I was at the lumber mill, cussin’ under my breath while welding a broken blade back together, when JJ. Parker came up with R. SirTom behind him pulling a cart. “Mornin’ Bart,“ he said, “Needed to talk to you so I figured I’d take a load of dried stuff back with me.”

   “Got just what you’re looking for,” I told him , “ RoDan will help SirTom get it loaded.” After giving the necessary instructions, and setting the blade welder to anneal, if the blade didn’t cool down slowly it would become brittle and break again, I turned back to JJ. “So what can I do you out of?”

   “Actually it’s for my Mom. I convinced her to start on the permanent First Inn and she and Dad have come up with a world of ideas. Some of her ideas are pretty extreme though, so I’d better fill you in on what she wants and you can tell me what you figure she can get.”

   “Well, to coin a phrase, 'A woman’s grip should exceed her grasp or what’s a heaven for'…Go ahead, tell me, what does she want? And where does she plan to build it?”

   “As to where she‘s going to build… at first she wanted to locate in Liberty City proper, but I convinced her that it would be much better to put it up on her freehold grid at [ac-19], after all that land touches the northeast corner of the city set-aside and has such a great view of the river. The road to the power plant and upper bridge will run right by it so most of the people on the other side of the river will pass it every time they go in or out of town. A near perfect location.”

   Picturing the spot I nodded, “Sounds perfect to me too. Don’t be shy now, go ahead and tell me what she wants to build.”

   JJ. gave a wry grin, took a deep breath, and began, “Oh, something about two or three times the size of the Community Building, with a cellar for storage and upper level to use as a dorm type boarding house, separate partitioned off kitchen, bar, and dining areas with large windows overlooking the river and a conveyor from the kitchen to bring out the meals, some private living quarters on the lower level and a foyer where people can hang their coats and store their weapons while inside. And of course a room for the daycare center, a couple of large restrooms, a covered area in the back to put the grills and hold picnics in when it rains and covered porches all around.” He had run out of breath and eyes opened wide looked at me.

   “Is that all?” I asked, returning his look, “You could tell her it’s been done before. Sounds a lot like the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island near where I grew up.”

   “Well I left out the parking lot and the fireman's pole between the first and second levels.”

   “I don’t think the Grand Hotel had fire poles,” I managed to get out before we both broke into fits of laughter. After we calmed down I said, “Say what you want about your mom, she certainly thinks big. And not to change the subject how’s the stone work going on the Community Building?”

   “It’s going good now Bart. Was slow at first but we’re moving right along and ought to be finished up by the end of the week. That’s when I want to get started on the First Inn.”

   “Ok then JJ,” I said, “this is what I think. What with all of the building going on right now, especially with Andy putting up the hydropower plant, plank cut lumber is at a real premium. So do the foundation and walls out of stone. I can get enough robots from the labor pool to do the work out here so I’ll send the Jeep to help you. I’m sure Janie will send EmyCee also and Joe should be out of the camp guard business so you should be able to use RoDan much of the time too. I’ll check with Gene Washburn, and unless I miss my guess, you’ll also get R. Krebs when he’s not out here. If you can talk your mother into keeping it down to say 24' by 50' for the time being with about half that much on the second story as their living spaces, what the heck, she can add on later and daycare should stay in the Community Building anyway, sometime in the next 10 days or so I can get you the material for floors and a roof. You’ll have enough site work and stone to lay that even with all the bots you can get helping out I should have the lumber ready before you really need it. So then, how does that sound? Think it‘ll make your mom happy?”

   “Better than I hoped for Bart. I think if I tell Dad first and we can both gang up on her, we’ll even be able to convince her that’s what she wanted in the first place. But how am I gonna pay you back?”

   “Don’t worry about that JJ.” I said with a smile, “When Janie and I start building our place, and we’ve been makin’ plans too, we’ll think of something.”

Day 14 Morning, Bio Lab

I was upset, I had hoped to beat Mariana in this morning, but there she was firing up the coffee pot. I was caught in the door with the case stuck square in my hand.

“I thought you had brought down all the medical equipment, what happened find some you forgot?” She asked with that smile that could break hearts.

“Not really,” I replied, “This is not medical and I don’t care what the labels say. This is all I have left of my Great Grandfather. I have to say that despite what Great Grandfather tried to teach me; I don’t know the first thing to do with any of this. I popped open the upper level of the clearly marked Medical Instruments case and motioned her to look.”

She moved over took one look and laughed, “And you thought you had no means of fighting back?”

“If you don’t know what they are and have no idea what to do with them My Lady, what good are they?”

She stared at me, “You really have no idea at all?”

“No, Dr. Stuart, they are guns that’s all I know. Flat out, honest; I can say that much and no more.”

She rocked her head towards me, “So why show this to me?”

I looked at the floor for a long moment. “Because I never want to be in that position again, and the only person on this planet I am not afraid to admit that to is you.”

“OK, let’s start from the top. The long gun here is called a SOCOM 16, it’s a civilian variant produced in the 1990’s by Springfield Amory. The two handguns are STI Spartans’ in mint condition. The Springfield is functionally identical to the one you will see on Ash’s back. Only difference is the stock; the Spartans are clones of Andy’s Colts. So what is the big secret?”

I gulped, “Col. Stuart, will you teach me how to use these damn things? Please?”

