by Paul Phipps
Admiral Webster/ Comm Mode: “The children that died… Were they killed by the Mother or did they die from other natural causes?”
Commodore Webster/ Comm Mode: “I did make that enquiry. The answer is not definitive yet, some appear to have died from dehydration and the heat inside the containers. Some though do show the signs of having been ‘mind bombed’.” Ansel said soberly.
Admiral Webster/Comm Mode: “Very well then, continue tracking any vessels that have children on them heading for Weh Island. You are not authorized to interdict them at this time. We will re-evaluate that after we receive the ‘offer’ from the Mother Quarn that Dr. Geary spoke of.”
Commodore Webster/ Comm Mode: “Aye Aye Sir, I’ll pass that along immediately.”
* * *
Ansel came out of his VR conference with Admiral Webster in the same lounge as the News Crew from FOX/CNN. He was mildly surprised that they were still in their own VR briefing; He shrugged slightly and had Helen send in Lt. Kura.
He briefed Lt. Kura on the latest developments with the rescued children and then they shared some tea while waiting for the News crew to return to the present.
It wasn’t a very long wait as they soon saw the signs of the three breathing deeper and twitching their arms and legs. Soon the three were sitting upright and taking off their VR helmets.
“Before you ask, you were in the briefing for thirty-two minutes in real-time. We are due to rendezvous and the Comfort in another forty-two minutes. It used to be a quicker trip but now there are more vessels and such out here so traffic control has slowed us down considerably.” Ansel said with a wry smile.
Ms. Farquhar had a look on her face that was a cross between confusion and worry. “Commodore Webster, how complete was that briefing?”
“It was pretty concise, it’s the same one that TSN Civilian Advisory Council members received.”
“Civilian Advisory Council? Who are they?” Asked Ms. Bin Caldiran.
“Let’s not get side tracked here, but to answer your question the Civilian Advisory Council is composed of the Heads of State of those nations that have recognized the Terran Space Navy and have entered various “Working Agreements” with us.” Ansel told her.
“Oh… Ok, then this BS about having been invaded by an Outer Space Alien in the early 1960’s… You really expect us to believe that?”
Pointing to the Truth Verifier on the table. “Ms. Farquhar, I don’t lie, I don’t need to for one thing. However to answer your question. Yes, I do expect you to believe that we have been invaded by an alien from outer space. She’s been working her plan for decades, she’s patient, determined and her species has NEVER failed in its objectives.” Ansel told her with a bite to his voice.
“Now then, Lt. Kura here is your permanent Liaison. Any request you have for interviews, locations etc. will go through him. Also he will inform you of current events that you should be covering. Since you are but one news crew I expect you will be very busy. In a few minutes we will be rendezvousing with the Wu Lung. I want you to go over and record everything you can. Then you will have access to the experts on the Comfort, they will go over autopsies and prognoses for the surviving children.” Ansel told them bluntly. “I have many other things I must handle so I won’t always be available to you. Lt. Kura has my FULL trust and will assist you in your endeavors.”
And with that Ansel turned and left the lounge.
Lt. Kura had been standing off to one side so that he could watch both parties equally, mentally shook his head. ‘It doesn’t pay to piss off the brass lady. They have subtle ways of making your life miserable.’ He thought.
“Good afternoon Ladies and Gentleman, as Commodore Webster said, I am Lt. Kura and I will be your Liaison. Things will be a little topsy-turvy for you for a bit. Normally we would have gotten you settled in your quarters and introduced you to your work areas. I apologize for that but that’s not going to happen, at least not for a while anyway.
We are going over to the Wu Lung and you will need to get what footage you can. Some of it is very bloody and the children are stacked like cord wood in those shipping containers. The stench is horrible and we are moving as fast as we can to save as many of them as we can. After the Wu Lung we are going to the Happy Peddler and we will do it again. There’s no blood though, the Mother didn’t have the opportunity of mind-bombing anyone there. You can thank god for that in your own ways. So let’s go.” And with that he indicated the Trans-Portal that was now programmed to take them to their destination.
* * *
Sarah was so tired, she had been on the run for nearly two weeks now. The emergency capsule had landed in the Louisiana swampland to the southwest of New Orleans. The trackers and their hounds had been on her trail within an hour of her feet hitting the hard ground.
The E&E pack was still on her back but the two satchels of decoys and canine stun powder were finally used up. All she had left was one more day of food and two filter straws and of course the camouflage cloak that was currently rolled up and being fed a trickle charge from the integral solar recharge panel on the pack.
