Cutting firewood in the summer had always been a vital part of the family's income. They'd use surplus firewood to trade for whatever vegetables Yolanda's garden patch couldn't provide as well as for other necessities. According to Wizard, Will's slings and weapons gave them the opportunity to greatly increase their firewood production. He claimed that the boys would be able produce more firewood in a morning than what they had been able to produce with axes and saws in three weeks. He was going to prove it today.
The boys were working in two independent teams: Wolf, Theo and Reese on one; Wizard, Lucas and Mathias on the other. All boys were in their slings, but visible. Wolf and Wizard would each use a rough-cutting laser beam to cut a tree from its base, lop off all of its branches, and cut the stripped pole into firewood sizes. Their younger brothers would tie ropes to a tree and use sling power to keep it vertical during the initial phases. After it had been stripped, they would raise the pole over one of six wagons while Wolf or Wizard sliced it into usable chunks. Each wagon was sitting on top of what would become an invisible transportation pallet.
Wizard had seen Will's growing collection of iron wheels and it had been those wheels that had prompted him to think of building a whole train of invisible firewood carrying high-sided wagons. The boys were filling those wagons now in anticipation that they would be able to expand their sales, ideally into the Okanagan with its bigger communities. Demand would be higher, so they could raise their prices. In exchange for firewood, the family would be able to trade for fruit and vegetables plus manufactured goods that couldn't make it to the Kootenays from the coast. It just made business sense, or so Wizard said.
Yolanda produced a picnic basket and she and Hank retreated from the timber-cutting site so that sawdust wouldn't fly into their food.
"A picnic in the woods at 50 meters up. Who would have thought?" Hank commented.
"I think I know Izzy's birthday," Yolanda said with some pride as she passed over a plate with cold roast chicken, potato salad, and freshly picked tomatoes. "I asked Will. He's says that it's either April 26th or the 27th."
"Too late now for a birthday party."
"I also discovered why she's been so secretive about it. Her mother sent Izzy to poison Will on her birthday. When she couldn't, her mother beat her, shunned her for a decade, and influenced everyone in the dissident community to hate her. Izzy despises being reminded of the day. She tells Will that her birthday is always her worst day of the year."
"This year?" Hank asked.
"She was held hostage by Zzyk and something particularly bad happened on her birthday. She won't tell Will what it was."
"They're actually talking?"
"Talking, yes," Yolanda replied. "Communicating, no. Will asked me for advice. He wanted to know why Izzy was so angry at him."
"Did he have any inkling at all?"
"He knew only that she became mad at him after she showed him her breasts. Those were the suspension bridges that he told you about."
"And the balloons and the cow?"
"Would you like some lemonade? Fresh squeezed."
"Yes please. I got it – don't pry. Does he know why she became so upset?"
"I believe he does now. Will didn't understand how appearing like that in front of him would have been such a big deal for Izzy. It must have taken her weeks to work up the nerve. She had to convince herself that she wasn't being a slut, for one thing. He didn't have a clue that she was giving him a very special gift and that he hadn't even thanked her for it. It must have been humiliating for her."
"What's he going to do?"
"I don't know. I told him he owes her big time."
"Some of their problems are made worse when Izzy becomes mad and shuts down communications for weeks."
"True."
"Sometimes Will should stand up for himself when she rolls right over him."
"True again."
"Did you suggest that they make rules for how to fight? Does he realize that every couple has fights?"
"I thought I'd leave all of that to you."
"So we're meddling again, are we?"
"You sure are. I'm just an innocent bystander."
# # # # # # # #
Yolanda produced two pieces of blueberry pie which were sufficiently rare that they had to retreat out of view of the boys working in the woods. Too much sawdust. Too much chance of jealousy erupting if slices of blueberry pie were noticed. Or perhaps too many weeks away from each other. The adult supervision of the timber operation resumed later without any blueberry pie in the hamper and neither of them feeling lonely any longer. Yolanda continued to update Hank on what the family was doing.
