“What about you?”
“I will be fine,” he assured her. He hadn’t donned his armor, but he was carrying a stunner-blaster sidearm. “You will be safe here.”
As Jolt approached the house, a middle-aged man with graying dark hair and a beard stepped out onto the porch of the two-story gray house. He was armed with a hunting rifle and pointed it at Jolt.
“Stop right there,” he commanded. “What do you want?”
“Nothing you have,” Jolt stated. “I’m here to offer help. We can offer food and medicine from our Enclave near old Chicago. The war is ended, and we’ve come to help rebuild.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Why not? I am a cyborg, I can’t lie,” Jolt said.
“While we may not have everything we might wish for, we have enough food, and we make what medicine we need.” The man lowered his weapon but held it pointed at the ground in Jolt’s direction.
“Do you know of others who might need supplies to get them through the winter? My internal scanner tells me there are other people in nearby dwellings. Do you know if they need assistance?”
“We take care of each other here---there are about a hundred of us. We have some chickens and a few cattle, we grow our own food and share with those who need it.” He lowered his rifle even further as he spoke.
“That’s commendable. I suspect the most important thing you need is a means of communicating with the rest of us. …In case you need help in the future,” Jolt said. “I will advise our superiors. I will return when we have something to offer.”
“Sorry about the unfriendly welcome, but sometimes we get those thugs out from the city trying to steal whatever they can from us,” said the man.
Jolt nodded. “No harm in being cautious. I’ve seen some of the evil things those thugs have done. I will leave now. Someone will return when we have a device for you to communicate.”
As Jolt walked back to the flier, he reconsidered the wisdom of bringing Iris with him. She wouldn’t enjoy the trip if she were left in the flier at every stop. He decided he would take her with him the next time so they might appear less threatening.
Their next stop was in the mountains near a large lake that seemed to have a collection of occupied cottages. The little community seemed to be untouched by the war. The yards had neatly kept lawns and most had kitchen gardens beside them and even flowers by some.
Jolt set the flier down near one of the houses, careful to avoid their food garden even though it was nearing the end of the season.
This time he invited Iris to go with him, keeping her close at his side and holding her hand. Jolt was hyperalert, ready to push Iris behind him at the first sign of trouble. He made no effort to hide his approach, hoping to minimize their suspicions.
As they approached the wooden cottage, a man and a woman dressed in leather clothing stepped out. The man held a shotgun with the muzzle pointed at the ground.
“Hello,” he said warily. “What brings you here?”
“Jolt Somber from Federation Command. We just stopped by to see if anyone in your community needs assistance with food or medicine,” he said. “The war is over, and we’ve come back to Earth to try to recover civilization here. We have a limited surplus of food and medicine. We also have medics available for cases that require treatment.”
“I’m Paul Roberts, and this is my wife, Janie. Most of us are doing okay here by the lake. We all make gardens every year, and there are fish in the lake. A few have livestock and chickens, and we hunt,” he told them.
“Are you having any trouble with intruders?”
“We run ‘em off if they try to steal from us. I mean, we’re willing to give people a hand if they need help. But we’re not going to put up with them trying to take over,” Paul said.
“This place is pretty remote from the cities where most of the thugs seem to be located. Not many people have fliers or hovercrafts, and it’s a really long walk from the nearest city.”
“Even horses are hard to come by in the cities. We have some up here that we share for plowing and stuff,” Paul said.
“My commander wanted me to do some recon out in the rural areas to see how people were fairing away from the cities,” Jolt explained. “We’ve established an Enclave south of old Chicago, and they are anticipating a surplus of food. They have the means to preserve it, we wanted to see if other people outside of the cities needed food.”
“We all had pretty good crops this year,” Janie said. “And we trade off with our neighbors. It’s good to know the war is over. We don’t get many people up here, so we got no way to get that information.”
“One thing that’s really scarce here is clothing,” Paul said. “Leather and furs are about all we have to make clothing from.”
“Even at the Enclave, clothing is limited. I will let them know you are in need. We need to find a source of raw materials. With so many worlds devastated by this war the equipment needed to produce clothing is hard to find.” Jolt said.
The Enclave was fortunate enough to have stockpiled clothing from before the war. But not enough to supply other communities. It would be a while before they could begin manufacturing in New Chicago.