She didn’t miss a beat, ‘Teaching some one to pull a trigger is easy.” Letting that sink in, She looked me square in the eyes with those Ice Cold eyes; “teaching you to kill is a whole nother matter. What do you want to do; ‘Protect and Defend’ or Kill?”

I had the answer for that ready, “Whatever it takes to do the job your Husband asked me to do. Which path does a Combat Medic take?”

Mariana stared like someone who had been punched in the gut, “Protect and Defend, a Combat Medic has no reason to be in the Assault Wave. But, are you sure you want to do this?”

It was my turn to stammer and pause, “What is the difference in wanting to and knowing you have to?”

Her reply haunted me for days, “Honor!”

Night Day 13 - Morning Day 14

I walked away from Karl and Joe blipping my wrist comp with a message for Connor and Rocco. God if it weren’t for the age-old inter-service banter with Joe I would not have a place to let my normal mischievous sense of humor out.

Stopping by the tent, I changed into the full chameleon field rig and loaded up the full combat rig. Damn Andy I thought, you went and asked for this. I had been ready to do this anyway but, seeing Kurt’s face when I walked into treatment this afternoon. Clan Alchibah had a big chance of meaning more to me than I thought it ever would.

Moving into Hanna’s place, I appropriated a pot of coffee and a brace of cups and moved to my normal back corner table. Rocco and Connor came in about a minute apart and I waited till each had a cup in front of them.

“Thanks for coming guys, cause I am gonna need some help tonight. Our young Militia contingent is to get a training exercise in Perimeter Security tonight. Now the real security is going to be Sin, Ash and myself. Oh yeah, we will brief each team on station and dry fire train everyone except Jai. But, they are going to need a physical presence that they can see and take comfort from.”

I saw two very confused looks and with a gesture stopped the questions I knew were coming.

“We are going to teach them how to use the bots as surveillance systems and field of fire discipline. But, to provide real security Ash and I are going to spend most of the night using our field sensors to cover everything inside Sin’s arc. To use our sensor systems we have to be like this.”

I leaned back in the chair, pulled the grid mask over my face and keyed the Master On button. I wish I had had a camera running; the look on their faces was worth it. I knew they could tell where I was because the chameleon effect was not that good when you were sitting in a chair but it still had to be scary. I clicked the suit to off and pulled back the hood.

“We will be there on the comm. But, they need a visible presence to calm them down. Can I count on your help?”

Rocco was the first to reply, “Well if I can get a couple of hour’s shuteye first, I could handle the morning half. But, if you have those how well do they have to be trained?”

“Rocco there are exactly three of these suits in all of Alchibah and the only reason we have these is we were able to hide them from the UNWG. They don’t even allow their own people to have them; this is old U. S. technology and I figure we are at least ten Earth years from being able to duplicate them here on Alchibah. That of course always excepting the “Mad Doctor” pulling a miracle out of his hat.”

Connor chimed in, “I can take the first half no problem and Rocco, Jai’s going to be on both morning shifts so you only got one to baby-sit.”

Rocco nodded, “I can handle that.”

Seeing Ash at the door waving I stood and said, “OK, we’ll go with that. If you will excuse me, Ash says the games afoot.”

Ash had that same grin he had been wearing all afternoon, “Kid’s are here and ready Bots and all.”

“OK,” I said, “Ryu’s got some promise; take him up to the North side. Run through linking the comp to the bots sensors and dry fire procedures on the rifle he’s borrowing. You loaded with HE rounds?”

Ash looked insulted, “Just like you ain’t carrying Mariana’s Springfield. If fifteen penetrators did not stop that bastard I am gonna hit it right in the nostrils with 30 HE rounds to start with. If air can get in there a bullet damn sure can too!”

I had to laugh, “Might not be the kill shot but it’s a hell of a good place to start. We have to impress these kids so show all your stuff when you are training them.” I reached in my pocket and hit the sequence that turned my display panels transparent.

Ash sighed, “You know I am proud of my rack. But, seeing yours is awfully scary. Are you sure you want to hit the kids with all that?”

“Ash, most of them will have no idea what this stuff means. But they will understand that we have been there and done that. If it gets it into their heads that it’s time to listen, I’ll settle for that.”

Ryu and May’s shift went without a hitch; the only thing to note was that my opinion of May went up a notch. The kid was a sponge; she absorbed knowledge as fast as it could be poured.

Summer and Kaye’s shift went fairly smooth also. Kaye had a little problem with integrating the bots sensor ability but he caught on after a couple of reps. Working Summer through the steps I almost felt like I was dealing with the person Jai would have been without Gabe’s training. Encouraging.

I caught the edge of the change over between Connor and Rocco, “Rocco set your comp up on the audio link between the bots and listen to these two teach. It’s a free lesson in how to do it right.”

Rocco laughed, “I got a lesson in that back on the Mayflower. The most dumbfounded I’ve ever been was when Andy told Ash to give it up, and he pulled out that XD. That’s control; I would have shot me in that situation. I never have apologized to him for that. But, from what Capt. Travis told me; he’s not carrying a grudge at all. Where the hell did RJ find the people we have here?”

Connor shrugged and said,” Like Mariana said back on the Lancer, ‘from the same rabbit hole he pulled the rest of this miracle.’ I guess we just gotta make it work now.”

