Being excited about learning new things we stayed up through the night and shared many things. Back home I had given a great deal of thought about how to start with nothing and achieve a comfortable level of existence, as I knew it. Torg picking up on the thought shared that this would be a great experience and expressed the desire to implement my dream. Especially after seeing how a civilized person lived through sharing. Seeing the strength of his conviction and desire to achieve my goal I decided to stay for a while and see what we could achieve. Besides their could be some more advanced beings on this world that he knew nothing about considering that he had never been far from here. In the morning as soon as there was enough light to see by we went hunting. Taking the bow and arrow he slung the spear across his back then stuck the axe through the hide around his waist we headed out. After finding a suitable blind next to an animal trail. He checked the breeze finding that the blind was downwind of the expected direction that the animals would be coming from. We settled in and waited for one to show. We didn�t have to wait long before a Dado as he called it made an appearance. It looked like a large antelope. I shared what I knew of the physiology of animals of home. He using this knowledge decided where and how to shoot it and did a fair job of it. He used the spear to finish it and took the axe to cut its throat to bleed it out. Jack: �You need a good knife,� and shared what it was. Torg �I don�t have material to make one of those� (referring to steel). �I had a stone knife until yesterday when I broke it prying up a rock to throw at yesterday�s game.� When he tried to pick the Dado up to pack it home, seeing that he was having difficulty getting everything situated. Jack: �there is an easier way to carry everything home in one trip.� Sharing a mental picture of a travois like the Indians used at home. So we built a travois and hauled everything home. Once there we found a suitable stone and proceeded to chip out another stone knife leaving a portion for the shank, which we wrapped with hide and tied in place with strips of hide. After doing this he skinned and gutted the animal. One of the mountain lion like creatures he called a Ra must have smelled the blood because it skirted the clearing and roared trying to run Torg off. Hearing the Ra Torg grabbed the bow and arrow while moving back to allow it to approach its intended meal. The Ra seeing Torg backing off rapidly hesitantly moved in to obtain it�s desired meal. When it did Torg shot it with the bow, after making sure that it was dead with the spear cut its throat and bled it out. Then Chopped its head off gutted it and began to skin it. By doing this he had more meat than he could eat before it spoiled. So I suggested that he make jerky out of most of it for preservation. Seeing in my mind what I meant by jerky which was different than just dried meat. He asked how to make it, I shared how to make a smoke house which he did by making a teepee like structure out of several layers of fresh wet boughs and hides over the fire pit. Effectively choking the fire down to not much more than a pile of smoldering embers, which by this time had a good bed of coals. I ask �are their fish in the river?� Torg: �Yes, but its too muddy to see them right now.� Because we were sharing I could see mentally why this made a difference. He fished by standing on a rock and spearing them, seeing this I realized why he needed to see them. Jack: �There is a way to catch them without having to see them.� And shared the use of a fishing pole with a line and a hook with bait. Then shared a visual scenario of catching fish with a fishing pole. Torg seeing this thought that it would be worth a try. So we took a hide with the hair removed began cutting a long thin strip. By cutting in a circle made it about 30 feet long for use as the fishing line. Made a hook out of a bone and tied it to the line. Then we found a suitable bough for a pole and used a piece of the meat for bait. While the meat was being smoked we went fishing. After finding an eddy, where the river had to flow past an outcropping of rocks. In about an hour we had one fish about 14 inches long and were presently hooked into an even larger one. Instructing him not to reef it in we played it back and forth for about 30 minutes when it got tired we pulled it up to shore grabbing it by the gills hauled it in. He called it a Targ, it must have been 48 inches long and looked something like a Sturgeon. Torg: �This way is better because you can catch them anytime and they come to you.� We cleaned and gutted the fish right at the river. Then adding the fish to the meat in the smoker we smoked them also. Sharing that for taste he would have to experiment with different types of wood avoiding the ones with pitch. Also that by first soaking them in brines with flavorings would improve taste but this would do for preservation. Sharing that by using different kinds of wood would make the meat taste different. Then we shared what I knew about marinating and brine. Finding that this was going to have to wait because he didn�t have enough salt. What salt he had was acquired through trade with the occasional visitor. We then set about making a crude cellar to keep the meat in and the animals out. Hewing out some soft ground and piling rocks around and placing some boughs on the top and bottom then rocks on the top of that. After this was done