"TG is accessing the DPS files and sending positive progress reports to Zzyk under Yollie's supervision. Granny and Doc are in the Wilizy. Winnie could have been part of the wood cutting operation but she has a headache again. Will is flying her around."
"Winnie still won't let you come into her bedroom when she has a headache?"
"Physically pushes me out. She does the same to Izzy now too. I asked her to choose somebody to stay with her when she had a headache. I thought perhaps Granny. But Winnie chose Will. When she has needed help the last couple of days, she's been flying with him in his sling. Will is studying a university bot that he took out of the NY Library collection so he doesn't mind flying in giant circles. Winnie's headaches disappear and she enjoys being with him. Will says that whenever he looks down at her, she's looking up at him. Sometimes she cuddles right up to him and lies there cheek to cheek."
"Crush?" Hank asked.
"I don't know. Perhaps? But, she doesn't pay any attention to him at other times when Will is around. If she had a crush, she'd be clinging to him wherever he went."
"Will isn't losing time on his projects by taking care of Winnie?"
"No. He redesigned the brain plugs and Doc has installed them all now, including Stu's. Will continues to add to his collection of old iron but isn't saying anything about what he's going to do with it. Says that he's done all that he can do right now and is just waiting for Izzy to create a plan."
"And Izzy is . . ."
"Completely dead in the water," Yolanda admitted. "She hasn't generated a single idea on how to rescue TG and his daughter. The WZBN broadcasts are going great now, so they aren't distracting her. The problems with the Melissa Moments have been solved. Plus the big news that you may not have heard – we have a complete feed going out now on what Stu calls an entirely different channel, showing the four little babies and what they're doing every waking minute. Izzy put four different coloured caps on them – gold, blue, red, and green – so that people can tell them apart. She chose bright colours to avoid the IOFs drab browns. Stu says that the opportunity on the website to suggest names for the babies has prompted a lot of interest."
"That explains why my peddlers are selling bits of cloth in those four colours. I'm having trouble keeping them supplied."
"Six now?"
"Seven starting tomorrow. I'll have to find additional sources of coloured cloth soon."
"What about stocking the wagons with dye? Let the Albertans make their own coloured pieces of cloth."
"Brilliant. Thank you."
"Wish I had a brilliant idea for Winnie's headaches."
"Doc?"
"He's stumped. Nothing physical that he can find. Winnie doesn't like him in her bedroom now."
"All the boys are worried, Yolanda. Reese asked me if Winnie is going to die. He's always been close to her."
# # # # # # # #
"Here's an idea, Hank. Wizard's idea for cutting a lot of firewood is obviously working, so why don't you take the boys to the Okanagan and let them do their trading. Most of what they earn has to go towards the family, but they can keep some profits. Include some time in the woods with them if you want. Give them some training on the ring weapons that they're allowed to use. Stay away a full week."
"And you?"
"I'll share Wilizy duty with Doc
and Granny. Winnie can stay in the compound with Will. I mind-talked to him a few minutes ago and he's willing to do his studies there and care for her. I'll check in with him regularly from the ship."
"You're isolating Winnie."
"She gets her headaches at the compound. It's either something in the environment at home that's causing them or it's one or more of the family. A week's stay all alone with Will should tell us which it is."
# # # # # # # #
When Yolanda told Hank that Izzy hadn't generated a single idea on how to rescue TG and his daughter – that wasn't quite accurate. Izzy had considered lots of ideas but all required TG to participate in the operation and so she discarded them. Izzy didn't want TG anywhere near the operation – either in its planning stage or in the battle itself. The mood of other Wilizy members towards TG ranged from outright sympathy for him and his daughter down to guarded reservations. Izzy, on the other hand, didn't trust him at all. That reaction was entirely understandable given the analysis that Izzy had made of how TG had responded in his interrogation. I've reproduced that analysis below.
