Day 50, At the RBJ Brickworks Factory

After building one small kiln and using it to create the bricks that then went to build two other, much larger ones, Rocco and BJ now had a vibrant operation going. Their robots would dig clay from the back of their properties and using crude carts , bring it to the open field plant where it was ground, mixed with some water, sand, and ground limestone. Rocco would shape the bricks in sand lined molds made of scrap wood, and allowed to dry in the sun for a day. BJ was the kiln master and would cook the bricks after smoothing the sides of them.

Their robots would stack the finished bricks on crude pallets made of tree branches lashed together, grading them along the way.

While I, whose property abutted and whose home was being built first — all of us were staying there — claimed some of the bricks, the rest were flown into town in the rented cargo bus and traded for other goods and services. The cargo bus was also used to procure sand and limestone from other parts of the township.

All over town there was rapid construction, both of bricks, more likely wood, a combination of the two, and other innovative materials that the colonists discovered. With the threat of the Rumblers gone, people felt more secure spending time away from the protection of Liberty Security and starting to build on their land grants. Other industries were also starting up and the farms were being replanted.

There was hope, not at all dampened by frequent chilling rains probably caused by all the dust in the atmosphere. On sunny days, and the sky was certainly hazy, there was still a warmth that filtered through.

My chicken pens were all rebuilt and I had a decent business going of fresh chicken and eggs. The chickens seemed to thrive on much of the local seeds budding from the local flora which was a good thing since the corn crops were nowhere near ready for harvest. Indeed, they were barely saplings.

Occasionally Captain Travis would pay a visit. He and Calver, under the direction of Captain Stuart, had run sorties in an attempt to locate the wreckage of Bart and Janie’s shuttle, the Dora. So far, there was no success but with only five shuttles and a very large continent, that was to be expected.

One blessing of the planet, that it was incredibly rich in various minerals and ores, also proved a hindrance as far as the Magnetic Anomaly Detectors installed on the searching shuttles was concerned. Still, since it appeared that no one could survived the sabotage, it was just a matter of continued search and recovery that would continue with time. And we had nothing if not plenty of time.

I watched as R. Asimov returned with another load of bricks and then, glancing at my wristpad, realized that a council meeting was due up in a few hours to discuss legal procedures and such that would shape our justice system. Time to get cleaned up with a dip in the lake.

Day 41 Local Noon

Jai Benjamin meet Summer Pierce at the start of the trail to the Stuart compound. “Uh Oh, the boss wants to see you also?”

Summer grimaced and asked, “What did we step in and when?”

Jai laughed and said , “Guess we will find out. Sin was no help, she just stood up slapped a fist into her chest and said We Who Are About To Die Salute You!”

Summer groaned, “Crap, if she knows what’s going on we are dead.”

“Lovely thought Summer. Oh well the COL can only kill us once I guess.”

“Here’s a lovely thought Jai. How long could Kurt and Mariana make it last?”

“Summer, were you born this damn fatalistic or did you have to work at it?”

We reached the door to see Sgt Nug standing guard. “I will inform the Colonel that you are here.”

Opening the door he announced, “Lieutenants Benjamin and Pierce are here Sir.” From inside came a booming voice, “Have them report Staff Sergeant.”

Summer almost tripped as she started in, SGT, whoops SSG Nug did not make mistakes. What the hell was going down.

The two entered the room to see Colonel Stuart sitting behind a desk with a link of the array propped up in front of him. As they snapped up their salutes and chimed “Reporting as Ordered Sir”, he looked up returned their salutes and began to speak.

“I am at a total loss to understand this report. It says here that two of my Officers slapped leather against the two Senior Members of the Liberty Guard. OODA Ladies sing it out in lockstep.”

Jai and Summer stated as one, “Observe, Orient, Decide and Act; Sir”

“So when did you two decide to turn it into Act then have a Brain Fart?

“Not to mention LT Pierce that, Gunnery Sergeant Joe Fortson could have taken that sidearm away from you and shoved where it’s dark and warm and the Sun never shines. He fortunately has a good sense of humor and knew you had fracked up by being too damn close to your target.

“He fortunately has chosen merely to remind you, that He will be teaching the Hand-to-Hand class next week and has cheerfully accepted you two volunteering to be the demonstration dummies. Of course there has been a change, LTC Andrews will be a bit busy so GSGT Fortson’s teaching assistant will be myself. Good Luck Ladies.

“Now let us proceed to your saving graces. A review of the tapes and statements by other personnel in the room, indicate that you two were in fact never told that the bar was in fact a Guard controlled crime scene and that Strike Force had been asked to provide assistance. That is why CPT Kellerman is having a long discussion with COL Stuart at the Lab as we speak. With luck and good pain medications he should be able to sit down by dinnertime.

“ However Ladies you also did not ask what the frack was going on.. That’s a dumbass on you!

“Your second saving grace is that according to Gunny Fortson, at no time did your trigger fingers ever enter the trigger guards. Nor, did the safety ever come off on your weapons.

“That cancels at least one Aw Shit; but you still have more Aw Shits than Atta Girls. Thus we are going to have a little exercise. As I stated this outfit is going to run under the old US Uniform Code of Military Justice or the UCMJ to you shavetail’s. A full copy of which is waiting in your e-mail. Receive it and send an acknowledgment NOW!”

I watched as they frantically punched at their wrist comps and two voices rang in the room; “Received and acknowledged Sir!”

“Very well Ladies, by this time tomorrow I want 2000 words from each of you on the proper conduct of a Joint Civil/ Military Criminal Investigation and God help your souls if I even think those papers might be a collaboration. On your own Ladies, on your own!

“Now Lieutenant Pierce, take these;’” as I tossed her the Rank pins of a 2LT, “and the next time I catch you out of Uniform give your heart to the Lord girl. Because your Ass will be mine!

“Now get out of my sight!” I was able to contain my laugh as two perfect Salutes ripped the air and I returned them with a casual wave as I said, “Dismissed.”

The door damn sure did not hit their ass on the way out when the back door of the room opened and Joe Fortson and Karl Nash came out with drinks in their hand.

