The White Warrior

by Marilyn Donnellan

  Chicago Province, primary producer of food for the empire, included the former states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Puerto Rico was totally wiped off the earth during the war. Rail spurs within the province channeled year-round organic produce, fish, poultry and cattle from huge government-controlled dome farms to east-west rails in solar-refrigerated train box-cars.

  The BL Council focused on recruiting members among food producers, since they could slip hundreds of boxes of books inside shipments to communities with cave locations. Cells in Chicago province were limited in the number of caves they had access to: Illinois Caverns; Lost World Caverns and Organ Cave in West Virginia; and Dames Cave and Peace Cave in Florida. So, abandoned underground subway systems in Cincinnati became additional ideal locations for book storage. There seemed to an endless supply of needed boxes for the books within the province. A constant stream of empty boxes moved between provinces, thanks to BL members.

  Because of the massive destruction of major cities during WWIII, Janice needed to look for rural locations within reasonable distances for most cells, but she also sought places where empire officials were unlikely to hunt for stashes of books. Council members agreed the more locations the better. If one location was found, hundreds of others were hidden so well they might not be found by authorities.

  Transportation of books relied heavily on individuals moving a few boxes at a time. Many times, cell members hid empty boxes within other goods transported across the extensive rail systems in the provinces.

  Train rails quickly moved goods and people north and south from one end of each province to the other. Spurs from main lines spread out like snakes east and west. Only one spur was large enough to transport goods and people across provincial borders, and it ran directly across the center of the empire, from Las Vegas in California Province to Norfolk on the Atlantic coast. Recruitment of BL members who serviced the main rail line was another critical step in their efforts.

  Each province had its own north-south rail for transportation within their borders, adding needed spurs to it, but never connecting with other main lines. Each provincial government exerted control over what they shipped by rail. But the massive system had its security flaws, making them vulnerable to cell members slipping in boxes of books marked as produce or as other innocuous packages.

  Texas Province had the longest north-south rail, extending from Minneapolis in the north, south to the Mexico suburbs. Since the province’s primary industry was energy, much of the rail’s upkeep was empire funded, to avoid disruption of the stored energy flowing to the other provinces. And now a constant flow of hidden books moved to caves across the province, hidden among parts for solar panels and wind turbines.

  All types of research facilities funded by the government had been housed in the universities, too. But so much research was stopped, destroyed or lost because of the war, especially in specific areas like AI, robots and medicine. The rail system was critical for bringing in students, as well as needed materials for everything from new medical research, to Nano-chips and AI research.

  New York Province, seat of the empire’s governmental structure, ran the only exception to the north-south rail, a dedicated rail going to all four provinces. Called the Altero Line, the sleek and very expensive bullet train allowed the empire’s government officials to move quickly and securely between four provinces. Although in some places it paralleled the regular transportation line, it was a totally separate line, producing its own wind energy with its 600 miles per hour speeds. It started in Boston and meandered west through Pennsylvania to Chicago City and then to Austin City. Only government officials, military and researchers used the Altero Line. Because of the thousands of planes destroyed during the war, the few remaining planes were reserved for military use, thus increasing the population’s reliance on rail travel.

  New York City, most of New Jersey, and Washington D.C. were leveled by nuclear bombs. Much of the east side of the New York province would be waste lands for centuries. The Library of Congress and all monuments in DC were pulverized during the war. Northern and eastern populations areas, composed of the former states of Pennsylvania, upstate New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, were now concentrated in one large city in the Boston area. The primary economic base of the province was the government, military bases and housing for more than two million government and military workers and their civilian support staff.

  Janice suddenly awakened from her reverie as she stumbled over a rock in her path. It was dangerous to not pay attention. She stopped to look at her watch and take a break. She pulled a solar blanket out of her back pack, laid it down on the narrow path, after moving a few stones, and sat down. She ate half of a protein bar, deciding to ration the rest, and drank a few sips of water. She pulled out the Mormon book and read another chapter by the light of her head lamp. She found a location back the way she had come to pee and went to the little nest she built, turning off the head lamp. She covered herself with half of the solar blanket as she laid down and tried to rest.

  As she started to doze off, her mind wrestled with what to do with the information about Supervisor Jackson’s nefarious deeds, apparently transporting illegal drugs. If she reported him would she be forced to reveal the new exit she was sure to find? Otherwise, how to explain how she escaped out of the vault? She dozed as her mind wrestled with the problem.

  Time soon had no meaning. She had no idea how many days passed. Both sets of batteries for her headlamp gave out. In the pitch black of the narrow cave time stood still, even though she knew she still moved forward. She measured time by how many steps she walked. She kept one hand always on the wall on her left. Somewhere along the way she picked up a long metal strip of aluminum she used with her right hand to tap in front of her like a blind person’s cane.

  Counting her steps was a strategy she employed when she got lost in a cave in Central America, a strategy she used now. Every 500 steps she stopped and gouged a deep cut in the wall waist-high with a knife she carried with her. She would know if she was going in circles if she touched a gouge. So far, she had not found a gouge, so she must still be going forward. She kept track of every 500 steps by picking up a tiny pebble and putting it in her left pocket. If her pocket got too full she stopped for a rest and a sip of water. She counted her pebbles, keeping one for every 100, which she put in her right pocket.

