with the baby Davin had to arrange to feed her, she seemed listless and was very quiet so Davin was concerned she hadn't been fed for some time.
Leaving the baby in a nest of blankets Davin pulled on his cold suit again and went outside. Fastened to the outside of the vehicle were several emergency pods, most were duplicated inside the wagon but there was one pod that Davin had packed just before the birth of his son. He had cleaned out the matching supplies inside long ago but had never repacked the exterior pod.
Towards the rear of the vehicle was the pod he needed. The three foot high two foot wide container was like a half of a clamshell clamped to the back wall of the wagon. Releasing the clamps Davin hoisted the pod onto his shoulder and made his way back to the door.
Inside Davin dropped the pod and set the wagon moving towards Cambelltown on the electric motors before opening the pod.
He sorted through the contents of the pod, there were half a dozen terrycloth nappies, two tins of powdered formula, one ready to use bottle of formula, four bottles, a tube of sterilising tablets, a couple of large nappy pins, a packet of nappy liners and a fleece blanket.
Taking the bottles and formula to the kitchen Davin found a pan and set up the four bottles in some sterilising solution while the kettle boiled. Pouring some hot water into a jug Davin dropped in the ready to use formula to warm.
