"I wondered if I would find you up here somewhere."
Beka's voice broke the relative silence of the night as she approached Tyr from downslope. Relative being the operative words because Tyr could hear the faint sounds of the people down below talking outside the cavern. He could hear the laughter of people sitting around a fire nearby. He could hear the faintest sounds of passion drifting softly on the night air from a good distance from camp at a place Harper always referred to as lovers' lane. He had heard her noisy approach over the uneven ground as she had made her way up to find him.
"Battening down the hatches?" Beka asked as she watched Tyr while he inspected the crude gates he and several of the men had constructed years ago to secure the upper cavern openings. They did not use the openings or tunnels to enter or exit their cavern but they were connected to the cavern system.
The extra openings allowed for air flow through the cavern system. One of the tunnels connected to one of the openings was actually in the perfect position to use as a chimney for the fireplace they had constructed before the second winter. It was used for cooking and for warming the larger main cavern where a large number of the crew gathered and slept to stay warm. With a large number of bodies and the heat of a small fire, the main cavern stayed comfortably warm.
They mostly used the axillary tunnel entrances for easily loading supplies and equipment into the upper tunnels for storage during the winter. The second spring they had lost quite a few rough built items to the river floods. The savage winters also did damage to things. This way, items were shielded from the worst of the elements.
Tyr wanted the gates to keep out larger animals which might be looking for a shelter or a meal during the harsh winter months. He didn't mind any small animals that could make it between the slats. During the second winter, which was longer than the first for some reason, the invading rodents and small mammals extended their dwindling food supplies. Beka could remember being slightly appalled the first time she found small rodent carcasses roasting on spits over the fire.
"Making a few repairs," Tyr replied as he glanced over at Beka. She stood with her hands in the pockets of her coat. He could see her shivering ever so slightly as she observed his work.
"The cold air is really settling in," Beka observed as she looked around them.
It was hard to believe the difference in the daytime and nighttime temperatures in just the week since the last hunting party had returned to their camp. The last of the meat had just finished processing earlier in the day. All of the fishing traps and gear were being left out until the last possible minute. The escape pods that had various functions had all been moved into several of the caverns near the mouth of the main entrance for storage during the winter.
She could see her breath in the dim light of the rechargeable lantern Tyr was using to light the small area in front of the gate he was working on. It appeared that some of the vine cordage was frayed and broken. Tyr was reinforcing it with fresh cordage.
"There was a light frost earlier this morning," Tyr advised her. He had heard Trance talking about it the last few days. She believed it would only be a few days before there would be nothing left plantwise that they could salvage for supplies. "I would say winter is nearly upon us."
"Yay," Beka cheered with false enthusiasm. "Five months of being cooped up in that cave. Can't wait."
"Cassiopeia, Helene and Scarlett are all pregnant," Tyr replied in an uninterested yet concerned tone. "I am uncertain how far along they are in their pregnancies. However, I would gather far enough along that there is the potential for some babies to be born before the spring thaw."
"Why is it so hard for people to understand the guidelines?" Beka sighed loudly as she walked closer to Tyr as he tied off the last of the cords. "You get busy making the babies in the late fall or earlier months of the winter so you are preggers and the baby is born during the warm months. They all know what a strain feeding pregnant and nursing mothers is on supplies during the late winter months. Trance thinks that babies born in the winter and early spring will have a difficult start. Summer born babies will probably be healthier and so will the mothers since we will have plentiful amounts of fresh food."
Beka shook her head as she looked around them again.
"And didn't we all agree … only four pregnancies at a time," Beka threw her hands up in the air. "What's so hard about it? Are they trying to kill us all by overpopulating?"
"There are only three that we know of. I doubt any more will doom us to extinction," Tyr shook his head as he looked over at her. The strain on their resources concerned him. It would have been nice to know ahead of time that there might be a boom to the population during the winter months. However, Tyr did not feel his survival was threatened by a few pregnant females.
"Emily, Elsa and Maria are all preggers too," Beka informed Tyr with a smirk on her lips just before she shivered again.
"Luckily we had a good final hunt, the fish traps are still producing … even if it is only a few fish a day," Tyr shook the gate to check out his repairs. "Trance says there was a higher yield of nuts this season."
"Not to mention Trance found those nuts that can be mashed up to produce a nutritious liquid," Beka stuffed her hands in her pockets once more.
"Is there a reason why you never use the fur I gave you?" Tyr asked as he placed the knife he was using back into the sheath on the side of his boot. He walked over and picked up a large fur and walked over to Beka. He wrapped it around her shoulders before pulling her a little closer to him. He looked down at her as she looked up at him.
"My coat is fine," Beka argued even as the warmth of Tyr's body and the thick fur immediately made her feel a little warmer. It was a friendly gesture that Beka was more than willing to accept from him. He furnished her with a closeness she desired and yet there were no expectation as there might be with other men in the same situation.
"You have been wearing that same coat ever since we arrived on this planet," Tyr reminded her. "It might have been warm at one time but the more threadbare it gets, it loses it's insulating properties."
"My coat is fine," Beka looked at the fur wrapped around her shoulders. Truth be told the fur Tyr had given her to shield her from the cold seemed like an extravagance to Beka. Others were still wearing their old uniform coats and jackets while giving furs to those who lived in the coolest areas of the caves, and those who worked around the camp instead of going out on hunting parties to procure the furs and hides. Tyr had given her two furs. Both of which Beka used in her 'room' to keep her warm in the coolness of the cave. "It is just … weird … wearing some animal's fur. What is this?"
"Best you not know," Tyr shook his head as he stepped away from her. Beka caught the ends of the thick, soft fur and wrapped it a little more tightly around her. "What is the difference between wearing a fur and the leathers you are wearing now?"
Beka looked down at the brown leather pants she was wearing. After several years, her pants were a holey mess so Beka had finally requested a pair of pants made from the leather they made from the animal hides. Once Tyr put it that way, there really was no difference.
"One nice thing about being stranded on a desolate backwater planet, is the night sky," Beka looked up to avoid admitting Tyr had a point about the fur and leather. On a clear night, with the lack of interfering light, one could see a million stars in the night sky.
"Reminding us of the civilization we are missing while stuck on this rock?" Tyr replied in a hard tone. "Our lives that we lost when we got stuck here? The knowledge that the universe went on without us? With no one knowing what ever became of us?"
"Wow," Beka's eyes widened as she looked over at Tyr. "Cynical much?"
"I have a son, Beka," Tyr replied as he picked up the lantern and walked over to her. Beka's brow furrowed slightly as she looked up at him. They had always believed his son had died in the Genite attacks years ago. Tyr shook his head ever so slightly. "I had a future."
Beka turned and stared after him as Tyr walked off into the darkness, leaving her there alone.