Youth World

Chapter 18 – Return of the Scouts

Upon examining the camp the day after the festivities, I noticed that everybody was working twice as hard. My plan had worked.

Over the next few days, the camp continued to progress quite rapidly, constructing tons of new weapons and a decent number of rifles. Those were relatively hard to make, at least for kids, so even some of the farm boys who had a lot of experience with firearms had a hard time getting everything right. Despite this, most of the produced rifles worked fine. This extraordinary success led me to design a Gatling Gun to ȧssist troops on the field against more numerous enemies.

This Gatling Gun was largely based off the 1877 "Bulldog" Gatling Gun, firing the standard 8mm round that the riflemen used. I originally wanted it to shoot a different projectile, but the metallurgists and craftsmen were already used to making the 8mm and forcing them to change things up would be too hard on them.

I handed the blueprints to the engineers and metallurgists and tasked them with making a dozen by the time we leave for the Yakima River Valley. After heading to the shooting range to train the riflemen, I received an urgent message.

"The scouts had returned!"

I had sent these guys out on about the third day after the apocalypse, and I tasked them with crossing the Snoqualmie Mountain Pass and scouting out the area around the upper Yakima River Valley, especially the area around the former city of Ellensburg, a perfect place to start a new civilization. However, since this journey would be around two hundred miles round trip, it did take them quite a while to get back.

"Joel!" I exclaimed, "I'm so happy to see that you've returned!"

Joel was the best hiker in the entire city that I had sent along with an entourage of a dozen other hikers to scout out the areas that I had mentioned. He was smarter than I am, but with much less practical knowledge. He once beat me in the mathematics competition, which pissed me off a little.

"Glad to see you too. I have some jarring discoveries that will certainly shock you."

"Interesting. How about you take a seat here and tell me what you've figured out?"

"Thanks. I'll cut to the chase here. The rivers that have flowed through the area have drastically shifted course, engulfing the area that used to be Ellensburg. However, this has caused many fertile plains to form around the meandering river, and next to it we found a small settlement of people. After talking to them, they agreed to let us settle there since I flaunted our presumed technological advancements and military strength. I also got into contact with many neighboring tribes, many of which were relatively friendly."

"That's good to hear. Anything else?"

"Yes. I scouted out the Snoqualmie Pass, and I found a really easy way to get through it. A lot of the holes that were carved into the mountains still exist. It seems like we have been transported into the future. Even more, we found out that Vega is the new north star, which means we're at least 13,000 years in the future."

"We discovered that as well. Also, not just the north star, but the night sky has completely shifted, and it appears that the seasons are different as well. We are apparently in spring, even though it should normally be late summer or early autumn. Our smart science students have observed that we are probably about 25,000 years in the future based on the seasonal changes. Our salt collecting guys and shipbuilders have also noted a significant change in the Puget Sound's coastline."

"Very interesting. This lines up exactly with what we discovered."

"So," I continued, "Can you tell us a bit more about the people in the areas you visited?"

"There are tons of relatively small tribes, many of them constructing small settlements along riverbanks or just anywhere, really. They are very primitive, mainly using burnt wooden sticks and throwing rocks as weapons, and some of them, including those from Ellensburg, began taming many species of animals such as dogs. So far, I've heard from many of them that they were trying to plant many kinds of crops, but even though most of them worked on farms for their whole lives the plants they found were so different that they really didn't know that much about them. Despite that, they said they'd try their best to make things work."

"Thank you for that useful information. I cannot thank you enough for making that perilous expedition through the mountains. Well, during the few weeks you were gone, we've made a ton of progress. Look!"

"I saw that your guys had guns. Well, let's see what other things you've all done!"

"I'll be your tour guide. Follow me!"

The scouts stared at everything in awe, impressed that we were able to accomplish everything in such a short timeframe. The progress was unlikely, but not impossible. It's the best that we could have realistically done, and I was extremely proud of it.

"This camp is amazing! Alexander, do you really plan on abandoning this place?"

"We'll load everything we can onto ships to ship them to Ellensburg, which would include most of the stuff used to make weapons. My friend Aidan will leave a garrison of four hundred soldiers and civilians here while he conquers much of the lands around the Salish Sea."

"Wow there. Those certainly are some big ambitions."

"They sure are. However, with his tact and weapon superiority, it certainly wouldn't be impossible. It'd just take a lot of time. Don't worry, it's all going to be just fine."