“Oh Lord, Andy that was a vintage Ass Chewing if I ever heard one.” Joe laughed spitting up perfectly good booze.

“Somewhere at Fiddlers Green there is a Command Sergeant Major and a Chief Master Gunnery Sergeant that are toasting your performance right now. Those Girls are wondering why the wrath of God fell on them.”

Karl was kind of laughing also, but asked; “So why did you promote Pierce at the same time?”

Joe completely broke up then, “Karl, she completely got inside my OODA loop for sure or else that damn .45 would not have been stuck in my ear. Rule one in the care and feeding of young Lieutenants Karl. You kick their butts when they screw up; but never fail to tell them they done good. Those Girls may have gone over the line but, they done good!”

Karl laughed, “I think I am glad I’m the Sheriff and not a damn Warrior.”

From the Log Files of Karl Nash

Day 37 - After Midnight
“How did a young whippersnapper like that girl ever get the drop on you Joe?” I asked Fortson when things had quieted down and we were out of ear shot.

“Things aren’t always what they seem Karl, Summer was so intent on doing what she thought her orders told her to that I don’t think she even considered the fact that the muzzle of my blast rifle, even though pointing downwards, was aimed in the general direction of her feet. Most people are unaware that even with a near miss the electronic nature of a plasma containment field propagating forwards will instantaneously paralyze the nervous system of any unshielded person standing close enough. Sort of like a Taser. If Summer’s finger had even twitched in the direction of the trigger guard I would have fired and she would have froze.

“But I think based on what she knew she was trying to do her best, so I’ll just mention it to Andy and he can upgrade the training along with letting the troops know that they don’t point weapons at friendlies. Especially if one of the friendlies was in charge of the investigation and had asked for the area to be secured in the first place.”

“Yeah I noticed that part too,” Nash said with a weary demeanor, Ultimately though the most troubling thing to me was that both girls; no not girls, I should refer to them as soldiers, were unquestionably willing to use deadly force against properly constituted civilian authority. That fact takes the possibility of a military dictatorship far enough out of the realm of the absurd that it bears thinking about. But not now.

“Let‘s knock it off for the night and tomorrow morning see what comes out of the examination of Reyes farmhouse. Whatever it is it will wait, and I better save any of my remaining energy to deal with Pam. I’m starting to feel just like she does about losing contact with Mike, Laura, and the shuttle, in fact after seeing the bomb probably worse. She’s so worried I can’t even imaging how the Reyes and Kathy Osborne are taking this latest news. I can’t take the time to think about it now and I need to help Pam stay calm rather than add to her present worries.”

“I’m with you there Karl. See you at breakfast.”

Day 37 - Morning:
Gene Washburn returned to the farmhouse the night before and stayed long enough to do a quick check of the house’s contents and then come back to Liberty City with Manuel Ortega when the promised relief showed up. Gene was sitting, nursing a cup of coffee, when Joe and I made it to the First Inn for breakfast. “Not much in the way of positive or unsurprising results,” he said, “Some clothing that matched that worn by the two involved in the Osborne rape, as much as the fuzzy video could permit a match. Most any other member of the colony has clothing that could be said to match just as well. But now you have two investigations going don’t you Karl.”

“Yes I need to try and find out the reason Jacks put explosives in the shuttle and if anyone else was involved. Jack’s comp survived the experience and Subbu and Ash went over it last night. They sent me a down load of their findings so I’ll want to talk to them further but already know quite a bit. What they found was interesting but not proof of anything. Jack made notations in a personal log and usually indicated what he was doing at a given time but almost never why he was doing it. The notation for the night he set the explosive charge simply said. ‘Personal Business’. There was no notation that would directly cover the time when Osborne was raped. There were a couple dozen entries that said, ’Meeting with Buchanan’ or ‘Working for Buchanan’ so I’m going to need to ask him what they meant. Remember Gene, none of what I’ve just told you goes further than this table. But you Knew Jack far better than Joe or I did so if you think of anything that could help, well you know what to do.”

“Guess I do, Karl,” he said and then threw back his shoulders and yawned, “First some sleep then back to the sawmill. I was there last night after leaving Reye’s farm and whatever else is going on we need to rebuild.”

After Gene left Joe asked me what I had in mind for Buchanan and the other four we had locked up inside Hanna’s stone walled lower level, “Think we have to let them out. It was probably a gross violation of my authority to have them held in the first place. If I have to I’ll try to get Lester and the rest of the council to support me by saying I was operating under the immunity of martial law due to the storm or something, but I was really just doing what I thought I needed to and flying by the seat of my pants.

“Another thing is that without a prosecutor or judge to make the ruling how do we formalize what ought to be obvious to everyone, that Mariana was acting in self defense and in no way committed any crime. Though I sure wish she had taken Jack alive.”

Joe, brushing his hand against the day old beard on his usually clean shaven face said, “Another can of worms, but one the Council will need to deal with, Let’s get out to Reye’s again and we can tell the guard to let Buchanan and the rest out in an hour or so. That won’t make things any worse and give us time for one last look see.”

Burt Buchanan came bursting through the doorway as Joe and I were finishing up. “This search is illegal. Where’s your search warrant. No one even has the authority to issue a search warrant. Nothing you discover will be admissible.”

Joe replied laconically, “Search warrant? Must have left it out in the cruiser with my badge and ticket book. And why are you so worried about us finding evidence Burt? It would make one think you had something to hide.”

“Bah! Preposterous! Both of you are acting like some kind of little tin gods and if you keep it up the rest of the colony will turn on you. Protection against unlawful search and seizure is implicit, assumed by the Constitution, and you should be brought up on charges.”

“Funny you should mention that Burt,” I said, “I reread the Constitution last night and it looks like the part about searches and lawyers, judges and juries, is still a work in progress. We’re done here now and will be on our way though expect to hear from me again.” And with that Joe and I left the farmhouse and went back to Liberty City. Burt’s four, what shall I call them retainers?, were waiting outside the door and silently made way as we passed through.

Buchanan had one thing right. Something needed to be done to codify civil and criminal laws and their enforcement.

