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.They finally settled on his group trading sea salt and leather products with Capital Base in exchange for the work the road crew had done in improving the Dunn's fortress, plowing the roads and airstrip, and the better ham radio and medical supplies they were going to leave behind.Dunn seethed a bit; he'd thought all that had been for free.Gratis, he thought, then remembered the maxim about there was no free lunch.Chambers was a sneaky guy, shifty, Dunn thought.Well, two could play that game, he vowed.------*------Mitch understood Dunn's position right away, he was powerful, and his base was strategically located as a cross roads between north, south and the east.He wasn't certain why the guy was so standoffish to him though.He let Jolie carry the negotiations with the excuse that he was busy running the base.He did listen in from his office though.“Something as simple as salt.” Jolie said after they signed off.Mitch came in and smiled to her.“It's what built Rome,” Mitch said with a shrug.“Sometimes, relationships are built on the small things.”“True.”“One step at a time.I'm more interested in this Corporal Klinger and Professor Hinkley.If he's anything like Evan, we're going to do well there.Or they will,” he said.“Sodium bicarbonate?” Jolie asked, wrinkling her nose.“Baking soda,” Mitch said.“The stuff we sent to Copper Town to neutralize the acid slime from that thing,” he explained.She nodded and then made an oh face, eyes wide.He nodded again.“Yeah, that's right.It's a bigger thing than you thought.”“Didn't they find it in Mountain?” she asked, pointing to the map and Chief Robert's group.He nodded.“So, competition?”“We can always use more.Just getting people to trade is good.” From what he understood of the situation after briefly talking with the corporal, they had found it around mineral springs in the mountains above their base while looking for metals.Professor Hinkley had figured out how to process it for baking bread and for other things.He had a regular chemical works going, cruder than Mitch's, but still viable.They weren't producing as much baking soda as the Mountain Village, but every little bit helped.“Well, I've got a list.One from each of them.“You know this is getting complicated? And Paul's complaining a lot about his people needing a break,” Jolie warned.“I know.And despite a few requests from him, I'm not taking the motor home away from Sam, nor are we going to make another anytime soon.So no, he can't take the Fen family out on his road trips no matter how safe they appear.”“He wouldn't anyway,” Jolie said, shaking her head.“Frances wouldn't allow it even if he demanded it,” she said, wrinkling her nose.“Well, that's good then,” Mitch said.“Shoot me the lists.The southern people just got priority though over some of the others,” he said.“Even Chief Travis?” Jolie asked.He shook his head no.“No.I'm going to have to talk to Paul.He's doing a circuit, right?” She nodded.“That lets each community recover and build up more trade goods while he's out at other places.They stockpile the surplus for him making the trip more worthwhile.But if he's going on these long road train voyages south, it might pay to create a second more local convoy group here.Say under Gary or one of the other guys who are interested,” he said.Jolie frowned then nodded.“Are you thinking about letting Laurence take the local group? With Gary?” she asked hesitantly.Mitch frowned.He knew Laurence wanted to get into driving more like his dad.Paul allowed the kid to drive the run up to Iron Village but refused to allow him to tag along on the longer trips.The stated reason was that he wanted the lad to stay in school and help out his mother out with his siblings.Laurence was visibly chafing under such restrictions.“I'm not sure I want to wade into that mess,” Mitch admitted.“We'll see.At the very least, he can do the Iron run with Gary.”“Okay,” Jolie said, making a note.“What about drivers?”“The local runs we can use the KITT system for some of the vehicles,” Mitch said.She blinked at him then frowned.“I know it's a risk, but it will free up manpower to watch out for animals,” Mitch said.She nodded.------*------Klinger, Dunn and the others shook hands when they left.Jackie was still out, so they left on their own.Sam's crew busied themselves wrapping up their own gear for their departure.Jackie returned to report the islanders had rigged an airstrip.“They don't have fuel, but they do have wool,” she said with a grin as she climbed out of her aircraft.“They are from the Falklands and Argentina if you can believe it.” She went on to describe her brief visit and then gave Jesus the information he needed to fly to the island and institute trade.“It'll be worth it.Especially in the winter with that wool,” she said to him.Jesus nodded, looking at his wife and then the colonel.Dunn didn't comment
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