I moved up to the North side where Jai was set up for two shifts. “How’s it going Candidate?”

“I guess I am OK, Sir but, missing that Rumbler is still on my mind.”

Oh Lord, I thought; this is defiantly teaching time. “OK, first you did not miss. Reye might think you did, but you and I know better. Drop it you did not, I agree. But, that was because the thing was tougher than the ammo you had. That was my fault not yours and guess what; I thought 15 penetrators would have stopped most anything also. We have a challenge out there no doubt, but don’t let it beat you up. Now, you have this side?”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

“Good, see you at Hanna’s at dawn for breakfast.” With that, I pulled down the face screen and went away.

As the light was beginning to brighten the Eastern sky, I keyed the common channel for the whole crews wrist comps, “OK, chow call. We move out for the Hydro plant in 45 minutes. Ash meet me at Hanna’s place. Stuart out!”

Evening Day 13

I hustled out of the meeting with a purpose, “Joe, Karl, wait up up a moment!”

They stopped and turned with worried looks on their faces like someone had just laid a world on their shoulders; which in a way the Council just had.

“Karl I don’t’ think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you,” I extended my hand, “Andy Stuart, looks like I’m going to be your counterpart.”

Karl shook my hand with a wry grin on his face, “Yeah, as quick as I figure out what I am supposed to do.”

“Well Karl, I am here to buy you some time. The Militia is set up to handle the guard rotation for tonight. I have to steal Joe from you for a couple of hours in the morning but I’ll be through with him at the latest right after Lunch.

“Joe we are prepared to handle the nighttime perimeter until your have you training in place. We are also prepared to do that training for you to the limits of our assets. I never said I could not train this outfit, just that I was the wrong man to lead it.

“Karl, Gunnery Sergeant Fortson here can show you the admin side and I’ll show you the training side.

“Sound like a deal gentlemen?”

“Better check your hand and see if any fingers are missing Karl,” Fortson said in mock seriousness. “This man has been known to engage in larceny both petty and otherwise.”

Karl Nash had already spread his hand palm up and started to look downwards before he caught himself. “That sounds to me like harbor in a storm Andy. Joe’s been saying that camp guard ain’t rocket science, just personnel and procedure, so it would be greatly appreciated if you filled in tonight and let Joe explain to me in on what you are doing and why.”

“Sounds good Karl and Joe can show you the admin side maybe better than I. Learn this early, good NCOs’ are worth their weight in gold. But as an Old Army Officers Manual once said, “Enlisted personnel while uneducated are low and cunning and bare careful watching.” Tossing Joe a grin I walked away reaching for my wrist comp.

Karl turned towards Joe, “And you two are friends?”

Joe just laughed, “Karl I am a Marine, He’s Army. It’s a traditional pastime!”

   “You want me to do, what Boss?” The Jeep asked in a voice that if I didn’t know better, I woulda sworn was both emotional and incredulous.

   “You heard me, I want you to push the button and turn off your Brain.

   “That’s what I thought you said Boss. May I ask why?”

   “No you may not. Just do it Jeep.”

   Ash Andrews and Sabbu watched as R. J.P. slid his finger under the cover that protected the disconnect. His lower torso access panel was removed and optical fibers ran to a test device on the bench in front of us. I scanned the reprogrammer Captain Monroe had brought down from the Mayflower the previous day, then said, “Looks good, the Jeeps on standby with no incoming or outgoing connections.”

   We had tried this two days earlier using Jack Seaworth’s bot, R.121. That robot needed to be reprogrammed in any event, but R. 121 just wouldn’t push the button. The reason was obvious in retrospect. It knew what we were up to and the prohibition against harming another life kicked in. I pointed out that we had no intention of harming anything at this time and R.121 just paused for about 5 seconds, locked up, and then shut down.

   “Back to the drawing board, eh Bart?” Sabbu said.

   “Yeah I guess so. We’ve got to do this in a way that keeps the bots from knowing or suspecting why the button gets pushed. I have an idea but let me get 121 reprogrammed again and we will try again this afternoon.”

   They both agreed and later that day we got it to work, after a fashion. So long as 121, who I had renamed R. Vexatious, didn’t know the real reason for the button he would press on command. Right now the button was a dummy and didn’t do anything, but I had told R. Vex it was a shutdown switch and that had caused him no internal conflicts. I was very careful that Vex was not communicating with rest of the robot net while we did this. I was worried that even without us saying anything the other bots would figure it out. And once any bot knew something they all did.

   I used the programmer to shut him down and turned to Ash and Subbu. “Well that worked, what do you think… Can you guys set up a system to read his sensors and fire a plasma rifle?”

   Subbu answered first. “Take a couple of days but depending on what Ash comes up with I can probably make the interface.”

   “Well Subbu. If you can match up to a Mil-Spec R795 interface, I actually have what you need. Dave Webber was taking the guidance computers out of the new experimental space-to-space missiles on board the ship Van Vogt blew up. He only got out 11 so we have to be chary with them but if this works, we will have an automated defense system for the township. Based on that, I cannot see a problem with R. Vex as our prototype. Can either of you?”