Day 40 Civilian Sunrise

Compiled from various Log Files

Mariana Stuart

“Come on JoAnn, it’s not that bad. Kara needs to explore those highland ranges for stuff we can’t grow down here.

“It’s not like you are going to be able to spend your days with Ash, you know he’s going to stuff his single-minded rear end into Monroe’s simulator’s until he is sure one way or another whether Bart could have landed that shuttle or not.

“Go up into the mountains for a couple of days and play. Cripes after all the problems we have had here, you think anyone is going to give you any grief?

“Judy’s going to need at least another five days to have all of the uniforms ready anyway. Unless you have given up your dream of the Grand Wedding?”

“Oh God no, Mum would kick my arse if I gave up that dream.” JoAnn exclaimed.

“Then embrace it Girl,” Mariana replied. “Because Ash damn well intends to do it up right. The boy just happens to be busy at the moment. Why don’t you hike your ass down the ridge to the cargo bus and go play! There just might be someone down there you know!”

JoAnn McKenzie

As I neared the Cargo Bus I saw the familiar face of Jai Benjamin in an obvious guard position. That face was still the cold ice of a Strike Force Officer but, there was a beginning of a human light in the eyes. Kara walked up and I asked, “You ready to go exploring?” Before she could answer Andy Stuart crawled out of the maintenance hatch.

“OK Ladies, this one is NOT going to go boom on you!”

Kara

“Thanks, Andy. I think I can speak for both of us that we really appreciate you checking. Try not to have too much fun while we’re gone!” I said smirking. I wasn’t sure how he was with joking around, as I’ve only ever seen him serious as hell. But he replied with, “And try not to get eaten while you’re gone,” with a grin on his face.

JoAnn and I were climbing to the hatch when I asked, “Was that the other half of Andy Stuart I just heard?”

“No,” JoAnn grinned, “That would be Mariana. But if you are asking if you just saw the other side of the Iron Ass COL., then you are correct. That’s his sick sense of humor for sure.

“At any rate, Liberty Security and Mayflower Control. Digger in the Cargo Bus lifting atmospheric for the Northeast mountains.”

From the speakers came two short bursts of sound. “Liberty Security, you are singing pure. Mayflower Control, transponder acknowledged.”

JoAnn looked at me, “That is the Iron Ass, nobody takes any chances anymore!”

Then from the speakers, “Liberty Security and Mayflower Control. Ghost going trans-atmospheric destination Mayflower.” Followed by the same two replies

Travis & Monroe in the Mayflower Landing Bay

“Monroe, Andrews on the Order Wire.”

“Good Morning, Ash. Do you have the probable explosion data ready?”

“Sure do, I am on my way as soon as I kick the tires and light the fires. Do I need to swing out by any of the comm sats on the trip?”

“No I don’t believe so,” Monroe replied, “As each one is in a daylight pass for five hours we get a starting diagnostics message. Looks like the flares drained the batteries and they need about a pass and a half to charge up enough to resume operations. We should have general comms by this time tomorrow and a deaf man could hear your tight beam.”

“Well, that’s Andy. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. On my way in five.”

Monroe turned off his wristpad and from the hatchway of one of the two shuttles sitting in the bay came Travis’s laconic drawl, “OK, someone going to tell the Captain what’s going on this time.”

Monroe turned and grinned, “If you give me time to punch your comm code I will. Anyway, Ash has the blast probabilities for the amount of explosives Jack was carrying coupled with the access hatch he entered all figured up.

“We planned to run it into my simulations developed off of Hibbs design plans and figure the severity of damage. If it does not appear to fit into probability class A, that they blew to little pieces. Then we will step down the flight simulators to Bart’s recorded reaction times and Ash will fly the simulation to quantify their chances.”

Travis thought for a moment, “Andrews is primarily a Combat pilot, why should you or I not fly the simulations. That would be a more comparative evaluation.”

Monroe grinned, “That was the question I was going to ask. When we get a predictive from Ash, will you fly a check ride to validate the findings? Getting part of your tail blown off is pretty close to Combat, we don’t want to go optimistic because our test pilot has been there before.

“I have one more question, I got an E-mail from Walt Davis; He, Sabbu and Dave are cobbling up Magnetic Anomaly Detectors for their shuttles and the cargo bus. They want to know if we want one for our shuttles, it’s on the Strike Force tab. Which by the way what the hell is a Strike Force?

It was Travis’s turn to laugh, “Sure thing. Second, tell Walt that I want one for everything we have that flies and third, wait till the upcoming wedding I think you will see.”

Greg Bugbee had been fiddling with some tools nearby and said, “Captain, are we really going to spend valuable time trying to find Bart and crew? There’s no way they could have survived a bomb explosion on their shuttle.”

“Young Mister Bugbee,” Travis said with a frown, “You’ve got a lot to learn about the brotherhood of spacers – and I do include Bart as a spacer since he went through the training during our voyage to our new world. We do not give up hope, nor do we write someone off, nor do we strand someone, until we know for a fact – A FACT – that they are dead. And even then, in that case, as fellow spacers and warriors Andy and Mariana and Ash will solemnly tell you in their own service, you don’t leave the bodies behind. You bring them back for a proper burial and deserved honors.”

“Sorry, Sir.” Bugbee said contritely.

“That’s OK, Mister Bugbee,” Travis said, “You will learn, and I know you will come to feel, that space, or the space around a planet, is a huge place and you have only your mates to rely on, in life, in emergencies, and even in death. So! Let’s get these two shuttles ready.”

“Yes, Sir!”

Kara

I was quite excited about the prospect of exploring, esp. because it meant I got to ride in a cool ship and look out at the planet. And of course escape from the craziness in town.

The ride was pretty uneventful. JoAnn was focused on flying and not crashing into the mountains, but was luckily receptive to my chatter.

“Sorry if I’m bugging you, I’m just so excited to be out and about like this. I’ll try and keep quiet now.”

“No worries, mate. As long as you don’t start pointing and saying “Oh oh oh!” I’ll be alright.”

