~ At the cave ~
“It’s a good thing the drawings only covered the front half of this chamber,” Nixie said, surveying all the furniture that now took up a good portion of the space where she was standing. “We’ve got stools for you two, and even one for me.”
“Stony seems to have thought of everything,” Star said. “He found and modified enough tables so Mom and I each have a short one for sitting and a full-height one for standing.”
“And then he included a regular table that we can use as a workbench,” Nicole added. “He’s quite a guy. I think you should keep him.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, he’ll be well kept,” Star said with a smile and a wink.
“Okay, let’s get your work stations set up like you want,” Nixie said, “then I’ll get out of your way.”
~ Mystic village ~
While Breezy and Juni were working on Taniki’s living quarters, they heard voices outside. They found four cats unloading clay bricks and other supplies outside the cookhouse. Seeing the two cats, Pinky strode forward.
“Hi, I’m Pinky. I hope Kikki and Tam told you I was coming.”
“She did,” Breezy replied. “She didn’t mention that you were bringing an army with you, though.”
“How about that,” Pinky said, turning to the three cats who were busy stacking the bricks. “You guys are an army.”
One of the cats stopped working. “Hi, I’m Josh, and that cat over there is Hermi. We’re the muscle. The young cat helping us is Kip. He’s the brains of the bunch.”
“Hi, guys. I’m Breezy, and my friend here is Juni. Stop batting your eyes and say hi, Juni.”
“Oh yeah, hi, guys,” Juni said with a self conscious laugh.
“Come on, we’ll show you where we want the oven and the fire pit.”
Once Breezy and Juni went back to work, Kip showed them the basics of what they would be building.
“Okay,” Pinky said, “Josh, I want you and Kip to head back downstream to load up and bring the rest of the bricks back up here. I’ll start digging the pit, and Kip can start leveling the ground for the oven.”
“Taniki and her kids are going to be here sometime tomorrow, and I’d like to have this done so we can surprise her when she shows up.”
“It’s nice to see you so motivated, Pinky. It looks good on you,” Josh said with a grin as he turned to follow Hermi back to Hungry Village. Pinky just smiled and started digging.
Suki and Shaun were at the shelter they were using as a workshop. “I don’t know what to tell you, Shaun, but we have a major problem.”
“We’ve tested every one of the shiners that we built, and we’ve never had a problem.”
“Well, there’s something different about this last batch,” Shaun stated. “They don’t make the bright blue light. For some reason, they only produce the original pale blue light.”
“Okay, let’s make another test batch and see how that turns out,” Suki said, determined to figure out what went wrong.
They finished the test batch and were left scratching their heads. “I just don’t see what’s different,” Shaun said in exasperation.
Thinking back over the last few days, Suki suddenly sat up straight. “There was one difference.”
“When we made the last good batch, we used the last of the oil we’ve been using all along. I grabbed another jar from Isis’s cabin. There must have been something different about that second jar.”
“Do you still have the first jar?” Shaun asked her.
“Sure, I left it on Isis’s workbench,” Suki said, heading for the door. “Bring that new jar, and we’ll compare it to the old one.”
At Isis’s cabin, they had the jars side by side. After pouring a tiny bit of each one onto a plate, they tried to see a difference.
“They look the same to me,” Shaun said. “And look, they even run the same when you tilt the dish.”
“Yeah, I see that,” Suki said, picking up each jar, looking to see if there was anything extra inside. She found nothing. Then she stopped. With a jar in each hand, she sniffed one and then the other.
“Well, that’s different,” she said. “They don’t smell the same.”
“The new jar smells kind of nice, but the original one, while it isn’t terrible, is unpleasant.”
“Are there any more jars of oil?” Shaun asked, getting up to check the shelves.
They found four more jars of oil, but they all had the same pleasant smell as the new one they were using.
“I guess we’ll have to wait until Isis gets back from her trip,” Suki said.
“Or…” Shaun said, “We could ask Cassy. Maybe she knows what the difference is.”
“You’re right, let’s go find her.”
They found Cassy at her shelter, studying some of Isis’s notes.
“We’ve got a problem that maybe you can help us with,” Suki told her. “We need to figure out the difference between these two oils. They look the same and have the same consistency, but they don’t smell the same.”
Cassy picked up the first jar and smelled, then smelled the second one.