   Getting two head shakes in negation, I continued. “These things are built on a rip off of Andy’s patent that created the array. They already have autonomous guidance and control interfaces so; it will take me about two days to hack the code to fit your target parameters. Which brings up two questions? First, do you have your parameters ready? Second, how will you keep Vex here from figuring out that he just shot something and refuse to do it in the future?”

   “I had to read the owners manual to see how that was gonna work Ash. It seems the robots have a double memory store one is a permanent record and the other is a temporary cache holding the last fifteen seconds of real time data. If the cache doesn’t agree with the permanent store the bot does a reset and tries again for sync.”

   “We can’t touch the permanent memory but when we switch out to your system we can wipe the cache. When control goes back to the bot he will be out of sync and hence reset, forgetting in the process the button was ever pushed. He won’t be able to do anything for the first fifteen seconds he is back on line until sync is reestablished, so we better make damn well sure it’s safe for him to do so when he does switch back.

   Sabbu replied, “Sounds like a plan.”

Back to real time:       

   We all waited while Ash and Sabbu’s installed hardware cut out and sent a signal to the system circuitry giving control back to R. J.P. The Jeep stood motionless for the expected fifteen seconds and then said, just like nothing at all had happened. Repeating his earlier statement. “You want me to do, what Boss?”  

   “Never mind Jeep.” I replied, “It was just a thought.” Turning to Ash and Subbu I said, “I think I can handle it from here but if either of you have the time and want to come along I am going to try this thing out in the field.”

   They were both busy so I told the Jeep to follow and went out to find Janie.

   Ash had told me that to put together a series of routines to do threat analysis, target acquisition, and fire control would have taken a team of programmers months to accomplish. But he came up with a far better solution. Let the Jeep take care of the threat analysis and target location, then have the Jeep locate the target in the middle of his visual field. When the controller that Ash installed took over all it would need to do was align the plasma rifle, or any other weapon we supplied, with the aim point, account for distance and fire. We were starting with the plasma rifle because it was guaranteed to be lethal and would not be affected by distances we were interested in. Another advantage of the plasma rifle was that the Jeeps nuclear pack could keep it charged so ammo would be virtually unlimited.

   When I reached out tent Janie had just gotten back from a check on the windmills. She told me that she would be more than happy to come along and asked, “Should I bring EmyCee with us?”

   “No, better not. Don’t want her to see this. We’ll be fine with the two of us armed.”

   We headed south well beyond Liberty City’s borders, beyond the windmill generators and Biolab, and out of sight of anyone else or their bots. I explained to the Jeep what I wanted him to do.

   “Jeep pretend that rock over there is a Rumbler.” I was pointing at a solitary boulder about 100 yards away.

   “Ok, Boss, the rock is a Rumbler. Is this what you humans call fun?”

   Janie got a small laugh out of that. I just said, “This is important, pay attention.” I had been using those words from the start to let the Jeep know we were in training mode and no banter was allowed. “I want you to place the rock in the exact center of your visual field and tell me when it’s there.”

   “Done,” he replied at once.

   “Press the button. Now!”

   The Jeep reached under the protective cover and then faster than the eye could follow had the plasma rifle shouldered and loosed the trigger. It’s a good thing Janie and were wearing adaptive goggles. If we hadn’t we would both have been temporarily blinded by the piercing blue bolt of ionized gases left by the discharge. There was a sharp crack! And the boulder had a pit almost eighteen inches deep, glowing brightly yellow, near white, at the center, and fading to dull red on the edges.

   I looked over to the Jeep. The rifle was lowered and as expected he remained stationary for about 10 more seconds. He then said.

   “What happened Boss? I lost sync.”

   “Jeep,” I said as casually as possible, “Nothing to worry about. “I just told you I wanted to have a private word with Janie and when you switched off your hearing sensors a bug showed up. It must be a glitch in your basic programming. Not too surprising considering how new all your systems are. We can’t fix it now, and so in the future, if it should happen again just ignore it.

   “Yes Boss.”

When we returned to camp I sent the Jeep back out to the lumber mill with a word for Joe that I would be out soon so he could get back to camp and get ready for his new, temporary, position as night guard supervisor. I had tried to talk him out of it but Joe still insisted on putting in four hours a day at the mill.

   Janie and I grabbed a bite to eat, stew again, and sat outside talking. “That worked pretty good Bart, what’s next?” Janie asked.

   “I guess I go let Ash and Sabbu know how it came out. There is one more modification I’d like to see made though. I want to get rid of the switch. It slows him down and could get hit accidentally. Something like the clench controls in the military battle suits ought to work I’ll run it by Sabbu and then we can see about getting EmyCee set up. And another thing. We need to come up with a way that neither of the bots can see the other bot use their weapon, or for that mater, anyone else’s bots see them in action. Right now we can’t even talk about this to anyone but Ash and Sabbu, cause if the bots do find out.. it ain’t.. a gonna.. work. But still, we made a big step in the right direction. I think we get to go exploring after all.”

Day 13. . .00:13:15:00

“Bang!” Reyes gavel came down again. From the back of the room someone said, “We never should have given him that thing.”

“Quite in the house! I call this meeting to order for the purpose of determining what, if anything additional, has been discovered concerning Jack Seaworth’s death, and devising a plan so that something similar will not happen again in the future. I turn the meeting over to Andy Stuart. Sir…”

“Thank You, Mr. Reye.