Luckily I hadn’t done that yet, though I was close when I saw that huge waterfall on the mountainside. “Oh, oh, have you seen the pictures?” was my first thought, thankfully I did not blurt it out .

When we reached the other coastline, we circled and found a landing spot about halfway between a mountain and the coast. On the way down I was able to get a good look at the mountain, which was really a volcano, though luckily it didn’t look active.

Once we got out, we were overwhelmed with alien scents and we immediately started sneezing. We had the same response: “Frak!” Luckily it didn’t last long, and JoAnn immediately started looking for a camp spot. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop looking at everything around us.

We landed in a large meadow, surrounded by trees. When we were done securing a camp, we started wandering. I’ll spare you the details of the trip, as it was basically the same thing over and over: see new plant/animal, poke with stick (my ingenious secret method!), take one or two for analysis, move on to next new thing (which meant we didn’t get very far the first day!). At night I’d do some initial analysis and JoAnn helped me record the findings. JoAnn laughed at me and produced a remote sampler, “Now that the sats are back up, we are connected to the Lab. Mariana and Kurt promised me that someone with a brain would be on the other end.”

Monroe and Company on the Mayflower

Young Bugbee asked, “Why are we trusting that man with so much?”

Monroe leaned back and replied, “Go check out that field jacket he hung up, look at the right breast pocket.

Bugbee looked and said, “So, ten little silver pins; so what?”

“Mr. Bugbee, those are called Kill Pins. Each one represents a Space to Space kill. No other man alive has that many, there was a rouge that almost did named Cafferty. He even killed a friend of CAPT. Travis, Ash got that bastard with two MK 50’s up the ass.”

Bugbee looked stunned, “As I understand UNWG nomenclature MK 50’s were Nuclear tipped missiles. Why would you need two?”

“Because you don’t want to see two molecules in the same space. Learn this Mr Bugbee, the hierarchy of people you do not want to cross. COL Andrew Stuart, COL Mariana Stuart, CAPT Glen Travis, LTC Ashcroft Andrews and me. Do I make myself clear MR.?”

“Yes Sir, you do!”

“Mr. Bugbee I am not being harsh. A future Commander must learn to do a threat evaluation. Would you like to be Jai Benjamin?”

“No Sir, I do not believe I would.”

“Good man, better to be a Spacer than a Warrior any day!”

Kara and JoAnn

We found a whole bunch of stuff on our trip, though some things will be more useful to us than others. Here are some of the highlights.

First is tall, thick “grass” growing near the tree line in the meadow where we landed. It is buttery yellow, very much like straw. It should be good for making baskets and whatnot.

There is a very curious plant, shaped like an umbrella, about a foot high with a brownish topside and pinkish stem. It has a thick gooey underside that smells sweet and attracts various critters. Which is good as the plant is carnivorous — when anything touches the underside, the “umbrella” top snaps shut. The gooey underside is thick and tastes as sweet as it smells and we may be able to use it as a sugar substitute.

We found a crawling critter that is basically a sea cucumber on land (when touched or threatened, it throws up its organs). Initial results show the insides as highly poisonous, which we can hopefully use to our advantage (weapons, traps, etc. — I will leave that to the Wolves).

Our most beautiful find is a butterfly-like bug that has sails instead of wings, which are incredibly strong. If we can synthesize that material we could use it for anything and everything.

Probably our most useful find is the jumping spider/frog critter — it has a soft body like a frog, and long bent legs like a spider. (Shall we call it Sprog? Aren’t I clever?!) It lives in meadow and jumps above the reeds (which are a good 3-4 feet high in places!). Anyway, it is edible, but, no, it doesn’t taste like chicken (JoAnn says more like duck). So what’s so special? It is loaded with nutrients, and they’re plentiful, so we collected many of these guys.

One of the other great finds are these large, tall trees with long tendrils that reach to the ground. The tendrils are thin and not very wide, and have seeds stuck on them (think dot candy for you Earthers), which are edible. When roasted they are quite delicious, and when ingested they give you lots of energy. Coffee substitute anyone? (Let’s just hope it brews well!)

We were (literally) surprised by some mid-sized tree with balloon seed pods, which float into the air, pop and spread seeds to the ground. The first time we heard the pop, JoAnn threw me to the ground so hard I couldn’t breathe hitting the ground was bad enough; then she landed on top of me with that antique lever rifle waving in the wind. It took quite a while for us to figure out what the hell was going on until a second pod popped near enough for us to see it ourselves. I don’t think JoAnn found the discovery nearly as funny as I did. Anyway, perhaps the un-popped pods can be used as baby rattles.
We might have to hide the fact that the seeds make great tea because the next thing you know, you are wondering where the last two hours went and what happened to all the munchies.

Finally, we found a squat tree near the volcano top. The trunk is covered with thick, leathery leaves. Roots come up through soil (which isn’t very fertile and is quite solid) and look like tubes that collect water and air. We couldn’t get a whole sample of this guy (impossible to dig out, and the trunk is insanely thick and tough), but I bet there’s some things we could do with this guy (leaves for protection of some kind? Inside the trunk is watery flesh, like cacti, and is edible. And JoAnn mumbled something about wanting to go at this tree with an energy knife…whatever that is).

Luckily we didn’t run into any serious dangers and after the fourth day we headed back with our stash of goodies. JoAnn called everyone and we went back into flight!

By this time JoAnn and I were getting along well, but as we got closer to home things got quiet. We both wondered what we’d come home to: had the shooting of Jack and his henchman died down? Had the town heard from Bart and company? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Day 36 Evening

From the Log of Sally Kellerman

We walked into Primary and saw the on shift crew staring at us.

“We have the area,” barked Mariana Stuart, “Leave Now!”

I had never seen people move so fast. It was strange the effect that Clan Stuart had on people. It did not matter if it was Andrew or Mariana; when they barked people moved!

“Now if you would Sally, check on treatment and see who’s on duty over there. We can set up shifts based on who has been here the longest.”

I went to treatment and was pleased to find that most everyone had just arrived. The crew they had relieved had been practically wasted but we were well on our way back to normal.

Then Mariana brought in Jules Parker and we set him up for a vigil on Liza.