“Well, one is oil made from the pods of the Glimmer Bush,” Cassy said. “And I think the other is oil made from the Ugly Sister pods.”
“I don’t know why Isis would be making Ugly Sister oil.” Cassy wondered. “Maybe it’s in her notes.”
“Okay, just to be clear,” Suki said, “the stinky oil is the Ugly Sister oil.”
“That’s right. Do you know what she was doing with it?”
“I have no idea, but we need some more. Do we just use the regular process to extract the oil from the pods?” Suki asked.
“Yeah, you crush the pods into a pulp and then press that to squeeze the oil out.”
“I have to warn you, those pods really stink, so try not to get any on you,” Cassy warned her.
“Thanks, you’ve been a big help, Cassy.”
“Come on, Shaun, I know where Isis has her press,” Suki said. “We need to go find some Ugly Sister pods.”
“I’m right with you. I just hope this will solve our problem,” Shaun said, hurrying to keep up with her.
So we need to find this “Ugly Sister” plant, Shaun said, scanning the forest around them.
“Not exactly,” Suki replied. “We need to find a Glimmer Bush. The Ugly Sister always grows nearby.”
“Okay, so what does the Glimmer Bush look like?” Shaun asked as he walked farther into the forest.
“Look for a big plant with huge leaves. Clustered around the leaf’s stems are shiny, sparkly pods.”
“You mean like this one?” Shaun said, pointing to a plant just off the trail. “Those leaves are big enough to hide behind.”
“We have a winner! See the sparkly pods there,” Suki said, pointing under the leaves. “Now look around for a nearly identical plant, big leaves and all, but instead of shiny pods, the pods will be ugly brown… and they stink.”
It only took a minute to locate the Ugly Sister.
“They do look alike, don’t they,” Shaun said, reaching for one of the pods.
“Ow!” he yelled, snatching his hand away.
“Remember, Cassy said they stink and not to get any on you?” Suki said in exasperation. “That means, ‘Don’t get any on you.'”
“Alright, just no more hitting,” Shaun sheepishly replied. “A sharp word would have done just as well.”
“Oh, I don’t know, the smack seemed to work alright,” Suki grinned.
They managed to collect a bucketful of the pods using forked sticks to pry them loose. With only a few trips to the stream to wash off the stink, they were able to mash up the pods and run the pulp through the press.
Sniffing the jar of the oil that they’d produced, Shaun wrinkled his nose. “Wow, this smells way worse than the oil we used in the first place.”
Suki sniffed the jar. “You’re right, this is nasty.”
“Let me think…,” then she said, “Why don’t we try filtering it? Maybe that will help.”
They filtered some of the oil through multiple layers of cloth. While they waited for the oil to run through, they labeled some jars so they could keep from confusing the different oils.
With the filtered oil in a jar of its own, they took another sniff. “Well, it’s better, but still pretty stinky.”
“I’m trying to remember what I’ve seen Isis do with her oils,” Suki said.
“Let’s try boiling it. I’ve seen Isis do that.”
“Okay,” Shaun said, “Let’s get methodical about this. We’ll be sure to get some of the ‘pressed only oil’ and some of the ‘pressed and filtered.’ Next, we’ll boil some of the ‘pressed only’ and then some of the ‘pressed and filtered.'”
“When we’re done with all that, we can make a sample run of shiners using each of the oils.”
“Why don’t you boil one and I’ll do the other,” Suki said, grabbing a few small pots off the shelf.
After getting the fire started and the individual pots of oil boiling, they both backed up away from the fire.
“Wow, I thought it was smelly before,” Shaun complained, “but boiling it raises it to a whole new level.”
“Boy, that’s no lie,” Suki said. “Well, let’s let them boil for a few more minutes, then we can skim off anything that floats to the top.”
“You know,” Shaun said, “Just for the heck of it, let’s save what we skim off, just in case that’s where the magic is.”
“My, aren’t you the smart one,” Suki said, giving him an appraising look.
“I’ve been learning from the best,” he replied with a grin.
“Okay, let’s get this thing done,” Suki said, bracing herself against the smell.
When they were done and everything was in its individual jars, they called a break.
“Good grief, I don’t think anything will ever smell the same,” Shaun complained.
“I’m just glad I didn’t throw up; that was some nasty stuff,” Suki said.
“You know, if one of these oils solves our problem, we’re going to have to go through this every time we need more oil,” Shaun said.
