Chapter 28 The Lava Outcropping Improved

The wheelbarrow was helping a lot, although it only involved moving the sand over to near the edge of the lake, from where it was again shoveled from there into the lake's edge to create some flatland where things could be grown. With the growing realization of the potentials of the help from the Rardats, they began a new phase of the project. It took a bit of communication with Rardat, but the next solar blast was used to convert a swath of lava into sand including sunk down to a foot below the water level of the lake. Then the top part was gradually leveled off to be about 10 centimeters above the water's level, and the water gradually seeped through the sand to water the whole area's remaining sand. Thus they got another hundred square meters of growing room, presumably directly watered by the lake. They planted a patch of rice seeds in this area, so that the plant roots would be hopefully tolerant of always being wet. Presumably the oats needed periodic dry roots to prevent fungi from damaging roots.

The end of the lake was getting filled up, however; and they had to build a new dock for the little boat further into what had been lake area. The Rardats were also excavating rock into sand on the other side of the lake at this end, and the whole area around the lava tube's exit had been converted into flatland, or would be when they figured out what to do with all the sand that was sitting on top of it. Even the end of the lava tube had been demolished in the flattening process, and the remaining exit of the lava tube was located quite a ways from the lake, at the edge of the area converted into sand. Along the remaining lava wall face at the edge of the leveled areas, Nansella had the Rardat's create a group of cave homes, with roofs of the original lava folds and had overhang so that the doors and window area could not be seen easily from the air, hopefully would be hidden from PE's helicopters, if they ever came this way.

One of the Rardats was spending most of its time experimenting with making the various foodstuffs that Nansella had brought up in the picnic basket. That seemed like a very labor intensive thing for the Rardat to do; yet it did not seem to be bothered by that. The Rardat would take half a day to make a single sandwich, so it was clear that they could not survive on food made by these new companions; yet that they could make some food was a potential help. By the time the picnic basket's food ran out, the Rardat had made enough food to enable them to stay there another whole day, so it was not wasted effort. By then the Rardats had also enabled a couple thousand square meters of area for growing things, and another 300 square meters of flat rock surface for projects, a large area where the need to endlessly climb over ripples of frozen lava no longer had to be done. There were a half dozen roomy dwellings secluded under the lava overhangs, although the dwellings had only recessed seating and shelving and were still mostly filled with sand from their making. It seemed like a nice preparation to have living space for a larger group of people to live up here, although she did not have any in mind except to possibly invite the original couple back up here - but they most likely had had their memory erased, since they had never made any attempt to communicate with Geodon or Nansella since leaving here.

It was tempting to take at least one of the Rardats back with them to town, but the risk was too great; the ability of PE to find out what was going on in the lives of the inhabitants of the town in intimate detail was too apparent. But they compromised, and on the way back up the lava tubes, they took the two Rardats to the hideaway near the collapsed roof area, and set the Rardats into their concealed nooks, both with fully charged batteries, but with instructions that if nobody came to be with them again before they ran out of energy, they would go over to where sunlight fell on the pile of rubble and there they could obtain enough energy every few days so as to stay awake.

At least Geodon and Nansella did not have to make the rest of the long trip up to the airplane's site; as it was, they were risking running out of light from the second flashlight before getting home to cave number three, but they made it OK. It was a meager meal that evening, and mere scraps for breakfast; so it was quite early in the morning that found them on the transfer pod, swinging down the line of pylons toward town. No snacks either to make the two hour trip back to seem more comfortable; arriving in town, they hurried along the back routes to Geodon's house, where Nansella quickly made up a meal from them that required no heating; and then she immediately began to more leisurely prepare a good dinner for the two of them. .

Putting the meal into her picnic basket, the two of them headed out of town down the path that led from the front of his house down past the hulking home builder machines, then out into the sand along the now visible trail they had left in the sand about a week ago.

Arriving at their lava outcropping jutting up out of the sand surrounding it, Geodon sent the command to temporarily halt the blasting of the lava rock face by the satellites; and went to fill both backpacks with the weight of powdered lava that each could comfortably carry, and scooped the remaining shards and powder to the side, so the satellites would be able to work on fresh lava; then he sent the command to resume blasting. Around on the other side of the big outcropping, they enjoyed the meal that Nansella had prepared and brought along, the first real full meal they had had in a couple of days.

