Chapter 18
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them.
-Albert Einstein
Zac stealthily opened the bathroom door - surprised to see the lights weren’t on. He gave his eyes a moment to adjust, then peered through the steam towards the solitary torch beam, and stared at the cluster of three teens standing tête-à-tête around it. Jake was clad in a towel. Reece and Prada were naked silhouettes.
“Most girls like to be touched on this bit here,” he heard Prada say. “But only gentle touch. Not rough.”
Zac’s jaw dropped in astonishment. Reece looked up with a grin and held his finger to his lips.
“So that’s the bit that produces the orgasm?” confirmed Jake.
“Yes. And the other bit I really like Reece touching is just here.”
“That close to your entrance?”
“Ah ha.”
Reece caught Zac’s eye again and glanced towards the door. Zac hurriedly turned on his heel.
“If the sensitive bit’s that near the entrance, then size really isn’t an issue...” ventured Jake.
“That’s right... So now you can stop worrying about your size. Right, little brother?” said Reece, grinning as Zac scurried silently out of the bathroom.
Ω
Zac avoided eye contact with Dave and plonked himself face down on his mattress. Maya glanced perceptively at his crimson ears.
“So is Jake okay?” she asked gently.
“Yep.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yep.”
I could sense Zac’s legendary calm was developing significant cracks.
“You copped an eyeful. I can tell!” I tormented.
Zac sat up abruptly.
“SShhhh... You’ll wake Petrina!” he snapped.
“Prude.”
He looked injured and I felt instantly contrite.
An awkward silence. Dave rested a hand on Zac’s forearm.
“Gordon contacted me again a moment ago,” he said breezily. “There’s a strategy meeting over at Garden Island in the morning. Like to tag along?”
A mute nod of agreement.
“Well in that case, we’d best do something about those shoulders of yours now... Before you get yourself too comfortable and nod off...”
Dave casually stood up and tugged Zac to his feet.
“Come on. Bring your sleeping bag so you’ve got something to lie on and let’s find ourselves a private possie eh?”
Ω
Zac trailed Dave over to the opposite corner of the warehouse. Dave took the sleeping bag off Zac, spread it out, then sprawled himself out comfortably. Zac sat down cautiously next to Dave. Tension exuding from his tired features. Dave waited.
“Don’t ask!” blurted out Zac.
“Don’t need to. Your face says more than enough,” replied Dave gently.
Silence.
“If it helps, I had a quick word with Dutchy while you were checking on Jake. Apparently Reece and Prada have been playing parents-show-and-tell with him all night. You know, showing him how to apply nappy cream, how to dress a squirming rug-rat, how to express breast-milk...”
“...and I walked in on the parents-show-and-tell sex-ed lesson,” finished Zac.
Dave tried to look sympathetic.
“Two doses of show-and-tell sex-ed on the same night? Ouch!”
Zac shut his eyes tiredly.
“I never want to experience another day like today.”
“Hey, if you don’t think every day is a good day, just try missing one.”
“All right. Every day’s a good day. I just want this particular good day to end.”
“Want me to get Maya over here to speed up time for you?”
“Huh?”
“You know what Albert Einstein said? Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour... Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.”
“Well relatively speaking, on a scale of one to ten I think I’ve got a stress-related headache that’s eleven.”
“I’ve heard laughter’s the best medicine for that particular complaint. Although my personal preference is a sensual endorphin-releasing massage from Jen.”
Zac took a tired swipe at Dave.
“I give up. It’s impossible to feel sorry for myself around you anyway.”
Dave laughed and feigned protest.
“Hey... I organised a one-off return trip back to where you glitched tonight because you looked fragile after trying something new. If the Holy Hound of Heaven has dragged your butt back across the bridge for the second time tonight, you’ll have to take that up with Him, not me!”
“I’ve always seen myself as prudent. But Hope’s perceptive. Maybe in trying to uphold a high standard it’s coming across to others as prudish.”