  She knew the process wasn’t totally accurate, but it kept her mind active and forced her to move forward whenever she wanted to give up. She slept when too tired to go on. She was down to one bite of a protein bar and a couple of sips in a packet of water. If she didn’t reach the end soon she knew she might die here in the dark, alone. She told herself to stop thinking that way. The end is just around the corner. Keep going. One foot in front of the other. People depend on me. The words became a mantra she said repeatedly.

  Just when she thought she couldn’t possibly walk one more step, she looked up. Okay, Janice, now you are seeing things. Ahead she thought she saw a glimmer of light. Could it be? She started to move faster and then stopped herself. It wasn’t enough light to be sure of anything. Was she hallucinating? Tapping her way forward slowly, she kept her eyes focused on the light. If she was hallucinating, so be it. But nothing had ever looked so good.

  The glimmer got bigger and bigger. It was daylight. She stumbled forward and fell as she reached the edge of the cave exit. Based on the position of the sun, she figured she emerged on the northeast side of the mountain. She squinted as she tried to let her eyes adjust to light. Slowly moving to a sitting position, she pulled aside brush in front of the cave, scratching her hands in the process. Janice was so glad to see light she forgot to put on her climbing gloves before trying to move the brush. Squinting, she waited until she could see a little better before she pulled out her vid-phone from her backpack. She turned i
t off upon entering the chamber, knowing it wouldn’t work underground. She decided to try and call Brogan and Bryan first.

  “Janice!” an excited Brogan answered the phone. “Are you okay? We’ve been looking for you for two days. Hey, you don’t look so good.”

  A very filthy, dirty Janice looked back at her on the vid-phone, her face thin and her eyes haunted.

  “I’m okay. Just terribly hungry and thirsty. As near as I can tell, I’m on the northeast side of the mountain. Can you come and get me? I don’t think I can walk another step. I’ll leave my phone on, so you can triangulate my position.”

  “We’re at the west end of Little Cottonwood Canyon Road. We’ve been up and down the northwest side of the mountain several times but not yet to the east side. Hang on. We’ll be there as quickly as we can.”

  After a couple of hours hiking, they finally reached Janice’s position. The side of the mountain was steep, rocky and rugged. Heavy brush obscured several areas where she might be located, but eventually light reflected off the metal on her head lamp and they quickly scrambled up the boulders to see her lying on the edge of a cave entrance almost totally hidden by scrub brush. As they struggled up the steep slope, Janice heard them coming and slowly sat up.

  “What took you so long?” she asked with a weak grin, throwing her arms around them before they collapsed in exhaustion beside her. “Got any food or water with you?”

  Bryan pulled out an apple, a protein bar and a bottle of water from his backpack, which Janice slowly devoured. They waited until she finished before peppering her with questions.

  “Are you okay? What happened? How did you get here?”

  “Whoa! Slow down. I’ll give you answers. Just give me a minute to get used to the idea of being in the light. What day is it? I’ve totally lost track.”

  They told her a week had passed since she entered the tunnel. Janice was surprised it hadn’t been longer. It sure seemed longer. She told them the whole story. The apparent contraband drugs being shipped out of the exit from chamber two under Jackson’s direction, the artifacts in chamber six and her finding an unknown exit, a potential good book storage place. She showed them the old book she found. Knowing it wasn’t a good idea for authorities to find it on them, they agreed to protect the book in the solar blanket and tuck it back into a dark area of the cave. Janice hated to part with it, but she had no choice.

  The trio discussed their next steps. If they went to authorities, they would have to reveal the exit they wanted to use for books and the artifacts in chamber six. But, Jackson needed to be stopped. They finally decided to make an anonymous call to authorities about the exit from chamber two. Brogan and Bryan identified the exit on the north face of the mountain when they looked for Janice, taking a short, cautious hike inside to look for Janice. They told authorities what to look for. Janice had vids of Jackson and his cohorts moving the contraband inside chamber two, hopefully enough for a conviction. She sent the vids anonymously, too.

  After agreement on next steps, they helped Janice down the mountain and to their car. It was certainly faster going down than climbing up. They located a cash-only hotel where they got cleaned up, ate a good meal and rested. Janice told Brogan and Bryan it seemed like heaven. The hotel wasn’t much, but because of its location on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, they were less apt to be seen by authorities. From her hotel room, Janice reprogrammed her car in the vault parking lot to return to the hotel.

  Two days of rest was all Janice needed before they communicated with the local BL cell and arranged for a meeting to reveal the new site to hide books. With their priority tasks completed, all three headed back to Austin City by train. Bryan and Brogan decided they had enough excitement for the summer and needed time to furnish their apartment and be ready for the senior fall semester for her and for his new job at the House of Commons.

