InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Hey."

colonelgibson (colonelgibson) wrote in thefield,
@ 2009-05-15 12:32:00

Entry tags:

aaron, alex, arlo, bazzer, group, kenneth, rowan, ryan, sophie, thorne, z - 1st tribe - day 20

Time to move out-open to everyone leaving on the 20th
Who: Kenneth and anyone/everyone leaving on the 20th
When: Mid morning
Where: Heading east
What: Taking a break

There was no way to keep up the grueling pace all day, at least not for most. Kenneth made sure to call plenty of halts, at least as many as he possibly could, but they still weren't making the speed they'd need to get to the safe camp. Fortunately, he'd sort of planned on that, his worst case scenario. If they didn't make it, he'd circle the carts, build a fire and people would just have to stay awake. The Laughers were smart, he hoped if he took down enough of them, they'd just back off. Did Laughers have a concept for unacceptable losses?

Kenneth didn't know, but he did know that would burn through his ammunition, something he'd already decided was worth it to protect those coming with him. He looked around and squinted up at the sun. Sacrificing a blanket, he tore strips of it with his knife then handed them to the closest person. "Soak these with some water and get people to put them on the back of their necks and heads. It might help."

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fatheralex
2009-05-18 08:26 pm UTC (link)

"That's what I mean," Alex nodded, "Vaccines and such. Science again, but very useful. Antibiotics mostly. Especially for cuts and things. Or worse," he really didn't want to think about worse. While he could 'make' holy water, he had no oil for anointing during the sacrament of the sick and technically he could not simply 'make' more with prayer. He would have to muddle through...if he could find some sort of oil. "And education. Think about this - Bazzer there is a librarian, you're an environmental scientist, I'm a theologian, Kenneth has some sort of higher degree I think, Rowan does as well, think how much information we have here now...and how much we are going to lose because we cannot preserve it. And how much we have already lost simply because we don't have someone with that knowledge here."

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wanderingaaron
2009-05-18 08:33 pm UTC (link)

Aaron shrugged and gave the doctor an incredulous look. "Well paper's not hard. Neither is ink." He grinned as he didn't see his meaning dawning too quickly. "Parchment is made from animal skins, which we have." There was no missing the aroma that followed Bazzer and his cart. "But even if we didn't want to put all of the work in to cute parchment, there's always the papyrus notion. All we need to make that is some kind of reed plant that remains fiberous when it rots." He demonstrated laying out the reeds in a grid. "Lay it all out on a rock, lay another rock down on top and leave it for a bit. Sure, it's not the easiest thing to write on but it beats chiseling into tablets." He chuckled. "It was actually a pretty environmentally sound form of making paper. Beat the heck out of chewing up trees. And then the Chinese were making lamp black ink since, well, a thousand years before Christ. That's just charcoal and wine, or even water in some cases." It was amazing, the things you picked up when you were learning the sciences.

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fatheralex
2009-05-18 08:49 pm UTC (link)

Huh. Well, that was new. "And this is why I'm a priest and not a scientist," he replied easily. "Parchment I knew about, papyrus I did not. Nor ink, though we don't have any wine," at least not yet. He'd love some for mass. It was hard to have a proper mass without communion. And if there was wine, there would be oil hopefully and he would feel better. "I'm learning though. Never let it be said I'm too old. Getting reasonably adept at dressing and butchering the meat they hunt," even if he couldn't bring himself to kill an animal.

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wanderingaaron
2009-05-18 08:58 pm UTC (link)

Aaron had been a hunter since he was fairly small. He could probably fire the colonel's rifle with fairly good accuracy even if it did pack more punch than he was used to. He was also a decent archer and he'd noticed that the loudmouth (it was hard to miss it) Arlo had a homemade bow slung over his shoulder as he walked. Maybe some time he could have a look at it and figure out how to make his own. Truth was, though, it had been five years since he'd hunted anything. He'd been far too busy to take those trips with his dad and even the old man went away less often now that Tim's Huntington's disease had advanced too far for him to be able to go as well. "Maybe when we settle at this new place we'll figure out a way to make some sheets of papyrus and then we'll get those passages that you remember all written down." Aaron hated to admit they might be there long enough for their knowledge to be passed down to a following generation, but Alex was right about one thing. The knowledge that they collectively possessed was far too precious to be lost and forgotten. He'd find a way to safe guard it somehow.

A whistle down the line drew his attention. It sounded like the train was gathering together to march on a ways. They had barely broken the trees, after all. There was a while to walk yet, as he understood it.

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