Back in Primary Mariana suddenly changed, the Iron COL. Was gone and the Dr. was back. Looking at the readouts for Bay 4 she grinned and turned to me. “Sally, you think you could go over to treatment and get a blood sample from Jules, we might as well check up on him while he is here.”

I gave her a puzzled look but hiked over to treatment, I was surprised how little resistance I got to a blood sample from Jules. When, I commented on it to Mariana on my return to Primary she surprised me with her reply.

“Oh, he’s been through our routine before. I needed a confirming sample before we continue his AH treatment.”

Flashing the sample she stared at the screen and mused, “Well, no changes. Take these two injectors and give them to him inter-muscular in the buttocks. They are like the ancient Gamma-Globulin shots, they are gonna hurt unless he lies on his face.

“Pull a cot up next to Liza and let him lay on it, He’ll be happy as all get out.”

Damned if She was not right. Jules took the two injections without a whimper. As long as he could hold Liza’s hand, he was happy. Back in treatment, I had to ask Mariana, “What did I just give that man?”

She just pointed towards the screen and said, “You tell me what you see?”

I studied the screen for several moments then admitted, “I have no idea, should I?”

“That’s the chemical formula for the most banned substance in UNWG control.” Mariana shook in anger before she continued, “They hounded me out of practice over this; Hell they hounded me out of research over this. That is the formula for a regressive Anti-Agathic regenerative drug. And this planet makes it easier to produce!”

“So just what did I just take part in?”

Mariana turned that Military smile on me, “Changing the damn rules. Hanna is next, then Histy; I will lie, cheat or steal. I don’t give a good damn. We are going to save them.”

I was totally stunned, who was going to affect this world more; Her or Andy?

Day 38, Evening, Mayflower Lounge

“That’s quite a story you’ve told,” Travis said to Hibbes, Chandler, and Natasi. They were seated in the lounge along with Monroe, Glenda, and Darren Calver at two tables pushed together. Drinks were before all of them.

“And you’ve entered this — ‘beyond‘ — several times now?” Glenda asked.

“Three times now,” Chandler said, “But it seems to be getting more difficult.”

Chandler said, “We’ve had to revise our theories a bit since our first excursion, Captain. While the fields the ship sets up certainly open a hole to the beyond, as we’ve taken to calling it, it’s obvious that the strong electromagnetic fields from the solar storm are widening that hole and enabling our ship to enter. Leaving is no problem and relies soley on our willing ourselves back. We don’t belong there and so this beyond is more than happy to help us out of it.

“As the storm dies down, we had to increase our own field but the transition took longer. Once the solar storm is gone, the window closes and we might not be able to enter beyond space at all unless we can envelope the entire ship in a field.”

Travis asked the obvious question, “Could you think of Earth and get back there?”

“No,” Hibbes said, “at the moment, range seems limited to the inner part of this solar system. We know this space. Earth, or it’s actual location, is too abstract at this range. In the future, with some sort of training. . . Maybe. Also, while distance is a limiting factor, so would knowledge be one, too. You can’t go someplace you haven’t been and don’t already know intimately. You can’t visualize what you don’t know. We can’t simply say, ‘Take me to Rigel,’ and expect to go there.”

“Hmphm,” Travis said.

“Why are you calling it ‘beyond‘ rather than your original ‘not-space’ designation?” Calver asked.

“‘Not-Space’ is an affront to my sensibilities,” Chandler said, “since we’re clearly someplace even though it’s not in our universe. So it’s Beyond, as in beyond our universe, beyond the fabric of reality.”

Travis said, “Well, this is all very interesting but of no practical value at the moment. There are far more pressing tasks I’d like you two to address. How is the upgrade to the final shuttle coming?”

“Fine, Captain,” Hibbes said. “We’re nearly finished.”

“Good,” Travis said, “I was planetside this morning and talking with the Stuarts. Even though we have to assume that the bomb that the late Mr. Jack planted finished off Bart and Janie’s shuttle, I still would like a coordinated effort to locate the wreckage. With our two shuttles plus the three on Alchibah, we can cover some territory.”

“Closure, if nothing else,” added Glenda.

“Two more days and she’ll be ready,” said Hibbes.

Turning to Calver, Travis said, “How’s the outside dish work coming, Darren?”

“We should have normal communication with Liberty’s tower by tomorrow,” he replied and then added, “The solar storm is almost over and I’m planning a trip to the three comsats when it is, to repair and reactivate them.”

“Good.” Travis took a pull on his drink and said, “We’ve had a request that you, Hibbes, and Bugbee can work on. Rocco and BJ are going into a business venture together. BJ has experience with ceramics, or something like that. They’ve decided to start a brick factory.”

Glenda said, “I thought wood was plentiful down there?”

“True, but given recent events, they want to offer something stronger for those who prefer strength over beauty. BJ has already built several kilns and there’s plenty of clay in the area they and Histy have staked out for their homesteads. They’ve already brokered a few deals. One with the council to supply enough brick to build a school house in the center of town. That’s in exchange for rental of the cargo bus for a couple weeks to transport materials to and from their business. Most of the colonists prefer wood for the natural look but several other deals have been cut with a few other entrepreneurs to provide furniture, clothing, what have you, in exchange for building materials.”

“Sounds like they’ll do well,” Hibbes said, “So where do we come in?”

Travis replied, “Well, renting the town’s cargo bus is fine in the short run but a bad business model. They’d like us to design a small personal craft for their own use. Sort of like a flying pickup truck! In exchange, they’ll supply us with enough brick and mortar to build our villa, our vacation retreat on the edge of the sea, as well as for our little in town bungalow.”

“I’d rather we built the retreat of wood,” said Glenda, “It just looks nicer.”

“Well,” said Travis, “Maybe we can do it of both, with a strong foundation or something. In the meantime, I see a ready market for such a craft for others as well. Should keep us in milk and honey for some time to come. Mind you, these are just for flitting around town. They don’t need anything elaborate or even shielding since they won’t be space worthy.”

“Flitters!” said, Natasi, “I like dat. It good marketing name.”