“I’m choosing to ignore that for now,” Shaun said. “Let’s make some test runs. I think we should use Cisco’s method of making one shiner at a time in a bowl.”
“That means we’ll need four bowls and some fresh Moonglow pods. I’ll arrange the rocks around the fire while you get everything ready.”
Suki and Tam had been making shiners by the dozen, so they had the method down to a science. It wasn’t too long before the test shiner’s were ready.
“Okay, let’s load ‘em up and see what happens,” Shaun said.
They spent a few minutes adding the two minerals and pebbles to the shiners, then they took them into Isis’s cabin and closed the curtains.
“This first shiner was made using the oil straight from the press. Here goes,” Shaun said, shaking the shiner.
Simple blue light.
“Well, that’s surprising,” Suki said. “I was really expecting the bright blue light. Maybe the oil wasn’t the problem after all.”
“Here goes the shiner made with the filtered oil,” Shaun said as he shook it.
Again, simple blue light.
“Well, now I’m starting to get worried,” Suki said.
“Next is the shiner made using the unfiltered boiled oil.” He shook it up and waited.
“Doesn’t that look a little brighter to you?” he asked.
“Grab that last shiner while it’s still shining. How does it compare?” Suki asked.
“It is a little brighter, but not much,” he replied.
“Okay, here goes the shiner made with the oil that was filtered and boiled.” He took a breath and shook it up. Bright blue light lanced out, lighting up the dark cabin.
“Now isn’t that a pretty sight,” Shaun said, with a big smile.
“What a relief,” Suki said giving him a hug.
“You know, we didn’t do anything with that stuff we skimmed off while we were boiling the oil.” Shaun said.
“Why don’t we leave that for Isis to play around with?” Suki said, “I’ve had enough of this stinky stuff for one day.”
“Let’s get these jars put away and get out of here,” Shaun said, gathering up the jars.
“It must be getting close to meal time.”
While all the stinky business with the Ugly Sister was going on, Pinky and his crew had been working on the oven and the fire pit for the cookhouse.
“How does it look so far, Kip?” Pinky asked, taking a break to get a drink of water.
“The pit is ready to start lining it with bricks,” Kip answered. “When we get Josh and Kip started on that, you and I can start building the oven.”
“Do you think we’ll have it done by tomorrow?” Pinky asked, handing him the water bag.
“Yes and no,” Kip answered, taking a drink and handing the bag back.
“And what does that mean?” Pinky asked.
“Well, the building part will be done, but the clay holding it all together will need to set up and dry out.” Kip explained, “And then we’ll need to build a small fire in the oven and keep it going for at least a day to gradually relieve the stresses that could cause it to form cracks.”
About then, Kikki and Tam came over carrying four plates of food.
“You’ve been working so hard, you missed lunch,” Kikki said. “And, as you know, no cats are allowed to go hungry in this valley.”
“I like the sound of that,” Pinky said. “Just wait a minute while we go wash up. We want to taste the food, not the dirt.”
When they got back from the stream, they dug into the meal like the starving cats they were.
“That really hit the spot,” Kip said, chasing down the last crumb on his plate.
“Now it’s time for a nap.”
“A short nap might not be a bad idea,” Pinky considered. “We should let our lunch settle. Just remember, we’ll be working until we’re done here.”
“You old farts take your naps,” Kip said with a chuckle. “I’m going to get started on the oven.”
“Okay, youngster, see you in a bit,” Pinky replied, looking around for a place to curl up.
“It’s good to see that we’re so good at bringing work to a screeching halt,” Tam said. “Who should we go interrupt next?”
“It looks like Breezy and Juni finished early, so that’s out, and from the smell of things, I don’t want to go anywhere near what Suki and Shaun are doing,” Kikki said.
“If we go and bother Vitto and Del, they’re liable to want to start our martial arts training early. I think we’re way too busy for that.” Tam said.
“Aren’t we?” he asked hopefully.
“You’re absolutely right, much too busy,” Kikki replied trying to sound serious.
“So, do you want to take a walk?” Tam grinned. “We can discuss how busy we are.”
“That does sound like a good way to use our valuable time,” Kikki smiled, taking his hand.
Later that evening, as Pinky and the others were finishing both the pit and the oven, Suki stopped by carrying a bundle.
