by Robert Boren
“Because it’s further from my dad’s trailer, and I think we’ll need the privacy,” she said, watching his face. She smiled and pulled him in for a kiss. It wasn’t just a peck.
The motorhomes were all parked in spaces. Only one had a bad power mast, the one that the Sheriff picked. He moved to the next spot, and it was fine. Everybody was busy setting up their households for the next couple of hours. It was a warm day, and you could hear air conditioners starting up.
Frank finished his hookups and came inside the coach. Jane was puttering in the kitchen.
“Hungry?” she asked.
“Sure, I could eat,” Frank said.
Mr. Wonderful crept out of the corner he was hiding in, and jumped up on the dashboard, scanning the area. Lucy noticed him from her bed, raising her head and cocking it. Then she put her head back down on the edge of her bed and sighed.
“She’s glad we’re settling,” Frank said.
“I know,” Jane replied. “Mr. Wonderful has been hiding most of the time since we left Gabe’s place. I think he can sense when we’re nervous.”
“You nervous now?” Frank asked.
“Not as bad as I was. I feel safe here so far, with the state being closed up. Plus we have your apps to tell us if the bad guys are coming. You checked it lately?”
“Oh, yeah, I check it about every twenty minutes,” he said. “Nobody anywhere near us. That group of icons is still sitting at the base, but I think those guys are all dead. They would have moved by now.”
“What’s your plan for the rest of the day?”
“Try to get the internet running,” Frank said.
“Is there Wi-Fi?”
“I doubt it,” Frank said. “I’ve been checking all of the usual places for antennas. I haven’t seen any yet. I doubt that the satellite system here is going to have a lot of bandwidth, anyway. Maybe we can fix that, though. Jake probably has a lot of equipment we can use in that bobtail of his.”
“Hopefully,” Jane said. “If not, there are a few places in town. It’s larger than I expected. They have a big Walmart. We went there before we left.”
“Really? What for?”
“Household stuff, mainly,” Jane said. “Bedding for the trailers, for instance.” She got a sly smile on her face.
“What?”
“Trish. Talk about a woman in full nesting mode. She bought all kinds of stuff for her trailer. We asked her if she decided to move in with Terry. You should have seen the look on her face. She’s really got a case for that boy. Then she told us that she hadn’t agreed to that yet, and that she was going to be very coy. She’s loving this.”
“Yeah, well Terry worships the ground she walks on, I can tell you that,” Frank said. “He spent a lot of time getting those trailers ready. You should have seen him run to the gate when the group was coming down the road.”
They both laughed.
Charlie and Hilda were finished getting their rig set up. They walked over to the clubhouse together. Hilda looked around.
“Pretty messed up,” she said.
“You should have seen it when we first got here. Somebody swept it up and put the furniture back where it belongs. There was broken glass all over the floor, and the elements were starting to get a foothold near the window openings.”
“The place probably went through a few winters with no windows,” Hilda said. “Actually, considering that, it doesn’t look too bad. How’s the kitchen?”
“No broken windows in there, so it’s in better shape,” Charlie said. “I’ll show you.” They walked over to the swinging door and pushed in.
“Oh, wow, this isn’t bad at all,” she said. “I like this more than the kitchen in my place, in some ways.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. We have running water. I’ll have to find the water heater.”
“Is it electric or gas?”
“Good question,” Charlie said. “I need to spend more time looking around. I assume this place is on propane, but I haven’t found any big tanks around yet.”
Hilda opened the door of the walk-in fridge. “Phew!” she said, shutting the door quickly.
“Yeah, I know, we have some cleanup to do in there. I didn’t turn it on, because I figured we’d want it warm when we’re in there cleaning.”
“Maybe we ought to leave the door blocked open to air it out,” Hilda said.
“Good idea,” Charlie said. He took hold of a step stool over by the counter and used it to block the door open.
“Where’s the pantry?” Hilda asked.
“Don’t know. There’s a door on the other side of the stage, but that wouldn’t make sense as a pantry. Too far away.”
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the floor. There was another trap door, but it was covered with the linoleum flooring, so it didn’t stand out.
“Wow, I didn’t see that before,” Charlie said. He pulled up on the door and laid it back. There was a stairway leading down.
“Maybe this is the light switch,” Hilda said, pointing to one on the wall next to the trap door. She switched it on, and the lights came on below.
“There you go,” Charlie said, getting onto the stairway.
“Lot of underground stuff here,” Hilda said, as she watched Charlie climb down the stairs. “Be careful down there.”
“Wow, check this out,” Charlie said. Hilda climbed down.
The room was large, with shelves all around, and a big table in the middle. It was fully stocked with canned and dry goods, along with cleaning supplies and other household stuff, in industrial sized containers.
“Well, we won’t have to buy food for a while,” Hilda said.
“We’d better check the dates on this stuff. Some of it might be too old.”
“Maybe,” she said. “What’s behind that door?” She pointed to the far end of the room.
“Let’s check,” Charlie said, walking over there. He opened the door and hit the light switch. “Holy crap, this is connected to the bunker under the barn.”
They walked down the long hallway, and into the main part of the bunker, where the barn trap door was. Charlie hit the light switch.