“I have two items for the Council. The first is a personal Point of Order and the second is the formal report on the predator. May I proceed?”

Reye just nodded looking confused.

“Thank you Sir, I would like to request that the Council formalize the appointment of a Commander for the Guard Force and Civil Police. I am flat out stretched too thin for both jobs. The death of Seaworth proved that I have exceeded what the Military calls Span of Control.

“Alchibah needs two Military Forces. One is the Guard, which, for those of you who remember the old United States, is a combination of the State Police and the National Guard.

“The second is the Militia, which will be a small highly trained assault force whose primary job is to support Space Command Alchibah.”

“I am the wrong person to command the Guard. Of course, I will assist in the training of the Guard and remain in the Guard rotation as long as required.

“I see the Guard as being under the control of the Liberty Council. The Militia is under the control of the Federal Council. In both cases, the Commander answers to civilian control. It is my intention and basic skill, to Command the Militia. It’s what I have spent most of my adult life preparing for.

“I ask that this motion be tabled for a closed discussion of the Council and that Capt. Sinopia and I be allowed to present the scientific report on the direct threat.

“I await the Councils decision.”

Reye, recovering from his surprise, and looking at the other Council members, said, “The Council will be most interested in your proposals concerning a militia, however the Council has been expressly forbidden from having closed sessions. After our first order of business is completed, a motion for a closed session may be entertained by the meeting at large.”

“I am well aware, Mr. Stuart, that under some rules of meeting procedure, your motion would take precedence, however, in deference to the time already invested by the entire chamber, I feel that even if a closed session should be approved, we complete our original agenda first.”

“Do I hear Objections?” he waited. “Hearing none, I turn the floor over to Councilor Benjamin for a report on the rumbler.”

“Thank you Mr. Reye. I’ve received both Capt. Sinopa and Col. Stuart’s reports on the ‘rumbler,’ as the thing has been nicknamed, and have also reviewed Jaisa’s initial report. Here’s what we know so far. It’s four legged, approximately twelve feet at the shoulder and twenty feet long, and weighs approximately 4200lbs. This figure has been substantiated by both Sinopa’s expertise and a soil compaction test run by Mariana Stuart. It has claws, two horns and a jaw capable of producing upwards of at least 5000lbs. of force, making it two to three times as powerful as an american alligator. Its hide is described as a streaky mix of dark red and black, which, combined with the time of the attack leads me to believe that it is nocturnal. Because of this, the Council asks that all colonists stay within the perimeter of the camp after dark until we have dealt with the animal.

“We know it was hit last night with fifteen standard issue penetrators – not the ideal bullets for large predator control, but they were well placed and would have taken down any Earth animal. We’re not totally sure yet, but we suspect that it has some sort of an exoskeleton and, in addition, that it is capable of regeneration.” There were gasps and frightened whispers from the audience. “I know. I wish I had better news, but I wanted to put all the facts out there in plain sight so that everyone knows what we’re dealing with. I can say, however, that the person most qualified to deal with this sort of a threat, the person most qualified on this world or the one we came from, is right here with us, and right now she’s the only one who’s seen the thing up close. I’ll let her carry on from here. Captain?”

“Oh, please, does anyone here really believe she ‘saw it up close?’” Jack interrupted. “She probably saw it and ran like-”

“You would have?” Summer Pierce quipped, to much laughter.

“This from the man who proclaimed me dead.” Sinopa commented dryly. “Any more predictions Jack? In any case, as many of you know I spent the last several days exploring the surrounding area, trying to gain as much knowledge as I could on the local predators and herbivores – basically anything we either need to worry about or might be able to eat or domesticate. I’ll skip the other details for now, but I did track a pack of a catamount sized, nocturnal predator species in addition to the rumbler, so I would also like to suggest people not wander at night.

“I believe, and Connor concurs, that the rumbler is likely a solitary creature with an extremely large range, which means that it is entirely possible that we will not see it again for weeks or months. I have seen it run upwards of thirty miles per hour, though I suspect its top speed is far higher. It’s quieter than you would expect for something of its size, though it certainly doesn’t rely on stealth. Right now we frankly don’t know what it would take to kill it. I assure you, however, that I will. I would like to ask the Council’s permission to track it and observe it for a while.”

“I think we can get that out of the way now. Objections?” Connor said.

That vote was quickly called and passed by a majority voice vote… though not without some grumbling.

“That being dealt with we come to the second point of our original agenda. What do we do now to insure an event such as happened last night does not occur again? We are open for comments from the floor. Reye said as he began to raise the gavel, thought better of it, and lowered it quietly.

“Everyone was looking at Jack but Frank Turner spoke first. “It’s obvious the Guard needs organization and a leader The ‘Chief’s’ spot we are talking about will need to be considered a full time position by whoever takes it on, and require organizational experience. With that in mind I nominate Karl Nash.”

The motion was seconded even before Nash could raise from his chair to object. “Thank you Frank, I guess, but I have no police or military experience. Sure, I was in charge of a few organizations back on Earth, but my plan for Alchibah is to get the Port up and running and begin boat building.”

As he paused Joe Fortson stepped into the vacuum, “Karl, organization is the first order of business for any unit. It don’t even look like the roads gonna make it all the way through the port area for quite a spell. If the folks here go along with it, we can limit the initial term to six months. And you’ll have more than enough help on the procedural and training end.”