“You guys do good work, and you’re fast too,” she said. “That was smart to bring in extra help. Though I thought Kip was only going to be an advisor. You really put him to work! I’ll have to think of some way to pay him for his efforts.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Pinky said. “When you proposed the idea of me starting my own business cutting trees, I realized I couldn’t do it alone.”
“When I thought about it, I realized I didn’t want a crew working ‘for’ me; I wanted partners working ‘with’ me. So I asked Josh and Kip to join me for equal shares.”
“Then, when they saw that I wasn’t afraid to work,” Kip said, flexing his muscles, “they asked me to join them.”
“That’s great; it sounds like you have things figured out.” Holding out the bundle, she said, “Here’s the cutting ropes Kikki promised you. There are three, so you can work with two and keep the third as a spare in case one breaks. Be sure to tell us if you have any trouble with them so we can fix it.”
“We’re thinking of doing projects like this one too,” Kip said. “It’s amazing what you can do with a good team.”
“So, Kip, what are your parents going to think about this?” Suki asked.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. I live in a house full of brothers and sisters.” He replied with a grin. “It’ll probably be a month before they realize I’m not there.”
“But seriously, I’ll make sure they’re okay with it.”
“It looks like you’re just about done.” Suki said. “Are you going to stay for dinner and spend the night?”
“No, as soon as we finish up, we’re going to head home,” Pinky said. “We want to start looking for new projects.”
“Just remember to keep a small fire burning in the oven starting tomorrow.”
“Noted, and thanks for doing such a good job,” Suki said. “Now I’ve got to go find Shaun. The last time I saw him, he was taking another bath in the stream, trying to get the stink out of his fur.”
~ Bringing Taniki and the kids home ~
Vitto, Del, and Kyron were up early. They were going down to the Hungry tribe village to help Taniki and her kids make the move to Mystic Village. They took time for a good breakfast, as they knew it was going to be a long and tiring day.
“This should be a pretty easy day, at least planning wise,” Del said. “All we need to take with us are our empty packs.”
“It couldn’t hurt to throw in some snacks for the kids on the trip back,” Kyron added.
“And maybe for you too?” Del asked with a grin.
“Possibly,” Kyron grinned back.
They were well on their way downstream when the rest of the cats started gathering for breakfast.
“Okay, guys, Vitto and Del left early, so it looks like I’m Camp Mom for the day,” Kikki announced. “I hope fish cakes and eggs are good enough to get you through to lunch.”
“I think we can suffer through with that,” Zelli said.
“Go ahead and relax; the food will be out in a few minutes,” Kikki said, turning to go back into the cabin.
Baxter took a seat next to Cassy. Leaning back, he said, “Hey, guys, I wanted to run something by you.”
“I know we still have weeks of work ahead of us on the guest cabins. When we’re done with that, I’m sure we’re all anxious to start work on our own cabins, I know I am.”
“But here’s the question: how do we want to go about that?”
“Do we each work on our own, or should we continue as a crew and all work on one cabin and then the next until they are all at least basically done?”
“I like the idea of working as a crew, one cabin at a time,” Stony said from where he was setting. “But how do we decide whose cabin gets worked on first?”
“Well, I don’t think any of us has a screaming need to get their cabin built right away,” Breezy said, joining the conversation. “It isn’t like we’re sleeping out in the rain. The shelters are nice enough for now.”
“The simplest way would be to just draw lots,” Zelli said. “Even if someone was off on a trip, their names could still be in the drawing.”
“That sounds workable and fair,” Juni said.
“I hope we can still be in the drawing even if we haven’t decided on a cabin site yet,” Nixie remarked.
“Yes siree!” Stony declared with a big grin, “Step right up, everybody gets a chance to be a big winner!”
“It’s really not that big of a deal.” Baxter said laughing at Stony. “All the cabins will get built before we’re done.”
“I like the idea for the drawing though. It adds a fun aspect to the whole deal.
“There is one small detail I thought of,” Cassy said. “Some of us will be building a cabin for two, but I don’t think it would be fair for that couple to get two chances in the drawing. I think the drawing should be per cabin, not per cat.”
“You’re always one step ahead of me, aren’t you?” Baxter grinned.
“Alright then, spread the idea around and see what everybody thinks.”
~ Hungry Village ~
Vitto, Del, and Kyron walked onto a scene of organized chaos.
Taniki had the kids operating like a well organized army of ants, each carrying small bundles out of the house, setting them in piles, and going back inside for more.
