Chapter 9 – Shelter

Mk23 -IRJ Droplet – Class 7 – Carpe Victoria (Wrecked)

Sector - Unknown

Planet - Unknown

6rth May 2341 (BSST)

With a plan for the day ready I set off to forage around for the supplies. Since I’m not building a house but a temporary shelter to work from before I build an actual camp it needs to be fast. I’m looking for something like Loya cane, or a willow variety. Flexible and strong. Willow would in fact be a good choice. It would be used to bind the branches for the substructure. I could have sat down and made thin cord all day long and not had enough to make any progress. In the end a more crude but vastly superior option when considering all angles won out. An easy choice.

Willows and their variants grow most often I cold moist soils. Now I hadn’t managed to find anywhere cold but along the stream there might be some form of plant. Thin reed like plants could work if they were supple enough to bend. Similar to basket weaving cane was what I was looking for.

Basket weaving, depending on the type used a multitude of different plants. From grasses and rushes for coiled basketry to palms, yucca and flax for plaiting basketry. Twining basketry and wicker or splint basketry used tougher materials. From roots and bark to reed, can willow oak and ash woods. For lashings I’d like to have a more flexible sample. Stiffer reads and willows like the weeping willow would split and break too easily.

As I marched through the undergrowth pressing on along the streams soft banks I kept tugging on the vines, crawlers and other fibrous plants I thought I could use. Some split having very little tensile strength. Others snapped having no pliability. Not ductile and certainly they had no bending strength. I wasn’t asking for much. It didn’t have to excel. What I really was after was a plentiful plant that had a good balance of tensile, torsional and bending strength. Was it really so hard to find I screamed mentally as I pressed on.

I usually don’t let anger overcome me. Its just that it felt like I was wasting time. Like some unknowable deadline was closing in. One silent step at a time. No sign of its passing, yet relentless and boundlessly it hounded me. Taking a few deep breaths, I quenched my anger. Like one does a sword. Letting my anger fade like the swirling mist that rose from the water oil. Dissipating on the gentle breeze that flows through a foundry.

It took mere moments, as it always seems to in situations such as these to find what I was looking for. Like an untamed, knotted and twisted mass of brambles the plant stood defensively. Cocooning around itself like spun sugar. The thin vine like branches, white in colour ran through and around each other in an endless maze that the eye could not follow. Running along one path only to shift at a crossing and wind up where you left off. Confused and no more the wiser.

Taking my small knife, I bent the strands around the little undulation that stuck out and confirming my grip ripped it out slicing through the wood. It wasn’t pretty and smooth, but it would do.

I worked solidly cutting stretches out of the tangle and separating them out. It took more time to extract them, you couldn’t just pull without tightening the section. They had to be fed out carefully otherwise the problem would only get worse.

In a couple of hours, I must have had a few hundred metres coiled around my shoulders. Tucking my knife away I headed back. Backtracking was harder than I expected, and I nearly caved several times and asked Enigma to help. He knew I’d rather do it myself, so he left me alone. He would have marked everywhere I’ve been already so if I truly needed it he’d give me what I wanted. He was thoughtful that way. A sentiment I never would have thought I would be uttering about an AI. It surprised me how much he’d grown with human companionship in a few days. Not orders but actual conversation appeared to stimulate the heuristic programming and ever time we spoke he seemed slightly more real to me. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, perhaps inflections and word choices but he was definitely developing.

When I made it back I dumped the vines to the floor. On second thought I dumped them in the stream to soak for a little. Hopefully absorbing water would soften them up a little more.

Marching of into the forest I found a thick stone and smashed it up. In short order I had a small hand axe. Much cruder than the knife it didn’t have to serve much purpose until I could craft a proper adze.

Taking the rock, I found a tree a hand thick and hefted the rock. With a monumental effort I slammed the sharper edge into the tree. A section of tree chipped off. It was better than nothing but certainly didn’t make up for the sharp agony that sped up my arm. The sheer force sent ripples back shooting up my shoulder before piercing my brain. Dropping the rock, I shook my hands to rid myself of the pain. It faded quickly leaving behind a hot throbbing feeling. Not pain per say but debilitating enough I wouldn’t want to be using my hand.