Hibbes said, “I guess I’ll start work on designing the thing. It will take several weeks but besides fuel, we do need something else to trade in with those below if we’re to eat something besides chicken and tomatoes!”

“And I could use some new clothes!” Glenda added.

After another round of drinks, a card game started up.

Hibbes and Chandler wandered out of the lounge and while riding back to their rooms in one of the carts, Chandler asked, “We’ve got to keep exploring Beyond. Why didn’t you show Travis a picture of what we found on the last trip?”

“Because we don’t even know what it is. Besides, he’s far too practical, like most space jockeys. No imagination, those.”

Opening a folder he was carrying, Chandler took out a photograph of something strange and impossible, something that had no right to exist in the Beyond:

“Damn,” he said, staring at it, “It looks like some giant, obscene structure, trapped in our shuttle’s outside lights.”

“Yes,” Hibbes said, glancing at it, “Except that those limbs were moving!”

Day 36 Evening

I walked into the Bar area of the First Inn expecting to see patients in need of help. What I saw was a War Zone, in the middle of which was Mariana Stuart comforting my wife. I walked over and asked incredulously, “What in the hell happened Sally, what did you do?” Then the hounds of hell exploded in my face.

Somewhere sometime, Col. Mariana Stuart had been a DI and I was getting the full glory of a DI in barely controlled rant mode.

“You will not question my Officers in such a tone again. You think the wrath of God is Andrew Stuart, wrong dickhead; I am what you should worry about. CPT. If you ever question LT. Kellerman in that tone again you will feel that wrath, do you understand me, punk?

“What LT. Kellerman was doing was saving my ass from a backshooter and doing a damn fine job of it.”

Then in a Soto voice that only she and I could hear, “That I did not need but, you son will never tell her that!” She followed that with a conspiratorial grin that told me all I needed to know. This butt chewing was more for Sally’s sake than mine. Drawing on that half vast store of military knowledge imparted to me by the male half of Clan Stuart; I locked my heels stared into space over her head and barked “Ma’am, Yes Ma’am, “ in my best imitation of the Young Guns.

“Very good CPT, “she barked. “LT Kellerman and myself cannot, under any stretch of the Code of Ethics, be involved in the forensics investigation that needs to be done here. However, Sheriff Nash has requested me to maintain security on this site until his return so CPT. As the Senior member present of both the medical community as well as Strike Force Alchibah. This is your site, LT. Kellerman and I will be at the Lab if Sheriff Nash needs us. Take Command Sir!”

With that she took one step back and snapped up one of those iron tight salutes that Clan Stuart and the Young Guns seemed to be able to produce in a heartbeat. As I started up with my normally untrained sloppy response, I heard Ash’s laconic drawl in my head, “Shit Bubba you got it down, when you need it it’ll happen”; as the first locked and cocked iron hard salute I had ever pulled off greeted hers.

Great, how was I supposed to do both jobs? Then in my head I heard on of those late night conversations with Andy over of course Stuarts Worst, “Delegate CPT., only do yourself what someone else can’t; if you train your people correctly, you can be in five places at once.” I punched my now working wrist comp, “Candidate Summer Pierce, CPT. Kellerman; Priority” Her reply snapped up in mere seconds. “Sir, Yes Sir. What can I do for you Sir.”

“Candidate grab at least one other troop and report to the bar at the First Inn, this will be a physical security detail and this will be the only radio transmission from this site until further notice, clear?”

“Sir, on the way,” was the sharp reply.

I sat my bags on the counter, pulled out the remote sampler, and fired it up to sync with the Lab over the landline. Before I had finished three people walked in the main door.

LT. Jaisa Benjamin said, “You called Sir?”
I turned to see her in her new rig and my mind went back to last night in the new Stuart household. Hell, it had started as a house warming party at the new Stuart digs when Andy had handed her that fancy new rig.

“Here you go LT. I can’t do anything about too many targets or too many angles but, I can affect too few rounds.” He reached behind the chair and came up with the rig she was now wearing.

“Fred may have been dumb and slow but he wasn’t cheap. This here is as good as it gets. You can thank Walt over there because neither Mariana nor I would have thought about ripping it off of him, we had enough .45’s to not want more. But, for someone as ambidextrous as you; it should be quite the thing.”

I had watched a light come back in those cold dead eyes that had been missing for the last few days.

Andy had made a simple declaration, “Walt told me to save these for my kid. Little did He know that we are not sure we can have any? So take this Girl, because you are as close to a daughter that I think I am going to see. Hell, which we may ever see.”

I watched Connor Benjamin fire up from his seat and stop in mid lunge as he saw the same thing that I did. A fire came up in those eyes that had not been there. There was no light of humanity in that fire but the cold hard stare of Duty was there in force. Damn, I thought there is a human in there after all.

I stood and watched that same cold fire in her eyes as Summer and Ryu broke for the doors. In that instant I knew what Andy was trying to build and I knew it had been done. Kill him; kill Mariana and Strike Force Alchibah will still come for your throat. It lived in Andy’s heart, and in Mariana’s. And by God it lived in the heart of Jai Benjamin and as I now knew in mine.

“Secure the communications LT. Benjamin, I have forensics to do!” With that, I turned my attention to the bodies.

I was just finishing up my samples and feeding them into the repeater when Karl Nash came into the room.

“Where the hell is Mariana Stuart and who the hell are those Daemons guarding the doors?”

Before He could move another step, the right-handed version of a Wilson Combat Masterpiece was under his chin.

Jai Benjamin was behind it and her voice was cold as ice. “You will not question the CPT., Sherriff Nash. We have been tasked to investigate a multiple homicide. CPT. Kellerman is in charge of that. Do you have a problem Sir?”

Karl asked over his shoulder, “Do you have a problem Joe?”

Fortson’s reply was short and sweet, “ Not with this damn thing pointed at my head!”

Joe was standing in the side door with Summer Pierce’s .45 stuck in his ear.

“Let them go Jai and Summer they are the good guys after all!”

Joe laughed and walked back outside.

I finished feeding the forensics samples into the repeater. When the results came in I looked at Karl and asked, “Tell me you control Jack’s residence?”