  Chapter Nine

  Unexpected Fugitives

  Although Bryan sometimes found his job as an aide to MC Carusco tedious, it provided him with many opportunities to find out what the empire knew about the Book Liberators and their strategies to stop the rebels. His unassuming, quiet manner often caused those around him to underestimate his brilliance and insight.

  The MC offices were in the House of Commons building located north of UTA’s campus. When the old capitol building became the administrative center for UTA, a new, modern capitol building was built in the Georgetown suburb. Located under a protective dome, it was the tallest building. The top reached to within a few feet of the dome, while the bottom floor had been dredged out of limestone hundreds of feet down, with other government offices and residents for officials also located under the dome.

  The new steel and glass capitol building, built since the war, was covered in variegated colored windows. On a typical sunny Texas day, light reflected off the building, so it could be seen for several miles, creating a kaleidoscope of color through the dome. Each MC’s office was located on a separate floor facing north. Staffers had desks located in a large common area on the south side. As MC Carusco’s aide, Bryan’s desk was closest to the MC’s office on the 17th floor, with other staffers located behind him. East and west sides of each floor had hallways providing direct access to central common areas, such as transport tubes between floors, conference rooms, break rooms, an electronics area, restrooms and supply areas.

  Bryan rode a transport tube to work each morning. It was now spring, and Brogan was in her final semester at UTA. When they returned from Utah, they located a small apartment in a student housing building at the north end of campus, so she could walk to classes.

  MC Carusco had been a big help in getting Hernandez convicted of racketeering and drug dealing. Agreeing to testify against him, Stephen was granted immunity and did not serve any time in prison. Bryan owed a lot to MC Carusco. He talked to his dad every week on vid-phone. He seemed to be doing much better. He was gradually adjusting to life without his partner. He sold the house and now lived at the newly completed resort, which he managed.

  Bryan sat at his desk working on MC Carusco’s schedule for the next week when Scotty Wilson, walked up to him. Bryan knew Scotty was a member of BL, but Scotty did not know Bryan was one of the BL council members. A skinny, studious looking man in his late sixties, Scotty had worked for MC Carusco since his selection seven years earlier. Bryan put down his vid phone and asked, “What can I do for you, Scotty?”

  “Bryan, will you please tell MC he needs to look at the news vid immediately? And you need to see it, too. And, I am so sorry.”

  Bryan noticed Scotty’s alarm but was puzzled by it. His hands shook, and his normally pale skin was even whiter.

  “What is it, Scotty?”

  “Just look at the news.” Scotty abruptly turned and went back to his desk.

  Concerned, Bryan scrolled to the news as he stood up, turned, and started to knock on MC Carusco’s door. Before he knocked, he froze as he suddenly saw the news story about arrests in Van Horn and all up and down energy grunt towns in west Texas. He kept the volume low as he listened to the story, complete with pictures of arrests. The reporter kept repeating the story every five minutes.

  “ABC news has just learned more than 300 people on the west side of Texas Province have been arrested. All but 50 citizens were executed on the spot for treason. According to a spokesperson for Major Robert Riley, head of the empire’s Operation Close the Book task force, those arrested were stealing books and storing them in the Caverns of Sonora, a clear violation of the empire’s law prohibiting the keeping and storing of books of any kind.

  “Apparently, the ring leaders of what we now know is called the Book Liberators are Emily and Frank Finlay. Our research indicates Frank, 48, is an energy grunt but a graduate of University of Texas Dallas with a degree in engineering. His partner, Emily, also 48, is a teacher and a graduate of University of Texas Austin.”

  Bryan vaguely heard voices raised behind him as he looked down at the vid-phone showing the horrible e
xecutions of BL rebels by firing squad. He caught a glimpse of Frank and Emily being thrown into a prison van before MC Carusco jerked open his door.

  “What’s all the commotion about?” Carusco roared. A tall handsome man of about 70 years of age, even MC Carusco needed to look up at Bryan. He had been receiving age-enhancing drugs since in his 40’s so he did not look his age. He maintained an aura of wisdom by keeping a silver streak through his black hair. He had been a district attorney before getting into politics.

  “Well, come on man,” he bellowed, “What’s going on? Why the racket?”

  He peered around Bryan, trying to see what was going on behind him. Silently, Bryan removed his vid-phone and handed it to MC Carusco. MC Carusco frowned as he began to watch the vid. He looked up at Bryan and concern spread across his face.

  “Finlay. Isn’t that the name of your partner’s parents?”

  “Yes, sir,” Bryan replied, “It is. May I please take the rest of the day off to go to her before she finds out from someone else? We need to figure out what is going on.”

  “Absolutely, son,” MC Carusco replied. “You take whatever time you need. Let me know if there is anything I can do. I’m sure it is all just a huge mistake.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’ll let you know if there is anything you can do. May I have my vid-phone back, please?”

  “What? Oh, sure,” and he handed the vid-phone back to Bryan.

  Bryan grabbed his jacket off his chair and pushed his way through the crowd now gathered in front of the staffers’ hologram, watching the breaking news. Before he headed down the elevator, he stopped at Scotty’s desk.