With obvious reluctance Karl Nash agreed to be considered. No one else was even nominated as the job looked to involve a lot more work than glory. The position was his by acclimation. His first action was to insist Fortson oversee the operational areas of the camp guard for the next week, or until it was operating in an acceptable fashion. Joe tried to resist but couldn’t wiggle out.

“We can now address the Militia issue. Councilor Stuart,” Reye said turning to Mariana, while glancing at a note she had handed him, “I see you wish to make a statement.”

“Mr. Chairman, We have found general agreement that the Township Guard, which will also be our police force, and our Militia, or standing army, be separate commands. The Guard reporting to us here, the Council, and the Militia reporting to the combined Mayflower, Liberty Township boards. It would be appropriate at this time to take nominations for the leadership of the Militia. ”

“I propose we establish a separate panel composed of two from the Council and three from the populace which may meet in secret session to examine those nominations and return with their recommendations. Determination of fitness for command is often brutal and best performed by a select group and in private. That said I nominate my husband Andrew Stuart for command of the Militia.”

“The fix is in I see, Mr. and Mrs. Generalissimo Stuart.” Jack the Blade immediately said from his front row seat.

Mariana turned and in a low cold voice stated, “If the fix is to keep your worthless, lazy, no good REMF ass as far away from the real combat force as possible; then you could say the fix is in!”

Once more down came the hammer, “There will be order! There will be order! And there will no further outbursts and that includes you also Councilor Stuart.”

Mariana glowered but said nothing even as her eyes kept shooting daggers at Jack. One of Jack’s henchmen put in Jack’s name and Buchanan nominated another but the results were a foregone conclusion. The historian proposed a straight up down vote on each of the nominees. If more than one received general approval there would be a run off. It was quick and dirty but when finished there was no need for a private session to examine credentials and make recommendations.

Andy Stuart was the Militia commander. He reminded all that the exact responsibilities of both the Guard and the Militia and how they would be directed by government needed to be codified in out constitution. And from his point of view he said it couldn’t happen too soon.

And on that note the meeting was adjourned.

     We had slipped out of the meeting a few minutes before it ended, and Jules and I were nursing cups of tea at a quiet table at the Inn.
 
     “Hanna….”
    
     “Yes, dear.” 

     “Before I saw Doc Kellerman, I was worried. Not sure if the ol’ ticker would make it.” 

     “Rather scary, eh?  Especially here.”  I gazed thoughtfully into the tea cup.
 
     “You and I hadn’t talked about it. About what we’d do if one of us became sick. I wouldn’t want you to have to fend for yourself here.”
 
     With misting eyes I looked deep into his own, “We’d do the same as we do now. We would take one day at a time …. together. I wouldn’t have it any other way. If something happens to you first, you’ll still be my breath as I grow old.”  We silently held hands for a lingering moment. Then Jules got up to get things ready for the influx we expected when the meeting let out momentarily. 

     JJ was  first through the door. When he saw me sitting, still deep in thought about other problems as well, he said, “Hey, Mom. Cheer up!  It can’t be that bad.” 

     “Oh, JJ! I keep trying to look on the bright side, but overall things aren’t going very well,” I said, dismayed.  “Now there’s another death, and another memorial service for your father to conduct.  I don’t see things getting any better.  There’s too much about this planet that we don’t know.  And it seems so dangerous.” 

     As we walked over to Jules, who was fidgeting with the stove, JJ responded, “I know how you feel, Mom, but things will get better.”  Putting a protective arm around my shoulder, he continued, “Honest, they will.  RJ’s one resourceful dude: he included seasoned pros to manage our defense against the unknown.  Let those guys figure it out.  In the meanwhile, I’d like you to focus on another issue instead.” 

     “It’s difficult not to be anxious.  But tell me, Junior, what’s on your mind?” 

     “Well, folks, the time has come:  we need a layout for the First Inn.  It’s almost next up on the construction schedule, and the best news is, we can build it strong…with rock!” 

     Jules look up from the coffee he had just started brewing and asked, “Sounds like you have a plan, son.  Do tell.” 

     “John Pierce’s sister, Elana, is a geologist, and she’s specked out a quarry site.  It’s just about a mile and a-half from here.  Cut stone together with fieldstone would make for quite a sturdy roadhouse.”
      “As soon as John and I finish at the Community Building, we could lay the foundation for the Inn.  Our assignment on the punch list is to encase the building’s 10-foot stilt supports with rock walls, to provide a shelter and a more secure storage area for supplies.  We’ve even started getting a supply of mortar in place.”
      “I think it’ll take us about a week or ten days… no, ten days is a week on Alchibah, so about a week to finish that project.  After this hands-on experience, I should have it down pat for the Inn.  So, what do you think?  Are you up for it?” 

     “Well, JJ, just between us, I can’t get out of this tent soon enough, and I’ll feel a lot safer when there are walls to protect me.  As far as a layout goes, your dad’s already helped me draft some rough plans.” 

     “No time like the present, Mom.  Get out those pencils and paper.  But this time use a ruler.” 

     As Junior was leaving, I turned to Jules and said,  “Imagine that, we’re going to be innkeepers!  Let’s make one of my proverbial lists.  We’ll need an eraser, too.” 