Karl replied, “Of course, what is the problem?”

“Some where in his quarters you are going to find a cryo vault, only it will not have sperm and ova. It will have rogue DNA that he used as his voluntary sample. Because the skin scrapings under Kathy Osborne’s right fingernails, you know the only part of her body that did not fall into the pond she almost drowned in or we would not have any evidence. Well, they did not match anybody on Alchibah, so no forensics but guess what; they match that dead ass over there. Mariana killed more than she knew!”

Karl acted faster than I thought he could, “Sabbu, Joe:” he screamed into his wrist comp. “Get back to Jack’s place, find me a cryo unit.” From is wrist comp came, “Sure thing Sheriff.”

Karl looked at me and asked, “When the hell did I become the Sheriff?”

I grinned, “About the time when you said you would be the Boss of the Guard. Count yourself lucky you ain’t Strike Force, Andy can’t kick your Ass!”

He just grinned and asked, “So what went down here Doctor?”

“This dumbass with the issue .45 in his hand drew on Mariana Stuart. That was his last dumb mistake. But he damn sure was part of the rape, I just wish we had something on the other person. When we find that cryo case that will give us a legal ground to take fresh DNA samples from the rest of that crowd.”

We stared at each other for a long period, suddenly his wrist comp chimed, “Boss we found a cryo box; call off them damn dogs we are coming in with it.”

“CPT Kellerman, care to call them off?”

“No problem, Strike Force; the Sheriff is in control of the crime site; we can Stand Down!”

“So, CPT, how do you control these Young Wolves?”

”Sheriff, I don’t have to. It seems COL. Stuart bet the ranch on duty and honor. It sure looks like he won that bet, hands down!”

Nash knew he was staring at one of the King Wolves!

Connor
Day 34, just after midnight

“Go ahead, Sin. I’ve got a couple quick things to deal with here. Won’t be more than a minute,” I told my friend. Andy was right, we’ve lost too many people to the rumbler to let it go any longer. And if anyone could track it Sinopa could.

“The girls?” she asked. I nodded. “All right. I’ve got to pick up the .50 from my tent in any case. We’ll meet you where it got Burke.” She and Ash turned and left the lab as I went back over to Jai’s bed.

“Girls? I’ve got a job to go do. Are you going to be alright if I’m gone for a little while?” My two beautiful twins looked up at me, then back at their sister.

“Yeah dad,” Aya replied.

“We’ll be fine. Besides, Jai’s going to be ok,” Arra continued.

“But we’ve got to let her rest now, right?” Aya finished. I smiled softly. They almost seemed a part of each other at times.

“Yeah, she’s going to be just fine. Come on, Kaiya will take care of you while I’m away.”

Sinopa

The rain finally stopped well after dawn. The trail was still clear – nothing that big could move through a forest without leaving a pretty significant mark on the landscape. It was even clawing a tree up every mile or so (a territory or mating marker, I assume), making the tracking almost laughingly easy despite the rain. If I was right we were about ten hours behind it, meaning if we pushed we could make its resting place before the sun went down and it got up. There were too many ‘ifs’ in the plan for me to like it, but we couldn’t afford to let it go again, and we all knew it.

I hadn’t tracked anything with quite this sense of urgency in ages. We had to kill the rumblers in this area, that much was certain. We probably had fewer than a dozen weapons in the camp that could take them out, and even fewer people that were actually capable of using those weapons. It takes a special kind of person to fire a .50 without destroying their shoulder, and until a few hours ago we didn’t even know about the plasma rifles. Relying on guards obviously wasn’t going to work, so we had to go hunting or be picked off one by one.

As we continued on upstream (a ways in from the river so as to minimize the slizzard risk) the shredded trees grew closer and closer together. By the time we were by my best estimate an hour from the place it had bedded down they were coming every couple hundred yards, and some looked several days old. The more I saw the more I was convinced mating season had arrived, which of course explained the other one that had trapped the Washington boy.

Had I been sure my trusty old .50 Alaskan would drop the thing I would have had the boys stay put and ended the trip myself. The winds were working in our favor for the time being, but the risk of them shifting and warning the rumbler was too high, and while Connor is all right in the woods and I’m sure Ash can hold his own as well, the honest truth is that there are few people I would stake my life on being able to stalk a predator this dangerous, and they’re not on Alchibah. But I really had no idea what it would take to kill the thing, so Connor and Ash stayed with me.

What we saw when we arrived at the rumbler’s resting place about an hour before dusk was what I would imagine the apocalypse would look like. An area the size of a football field was simply destroyed. Every tree in the area had gouges ripped out of its trunk, and most of them were pushed to odd angles or entirely over as well. It was as if a tornado with claws had spun itself through the stand. And in the midst of all that wanton destruction the rumbler was resting peacefully. Snoring, actually.

The actual killing of the thing was amazingly simple, considering all it had put us through. We silently moved into place along the border of the dead zone. With Connor training the plasma rifle on it as insurance, Ash and I pumped enough lead and explosives into its head to kill a mid-sized whale. Apparently rumblers are at least as easy to kill as mid-sized whales. And that, as they say, was that.

After resting the evening and night a safe distance away from the kill site (in case its mate got bored of the Washington kid before Magic and the Reaper showed up) we headed back to Liberty. Or what was left of it. There was no doubt that frontier life was hard, and as wrong as things had gone in our first month on Alchibah you almost couldn’t help but think that the planet itself had turned against us. Like it was trying to spit us back out after realizing that we might be bad for it. But despite that we are here, and we are staying. The people that made this journey are a remarkable bunch, to say the least. I’m not sure what it would take to dislodge us from our new home, but I have no doubt it will take more than a tsunami, hurricane, mudslide and hostile population of dangerous predators. For good or for ill, this is our home. We will have to learn to live with it, and it with us.

From the Log Files of Karl Nash

Day 36 - Evening:
Joe Fortson burst into the First Inn, weapon drawn and at the ready. Karl Nash was hot on his heels. He began his sweep, then paused and stepped aside, making room for Nash, as Fortson saw the bodies lying on the floor, Mariana Stuart standing over them.