Her goal was now in sight, it looked like her pursuers had also figured out her goal though. She increased the magnification on her vision and counted the hidden and not so hidden federal troops waiting for her to show up or to make a mistake and give herself away. Slowly she backed away and crawled at a snail’s pace until she could no longer detect them. She knew her personal sensors were better than theirs but the vehicle and drone mounted ones the Fed’s had were superior to those by the same factor as hers were to the personal ones arrayed against her.
At least they couldn’t use infra-red vision on her. The Louisiana Swamp had to be close to one hundred degrees during the day, and her camouflage cloak displayed the ambient surrounding temperature at night keeping her invisible in the background.
Excessive movement was an enemy to be avoided now. As she slid and merged into the mud alongside a small sinkhole she went over her alternatives. Finally she went with the least energy intensive one, she would either find or make a den, maybe there was a muskrat den near her that she could take over and enlarge enough to hide her.
If the Feds had lost her perhaps they would give up and go examine one of the alternate sites. She doubted it but there was always that hope.
It took her nearly until dusk but she had found a good spot, a hollow tree with a heavy layer of debris in the base. Some judicious digging and she had a chamber nestled in the decayed roots, the cloak covered her and then the careful spreading of dirt and debris on top on it and she was hidden for a several day stay. Two of her sensor bugs that looked like ants covered the most obvious approaches to her hide.
Finally she placed herself into fast-time, to make the time go by quicker and to slow her body’s autonomic muscles. She breathed only once a minute or so, her body temperature dropped to the ambient temperature of the ground and she waited.
Several times the Fed’s came through the area scanning and probing the ground with sharp sticks and Ultra-Sonics. They even knocked her hollow tree over when one of their swamp buggies backed into it.
Time passed; finally it was nearly two weeks after the last positive scan of the area. Sarah came to full awareness and brought her body back into normal readiness. She ate the last of her food and a couple of handfuls of earthworms too. Water had been no problem, it had rained several times and she had drunk her fill each time.
A quick scan using her bugs showed that it was clear around her hide. She emerged into the darkness of near midnight. Her eyesight was adjusted for infra-red in the right eye and Starlight enhancement for her left eye. Although the Camouflage cloak was completely depleted of energy she decided to bring it along anyway.
Once again she approached her goal, there were two watchers on the clearing that she could see. The worst part was that the whole clearing was crisscrossed with infra-red laser beams in an intricate web . And the ground appeared to have been disturbed. ‘It was
probably a pressure sensitive net.’ She thought to herself. ‘They must really want me!’
She increased the sensitivity of her hearing and after fifteen minutes of recording and then processing the recording through her computational implant she realized that there were at least seven Fed’s waiting for her.
The gleaming double cone of the Retrieval Pod sat there and mocked her, soon though it was 0345L when she heard the slight squeaking of leaf springs. A MRAP came into sight on the far side of the clearing and a pair of black clad Fed’s hopped out. ‘Shift Change or a surprise inspection?’ she wondered. In either case the watchers would be distracted.
The answer to the problem she had set the computational implant earlier was pulled up. The intricate dance and jump routine was entered and the she waited for the optimal time to occur. “There! They were blinded by the vehicle’s light.’
She went into Slow-time, running, hopping and jumping brought her to the Retrieval Pod’s force screen, a two second scan of her irises and she was inside the screen and the pod was around her. She sat down carefully in the command chair and was in flight to return back to …
“Simulation is now complete.” The training A.I. in charge of the Escape and Evasion course said. Analysis and discussion will begin in five minutes.
‘It looked to be a long one.’ Sarah thought quietly.
* * *
Mary Roberts nodded her head slowly as the report from Ms. Bin Caldiran unfolded. The number of children that had been rescued was nearly incomprehensible. How could so many be kidnapped, yet cause no outcry?
In any case… She called up broadcast control. “Josh, this is Mary. Release Ms. Bin Caldiran’s report as breaking news. Yep, that’s right also no editing, take it as it is. Ok, Thanks, I’ll get back with you.”
Next she called in her Assistant and had her get her crisis team together. Then the last phone call which she personally hated to make.
“Director Al Hashrah, there is breaking news from Ms. Bin Caldiran. Yes, that’s correct, she is the one we placed with the Terran Space Navy. It is being broadcast as we speak.” She could hear him turning up the volume on his in-office monitor. She too could see the same broadcast on her own monitor.
“- an dismaying number of children have perished due to the inhumane conditions they were kept in. However at least fifty-five thousand of them have been recovered from the nearly sixty-five thousand that were found in these shipping containers on two different vessels. Terran Space Navy officials have permitted us to view their rescue efforts at first hand.”
“As you can see the children are completely without response to their rescuers. In our own discussions with the attending physicians there is very guarded optimism. Words, like catatonia, months perhaps years of therapy are being tossed around. All that anyone can say for sure is that the children are alive but their long-term prognosis is very bleak.”
