Renewal by Jf Perkins Page A

into what looked like a river channel, judging by the heavy trees. Most importantly, there were people, and Terry could tell, even from up on the rim, that they were healthy, and clean, and busy making a community work.
     
    “What do you think?” Bill asked.
     
    On closer inspection, Terry saw two more aspects that pushed the sense of awe he was feeling. The first was that there were wires strung on poles around the entire valley, and the second was that there were extensive and subtle defenses woven in everywhere. Most of the work looked like it had two purposes, as if someone really smart had figured out a way to make defenses that worked when needed, but got out of the way when the fighting was over.
     
    “Amazing.” Terry finally said.
     
    “Yeah, it’s pretty good nowadays. It took a long time to build. Let’s go say hello.”
     
    The men angled to the right to pick up a gravel path that led down into town, and followed it until they passed two large barns on either side of the lane.  The barn was littered with small subtle doors that could only be weapon ports, and one barn supported a massive gate that could be closed against the other to wall off the town. The gate and barns were clad in metal up to about 15 feet, but it was all painted to look like the wood. Terry was beginning to appreciate the thought that had gone into it. As they passed the gate, Terry could see that the fences were much taller than they had appeared and contained enough extra layers of wire and barbs at the bottom to make it very hard to penetrate. From the inside, he could see that the barns also had fighting platforms on the inside slopes of the roofs that provided a clear shot out to the borders of the community land while giving cover with the metal of the barn roofs themselves. Clever… He looked around and saw that there were four more pairs of similar barns all the way around the town.
     
    “Welcome to Teeny Town! You already see how it works, huh?”
     
    “Well, sir… Bill. I see some of it, but from what I do see, I bet I’m missing a lot more.”
     
    “Smart man. Let’s go get a drink.”
     
    Bill and Terry walked through town where men, women, and small children were out and about. They waved sent cheerful greetings to Bill, and waved and said hello to Terry. It was far friendlier and more relaxed than Manchester had ever been in Terry’s lifetime. By now the sun high enough to cast long shadows from the east, and people were gathering into the shady areas under the constant covered porches of the various shops. The buildings seemed to follow a common pattern of stone first stories, made from the dirt-common iron chert rock of the region, and wooden upper stories made from surprisingly well finished lumber. The roofs were mostly corrugated metal, with and occasional asphalt shingle and wood shake roof. The roadway was covered with limestone gravel, river stone, and crushed iron chert of the same kind in the building walls.
     
    Bill was talking the entire time, but it faded in and out for Terry, who was trying to see everything all at once. “…and we salvaged or traded for tools and materials from all over the region. We even set up some pretty good partnerships, which is why I want you to meet someone.”
     
    They stepped up to the broad porch of what could only be a restaurant or bar. They passed the neatly arranged tables and walked through open glass double doors into the deep shadow of the interior. Terry blinked and waited for his eyes to adjust. When he could see again, he saw that the place was mostly empty. Bill held up two fingers to the portly man behind the bar and led Terry to an enclosed booth in the back corner. For the second time this morning, Terry felt his knees wobble.
     
    Sitting at the booth was his boss at the Reclamation Office, Dusty Bearden.
     
    “Well, Mr. Shelton. I see you have managed to find all kinds of trouble since yesterday.” Dusty had a harsh look of anger on his