Kneeling down I examined the tree. A start a few more hit and I’d be through. Gritting my teeth, I sucked in a breath, feeling the air flow over my teeth with a dry hissing sound. Just when the flow of air stopped I slammed the rock back into the tree. Another section gone. Repeating twenty times or so got me through the trunk enough that I could rip off the rest of the tree. My right hand was unresponsive, so I had to get Enigma to move the servos in the suits fingers to get me to grip the tree enough to drag it back to camp.

I stripped the small branches of by snapping them, kicks or body mass proved enough for the wimpy shoots. Throwing them on the fire I pulled the now barren stick over to the cliff edge. Chopping with a hand axe had hurt far too much to continue that madness.

Dropping rocks from atop the cliff some two metres up was a much better plan. Faster, and much less painful I soon had the tree chopped into five pieces each two and a half metres tall. Now just to repeat this lots more with different sizes.

In a few short hours I had lots of sticks ready. I was ready to make the supports for the camp.

“Enigma, what do you think I should build?”

“You mean, what kind of shelter?” he asks back.

“What do you think?” I retort sarcastically. I’m partly fed up and taking it out on him. Even if it doesn’t affect him it eases my mind to act stroppy with someone. In fact, it’s probably the best option to act like this to an AI. No repercussions. But mostly it’s to see what he’ll say back to me.

“It is my primary hypothesis that you did in fact mean to ask me what type of shelter you should build?” he pauses as if waiting for me to interrupt him. When I don’t he continues.

“Two primary types of shelter follow the tepee style or the A-frame style. They have been a major part of basic bush craft for millennia and they will continue to stay so due to their simplicity and effectiveness. I would recommend one of these two options?”

“Yes, well that’s always been the plan. After, we can expand towards a wattle and daub or even brick house but for now let’s stick with the basics.” I reply to his suggestion.

We discuss the style for a few more minutes before a plan is formulated.

I scrape the ground with my feet clearing off the debris. The small stones and branches. Making sure the ground was clean and smooth. Enigma and I mark out an almost perfect circle. 3m in diameter. At regular points, eight to be exact I take a small stick I have fashioned into a stake and hammer it into the ground. In each of the holes I press in a branch. The longest branches, four metres in height. About twenty centimetres deep in the ground. Secure enough to withstand some wind hopefully. I bend the branches opposite to each other over until they meet in the centre and lash them together. Repeating this with the other three pairs takes a few minutes and afterwards I take some thicker lashings and weave the top in more securely like basket weaving. It extends maybe ten centimetres down but when I’m finished it sure makes the structure feel stronger.

Next, I lash two cross beams on opposite sides of the tepee structure about a meter off the ground. From one side I take two shorter pieces and also lash them together creating a triangle with the point facing down on one of the sides. Another crossbeam to support it and the sub structure for the tepee is complete. Three metres away I dig three holes with the stake in a triangle one metre wide and half a metre tall and insert three branches. The branches are much thinner than the ones for the tepee and when I lash them together they support each other quite well. Taking the longest of the branches I rest it between the two points. The down facing triangle of the tepee and the support I had just built.

With this done I have the framework done. Along the triangular connection I lay branches so that it actually begins to resemble a structure. Covering the bottoms of the branches in the remaining clay from yesterday I pat down and keep applying dirt to draw out the moisture as I work. This should create a hard shell that keeps the branches secure. Placed at ten-centimetre intervals the sparse construction of the supports allows me to weave the lashings in between the supports once they are tied at the top to create a thin barrier to the world. It takes me a few hours and two more trips to get more lashings but soon I have a triangular frame that whilst not rainproof should be nice and secure.

When the frame is finished I head down towards the beach. I’m looking for palm fronds. Or at least something similar enough to work like them.

Palm fronds can be split down the centre and the stems lashed horizontally above each other with the leaves pointing down. Much like feathers where the small hairs interlock to form a uniform flight wing that’s smooth and waterproof the palm leaves interlock and overlap enough to form a waterproof coating. Unfortunately, it is labour intensive. For a two and a half metre circle Enigma estimates about six-hundred palm fronds would need to be split in half and lashed to the tepee. Since mine is bigger and I have the A-frame section as well I’d guess maybe one thousand or more would be needed. Mature fronds as well. Not baby shoots.

