by John M Grier
~***~
In the room, Jack and Paul were confronted by a stern looking woman in a crisp military uniform. She said “I thought there were three of you?”
Jack immediately spoke up and said “Obviously, Shultz over there can’t count very well.”
Jack took quiet notice that Shultz said nothing but silently turned red. This was an interesting bit of news, indeed. Apparently, this woman was either very high ranking, or, instilled some sort of fear in these two that made them keep quiet even when they were not in the wrong. "Fascinating" he thought.
The woman spoke again. She said “I am Lt. Jameson. This is my town. Now, please tell me why two surface dwellers have such an interest in our town and our lake.”
Once again, Jack spoke “We were just exploring the tunnels and saw the lake. We had no idea there was a town here. Actually, I find it quite amazing. To be honest, I live on the surface, near here and have never seen you before. Do you spend all of your time down here?”
Intrigued by Jack’s response, she asked “I will ask the questions. Are you with the government of the surface world, or did you strike out on your own?”
Paul said “We are on an expedition to the arctic, and encountered these tunnels. Naturally, as scientists we decided to explore them first.”
“Rubbish!” said Lt. Jameson. “If the government sent you, you would not be driving a HumVee. And that hovercraft you are towing is ancient, by surface standards. No, you are obviously not with the government. Why do you test me so by lying?”
“Sorry, it won’t happen again” said Jack. “Actually, he is mostly right. We are on an expedition to the arctic, Canada, actually, and no, we are not with the government. We are archeologists who just want to finish up a dig that the government shut down early. That is the honest truth.”
“Okay, let’s say I believe you. Why travel through the tunnels?”
“We had an earlier encounter with the government that led us to believe they can track us easily enough and were just trying to get far enough north to be out of Harmony’s range, if that is possible.”
“Okay, that I believe. Those idiots in the surface government have been pressing their people into the weirdest version of communism to come around that we have seen. However, ours is a secret society and as such, we simply cannot allow you to leave. I am dreadfully sorry.” The evil grin on her otherwise stern face indicated she was anything but sorry. “Shultz! Please escort these people to our guest quarters.”
With a grin that could not be described as helpful, Shultz led the two friends to what could only be described as their jail cell. With a loud clank, the iron door slammed shut.
Suzie had been lurking by the door and followed as closely as she dared when they were led to the cell. However, there was a guard posted and she would have to wait a bit before making any kind of move.