A few quick words and an explanation by Mariana, then Nash turned to Fortson and said. “We certainly are going to need a council meeting soon, but first Joe, round up some support quick as you can handle it and I‘ll meet you at the upper bridge. We’re going to visit Reye’s farm. Get as many as you think you need.” Nash then turned back to Reye, “Lester I understand that Jack and the rest of his bunch are,” and with another look at the bodies he amended, “–or were–staying out at your farm. Am I right on this?”

Pale and shaking Reye responded, “Yes they were staying there Karl, but surely you can’t think I had anything to do with what was on the surveillance tape.” He couldn’t bring himself to say anything about what the tapes actually showed.

“No one is accusing anyone of anything Lester, but I want to make sure that if evidence exists, evidence of anything, it doesn’t simply disappears before we get around to looking for it. I would appreciate it if no one uses their com unit or leaves the Inn until Joe and I are back. Is that clear enough for everyone?”

Silence reigned supreme and as he prepared to leave Nash said to Mariana, who was looking like she was about to join him, “Please Mariana would you stay here and make sure anyone else that shows up stays, and that the bodies aren’t touched before Kurt does an examination? This could be very important.”

If anger could boil water they would all have been poached, but holding herself in check Mariana simply nodded.

Nash made the bridge just moments before Gene Washburn, Sabbu Akai, and Manuel Ortega reached the abutment with Fortson leading the way.

“I’ll take point, “Fortson commanded, “Let’s make time till we reach the marsh above the foot of the lower bridge. “We’ll figure out what comes next when we get there.”

They covered the distance in a little under twenty minutes and halted at the edge of the sandy area adjoining the marshland. It was getting dark rapidly now but there was still enough light remaining that after they skirted the marsh to the north and found a position to examine Reyes cabin from they could tell there wasn‘t any activity around the farm house. They could also see light from a fire and maybe an electric lamp that was illuminating the window facing their position.

Nash was letting Joe handle this and thankful for the opportunity. “Ok,” Joe said, “If Buchanan’s there and everybody’s home a max of six. Manuel get around back, Gene take the window on the side, Nash will back me up. I’m gonna give 10 minutes for you guys to get in position before Karl and I move in. It’s gonna be dark by then, so unless they got a lookout, and ain’t no reason I can think of that they should, we will be in place without anyone the wiser. I’m gonna bust through that door doin’ one of the no knock search routines the Goonies were famous for, and when I do Mannie and Gene, smash out the glass and point your rifles inside. But just in case ya gotta use ‘em, make sure they’re not pointed at me or Karl. We all clear on this?. . . Good, let’s do it.”

For the second time in the last hour Fortson burst through a door. As he did so this time he heard the smashing of broken glass and saw Burt Buchanan and four others seated at a table in the combined main room and kitchen playing cards. While they were still too surprised to say a word, and Nash kept them covered, Joe looked into the empty bedroom. Nothing.

“What the hell’s going on here,” Buchanan started to bluster.

“Jacks dead, and this is part of the investigation, don’t say a word, just be nice and calm and you all can accompany Karl and me back into Liberty city and we we’ll be happy to fill in the details for you.” Fortson said. “Manuel stay here and watch the place. Some one will be along to relive you as soon as we can handle it.” Then back to those still seated at the table, “If you gentlemen,” he said looking at the card players, “would follow Mr. Nash, Gene and I will bring up the rear.”

They all filed out in silence and with the use of hand held lights headed northwards. By the time they were back in Liberty City and reached the Community Building it looked like a Council session might be getting underway that night after all. But Nash was hoping the forensic results could be produced first.

“Jules, I’m beginning to feel like Miss Kitty in Gunsmoke! I can handle the cleanup here at the Inn but I’m worried to death about the girls.”

“Me too, dear. I want to see them with my own eyes, not just a scratchy report … ‘found, being treated, and under observation.’ Can’t reach Linda and JJ’s off again.”

“Oh, Jules,” I sighed. “This is frightening. Never expected disasters or someone’s guts all over the place.”

“Now Hanna, take a deep breath. It’ll be okay.” He gave me a quick firm hug, and with that lovable glint in his eye said, “ ‘Scuse me…. Time to get out o’ Dodge.”

With a knot bigger than his stomach, Jules ran to the Lab. “Hi, Mariana. Looking for my girls… Karyn’s with the other kids, but I need to know about Liza and Emily. I know you’ll tell me straight.”

With a careful quick glance, she said, “We’ll keep Em for a bit. She’ll do fine; she’s young and healthy. And by the way, congratulations, Mr. Parker. You’ll be a great-grandpa … to twins! ”

“That’s a good surprise….for a change! Now tell me what you’re not telling me about Liz.”

Mariana paused. Even Linda and JJ didn’t know yet. “Sir, she will need some extra help. PTSS – post-traumatic stress syndrome. Kind of shell-shock from the storm and tsunami. But when she heard about Emily’s attack and injuries, it was too much for her. The best we could do was try to keep an eye on her. Right now, you’d be the best medicine of all for her.”

Jules went into the quiet room where Liza was curled up underneath a blanket in a lounge chair. “Lizzie, it’s Grandpa.” Vacant eyes didn’t see him. They bespoke of her presence on some other plane. Sitting down gently on a chair beside her, he waited several minutes, then placed his hand tenderly beside hers. In a hushed voice he spoke a few more words. Then stopped. And repeated the pattern. Gradually she became aware of his presence. Turned her head with such raw pain in her eyes that his heart broke into thousands of pieces. Her eyes beseeched him with the unasked question, “Em?” Summoning up more courage than he imagined he had, he said merely, “Okay.” More pause. “Em will be okay.”

Silence enveloped them both. Her fingers inched towards Jules’ strong hand, hesitantly touched it. He slowly grasped her hand, and held it with compassion. Liza took a long deep sigh, she shuddered, the tears began to flow, and her body shook uncontrollably as she sobbed. He gently rocked her. Then she uttered, “Can I just sit with her? Til she wakes up.”

Ah Liza, what a lonesome road it’s been for you.