“Prudishness can be a positive or a negative attitude. If you’re prudish out of a pure heart that’s different to if you’re prudish out of fear...”
“...because there’s a different intent... You’re right... I’m being dragged back over that bridge again...”
Dave chuckled.
“Come on. Can’t treat those shoulders with your shirt on...”
“Maybe I should just do this myself.”
“So you can avoid that bit of the bridge where you stumbled earlier tonight?”
Zac’s shoulders sagged. Dave laughed and tossed a cushion at him.
“Meet you in the middle of the bridge. Here... hide your lap with this.”
Zac caught the cushion and intentionally put it aside.
“The embarrassment didn’t kill me last time. And I’m not gonna regain self control in this area by taking short cuts.”
“I like your attitude. Especially after you’ve had so much thrown at you tonight. Tell you what, let’s cross the bridge together while we patch you up, eh?”
“Okay.”
Silence. Dave eyed Zac contemplatively.
“What?”
“I feel like making the bridge crossing without a safety harness. Gonna join me?”
Zac nodded with cautious agreement. Dave slowly unbuttoned Zac’s shirt.
“You’re pretty tense. Changed your mind about crossing without that safety harness?”
“No. I trust you.”
Dave ran his hands across Zac’s chest in smooth, gliding movements, working his way down to Zac’s stomach.
“Comfortable about this?”
“Borderline, but you’ve got me curious.”
“Okay... now shut your eyes...”
Zac cautiously complied.
“No peeking...”
Zac chuckled.
“Now pretend it’s not me doing this... imagine it’s Maya exploring the contours of your naked body with her soft fingers... dishing out her R-rated version of Petrina’s pat-down on your honeymoon...”
Zac’s eyes snapped open. He blushed and fired Dave a startled look. Dave grinned mischievously and removed his hands.
“Thought as much. Someone’s got wedding night jitters on top of everything else, eh?”
“We haven’t set a date yet,” replied Zac awkwardly.
“That’s not what I asked.”
A flare of panic. Zac quickly tamped it down.
“You know, sometimes it’s better to pull the bandaid off quickly...” said Dave softly.
Zac moistened his lips.
“I guess I’m a bit hung up about the naked bit. One part of me daydreams about how fulfilling it will be to lie naked near Maya...and shower with her... But the other part of me is embarrassed to even think about it.”
“Might pay to start sleeping naked by yourself - it’ll help you feel more relaxed about the idea.”
“That suggestion is gross!”
Dave rubbed his mouth to disguise his grin.
“That response is revealing!”
Silence.
“You know God never intended Adam to be ashamed about hi
s nakedness Zac. Adam didn’t have any hang-ups about going for evening nicky walks in the garden with his Creator. And before the Fall, Adam and Eve were completely uninhibited as a couple. They did everything together in the nuddy... slept...swam...climbed trees... romped around in the wildflowers... Pity they never got around to writing a book about lovemaking before the Fall. I reckon it would have made real interesting reading.”
Zac cleared his throat softly.
“You’re so relaxed about your sexuality Dave. I dunno whether to be scared stiff of you or emulate you.”
Dave chuckled.
Silence.
“Did you have wedding night jitters?” asked Zac cautiously.
Dave smiled reminiscently and casually started applying the Condy’s Crystals to Zac’s shoulders.
“We were both a bit coy. We made love in the dark on our wedding night... showered separately and got dressed with our backs to each other. Then - on the third evening of our honeymoon - Jen was lying on the floor admiring the sunset from our hotel window and I was rubbing moisturizer on her back and I unclipped her bikini top and she allowed it to fall away altogether, then more clothes came off us both. Didn’t end up putting clothes back on until the next day... we rolled around on the floor... climaxed... enjoyed the afterglow for a while, showered together... cuddled together again and fell asleep skin on skin... And for me at least, I remember that night as the first night we felt like we were one flesh. Even though we’d had sex the previous two nights.”