In the end I have to leave the beach, but I do find a substitute. It is a large frond that resembles the classic fern.

“Enigma, would this work I say pointing at the plant?”

“For waterproofing?” he pauses for a second to calculate his next response.

“It seems to be a variety of a pinnate fern frond. The lamina is extensive enough to span between the supports and the waxy coating would appear to be hydrophobic in nature. I’m not sure if the rachis and stipe that makes up the central vein can be split though. Nor for that matter how the hydrophobicity will preserve after the plant is severed from the roots.”

“Explain please enigma.” I ask him. As I’m talking I try to get the inflection to make it a question rather than an order. If He is to become sentient a choice is necessary in all things and allowing the freedom of answering will stimulate growth.

“Hydrophobicity is the effect of repelling water as can be determined from its. Furthermore, superhydrophobicity is often an intrinsic property of a material and sometimes applied as a laminar coating. In nature examples are most commonly lotus leaves. In fact, the lotus effect of superhydrophobes is called such because of the lotus leaves being extremely hard to wet. If the contact angle of a water droplet exceeds ninety degrees, it is called hydrophobic whilst being less than ninety will result in a hydrophilic surface. Above one-hundred-and-fifty degrees and the superhydrophobic effect can be seen. Most commonly the surface of a material is micro structured in such a way as to increase the surface angle contact area of the droplet. On lotus leaves the small hairs perform this exact task.

On the other hand, a regular hydrophobic effect such as the one we are looking for can be achieved by a waxy coating and this plant has such a coating. What I don not know is if the plant has any structure or production that would deteriorate and make the leaves useless for our shelter.”

“Ah, right. I love science Enigma but sometimes a simple answer is best.” Well we can always try it, I have a good feeling about this. I reply to his longwinded pointless explanation. Well, it was slightly cool. I admit to myself making sure not to subvocalize.

It takes me until the light begins to fade to finish cutting the fronds that turn out to be everywhere. I collect about fifteen hundred of the damned things. Lash them and throw them over my shoulder to lug back to camp. I’m heading towards the sun, so I get very slightly longer until the light all but fades away.

If I can get the triangular section done tonight I can sleep easy. So, I set about it. The fronds end up easy to split. Clamping the of the frond stem between my toes. I take my flint knife and cut into the edge where the frond joined the rest of the plant. From there I twist the knife splitting the frond apart enough to get my fingers in. I can then just carefully prise the fronds apart. As I’m working Enigma is calculating how many is should do. Another hour passes before he tells me I can stop. Luckily, I won’t have to lash these to the frame as the lashings that make up the walls already can be pocked through securing the fronds. It takes me two hours to secure the fronds all the way to the top of the structure. However, I'm then faced with a problem. Once secured at the top how do I waterproof the top beam.

Puzzling over it reveals a long solution but I keep thinking until it opens like a flower, slowly yielding the information I need. Taking some unsplit fronds I tie them around the top beam and weave in the fibres before securing some more fronds lower down to trap the leaves from rising up. More fronds on the top than I weave into the lower layers. Three times I repeat this until there is a seamless green matt at the top that hopefully provides a great deal of waterproof support.

Night is now setting in quite seriously and I can hardly see so I gather up my fire sticks, kindling, lashes and fronds and crawl into the opening that opens up into the frame of the tepee. I lay out the fire sticks and kindling under the thickest part of the waterproofing and lay some leaves around it. I’m basically screwed if it gets ruined, so I make sure to protect it. I might have been lucky, or maybe it never rains but if they get wet I’m back to square one. Well almost square one. It would be a few more days until I could get pure water though.

I use the remaining fronds as a pillow and under my new shelter I settle down for a much better night’s sleep.

“Night Enigma”

“Night Ronja, have a good sleep.”

“You too buddy. We’ll see what tomorrow brings then.”

He replies but I don’t hear him as I fall through the layers of my mind to rest gently slumbering in the land of dreams.