In their backpacks they now had material to send to the store for their own making of the few eating utensils for which Geodon had supplied the store, enough to keep them busy awhile. And some left over for their own use at home. But for now they stretched out again in the shaped sand indents they had made before and they took a nice long nap in the peacefulness of the place, warmed by the sun.

After their long overdue naps, they experimented with using the shards and powder and adhesive to make an arched extension of the rack face, extending the arch out to form a covering of sorts, a bit of shelter; it was not on the side of the outcropping that faced the town, so hopefully it would not attract attention. The arch was long enough for the two of them to stretch out comfortably inside it. Geodon made a note for himself to bring back hinges and latches for a door and window port when they came here again but for now it just had an open edge where the arch construction had left off. From the outside it looked enough like just another lava fold, that it might not attract attention, as it was.

Lest they get hungry again, they put their backpacks back on, Nansella also carrying the now empty picnic basket, and headed down their new trail across the black sand, toward Geodon's house. There they put most of their collection of smaller mix of powdered lava into a couple of canisters, addressing them to the store, and sent them off. And it was only minutes after receipt by the store when their communicator received thanks for the material, along with a request for more of the measuring cups, if they would, please. So Geodon and Nansella spent the rest of the day casting measuring cups with the remaining powdered material, of which they ran out of after the sixth cup was made. They did not send the cups right away however. They wanted to take one and leave it at Nansella's house, which was long overdue to have a visit from her.

So they took the rather long and difficult path the back ways to Nansella's house, and entered through the back way. Inside, they were surprised to see that the place had been intruded upon, people had been into all her storage areas, and had not made much effort to conceal the fact. She picked a place that clearly had been investigated, yet was not easily examined, to conceal the measuring cup she had brought along. Getting a few of her personal cherished possessions to take back, they again left by the back way, headed to Geodon's home again, Nansella quite unhappy about the intrusion into her home. It took a couple of hours to wind their way back to Geodon's home, entering from the back way too; and they were surprised to find that it too had been ransacked, and all their molds for casting things had been taken, along with the half dozen measuring cups they had prepared to sell to the store.

Geodon pointed out that it was much like the time when both of them had had their memories erased, and their creative products removed without their consent; but this time they had managed to escape with their memories still intact. Probably the fact that they had not had memories obliterated was flagged by the perpetrators as something needing correcting, and were searching for them even now. It was time to vanish for awhile; if they sept here tonight, quite possibly they might not recognize each other by the morning, they feared. So they stuffed their backpacks with food and water and survival supplies; and leaving by the back way, they reemerged in the front area from around one of the further houses down the construction pathway, and headed along the sandy path at dusk, barely making it to their outcropping and its tiny shelter by sunset. But without a way to seal the end of the archway hut, the cold night air from the clear sky was quite cold, they had to snuggle for warmth under the little blanket they had managed to bring along. But the next morning they still were aware of the situation - and were not strangers to each other - so it was worth the effort.

Nansella set the solar cooker, which they had brought along, out in the sun, and they had hot brew and breakfast in the morning. Geodon gathered more of the shards and powder from the blasting area, and proceeded to extend the arch hut a few feet further, and by nightfall he also had the wall there, and even a door propped up to mostly block the opening, and a shutter on the window port; it would be a little warmer tonight, for their resting time, he hoped because of that.

Resting inside the tiny hut, Geodon was telling Nansella of how he wished that they had brought an Rardat back with them to help. Then Nansella reached into her backpack and pulled out an immature Rardat, saying that she had asked one of the Rardat's to reproduce again before they left, and she had hidden this one away, thinking that indeed they might be glad of it. The Rardat was still quite small; it would need lots of energy to grow. There was still time for one more satellite blast on the rock face around on the other side of the outcropping, so Geodon took the little Rardat around and set it in the blast area, barely getting out of the way before the bright flash of light hit in the light of the dusk, the satellite just catching the sun before going into the planet's shade. He waited out there in the darkening light as the Rardat gathered materials from the surrounding pulverized lava rock; when it was done as much as it could do, Geodon brought the little Rardat back into the hut with them, setting it in a corner by the door. It visibly had gotten less spindly and a little bit bigger in diameter, about 3/4 adult sized now.