Dave put the Condy’s solution aside.
“There... That took all of thirty seconds. Wasn’t worth even getting your heart rate up over, eh?”
“You’ve applied it already? I didn’t even notice I was so caught up in your honeymoon story.”
“Thought I’d remove your focus off yourself. Give you a chance to unwind a bit...”
“Thanks,” replied Zac, reaching for his shirt.
“You’ve had your chance to unwind... Leave the shirt off a bit longer so we can do something about that headache.”
“What sort of something?”
“That’s bordering on prudish!”
A flicker of a smile.
“Craniosacral massage on your scalp... Deep tissue massage on your neck and back... Sound non-threatening enough?”
“You sure know a lot about massage.”
“You should learn a lot more about it yourself.”
“Why?”
“It’d be prudent as a leader.”
Zac laughed freely.
“People may forget what you say or what you do, but they’ll never forget how you make them feel... Massage can get past language barriers... cultural barriers... tiredness and negativity... Sometimes it can open up a full on conversation... And it’s also useful to monitor the fitness of your team.”
“My team’s fitness?”
“I used it all the time as an instructor. You can pick up a lot about a person when you massage them... For instance you can discover pain which they haven’t told you about...”
Zac flinched as Dave unexpectedly prodded his upper back.
“Hmmm... How much did you say that pack was overloaded by again?”
“I’m not sure...” replied Zac truthfully.
“Let’s have a shot at getting this back into alignment before we tackle the headache, eh?”
Jake came bounding up.
“There you are Zac... Um... Sorry... Am I interrupting?”
“Nah. Just giving Zac some hands-on tips about sports massage,” replied Dave. “You look pretty pleased with yourself. Did something happen in the shower?”
“I got wet!”
Dave laughed.
“And I learnt some stuff about girls off Reece and Prada. I was embarrassed at first. But then I thought about a principle Zac taught me back at Farliga Pass when he was treating Maya. He said you never know if you can do something hard until you try.”
“Maya didn’t mention she injured herself on the trek.”
“She got this cyst from hiking. Near her privates. And Zac drained it for her.”
Dave threw Zac a curious glance. Zac said nothing.
“And then Zac helped me get past my embarrassment, when I realized what he was doing to her. He said I’d get courage in an area where I never had it before. And I tested it to see. And he was right!” beamed Jake.
“Good for you... Keep building on that, eh?”
Jake nodded.
“I should let you get back to teaching Zac stuff... I just have to ask him something quickly - Reece and Prada invited me to sleep in their sea container tonight with their kids, so when they wake up in the morning I know what it feels like to be a big brother. Is that okay with you Zac?”
“Sure. Enjoy your night being a big brother. Just keep your torch by your side and your shoes close. In case there’s any trouble.”
“What sort of trouble?”
“Luan and Tarapaca could be around... Or things might not be quite as they seem.”
Jake nodded.
“Okay. I’ll sleep with one eye open. Night Zac. Goodnight Dave.”
“Goodnight pup,” smiled Dave.
Ω
Dave and Zac watched Jake walk off.
“A Bartholin’s cyst eh? You did have an interesting time up at Farliga!” tormented Dave.
“Not going there Dave!” growled Zac.
“Alright, we’ll go somewhere else then...”
Silence. Dave eyed Zac perspicaciously.
“You know, you can tell the size of a man’s God by looking at the size of his worry list. The longer his list, the smaller his God...”
A guarded look.
“It’s a bit distrusting of the Creator of the Universe to keep a long list don’t you think?”
“The list has only really lengthened today,” managed Zac.
“That right? What’ve you added to the list today?”
Zac swallowed hard.
“True friendship is a plant of slow growth, eh?”
Zac sat up.
“Is it too early to test the friendship?”
“Go ahead.”
Zac moistened his lips and pulled the envelope of photos out of his pocket.
“Does Dutchy know you’ve swiped those?”