“I hope you save something for us to do,” Kyron called as they walked into the yard.
“Hi guys,” Taniki greeted them. “I didn’t expect you this soon. You must have gotten an early start.”
“The kids are so excited, I figured I’d better put them to work to burn off some of their energy before you got here.”
“I thought it would be best to have everything in small bundles that would easily fit in our packs.”
“See, Mom and Dad,” Kyron grinned, “I told you there wouldn’t be much planning to do today.”
Seeing how much Taniki and the kids had already accomplished, Del had to smile.
“I hope you left a little for us to do.”
“Oh, don’t worry, this is the easy part,” Taniki said, stopping to stretch in the sunshine. “Hauling it all up to the Flower Village is where the real work comes in.”
“That’s right, we didn’t tell you,” Vitto said. “By popular vote, we decided to rename the village. Our village is now called Mystic Village, and our valley is the Magic Valley.”
“Wow, I think those names are perfect.” Taniki said, giving herself a little shiver.
“You sure know how to show your excitement,” Kyron laughed, his whiskers twitching.
“I seem to have some extra energy to burn off too,” Taniki laughed.
“Why don’t you get the kids ready and we’ll start loading our packs?” Del said.
It wasn’t long before everything was ready for the first trip up to Mystic Village.
“I see you remembered to leave room in the top of a couple of packs for Pounce and Rowdy.” Taniki said, giving everything one last check.
“Can’t forget our most important passengers,” Kyron said, picking up Rowdy and setting him in to ride at the top of his pack.
“Come on, Pounce, you get to ride with me.” Vitto said, getting her settled in his pack so she had a good view.
The kids had loaded their packs with all their favorite things and were excited to get going.
~ Mystic Village ~
Suki and Shaun were in their workshop surrounded by bundles of shiners.
“I don’t know how it happened,” Shaun said in resignation. “Somehow, one of the bundles of shiners that we sent with Jax was full of the dud shiners.”
“I know I marked each of those shiners with a spot of Kikki’s blueberry ink, just so I wouldn’t get them confused with the bright ones.”
“See this bundle of shiners? They all have the blue spot. But there should be a second bundle of them, and I can’t find it anywhere. Plus, we have one too many bundles of the bright shiners.”
“All we can do is wait for Jax’s group to get back and find out what the damage was,” Suki said, putting a consoling hand on Shaun’s shoulder. “At least not all the shiners we sent with him were duds.”
“Let’s get this stuff straightened up, then we can decide what to do next.”
“Well, I don’t want to mess up anything else today,” Shaun said. “Let’s go help Kikki with lunch.”
“Good idea,” Suki said, “anything we mess up there, we can blame on Kikki.”
“Let’s not be selfish. If we mess up badly enough, we can blame Tam too,” Shaun added with a grin.
Suki and Shaun walked into Isis’s cabin where Kikki was preparing lunch for everyone.
“Hi Kikki, we’re here to help. What can we do?” Suki said.
“There’s a big pot of rabbit stew on the fire. Keep stirring it so it doesn’t burn,” Kikki showed her.
“And you,” Kikki said, leading Shaun by the hand, “are in charge of veggies. Just wash them off and put them in this pot of boiling water. Let them boil for a couple of minutes and then set the pot off to the side.”
“I’ll go beat the drum to bring everyone to lunch,” Kikki said, heading out onto the porch.
As the sound of the drum floated through the valley, ears perked up, whiskers quivered, and bellies rumbled.
“Thank goodness, it looks like I won’t be starving after all,” Baxter sighed with relief.
“Okay everybody,” Zelli called, “Lunch time. Let’s get there before Baxter gets it all.”
A short distance down the valley from the village, more whiskers were twitching and bellies rumbling.
“Listen to that, drumbeats!” Jen said excitedly. “We must be getting close!”
“And it must be lunchtime,” Dev said, walking a little faster.
“Hold on there, speedy,” Taniki laughed. “I’m sure they’ll leave us a bone or two to gnaw on.”
The drum worked its magic, and all the cats gathered at the village common area, waiting for lunch. It wasn’t long before they were all enjoying the rabbit stew and munching on the veggies.
“Thanks Kikki for keeping us all fed,” Cassy said. “Maybe you missed your second calling.”
“Not a chance,” Kikki grinned. “There’s a difference between being good at something and being merely adequate.”
“And there is your rescue from my mere adequacy,” Kikki said, pointing to the group of cats just entering the village.