“This is a workshop,” Hilda said. “What’s all that stuff?”
“Reloading equipment, and gunsmith tools,” Charlie said.
“Oh,” Hilda said. “What’s behind those doors?”
“Living quarters,” Charlie said. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”
Charlie opened the door to the left, and hit the light switch. There was a short hallway with several doors on one side. Hilda followed him in.
“Why isn’t it musty down here?” Hilda said. “The air smells fresh.”
“There’s got to be some vents somewhere,” Charlie said. He opened the first door. There was a bed, a dresser, and a closet there.
“Somebody was living in here,” Hilda said.
“Looks like it, huh?” he said. They went into the next room, which was another bedroom just like the first. The door after that was a bathroom, and the final door was a laundry room, with dusty old machines and a big sink.
“Where’s the kitchen?”
“Other door,” Charlie said. “C’mon.” He led her out of there and back into the workshop area. Then he opened the other door and hit the light switch.
“Wow,” she said. The right side of the room was a normal looking residential kitchen, with all of the appliances you’d expect, and a phony window over the sink with frilly curtains. On the other side of the room was a large living room, with two couches, a couple of recliners, and an electric fireplace. An ancient 25 inch TV sat against the side wall. On the back wall was a good sized bar, with six stools.
“Ah, I wanted to check out the bar,” Charlie said, grinning. “Didn’t have time earlier.”
“Figures,” she said. “Ger would have been in hog heaven down here.”
“I’m going to call this the lounge,” Charlie said, chuckling. He got behind the bar and rubbed his finger on its
surface. “Dusty as hell.”
“Big surprise,” Hilda said. She pulled out one of the bar stools, dusted it off with her hands, and sat down, feeling the padded elbow rest that went around the outside.
“The mother lode!” Charlie said, laughing. “This is fully stocked. There’s a little fridge under the bar, too.”
“Well, now I know where to find Jeb and Rosie,” Hilda said, grinning.
“Whoever built this was one paranoid son of a gun, you know,” Charlie said.
“Obviously. We can use this place, though. You know twister season starts up in November.”
“I know,” Charlie said. “I wonder how long we’ll be able to stay here.”
“I’m wondering the same thing, but let’s not worry about it now. Let’s just enjoy this place while we can.”
“We need to get a meeting together,” Charlie said. “Lots to talk about.”
“Wonder how people will take the money part?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Charlie said. “Several of us are well off enough to handle the bulk of the taxes, and we can split the utilities. It’ll be cheaper than paying for spaces somewhere else.”
“True,” Hilda said. “Let’s go back up.”
They turned off the lights and headed back down the hallway to the clubhouse kitchen.
Frank and Jane finished eating. Frank took off for the barn, while Jane took Lucy out for a walk. Jerry caught up to Frank on the way.
“Going to mess with the internet setup?” Jerry asked.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Power should be stable enough now. I was a little reluctant to turn it on with the generator.”
“Okay, you go ahead and mess with that. I’ll trace the wires and find out where the line outlets are.”
“Cool,” Frank said. He was in the barn now, and walked over to the satellite equipment cabinet. He looked inside for the power button, and pushed it. The equipment lit up. Frank saw where the outlet was, and then trotted out to his rig to fetch his laptop.
“Done so soon?” Jane asked as he dashed by. Lucy gave him a look.
“I want to plug the laptop into the satellite receiver,” he said. He went into the coach, picked up the laptop, and trotted back over to the workshop.
Jerry was coming back over from the clubhouse. “Well, I found an internet outlet in the far corner, and also the space where the TV was,” he said. “I guess the tweakers took the TV…they should have been able to sell that.”
Frank had his laptop set up on the work bench next to the cabinet. He plugged in the power cord, and turned it on.
“I suspect whatever service this park had has been turned off for a long time,” Jerry said.
“Probably,” Frank said. “Wonder if we’ll get a message with a phone number?”
“Well, on my system at home, those came over the TV, not through the computer. Will that table display TV? It’s got an HDMI port.”
“Yeah, but this satellite system is pre-HDMI, and I can’t plug in RCA cables,” Frank said. “Hey, remember that TV that Jeb let us use? Think he grabbed it before we had to high tail it?”
“Oh, yeah, forgot about that. I’ll go ask him. Maybe we could set it up in the clubhouse.” Jerry left, headed for Jeb’s rig.
The laptop was booted up, so Frank logged in, and then plugged the internet cable in. Nothing…no internet connection.
“Crap,” Frank said. He walked out of the barn just in time to see Jeb and Jerry carrying the flat screen TV into the clubhouse. “Excellent, you did still have it.”
“Yeah,” Jeb said. “I couldn’t see leaving it. It fit in my storage bay with no problem.”
The two men wrestled the big TV through the door, and set it on the cabinet where the cable outlets were. Jerry plugged in the cable, and then the TV. Jeb pointed the remote at it and turned it on.
“Invalid account,” Jerry read off of the screen. “There’s the phone number.”
Frank pulled out his phone and called. An operator answered.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, I’d like to re-start service at my RV Park.”