“I’ll give them back. Besides, I think he planted them there for me to find anyway.”
Dave laughed. Zac pulled out the photo of his father and Dave and handed it to him.
“Goodness. Look at the crop of hair I had back then!” joked Dave.
“How did Dutchy get this photo of you and Dad up at Farliga Pass?”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“Hope might overhear me. And she’s already worried Dutchy’s a spy. She wants to do a runner tonight.”
“With you?”
“I’m trying to keep an open mind about whether we do the runner or stick with you.”
Dave raised his eyebrows.
“You have got a lot on your plate young fella.”
“So is Dutchy a spy?”
“Why do you think he’s a spy?”
“He speaks Yupik.”
“So do you.”
“Native Yupik speakers don’t have the word ‘sleeper’ in their vocabulary. It’s not part of our culture.”
“How do you know it then?”
“We used to play this game at the dinner table when I was a kid. We’d invent words for the names of things which didn’t have a name in the Yupik language. We used different Arctic birds for different types of military aircraft. And we used the Yupik phrase for ‘hibernating bear’ to describe a sleeper. No one outside our family used the terms this way... At least that’s what I thought. Until I heard Dutchy use the term ‘hibernating bear’ for sleeper tonight.”
Dave looked thoughtful.
“So is he a spy?” persisted Zac.
“What makes you think I might know?”
“You and Gordon would have run a thorough background check on h
im before letting him be part of your team.”
“How do you know he helps monitor the Weathermakers?”
“Dutchy’s den looks like a downsized version of your den. And your den looks like Dad’s... And they all look like a downsized version of the ops centre up at Farliga Pass.”
“Maybe we’re all spies,” suggested Dave, with a hint of a smile.
“Or you might all be ISRA. Even Gordon might be ISRA. And I’ve blabbed all sorts of secrets which I shouldn’t have blabbed, if Gordon’s ISRA.”
Dave doubled over with laughter.
“You have got yourself all knotted up... Have you tried calling home and chatting to your Dad about these concerns of yours?”
“Yes. And now I’m more concerned than ever. Don’t tell Hope, but Dad and Mum seemed to have disappeared off the planet. They aren’t answering their landline, their mobiles, Skype or Echolink. And I’ve been trying for the past six hours.”
“I’m sure your parents are alright,” said Dave gently.
Silence.
“The Native American you were talking about... the one with similar concerns to me... he’s Inuit isn’t he?”
Dave nodded.
“That friend of yours who’d like to communicate better with his Dad wouldn’t happen to be part Inuit with Viking ancestry, would he?”
Zac swallowed the lump in his throat.
“I wish I could talk with him the way I’ve been talking to you... And get to know him like... like this photo says you know him.”
“Well now you know a few of his secrets, maybe you will.”
“But if he’s never told me any of this before, why would he start now?”
“Kiviuq’s always reminded me of a mirror. He quickly works out where you’re at and meets you there so you can be comfortable around him... If you’re an open book, he’s open. And if you’re reserved, he’ll be reserved right along with you so his personality doesn’t overpower yours.”
“That’s exactly how Dad is. You really do know him well.”
Dave’s eyes twinkled at Zac’s expression.
Silence. Zac slowly flicked through the photos again.
“I’m trying to get my head around all this stuff I’m learning about Dad that he’s kept hidden all these years... I’ve never realized until now that he’s been mirroring my reserved nature but thinking back, I know he has been. I still can’t quite believe he let Dutchy take this photo of him in a g-string though. That’s just completely... un-Dad!”
“Hmmm... Maybe I’d better share the story attached to that photo in case you get the wrong idea of your dad... As I remember it, Dutchy brought some of his orphans from Romania up to the Pass to put them through basic training and one of the young men was petrified of water. Your parents were at Farliga Pass on R & R - enjoying their favourite hot spring down near the rope bridge. Anyway, your dad watched us trying to convince this young bloke to at least sit in the water near the edge of the hot springs - then he got out and offered him his shorts. He told him they had this special ability to keep him safe in the water until he could swim.”
