The knock on the Pendeltons' front door came just as they'd all assembled for their midday meal.
It was a frugal meal. It was increasingly hard to put one together: the gas for the barbecue grill had finished a while ago, and food was running out. Of course, they'd thought about transporting food from the New World: they had built half a dozen fish traps, and were emptying them at least twice a day. It was late summer in the New World, and they were finding more wild berries, edible roots, and mushrooms than they could eat.
Unfortunately, they still hadn't found a trace of that mysterious mineral called tiger rock that was required to transport goods back home. True, they hadn't done much exploring. They'd been concentrating on building a good, functional base in the New World. They made sure their little settlement was well hidden, and varied their routes on forays for food so that no well-trodden paths became visible.
After their deadly revenge on the renters, none of them were keen to run into other settlers in the New World. They made do with the primitive wood and stone tools they'd made. Sometimes, they had a bit of luck: Gladys had found a couple of turtles, and their shells made good shovels.
And sometimes, one of them would remember a skill they'd acquired when young, and subsequently forgotten. It was Harold that remembered how he'd used to amuse himself when he was a kid by building fish traps out of small branches and twigs and twine. And the girls - Gladys and Susan - dusted off long-forgotten skills and twisted coconut fibers into very serviceable, strong thread. There were plenty of coconut palms around, and there was no shortage of coconuts.
But they hadn't found any tiger rock, and so were unable to transport food back home.
"Looks like our people in the New World will be soon eating better than us," Dave Ramsey commented when he sat down and got a good look at his plate. It contained two slices of white bread, a few spoonfuls of baked beans, and a cold, raw wiener sausage.
"Stop moaning and tuck in," Harold Pendelton said sharply. Most of the food had come from the Pendelton larder; the Ramseys' contribution was limited to the tasteless white bread.
Dave Ramsey gave Harold a cross look and was about to deliver a stinging reply when they heard the knock on the front door.
"Well, what do you know," Susan Ramsey said. She looked at Harold.
"Don't wait for me," he said, getting up to answer the door. They all literally threw themselves at the food on their plates. We can't last like this much longer, Harold thought as he walked to the door. Another few days, and we'll start to starve. We must mount an expedition, and find tiger rock.
He was about to mindlessly open the door when he had the thought it might be the renters. He bent down to the peephole, and gasped at what he saw.
There was an army officer standing in front of the door. Two soldiers with assault rifles at the ready stood at his back.
Harold hurriedly opened the door, saying:
"At last, at last! I'm so happy to see you. I -"
He broke off. The look on the officer's face clearly indicated he wasn't happy to see Harold. He said:
"Harold Pendelton?"
"Yes, that's me."
"You live here with your wife, Gladys?"
"That's correct."
"Are you aware you have an inter-dimensional delivery vehicle in your back yard?"
"A what? Do you mean that glowing cube?"
"Yes, indeed."
"Of course I'm aware of it. We - "
"Why haven't you reported it to the proper authorities? Failure to report the location of an inter-dimensional delivery vehicle carries a fine of ten thousand dollars, or a month in jail."
"What?!"
The officer was silent for a moment, searching Harold's face for signs of dishonesty.
"I take it that you haven't been in town for a while," he said finally.
"No, we haven't. We did go, oh, about a week ago, but we ran into policemen guarding the entrance to the Sheraton and they told us to return home, and stay put."
"I see. I'll make sure to give you a copy of the official announcement concerning the present situation. In the meantime, I must request that you give my men unlimited access to your back yard. We have orders to remove all the items possible from the cube. They have been declared government property. Have you taken any yourself?"
"Well, yes," said Harold. "We've taken a few. But wait a moment. You said 'they' about the cube. There's more?"
"Plenty more. But never mind that. I see you've also treated yourself to an implant."
Damn! He'd brushed his hair before sitting down to eat, and the glowing blue dot on the edge of his hairline was showing! Harold said:
"Yes. You see, being cooped up like this for many days is - we felt no harm would be done if we -"
"Never mind," interrupted the officer. "You are to remove your implant immediately. Your wife's too, if she has one. I also request you to turn over any items you've recovered from the cube. Failure to do so will be penalized."
"Of course. I'll attend to it the moment I've finished eating. We've just sat down at the table when you knocked."
"Go ahead. My men shall begin removing the items from the cube immediately. Please leave the door open."
"May I ask them to access the back yard through the back gate? I'll open it for them right away. We've having some friends over for lunch."
The officer frowned. Then he said:
"Fine. I'll issue appropriate instructions so that you can eat undisturbed. If your friends have also given themselves implants, they too must remove them immediately. And I want you to turn over any items you've taken from the cube to my men. I'll return later today to give you copies of the announcement, and to perform an inspection of the premises. I'm sorry to invade your privacy, but I must follow my orders."