“What is the serial number on the box?” the operator asked.
“Shoot, I’ve got to go look,” Frank said. “I’m walking over to it now.” He walked quickly to the barn, followed by Jeb and Jerry. Frank pulled the receiver out far enough to see the number. He read it off to the operator.
“One moment, please,” she said.
“Sir, that is a really old box. If you want high definition service, you’ll need to order a new one.”
“Is this usable for non-HD TV and internet connection?”
“Yes, but we will be discontinuing service to that type of equipment in the near future.”
“How soon is the near future?” Frank asked.
“Six to eight months,” the operator said.
“Not a problem, we’ll get a new one before then. What options are there for internet on this box?”
“You said you’re at an RV Park, correct?” she asked.
“Yes,” Frank said.
“Then you want the high-bandwidth commercial service, I suspect.”
“How much is it?”
“We have a plan for six hundred dollars a month.”
“How soon could you get it turned on?”
“As soon as you pay for it, sir.”
Frank pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and took out a credit card.
“MasterCard okay?” Frank asked.
“Yes, of course,” she said. “Number, please.”
Frank read off the number to her, smiling and giving the thumbs up to Jeb and Jerry.
“Okay, Sir, you’re access is turned on. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“Not at this time,” Frank said. “Thanks, and goodbye.”
Frank put his phone back in his pocket, and looked at his laptop. He selected the network, then fired up his browser. He was connected.
“Yay!” Jerry said, grinning. “How much?”
“You don’t want to know,” Frank said.
“C’mon,” Jerry said.
“Six hundred bucks a month, but it’s a commercial plan. I think we can probably put a few Wi-Fi antennas around with this service. It’s worth it to me.”
“Well, I hear we have to take up a collection for taxes anyway,” Jerry said.
“I’m gonna go see what’s on TV,” Jeb said. He left the barn.
“What kind of TV package did we get?” Jerry asked.
Frank shrugged. “Didn’t ask. Whatever the commercial package is.”
“Wonder if this system is hooked up to the cable outlets at the RV spaces?”
“Worth a try,” Frank said. “But right now, I’m going to do some hacking. The clock is running on release of the apps. If we still want a chance to nail the enemy leaders, I need to crack these chips.”
“Hey!” shouted Jeb from the clubhouse. “Better come check what’s on TV!”
Chapter 7 – Computing Power
Frank and Jerry ran over to the clubhouse after Jeb yelled at them. He was sitting on one of the dusty chairs, staring at the TV screen. It was a helicopter shot of west Denver.
“What happened?” Jerry asked. Jeb looked at him, intense anger on his face.
“The cretins used nerve gas,” Jeb said. His eyes were tearing up.
“Oh, no,” Frank said. “How bad is it?”
“It didn’t hurt the army that much…they couldn’t get it close enough to where they were,” Jeb said. “They mostly killed civilians.”
“This was a terror attack,” Jerry said. “They want to scare the civilians out of joining the fight.”
“Yeah,” Frank said. “I’m going back to work on the encryption.” He clenched his jaw in grim resolve.
Jerry nodded. “Let me know about anything you might need…otherwise I’m going to leave you alone.”
“Thanks,” Frank said. He left the clubhouse.
“
This won’t stand,” Jeb said, face red with anger.
The announcer came on.
“For those of you just tuning in, the western suburbs of Denver were hit with nerve gas about one hour ago. It was delivered by artillery. No official word on casualties yet, but it will be significant. The army is working closely with local authorities to root out the enemy forces that participated in the attack.”
“Gee, ya think?” Jeb said sarcastically. “I’ll bet the army hasn’t even shut down I-70 yet.”
“I wonder if General Hogan is sharing the chips with anybody outside of his group yet.” Jerry asked.
“Good question,” Jeb said. “I hope he gives us enough time to crack them. I want to stick my knife into Saladin and watch him bleed.”
“Crap, look at that,” Jerry said, pointing at the screen. It showed a school, with dead children laying on the playground.
“Son of a bitch,” Jeb said, face getting redder.
“This is video of a middle school that was in the area of the gas attack. There was no warning. No time to get people out. Normally we would see parents lined up along the perimeter, waiting to hear about their children. In this case, most of the parents were also victims.”
Charlie walked into the clubhouse with the Sheriff and Kurt.
“Got the TV working, I see,” Charlie said. “Guess I don’t need to tell you what happened.”
“How’d you hear about it?” Jerry asked.
“Radio in my rig. Those bastards.”
“What are we gonna do?” Kurt asked.
“We’re gonna do everything we can to keep Frank working on cracking the chips,” Jerry said. “He’s on it right now.”
The Sheriff pulled out his phone and looked at the long range app.
“Wonder what’s going on at the air force base on highway 94?” he asked. “I still see the icons clustered around there. No movement.”
“That’s why I had the radio on,” Charlie said. “I was hoping they’d say something. So far, not a word.”
“You don’t think they’ve taken over that base, do you?” Kurt asked.
“General Hogan knew about them coming, so I’d be surprised,” Charlie said.
“At least I don’t see any hits in Kansas. Not even one,” the Sheriff said, putting his phone back in his pocket.