     Emily and Jaisa entered, laughing and whispering in soft tones.  I could see that Emily’s pregnancy wouldn’t be a secret much longer, with her waistline expanding ever so slightly.  Just the other day Linda asked what would we do for baby clothes and for Emily herself.  Now the idea was born:  we needed a laundry and a sewing room. 

     “Hi, girls.”  

     “Hi, Grandma.” 

     “Hello, Mrs. Parker.” 

     “I’d like your opinion about a problem we have.  It’s been preying on my mind what to do about mending clothes, recycling them, and even the need for a laundry.  There’s sew much to do here, and we need more helpers.” 

     Jai said, “Don’t look at me.  Not my job.” 

     Emily wasn’t so quick to turn down the question.  Actually, I could see her mulling it over.  I think she got my drift.  “Well, Granny, everyone needs a button or alteration now and then.  I never did much sewing, but I think we’ll have to be more self-reliant here.  I, for one, am willing to learn.  Count me in.” 

     “Is it allright with you if I invite some others to join us?” 

     “Yes, please.  Maybe we could even set up a swap shop.  Where on earth,,, uhh rather, where on Alchibah can I get baby clothes?  Might as well pass the word.  I’ll need all the help I can get…. No kidding!”

Andrew Stuart and Kurt Kellerman.

Andy

I had just finished a very satisfying conversation with Joe Fortson when Walt waked up.

“Boss, we are ready equipment wise and Kurt’s ready to drop the bomb when you say go.”

I really started the massage on my temples; the headache was reaching epic potentials. “Well, Walt she can only kill me once. Signal Kurt and I will get Sally out of the way. Why does everything come at once?”

Walt grinned, “Who was it that told me no good deed goes unpunished?”

“One of these days Walt, I will pay you back.”

He laughed, “Not if this works, get me drunk as a skunk I will believe,”

“Right,” I said as I entered the Lab, “Sally, can I have a minute of your time?” I saw Kurt tapping Mariana on the shoulder.

Kurt

“Dr. Stuart, could you look at something for me,” I asked Mariana.

“Well sure, we got the beast wrapped up. But can’t this wait till we give Andy the data.”

I grimaced, “Almost anything else, yes. This I think needs your expertise. Would you please look at this DNA scan? I popped up the scan from the swab from Hanna’s place on the right side of the screen.”

Her reply was a trained immediate response, “Hell Kurt, that’s a brood mare if I ever saw one. Shit we need her to have kids.”

I sucked in a big deep breath, “And this one, popping it up on the left side of the screen.”

I thought I was going to die right there, she came up faster than I could comprehend, I was staring right down the muzzle of one of those damn deadly Randall’s, “That’s my scan you SOB!”

“No madam, they both are. One is straight from the source and the other is filtered though the shit code your Ex buried in your Medical Chip.”

Her gaze was as cold as ice, “How do you know that?”

I gulped, “Because Ash pulled the same code right out of his personal files, and it matches to 10 decimal places.”

From behind her came, “Believe it Sis, and he ain’t through yet!” Both of us stared at Ash grinning for the first time on Alchibah.

“What do you two idiots mean?” she asked.

That was when I gulped. “The reason that the UNWG put me in the dog house was that I can kill that implant they put into you. Andy gave us the stuff to do it with, Walt built it, and Ash made it all work together. Give me ten minutes and I can kill that damn thing.”

I thought the tough old Colonel was going to faint, she damn near collapsed where she stood. She might have if Ash had not been there, how I never did figure out.

“It’s real Sis, He’s as good as he claims. Andy gave us the stuff for his rig and I confirmed every bit of it. You don’t think the wrath of Cuz would fall on anyone who messed this up. For God’s sake, breathe; this is your chance. Dammit, I don’t want to be the Prince of the Clan; let this happen and make me useless, please.”

She shuddered, “You don’t understand, I was convinced that it could not happen. Hell, we came on this trip knowing it could not happen. What am I supposed to do?”

I stayed as cold as I could, “Damn it, be Human. Live Lady, this is no damn guarantee it’s just a chance; that’s all we promise. This is going to be the same crapshoot every couple faces in their normal lives. All I promise is a chance to be normal.”

She stood slowly and shook off Ash’s help. “OK, what do I have to do?”

I gestured towards the door, “Walk over to Treatment, lie down on the table and be still for ten damn minutes! Even if I fail, it will do no damage!”

She looked at me with eyes like the damned, “OK, let’s give it a try. If I can’t trust family, I am shit outta luck anyway.” With that, she led the way out the door.

Andy

I watched the crowd move from the Lab over to the new Treatment area. “Sally, do you have any idea why the UNWG tried to destroy Kurt’s career?”

She was very intense, “No, that’s probably the only problem we have left. He absolutely refuses to talk about that.”

I groaned, “OK, I’ll take it slow. First, you know that the UNWG developed an active contraceptive implant that cannot be removed. And that they stuck it into women they claimed were genetically incapable of reproducing!”

She replied carefully, “Yes, I was aware of that.”

“Second, did you know that your Husband developed a way to kill those implants; in case the UNWG made a mistake?”

Her face was like a wounded duck.

“Third, did you know that the UNWG would not admit the possibility that they could possibly make a mistake?