The director finally spoke back to her, “A fine report, I may have missed it but were there any casualties?”
“Yes Director, twenty-four Marines and the entire crew of one of the vessels.” Mary told him simply.
“I see…, Thank you for pressing the issue about getting one of our news crews embedded. Keep up the good work Ms. Roberts.”
“Thank you sir.” Mary said and then heard the click of the phone being put down.
It was nearly forty-five minutes later when Mary met with her crisis team. She quickly assigned several of them to cover various aspects of the story in more depth. The remainder she told to concentrate on where these children were being kidnapped from and how in the hell in the modern era were so many allowed to be kidnapped in the first place without the authorities even realizing what was occurring.
* * *
Admiral Webster was briefing the Civilian Advisory Council to the TSN about the incidents with the Wu Lung and the Happy Peddler. The briefing had started off with the news report first and then went into some specifics from the TSN’s point of view.
“We’ve learned two major things from this incident. First off the Mother isn’t omnipotent; she doesn’t automatically know everything about anything happening in her sphere of influence. That’s shown by the fact that we got away with the Happy Peddler with no casualties.
Secondly the Wu Lung had a Quarn-Slave on board. We now believe that he was in contact with the Mother when he was stunned. That in turn is what alerted her to the fact that we were attacking her food supply. The results of that were quite fatal for our Marines, the crew of the Wu Lung and some of the kidnapped children in the shipping containers.
Now on to positive things, we now are 90% sure that our Jammer field does stop telepathic communications and the Quarn Mother’s attacks.” At that point he paused, going any further was just rehashing what he had already briefed.
“Have the personnel from the United States arrived on-Board the Huntress yet?” Asked President Richardson.
“No Mr. President, currently they are in a holding pattern. Going on to the Huntress may be a fatal proposition for them at this point.”
“I was thinking that myself.” He paused and thought for a few minutes and then said. “Please take them to the George H.W. Bush. I’ll have Admiral Caparelli notify Admiral Crane of their arrival and that their final disposition has yet to be decided.”
“I’ll have that done immediately, is there anything else gentlemen?” Admiral Webster asked.
“Yes Admiral, will you be releasing the names of the deceased so that their next of kin can be notified?” Asked King William.
“We will be doing that in time sir. I can’t give you a definitive answer yet. There are a few more things for us to determine first, primarily among the Merchant Seamen.”
“What about your Marines?”
“We have our own procedures in place for that sir. Everything will be handled appropriately and respectfully.”
Monday, March 22, 2027
Weh Island, Indonesia.
“Please inform Master Chief Cavendish that Dame Meredith Fowler wishes to speak with her.”
“Certainly Madam, one moment please while I connect you to your requested party.” The calm professional voice of an A.I. said.
“Good Morning Merry!” Sarah said from her office.
“Good Morning, Master Chief Cavendish.”
‘Master Chief Cavendish? Hmmm, not a good way to begin a conversation.” Sarah thought.
“How may I help you Dame Meredith?”
“I have a few things that you or at least the Terran Space Navy can do something about. First, I require that all of the kidnapped children be brought to my current location. There are the appropriate authorities here that can determine their eventual disposition.
Second I require that you, Commodore Webster and the Orphan Harum come to my current location. We need to speak in person about your future actions.
Third I require that the Terran Space Navy cease its operations in the realm of piracy and kidnapping for the foreseeable future.” Dame Meredith said in a strangely flat tone of voice.
“I hear what you have said Dame Meredith. Your first requirement will be met once the children are examined and done with all of the treatments that our doctors require to make them healthy and whole again.
The second one is more difficult to accomplish, I can come to your current location, speaking of which what is your current location?” Sarah asked.
I am currently located at the Ayesha Orphanage in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.”
“Thank you for that information, Dame Meredith. As I was saying I can be there tomorrow but Harum is not available as she is outside the Solar System at this time. Commodore Webster’s whereabouts are unknown at this time. Will my presence be sufficient for your requirement?”
“Your presence will be sufficient for now.” Dame Meredith said after a few moment of thought.
“Your third requirement is beyond my control entirely. All I can do is pass it on
to higher command. Will that be acceptable for the moment?” Sarah asked in an official tone of voice.
“It will have to do I suppose.” Came the ungracious comment back to her. “What time will you arrive tomorrow?”
“Please wait a minute while I check.” Sarah confirmed with Sandy, Camp Heinlein’s Command A.I. the necessary arrangements. “Dame Meredith, I can be there as early as 9:15 AM
“That will be satisfactory, Master Chief Cavendish. I will be waiting for you.”
The contact was cut off at that point. Sarah sighed a sigh of pain, she stared at the bulkhead before her and slow tears ran down her face. Sandy, the Command A.I. was confused as she watched Sarah cry.