he ate and put the remainder of the meat in the crude cellar. Then he began to ask about other things and ways that could make his life easier. While sharing I learned that he knew of a cave not too far away. That he used to live in but moved out because it was too cold. Receiving a mental picture of ice on the walls asked him if there was a way to close it so animals couldn�t get in. He was not sure. Told him that if there were that keeping the meat cold would be better than smoking alone for preservation. If that spot was what I thought it was, it would be an ideal spot to store the food sharing that cold would preserve foodstuffs a lot longer. That if the meat was prepared and stored properly that it would last through the winter. Which was not due for another ninety suns. I thought that this would give us enough time to prepare. Telling him that he needed salt sharing that if he had enough how it could be used to better preserve the meat. Thinking that on my world rivers run into the sea which would be an excellent source of salt. I asked �where does the river run?� Torg: �I�ve been told that it runs into Savet, Jack: �What is Savet?� Torg: �A large body of water.� Jack: �How far away is Savet?� Torg: �I�m not sure but I�ve been told that it would take four suns to get there on foot.� Jack: �If I�m right we can acquire salt from that body of water. And if we build a canoe we can make the journey in a much shorter time.� After sharing for a while he needed sleep. While he was sleeping I went to check out the cave that he had mentioned. The opening was just a hole in the rock inside it opened up into a room maybe twenty feet by fifteen by ten high with a small shaft out the back. Exploring the shaft found that it led no where. Back in the room one wall seemed to be solid ice. Figured this must be an ice cave where the heat outside causes naturally occurring glauber salts to change phase. There by creating refrigeration when it was warm outside, then when it got cold outside the ice melted. Back outside began to examine the entrance to the cave trying to figure a way to seal the opening in a way that could be opened easily by an intelligent being but proof against an animal. Looking around found two heavy stones that could be placed one on either side of the opening creating kind of a groove that would hold a door that could be slid up and down. The door could be opened by a rope tied to a beam and be held open by tying the beam down then closed by releasing the beam. After coming to a solution and not being able to do anything about it began exploring the surrounding area. While exploring I came across a patch of ground that had a high concentration of sulfur and a palm sized fluorite crystal. Further exploration revealed little else; noticing that it was getting light headed back to Torg�s. Upon arrival found that he was already up and around down by the river. After sharing with him what I had found and what I thought it could be used for he decided that we should make it so. Gathering up the bow and arrows, the spear, a skin full of water and some meat from the makeshift cellar we headed for the cave. On the way Jack: �Torg lets get that crystal.� Sharing that, �with some work it could be a useful item.� After answering his questions as to how and what it could be used for I mentally showed him where it was. At the cave he laboriously slid and rolled the stones to the entrance then standing them up began to backfill around them with stones and dirt to hold them in place. We then began to look around for a suitable door finding a piece of shale about three inches thick after chipping it down to a size that would fit between the stones in the groove. Took one of the upright stones down installed the door then with a great deal of effort put the upright back in place. With this done we found a stout pole and a large rock to be used as a fulcrum to pry the door up. After wrestling the large rock into a position where it could be used. Finding another short pole we leaning it against the door at an angle that allowed it to fall into the groove when the door was lifted high enough. Then stuck long pole under the door and lifted it up letting the short pole fall into the groove. Seeing that the stone floor of the cave stopped just inside of where the door came down was assured that an animal would not be able to dig its way in under the door. With this done we went back to the cabin gathered up the meat and brought it back to the cave. The floor of the cave was solid stone so we took a bough and swept the floor then laid the meat down after taking some for dinner. The next day we went back took some of the meat for supplies, closed the cave and went back to the cabin. I suggested that the next project to tackle is the building of a canoe. We shared until he understood everything I knew about canoes. Torg: �I seen a burned out log that could be used to make a canoe not too far away.