“And the kid believed a whopper like that?”
Dave laughed.
“Apparently. Anyway your dad stripped off his togs and gave them to the young fella then he dived back into the water in just his undies. And to our astonishment the lad put the shorts on and waded in after him. Kiviuq started clowning around with him in the water, taught him to duck dive and by the end of the day he had him dog paddling, treading water and floating as well.”
“And Dad was just wearing a g-string the whole swimming class?”
Dave grinned.
“We’ve all been skinny dipping in that hot spring anyway. And Kiviuq didn’t want to interrupt the progress the lad was making... When they finally got out of the water, he told the boy to keep his special shorts and give them to the next orphan who couldn’t swim. Dutchy reckoned that pair of lucky swimming shorts changed hands about ten times before they finally fell to bits. And every time they were passed on, the story about their powers had grown a bit bigger too!”
“So who’s Dutchy really?”
“Heard of the Navajo codetalkers?”
Zac nodded.
“Well... back at the start of the cold war, Air Force Intelligence enlisted the help of a multi-lingual young man who had survived the holocaust. His brief was to develop an alternative code the Security Service could use and switch to, in case the highly successful Navajo code was broken. Within two years Dutchy had a core group of Codetalkers ready for intelligence assignments throughout the free world. And a back-up code under development in-case his Istro-Romanian code was broken.”
Zac moistened his lips.
“The Navajo Codetalkers operations were declassified in 1968, but Airforce Intelligence continues to use the Codetalkers and their operations remain classified... And we’re in the headquarters of one of those groups...”
Zac’s face reflected his realization.
“Dutchy and Katja have spent their working lives training up civilians with special linguistic abilities and photographic memories to be Codetalkers. About a quarter of their trainees currently work for the ISRA. The remainder have been especially trained or are currently being trained so they’re ready at short notice, should the need arise.”
“Hibernating bears...”
Zac held out his necklace.
“This emblem... Do you know what it means?”
“The globe symbolizes worldwide influence; the lightning bolt symbolizes transmissions; the wing represents the Airforce and the sword and shield symbolize protection and security.”
“And Freedom through Vigilance?”
“That was the motto of the Air Force Security Service cryptographic intelligence branch. It’s changed names a few times over the years, but these days it’s called the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency. Or the ISRA for short.”
Zac gave up trying to hide his astonishment.
“So what’s a Category 1 P & P security status?”
Dave paused.
“P & P stands for Protect and Prepare.”
“Meaning?”
“All civilian Codetalkers and sleepers have a P & P classification. The ISRA are committed to protecting them and preparing them in the present, so they are fully equipped in case they need to be called on in the future.”
“So why have I got a P & P classification? Dutchy didn’t train me.”
“Who told you, that you have a P & P classification?”
“John. He thought I knew.”
Dave rubbed his chin slowly.
“Well... about 30 years ago, one of Dutchy’s linguists went to work for the Airforce Security Service on St Lawrence Island in Alaska. Her name was Helen Moore.”
“Mum?!”
“Helen had only been in Alaska for a few weeks when she discovered that the handsome Native American who was working alongside her as a Morse code operator could fluently speak an endangered Inuit dialect called Yupik Sivuquq. The pair spent hours snuggled up together under the romantic northern lights, building a backup code around the rapidly disappearing dialect, and one thing led to another...”
Zac smiled faintly.
“Then they got married and started a B & B as a cover job so no one would query people coming and going all the time... Over the years they’ve trained several hundred select Airforce personnel to converse in the military version of Yupik code. However only a handful of Code-talkers are proficient enough to write the linguistically complex code. These Codetalkers are called scribes, so they have a Category 1 P & P status. They’re responsible for the preservation and future expansion of the backup code.”
Zac rubbed his chin with his fingertips.