# # # # # # # #
What we're asked to believe about TG
•TG claims that there is an impregnable Citadel in Alaska with undefeatable offensive power. The presence of such a military power can't be confirmed. We just have to trust that what he said is true.
•TG claims that the people in The Citadel are geniuses and that one of those geniuses has been working closely with Zzyk for decades. This existence of a group of geniuses hiding in Alaska can't be confirmed. Nor can the presence of an IOF collaborator be confirmed. We just have to trust that what he said is true.
•TG claims that he wants to help us because his wife was executed. The previous existence of a wife can't be confirmed. We just have to trust that what he said is true.
•TG claims that he wants us to rescue his daughter. We are asked to believe that he has a daughter because he showed interest in some used clothes. The existence of a daughter can't be confirmed. We just have to trust that what he said is true.
•TG claims that Rick spoke with him on the mountainside and that Zzyk's vulnerability is his anger. This information can't be confirmed. We just have to trust that what he said is true.
•TG claims that he has white skin. However the brown colour of his skin was not affected by being immersed in water. Nor has it been affected by three months of exposure to weather, clothes, and so on. This white skin can't be confirmed. We just have to trust that what he said is true.
Levels of deception?
•TG has revealed two sets of weapons on his body (an exploding brain-band and some dangerous hairs) to give us confidence that he has revealed all. Why should we believe that he has only two ways to kill us?
•TG has revealed two ways of communicating back to Zzyk – the microphone inside his body and his use of the database filing system. Why should we believe that he has only two ways of communicating secretly to Zzyk?
•TG has revealed that Zzyk will soon have new brain-bands that will give him complete control over the population. The existence of working versions of this new technology can't be confirmed. However the threat of this presumed danger would certainly motivate us to accept TG's presumed expertise and his offer to help us destroy this threat before the brain-bands are installed. We're being pressured to act quickly.
•TG has painted a picture of an executed wife and a little girl held as hostage. What better way to pluck at heartstrings?
•TG has painted himself as a persecuted victim. He claims to be a non-IOF person rejected by his homeland and forced to work under duress for Zzyk. Again, an attempt to gain sympathy. He tells us that a person from his homeland has been collaborating with Zzyk. If such a homeland exists, why would we think that only one collaborator is working with Zzyk?
How do we know that TG can be trusted?
•Yollie says that he's a good man.
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Chapter 16
With five of their seven days in the Okanagan gone, Hank was feeling good about the trip. The trading was great! They used invisible pallets to transport two borrowed horses and their steadily diminishing firewood wagon train from one Okanagan town to the next. Each morning, the two horses would visibly pull one wagon the final few kilometers to the outskirts of the next small town and word would quickly spread that there was firewood for trade. The first day, they had not anticipated how quickly they could sell a wagonload. From then on, they set high prices and waited for customers to agree.
Lucas was the most cutthroat. His share of the wood was always the last to sell, since once he had set a price, he was determined not to give in. He always sold out, but it might be noon before a turned-away customer would show up with a sheepish look on his face and the required baskets of fruit on his back.
The younger boys were too impatient to get top prices. Wizard understood the theory but found it difficult to say No to a customer claiming to be too poor to bid higher. Wolf found the whole activity too boring to think about. By the third day, he had sold his entire share of the firewood to Lucas and was content to take 50% of whatever Lucas received for it. Hank was tempted to do the same, but understood that giving Lucas control of too much firewood would mean that he would lower the price that he'd be willing to pay to his brothers. Fathers know their sons well, and Lucas at 11 was very similar to what Hank had been at the same age.