“Fourth, did you know they threatened his ass to shut him up?”

She looked totally stunned, “I can not believe He would let a threat shut him up over something like that!”

I waited, “Sally, they did not threaten him. They threatened the one thing he could not live without; as I understand it they mentioned something about Troop Brothels in East Timor”

“Fifth, they put one of those damn things into Mariana based on a lie. He’s betting his ass he can do what he claims, because if he screws up and kills Mariana; you know what he thinks I will do!”

I watched as understanding slowly dawned on her face! The look was one that can’t really be described.

We just sat and stared into the distance. Then she jumped as Ash came out the door howling at the moon. “Oh God, something went wrong.” She said hollowly and turned to see me laughing my ass off.

“No Lady, that’s Ash’s bad imitation of a Tennessee Hound Dog barking treed. Everything went right.”

Sin and I had just returned over the rock field when I turned and asked, “Sin, do you own anything resembling a uniform?”

“Well I might, why?” She asked with a mischievous grin.

“Because tonight’s meeting is gonna be a bombshell and we need to keep down anything Reye can bitch about.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she tossed over her shoulder.

I got to the lab to find feverish activity going on. Mariana and Kurt had evidently put everything on the back burner save the big beast. “I hate to add to the workload here,” I said, “but, can you run a soil compaction test on this sample for me?”

“What do you have?” She asked.

“Well, after it ran off the rocky area it ran across some plain old soft dirt and we got some good tracks. I need the compaction coefficient to establish a weight.” I said massaging my temples against the growing headache.  ”Oh and while you are at it, can you check out these?”  I placed the quasi-potatos on the sample desk.

“Sure, we’ll get it for you if you get out of the way. It’s getting crowded in here?” She laughed.

I beat it, outside I fired up my wrist comp. “Fortson, A. Stuart; Private please.”

“What can I do for you, ya broken down old spook?” He quipped.

“Think you could drag your over-age, bad ticker, broken down old Jarhead tail up to the Hydro site in the morning. I need a safety Instructor for a Demolitions class.” I handed back to him.

“Don’t you need to spend tomorrow getting this guard thing out of the crapper?” He asked in a surprise and a little wary tone.

“Joe, I can’t do everything; dammit not thinking about that volunteer guard roster is what got Seaworth killed. Besides, we have to get somebody in place and trained up; to lead what’s essentially going to be a police and pure militia.

“Joe you know I am an Operator, could you see me running a police force; besides I think you have figured out what I’m trying to do.”

“Let me see if I put my half vast collection of military brain cells together and throw a SWAG at this. How about put together a young team of fire pissers to take something away from somebody; probably when the good Capt. Travis yells help.”

“Damn, you ain’t half bad for a gyrene. But that means you better duck and cover buddy, cause they gonna be looking for somebody to run the thing.”

He flustered for about three second, “Andy, you asshole!”

Day 13. . . 00:13:08:15

   “As I reached our tent I heard Judith shouting, “And you get back here right now!“ Stepping inside I saw she was still clutching her com unit. Mike being difficult again I thought.

   “Lester,” she spun on me. “While you stayed after that meeting Mike went out to the lumber mill. What could he possibly be thinking about? Go out there and bring him back, he could be in danger.” That’s what Judith said and her tone and expression got my attention even as I worried about other things.

   “Dear, he’s young and needs to get out on his own. He will be safe enough, I'm sure, under Fortson and Bartlett’s protection.”

   “The same as Jack Seaworth? Is that what you are telling me?”

   “Judy. Don’t do this, it’s not fair. No one regrets what happened last night more than I do. I was elected to the Council but no one made me God. The guard system was already in place and none of us questioned it. Mike will turn sixteen in another month. If we expect to have any influence over him when he does, this isn’t the time nor the issue to take a stand on.”

   “Les, you are acting like raising our son is the same as running the Senate. Mike’s just a kid who still needs our protection, not a political ally or opponent.”

   She was still angry but calming down. I figured it was time to change the subject. “Sinopa. ‘Queen of the Jungle’, came back into camp just after the meeting broke up. She and Stuart huddled together talking mostly about last night but I got the definite impression he is going to make a power grab to take over the township guard force.” That got Judith’s attention.

   “He can’t do that. . . Can he?”

   “I’m afraid he can dear, and he will, unless we can stop him before he gets started. Right now Stuart has his own private army and is expanding it rapidly. If he gets control of the township guard he’ll be defacto military governor and we can change our name from Liberty Township to Stuartsville. It might already be too late. We managed to get a land proposal out of Council and voted in the first day. Since then it’s been nothing but picking at nits with little or nothing to show. I am going to call for an emergency session tonight under the guise of a final report on Seaworth’s death. The real reason will be to get something passed giving government control over the military and guard. I look at the guard more like the police than an army of occupation which it might become under Stuart.”

   “And what if your plan fails Les?” Judith asked with evident concern.

   "Then I will have to resign dear and just become farmer Reye. I won’t head a puppet government for a military dictatorship.”

   “Are you going to talk to Buchanan about this?”

   I sighed and then said. “Much as I hate to, I see no choice. Burt has an uncanny political instinct, but more important than that, a voting block he controls. I’m going to go and talk with him now. There’s not a moment to waste, and I fear it might already be too late.”