"Hmmm. Well, military affairs aren't my forte, so I'm not one to talk. I'll trust you on this one. I mean, since you've already done this much in less than a month, you must be very competent."

"Thank you for the compliment. Anyways, did you see that giant map I drew in the middle of the camp?"

"Yep. What about it?"

"Can you draw the course of the rivers that you saw during your travels on the map? As well as any other geographical features that have changed?"

"I'll try my best. However, I don't have a photographic memory, so everything won't be exactly spot on."

"That's perfectly fine. As long as its relatively similar, that's good enough for me."

Joel and his scouts headed towards the map on the ground, ready to do their modifications. I returned to the soldiers to resume the training that had been interrupted.

"Alright, men. Sorry for the delay! Now, let's continue with the five-mile hike!"

After another few days, Aidan had invited me to see what he was up to. I agreed, mostly because I hadn't seen him in a while. Leaving Julius in temporary control of the camp, I headed south around the lake and immediately turned west until I reached the Cedar River. There was a pontoon bridge spanning the river, about a hundred and fifty feet long. Aidan had constructed it to transport a multitude of things from the camp to the shipbuilding area, and it had been completed in a shocking seven days.

Many of the ships were partially complete, while other larger ones were merely skeletons on a frame. The ship construction had been vastly accelerated by people who worked in the dockyards that used to litter the river's banks and teens whose parents also worked in these dockyards. Using their expertise, Aidan had redesigned his ships to be more efficient and more heavily armed. He wanted to build some ships out of pykrete, but he eventually realized that those ships would have to have a cooling mechanism and that wouldn't be feasible.

Instead, Aidan's blueprints showed that he was constructing many single and double decker ships, as well as canoes to serve as transports and light attack ships armed with missiles. Aidan had considerably delayed the launching of the fleet, instead saying that he would send out the ships carrying the camp's equipment first and then invading Vancouver Island later on. This was a wise plan, since warships don't build themselves and cannot be feasibly built in such short timespans. When I sent a messenger to ask him how those transport ships would be defended in case of attack, he replied that he would send a contingent of rocket canoes to protect them.

"Alexander! There you are!"

Aidan ran up and gave me a hug. That guy was obsessed with physical contact, though mostly with women.

"Nice to meet you, Aidan! How about you give me a tour of the shipyard?"

"Sure thing! Once I begin my conquests of the western coasts, this will be my primary base of operations. I've effectively vassalized many of the tribes and peoples around here, so they'll also support any further efforts."

"Ahhh, Aidan," I remarked sarcastically, "Ever the smooth talker. Anyways, let's get on with the tour."

I spent much of the day greeting everybody around the dockyard, helping however I could, and asking people how their lives were. It wasn't very interesting, but it presented me with valuable new experiences.

Waving goodbye to the dock workers and making a motivating speech, I headed back to the camp. Crossing the pontoon bridge, I arrived right before dinnertime. As I expected, nothing went wrong, and Julius didn't try to seize power. This was the first time I'd left camp for over a few hours, so it was nice to know that nobody would try anything funny in my absence.

As I was leaving, Aidan handed me a detailed plan of invasion and conquest. It was very intricate, with very extreme ambitions to say the least. He wanted an empire spanning the coasts from Northern Alaska to Northern California. A thalassocracy of sorts, with a bunch of regional rulers paying tribute to the empire as a whole. This separate entity, though still part of the Imperial State of Cascadia, would run things slightly differently since it wasn't really a land-based empire. Eventually, Aidan hoped to reintegrate his state with mine after a successful reconquest of Western Washington and Western Oregon had occurred. However, all of this would only happen in the distant future, so we were just planning ahead.

I made a speech to everybody after dinner ended, telling them illustrious stories about how well the shipbuilding process was going. This speech was exaggerated, but it had the intended effect on the people. Now, they had a bit more national pride going on, seeing that they were the only nation with the capacity to build such vessels. Also, many of them were happier knowing that the beloved camp they had constructed wouldn't be abandoned and destroyed, since Aidan's garrison would do a good job maintaining it.

I spent the rest of the evening examining more things around the camp. There wasn't much for me to do, since people were getting a better hang of their jobs and professions by this point.. Around an hour before midnight, I fell asleep as soon as I slumped onto the mossy bed, ready to tackle any challenge that would dare to face me tomorrow.