� Deciding that there was enough time to bring it back before dark we went to get it. Bringing the log back was more of a chore than he figured even though we used short logs for rollers, thankfully it was mostly down hill. By the time we got back it was dark and he was tired. After eating it wasn't long before he fell asleep. While he was sleeping I decided to do some more exploring and headed to the top of a nearby mountain to see what could be seen. While on the way spotted the two moons that Torg had shared belonged to Brawto. Raman was the large bright moon and Leem was the small and reddish one. Having a clear sky the two of them put out enough light to see by. Reaching the top of the mountain and looking around found the only things that could be seen were more mountains. Seeing this felt some disappointment and headed back down the mountain. On the way down, stopping to check the area around the cave again and found some saltpeter crusting the rocks not too far away. Finding this decided to tell Torg about it and what we could do with it. Took my time heading back to the cabin for it was not quite light yet. He was getting up just about the time I arrived. While he was eating I began to share with him what I had found and what we could do with it. When I shared with him what it could do he expressed doubts that by putting these things together that it could do what I had shared with him. I assured him that it would and knowing that I couldn�t lie while sharing. He with a few reservations went back up the mountain to gather some sulfur and saltpeter. Gathering about ten pounds of the sulfur we then went to scrape as much of the saltpeter off of the rocks as we could find. After spending a good portion of the morning doing this we headed back to the cabin. Once there I had him make a crude balance beam out of a pointed stone a bare branch and two hides. By tying the hides in the form of a pouch one to each end of the branch proceeded to find a point where it would balance on the pointed stone. Using a stone bowl and another stone for a pestle we began to grind each material into powder. After grinding the salt peter we put it in one of the pouches of the balance. Then after grinding the sulfur put enough in the other pouch to bring the beam into balance. Then emptied the sulfur into another hide leaving the salt peter in the pouch on the balance. Taking about ten pounds of charcoal from the fire pit proceeded to grind it into powder. While grinding he became covered with charcoal dust. After grinding we raked the results into a large skin and poured enough into the other pouch of the balance to bring it back into balance. At which point we had three skins full of the needed ingredients. Sharing that these things needed to stay completely dry we began to mix the equal portions together making sure that it was thoroughly mixed. He then put the mixture into a skin taking the other hides down to the river to rinse them off and wash the charcoal off of his body. Having become covered with the black charcoal while grinding. Standing in the sun to dry I shared that this mixture was very flammable. When he was dry we took a small amount put it on a rock took the striking stones created a spark lighting it. It went up with an impressive flare and puff of smoke. He asked how this would do what I had previously shared with him. I shared that it had to be contained, that the tighter and stronger the container was the more explosive the reaction would be. But before we experimented with it we would have to make a fuse that we could light that would burn slow enough to allow time to get away before it reached the container. For a demonstration instructed him to take a hand full of the powder and place it in a hole in the dirt. Then with a stick make a small groove in the ground from the hole to a point about three feet away. Filling the groove with a thin strip of powder and placing a large rock on top of the hole we were ready. Stressing that it was extremely important that as soon as it was lit to run away as fast as possible. That if he didn�t he could be killed. After sharing some visual scenarios of explosions and giving him a stern warning he became quite nervous which I thought was a good thing. Approaching the fuse he took out the striking stones and struck them making a spark and immediately ran away. With my prodding and being nervous it took him three tries before he got it lit. After it lit he had covered thirty feet watching all the way. When it went off, he stopped and watched the large stone split into three parts with each piece flying through the air. One piece landed next to him another landed in the river about fifty feet away and the third piece just disappeared. This demonstration made an indelible impression on him. I shared that we could make better fuses out of narrow strips of hide coated with fat from the animals and rolled in the powder and then rolled in fat again and for containers we could use hollowed out wood with a small hole for the fuse. He came up with a piece of wood that was similar to bamboo. We then made six fuses about two feet long. Testing one of the fuses found that it burned about two inches a second. So we cut the fuses in half, figuring that four inches would be inside the container leaving eight inches outside. Leaving a four-second fuse, which would be about right. Then taking the container cut a hole in one end inserted the fuse and filled it with powder. And packed some of the dried moss into the end and pounded a wooden plug in on top of the moss and coated it with fat for weather proofing. After making one we tried it out and the results were satisfactory it was almost as good as a stick of dynamite. After seeing the results Torg being impressed said �I had a hard time believing that it would do what you said it would, it but after seeing the results I believe.� We then made five more of these and wrapped them in as close to a waterproof skin as we could manage.
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