The best part of the day for everyone was from 9 p.m. to midnight. That was when the boys would have their battle. But before that, after the firewood was all sold and the wagon now holding their bartered goods was safely hidden, they'd wander around the town. Sometimes the boys would barter for things they saw in the little shops. Sometimes they would swim in the nearby lake. But whatever they did, they did so in the same teams of three as they had used to cut the wood. Wolf or Wizard would make decisions for the team if agreement couldn't be reached. Hank would let them wander as they wished, while he scouted for a battle site. At 3 p.m., last night's losing team would meet with Hank at the spot where they had hidden the wagons and that team was responsible for returning the wagon they had used that day to the home compound. Fruit and other produce had to be stored away in their giant root cellar. All non-perishable acquisitions were placed in the appropriate bedrooms. Hank would go with them to ensure that the boys did this without interfering with Winnie. They actually never did see her although there were signs that Winnie and Will were living quite comfortably, and sloppily, away from Yolanda's all-seeing eyes.
At 5 p.m., Hank would fly-over the battle site with the two teams. This night's battle, for example, would be in a restricted area on one side of a heavily treed mountain two valleys away from the Okanagan. The two teams had until 7 p.m. to guess what their opponents would do and make plans accordingly. At 7 p.m., they'd eat. Last night's losing team again had to pay a penalty by cooking supper and cleaning up. At 8 p.m., both teams would disappear into the trees. At 9 p.m., Hank would sound the signal to begin. The battle would end when all three boys in a team had been disabled. Hank would explain what the losing team had done wrong, or what the winning team had done right, and perhaps introduce some new military tactics. They'd end the day with roasted marshmallows or some other delicacy. Hank would assign private sleeping areas for each boy; otherwise the teams would talk tactics all night long. The next morning, they'd start all over again.
Slings could not be used in the battles. Weaponry for these games was restricted to their lasers. Hank had parental controls on all of the youngsters' rings and dialed the strength back to a minimum, non-harmful zap. Laser targeting beams were active and required. Sniping an opponent from behind was not allowed, nor were head shots. Disabling shots to ankles, elbows, and wrists were encouraged. Hank froze the trigger mechanisms until three sequential pulses of the laser-targeting beam had been delivered. At that point, the low-grade shot could be made. The boys quickly learned that active teamwo
rk was necessary to protect each other and to coordinate their own forces on a single opponent who could be pinned down. Hank was the referee.
Wolf and Wizard were responsible for their own personal armaments, assumed the team leadership roles, and each operated a secure communications net. After two straight convincing losses, Wizard relinquished control of his team to Lucas, although he continued to operate the communications net. After that, Lucas' team became more competitive with Wolf's team and actually would win the last two battles.
# # # # # # # #
Their second-to-last stop was in Oliver, the smallest town they'd visit and the only place without a near-by lake to swim in. July in the Okanagan was very hot to begin with. But where the valley was wide, the land baked. However treed mountains were nearby, and if the boys wanted to go swimming, Osoyoos Lake was a few minutes by sling south. A short distance further south was the old Canada-United States border. The border was still informally recognized, but there were no border controls to pass through. They weren't needed. The Okanagan Valley was close to desert this far south, and other than Osoyoos where they'd spend their last day, there were no habitable villages in the area.
They set up their wagon just north of Oliver and hobbled their two horses to graze in a nearby field. Oliver was a tidy little village with a main street of shops, and lots of houses pushing away from the center of town and up the mountainside. Of course ample wood was available in the mountains, but constant harvesting had meant that mature wood was a strenuous hike away. That meant that any firewood they cut had to be transported into town. Solar powered vehicles could be used year round in this part of British Columbia, but owning something that was big enough to haul ample loads of wood was an issue for the poor villagers. The boys' wagon full of firewood was visible from the village's main street. It should mean that they'd sell out their wagon before noon.
By 10 a.m., no customers had appeared. The main street was deserted except for seven solar-powered putt-putts baking in the sun in front of a tavern. Each of the putt-putts carried bulging saddlebags and a rifle. Strong drinks can be created from fruit, and the Okanagan's wines and ciders were known widely. A tavern open this early was unexpected, but Hank hadn't been here for years. He made a mental note of the putt-putts and returned to the wood wagon.
Assassination Day Page 13