“Every day of our homeschooled lives we got dictation in Yupik... I never understood why until now... Neither did Hope. She’s not gonna believe it when I tell her,” breathed Zac, shaking his head slowly.
Dave chuckled.
“Gordon had trouble accepting it when he first found out who you were too.”
“Why?”
“Cat 1 P & P sleepers aren’t supposed to go around saving the lives of ISRA agents. It’s supposed to be the other way around!”
Zac laughed shyly.
“Initially Gordon thought you were just an undergraduate who’d miraculously saved his life, but been injured in the process. And when he contacted your parents and asked for permission to take you to Malmstrom Airbase on an Airforce jet for surgery, it was so you’d get the very best treatment for your gun-shot wound. The unusual request made Kiviuq realize however that Gordon was not just your average university professor. Kiviuq thought someone might have another shot at Gordon or possibly you, so he asked if he could come too. Naturally Gordon agreed, because he thought it was a case of a very worried Eskimo daddy wanting to accompany his injured son to an interstate hospital! Anyway, en route to Malmstrom, Gordon noticed the SS emblem around your neck and he went kinda pale. And Kiviuq carefully asked Gordon if he knew what a Cat 1 P & P sleeper was, and Gordon nodded... then he looked at you, then at Kiviuq... And Kiviuq reckons he just about keeled over.”
“I never knew. What a shock it must have been, on top of losing Tess...”
“Naturally the Airforce big brass tossed around various ideas to make sure that in the future Cat 1 ISRA sleepers didn’t get shot protecting ISRA agents... Gordon was remorseful when he discovered their favoured idea was enforced enlistment - which would have restricted your movements to airbases like they’d restricted him. Kiviuq also opposed the idea because he knew you wanted to pursue your career in geophysics. Gordon and Kiviuq contacted me for help. We put our heads together and came up with the idea of a specialist research arm of the ISRA which trained P & P sleepers and select civilian scientists to clandestinely gather sensitive scientific information and act on that information where necessary. Gordon put forward a convincing argument that his cover job as a university professor made him an ideal person to spearhead the project and that you and I were ideal candidates to lead the teams...”
“You all created a tailor-made position to keep me out of enforced enlistment?”
“You and other sleepers like your sister and Reece. The definition of clandestine research is very broad. It includes investigative journalism... academic research assignments... field-work. And the programme also includes fitness training, survival skills... Anything which can remotely be connected to training, preparation and protection of sleepers with an interest in science, research or writing.”
“All these years when I thought we were friends, he’s just been my body-guard...”
Zac’s voice was tinged with sadness.
“You know that’s not true Zac. Your youthful idealism and thirst for adventure kept Gordon alive after Tess was killed. And your friendship got him through the lonely times. Not to mention, the raw data our civilian teams provide on E/M weapons misuse and weather manipulation is considered to be invaluable intelligence.”
“I still can’t believe he’s ISRA,” said Zac shaking his head slowly.
Dave grinned.
“Gordon has a reputation for being the most reluctant, unmilitary-like ISRA operative in the service. He’ll only participate in training if he feels like it... you can’t get him into an Airforce uniform for love or money... and he’s refused a fistful of military awards and medals over the years. If anyone who doesn’t know him challenges his behaviour, he puts them in their place by saying Ronald Reagan only requested that he help the Airforce for two years, and his ongoing cooperation with the Airforce is a matter of choice... But when it comes to the crunch, Gordon’s right there in the thick of things... If a special project needs funding he’ll find it funding within hours... If someone’s stuck between a rock and a hard place, Gordon will work out a solution... A few years back he wrote a programme that overrides password protected databases, so blokes like me who aren’t very computer savvy can access details about almost everything and everyone on the planet without getting a headache... Gordon’s truly a mover of men and mountains Zac. And we’re privileged that we’re his special friends...”
The Codetalkers (The Rebelutionaries Series: Book 2) Page 20