"Of course," said Harold. "I'll unlock the back gate right away. There's a walkway along the left side of the house."
"Thank you." The officer turned to speak to the two soldiers, and Harold took this opportunity to gently but firmly close the front door, and lock it. He walked across the house to the back door, ignoring questioning looks from everyone at the table. He unlocked the gate to the back yard, and joined them.
"It's the army," he said, sitting down. "They've come to take everything from the cube. I'll tell you more, but let me eat first. I'm famished."
Gladys, Susan, and Dave all waited patiently, watching the food disappear into Harold's mouth with slight envy. He wiped his plate clean with his last piece of bread, popped it into his mouth and said:
"Well, guess what. The cube and all that is or was in it is property of the government. We are to give up everything we've taken from the cube, and remove the implants we've given ourselves."
"It figures," said Susan Ramsey. "Thieving bastards."
"Remove the implants?" said Gladys Pendelton. "I'm not going to kill my girl!"
"You don't have a choice," Harold told her. "If you don't do it, you might even end up in jail."
"Outrageous!"
"Let's calm down and think," said Dave Ramsey.
They did. They saw the soldiers enter the back yard, and begin taking out items from the cube. They were taking them out in sets: one implant kit, one hiber bed, one documentation scroll. They carried them out of the back yard and when Harold got up to draw the blinds on the back windows, he checked the front and saw there were two large hand carts parked in front of his house.
"I have a feeling they'll be here all day," he commented when he rejoined the others.
"Will be interesting to see how many items one can get from the cube," said Dave. "Anyway, we've got to make a decision. Are we going to turn over everything we've taken?"
"No," Gladys said immediately. She turned to look at Susan, who shook her head.
"I agree with the girls," said Harold. "Obviously, we'll have to give up some, or they won't leave us in peace. How many have we got? Dave? You counted everything we took, I seem to remember."
"Yes," said Dave. "If I remember correctly, we've got just over a hundred and fifty implant kits, twenty hiber beds, and a dozen documentation scrolls."
"I think we should keep at least half," said Gladys. Harold smiled at her. This was the same Gladys who insisted all bills be paid the day they arrived, and often picked up litter from the pavement to deposit it in a nearby trash receptacle!
Dave looked at his wife. Susan shook her head. He turned and looked at Harold, who said:
"I have great respect for the law. But this particular rule seems very arbitrary to me."
"It's unfair, that's all there is to it," Gladys said firmly.
"All right," Dave said. "So we are agreed we aren't going to turn everything over. What about the implants?"
Harold shrugged.
"We have no choice," he said. "We have to remove them. Tell our people to assemble at the camp first, so that we can retrieve the clothes."
"We should also give them a decent burial," remarked Dave. "I mean, we've never had to deal with the first Gladys - the renters must have dumped her body into the sea, just like we dumped theirs once the poison I'd made lost its potency. But it seems wrong to do it that way again."
Harold glanced at his wife and saw she had tears in her eyes. He said quickly:
"We will set up a nice burial ground by the beach. But first things first. Are we all agreed we're keeping half of the implant kits and hiber beds we've got?"
Everyone was in favor. Harold said:
"You all understand that makes us criminals? Also, that officer said he'll be coming back to inspect the premises. We'll have to hide well everything we keep."
"Not criminals," Gladys said firmly. "You cannot call someone a criminal just because they are keeping what they already own."
Harold smiled at her. What a transformation! The Gladys he'd known would have insisted on turning everything over to the authorities. Her New World experiences had changed her. He said:
"Well, that's who we shall become in the eyes of the law: criminals. That officer told me failure to report the cube carried a ten thousand dollar fine, or a month in jail."
"What did he say about failure to give up items from the cube?"
"Nothing concrete. Just that it will be penalized."
"We must find out what the penalty is," said Susan Ramsey. "I don't fancy being locked up in prison."
"We're not going to ask anyone about the penalty," Dave said. "Because if we do, it will be a dead giveaway. Everyone will assume we've kept some. We've got to make the decision now, before that officer comes back."
"It seems we've already made it," Harold said.
Dave raised his eyebrows and looked at everyone in turn. They all smiled at him. So he smiled too, and said:
"So we're going the outlaw route?"
"All the way," his wife said. Gladys nodded. Harold nodded too, and added:
"Let's get going on this right away. Dave, I'll need your help in removing a couple of panels from the ceiling. There is space between the ceiling and the roof, more than enough of it to hide everything we want to keep."
"I'll keep an eye on those soldiers," said Gladys.
"And I'll keep an eye out for that officer," said Susan.
Harold laughed out loud and said:
"My God. Turning into a criminal, at my age. Disgraceful, completely disgraceful."
"That's what contact with time-travelers from the future can do to you," said Dave, and they all started laughing.
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