A New Beginning Ch. 10

"Sure. He wants to come down now but I told him to stay in the infirmary to rest a bit . . . Toni, I know you're angry but do me a favor will you?"

"Sure Doc, what's that?" The question was moot; I knew what he was going to ask. Yves has come to know me quite well these last several months. We have been drawn close to each other emotionally lately too.

"Go easy on them. They're both pretty embarrassed by the whole thing."

"Sure thing Doc." I then went to see Regina.

Doc Yves was right. Regina was embarrassed to the max. The whole time I talked to her, she couldn't apologize enough. I told her to forget about it, that we all make mistakes. I told her that we were all glad that her and Leonard's mistake didn't cost anyone their life. She hugged me and promised that she would never do anything like that again.

That evening, after we all finished eating RedRunner stew, I called everyone together. The mood was somber; they all knew what I wanted to talk about. Even Fur Ball could sense that something was amiss. He was sitting in Beth's lap, clinging to her as though a carnivorous RedBaronibus was after him again. He jumped every time someone so much as coughed.

"First of all, I would like to say that this afternoon showed me that I have been lax in my duty. I want to apologize to y'all for that. I've called y'all together to help me rectify it. I think it is something we all need to discuss and come to some kind of agreement amongst ourselves."

I paused and looked around. I was walking on eggshells. I knew that as captain, I had the authority to dictate rules and laws to them. But they knew, as well as I, that I had no means of forcing them to obey any rules or laws that I or anyone made up.

I also knew, as I'm sure they also knew that if we all cooperated and worked at it together as a unit, then any rules or laws we made as a group would have a better chance of being followed by everyone. I proceeded cautiously.

"Secondly, I want to thank y'all for foregoing the evening movie and for putting aside your . . . how shall I put it . . . for putting aside your sexual desires and not using the love nests at this time."

I paused again and glanced around. Then, "I think y'all will agree with me when I say that we have a thriving little community here. I'm sure we all want to keep it safe. But we cannot do that if we are all going off in different directions with different goals and ideas."

Leonard squirmed in his seat. I could tell he was in pain. I wondered whether he was as remorseful as Regina.

I turned back to my crew. "We don't have UNESA or UER to dictate to us what we should and should not do. And frankly, I don't want to have to do that, nor do I think y'all want me to do that. But we need to make some consequences for anyone who upsets our Shangri La. Do y'all agree with me so far?"

There were nods of agreement from everyone.

I continued, "There are only two issues we need to look at. One, what laws are we going to obey and two, what will be the consequences for breaking those laws. This is something that we are all going to have to have an input on and agree on."

Again there were nods of agreement from everyone.

It was the longest discussion we had had since we landed here, probably even longer than any we had had with Captain Butler. We started just before nineteen hundred hours and didn't finish until almost twenty-three hundred hours. But in the end everyone was in agreement.

We decided that any and all sex would be performed in the love nests. We made no stipulation on the time of day or night they could be used as we have all used them during the day as well as at night. Nor did we put any restrictions on how many individuals could use each love nests at a time. If anyone wanted to participate in a threesome then that was their business.

True, the cubicles only offer a small measure of privacy and it is a little warm up there. But using the love nests is safer than doing it in the forest where it is dangerous. Besides, each cubicle also has a fan to keep it cool.

Many of us -- myself included -- have also had sex in the shower while on fire watch. But after some lengthy wrangling we voted to stop that as it was too dangerous, both for those individuals on fire watch and for the rest of us depending on them.

We further decided that everyone would carry an axe or hunting knife, their crossbow and their club or spear with themselves whenever they left the camp. Also, no one would leave the camp without at least two or three other people with them.

As for hunting and foraging parties, we all enjoy that so we didn't put any consequences on not going out on them as long as someone didn't decline to go out too often. Besides, if someone decided not to go out, then there was always someone willing to take their place.

Next we decided that no one would be exempt from fire watch and garbage detail except for sickness. Louis asked how we were going to tell if someone were faking a sickness. Chantelle told him that so far she hadn't encountered that problem and that she didn't anticipate it. Then I added we would let Doc Yves be the final judge there.

Everyone agreed to pitch in to help keep the area around the James Cook clean. But there would be no consequences if someone occasionally forgot to clean up after them self. However, if the problem persisted then it would be handled on a one-on-one basis.

Beth asked about fighting amongst ourselves -- she was probably thinking of the time when Vickie let her have it for not cleaning up her mess. I told her I didn't think we had to worry about that but if something like that ever did arise Chantelle, Joshua or I would handle it.

Finally, we all decided that anything else anyone did to upset the peace we all enjoyed such would be handled on a one-on-one basis. Everyone agreed that we would discuss such actions as a group and decide as a group what to do about it.

As for consequences, there were suggestions such as not allowing the malefactor the use of the love nests for a period of time. Josephine suggested that.

Anthony suggested we build a jail but I immediately vetoed that as I didn't want someone locked up if a large dinosaur attacked him. Other suggestions included extra fire watch, food restrictions and no movie.

But what we all finally agreed upon was to make anyone who broke the rules do extra garbage and shit detail -- no one liked doing it and it seem appropriate to everyone. If they were injured or in some way incapacitated then they would do the duty after they healed.

Regina exhibited a tremendous humility and courage and volunteered to do extra garbage duty but I told her to forget about it. The rules and consequences were not retroactive. Besides, I thought she had suffered enough.

Leonard just sat in silence. I again wondered how remorseful he was.

After everyone dispersed I asked Yves if I could sleep with him; neither of us had fire watch that night. I was not only horny after the lengthy meeting but I also wanted someone to comfort me, someone to be close to. We went upstairs but there was already a couple occupying the infirmary. We settled for one of the other love nests. It was the first time the two of us had made love in about a week.

To be continued . . .