Kikki greeted Taniki with a warm hug. “Welcome home.”
After a leisurely lunch, it was decided that the kids would stay at the village while the adults made another trip to bring more of Taniki’s stuff back.
Tam and Shaun approached the group as they were almost done unloading their packs.
“Taniki,” Tam said, “If you want to stay with the kids and get started on putting your stuff away, Shaun and I would be glad to join your group of movers.”
“Far be it from me to turn down free labor,” Taniki laughed. “Just report to the boss.”
“And the boss is?” Tam asked.
Both Kyron and Vitto smiled and pointed toward Del.
“Glad to have the help,” Del said, trying to sound stern, then grinning. “Bring empty packs.”
The five cats managed to make the round trip to Taniki’s house and get back in time for dinner.
After emptying their packs at Taniki’s new home, they joined the other cats at the central fire pit.
It wasn’t long before Kikki and Suki started bringing out the food.
“Tonight’s dinner is rabbit on a stick, along with raw veggies to gnaw on,” Kikki announced. “Don’t bother to complain; it won’t do any good.” She grinned. “Taniki is kicking me out of the kitchen after tonight.”
“We’ve eaten some pretty sketchy stuff in the past,” Breezy said. “Compared to that, your cooking is top notch.”
“Thanks, I think,” Kikki replied, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m glad you brought that up, Breezy,” Cassy said. “While I’ve been trying to make myself useful, I realized that while everyone here has been busy doing grand and wonderful things, certain mundane, everyday things have been forgotten.”
“Because of your occasional ‘sketchy meals,’ it’s important that we all get a monthly dose of Whisker’s Bane to keep us clear of parasites.”
“Also, with all the traveling we seem to be doing, we want to keep a close watch to make sure nobody brings home some nasty bug. So, if any of you start showing any unusual symptoms, be sure to let me or Isis know. Really, don’t try to tough it out, it’s important to let us know.”
“You’re right, Cassy,” Del said. “Not only is it important not to bring a bug home from our travels, but we also don’t want to be spreading any bugs.”
“That’s a good reminder. We need to take care of ourselves and each other,” Stony said, giving Star a quick hug.
“So, Taniki, how are things going with your big move?” Nixie asked.
“It’s going great,” Taniki said. “I want to thank everybody for all the work you’ve done building the cookhouse and helping haul my stuff from my old home. You’ve all been wonderful.”
“I’m making one last trip to pick up a few last things and say goodbye to the old place.”
The next morning, as Taniki was about to head downstream, Kyron walked up. “I thought I might go with you, just in case you have more stuff to bring back than you thought.”
“Sure, it’ll be nice to have some company on the trail. To be truthful, I’m afraid it’s going to be kind of sad to leave the house for the last time.”
“I know a little about that feeling,” Kyron said. “My parents and I left our home to come here. Once we get a cabin built here, we’ll be making a few trips back to Falling Waters to bring our stuff.”
“That’s going to be quite a project to haul everything back in packs,” Taniki said, as they turned onto the trail that ran along the stream.
“I’ve got some ideas about hauling heavy loads that I want to talk to Cisco about,” Kyron replied.
“On small trails like this one, packs might be the only way, but on the wider trails between villages, there might be a better way. Especially with the supply runs we’re making.”
“Just what are you thinking of?” she asked.
“Well, we already use small, two-wheeled carts to move stuff around villages where the pathways are flat and smooth. But when you take them on a trail that’s rough at all, it just beats the wooden wheels to pieces. We need to come up with better wheels and maybe a better-designed cart.”
“Those carts are pretty simple, just a box mounted on a two-wheel axle with two poles extending forward that you stand between and use to pull the cart.”
“Okay, say you’re traveling to a distant village to pick up a load of supplies that would be too big to pack on your back.”
“Instead of dragging a cart all the way to that village, my idea is to only carry the simple frame with the wheels and axle. When you get there, you can lash together drag poles and a frame to tie your load to.”
“With a little design work, you could make it so you could change the axle and framework depending on the width of the trail you’re going to be traveling on.”
“These are all just random ideas, but it all depends on coming up with a wheel that will hold together on a rough trail.”
“I’m impressed,” Taniki said, giving him a look of approval. “I’ll bet you have an idea about how to keep those wheels from breaking.”
“I do, that’s what I want to talk to Cisco about.”