Planes buzzed overhead a few times, but our driver never slowed down which mean they must be ours.
We could see the edges of the city before we actually entered, but the place that General Pershing had prepared for the women of the signal corps was a palace compared to the last two places we’d called home.
It wasn’t large by French standards, but there were enough rooms to house all the women with us and more when they were trained and sent over.
“Ah, ladies they informed me of your arrival. Welcome. While I hate to rush you to your jobs, I’m going to show you where you’ll be working until replacements arrive.”
The general himself walked toward the basement where they’d wired in all the lines connecting everyone to the front.
“Your men from the Signal Corp have been taking turns manning the lines and laying down new ones. They’ll be relieved that you’re here so that we can get more out to new areas. Each place might just save a few men if we can get them the things they need in time.”
“Thank you, sir.” I managed to stammer. “We’ll do our best to make sure that we live up to your hopes for us sir.”
“Anything that can get our call connection times down would be fantastic.” He beamed happy that he’d come up with this idea.
Having left our suitcases and bags in the entry, there wasn’t much else left to do.
“Ladies, shall we relieve these men and get started?” I questioned with a smile.
“They’ll show you the ropes and then take a short break before we send them out to the front. Thank you for doing this for your country and theirs.” He gave us a salute before leaving to return to the front.
“That’s high praise from the General.” The men appeared shocked and several lines begin to ring.
I took the headset out of the closet ones hand and quickly began the task of answering.
All the other ladies followed my example and soon the men were simply standing there just as awed at us as they had been in the General’s presence.
“We’ll need the code for today.” May held out her hand for a marker and quickly wrote on the board the words needed for the troops.
“Anything else we need to know?” Holli asked putting her set into one of the ringing lines.
“Uh, it doesn’t appear so.” The young man looked a little flustered that we’d come in and taken over his job.
“Yes, sir.” Holli transferred the call and hurried to take another.
“Looks like we’re not going to be needed around here any longer.” The older soldier looked annoyed. “Figures they’d bring in dames to do our job while sending us out to where the bombs are about to blow us up.” He gave a mocking salute as he and the others left the basement area.
“So this is what we came thousands of miles across the ocean for, huh?” The twinkle in May’s eye made up for the grumble that was held in her words.
“At least we have real beds for now, I can’t imagine sleeping on cots for the nights on end with bomb going off all around me.” Holli agreed cheerfully taking another call.
“That won’t be something you’ll have to worry about while I’m in charge of your care. I’ll make sure that you get fresh tea and decent meals to eat. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get breaks very often, but if those line weren’t ringing then it would mean that our men weren’t doing well at all.”
“Thank you, Mrs.?” I inquired having missed her name if she’d given us one.
“Oh, I’m Mrs. Potter. I came over with the General and while I’m here I might as well make myself useful. He’s not here long enough for me to do more than make sure that he eats a few bites of food before he’s off again.”
“We’ve very grateful, Mrs. Potter. It’s going to take a lot of work to keep all these lines going. We’ll take all the help that we can get.” Lines continued to light up and I turned back to help answer the overwhelming ringing.
I didn’t even notice when Mrs. Potter had left the room, but I did notice a heavenly smell several hours later when she and a few other soldiers brought dinner for us.
We couldn’t leave the switch board unattended, but that didn’t mean we that we all had to stay plugged in constantly.
“Three of you eat and then we’ll rotate until everyone’s had some dinner.” I order being the Ms. Banker had left in charge while she’d taken care of other matters that were urgent.
No one protested as the wonderful aromas filled the air and we all knew that our turn was coming.
Dinner was everything that I could have ever imagined, but as I eating my brain tried to work out the problem of how we were going to arrange shifts when the calls didn’t stop coming even as dark began to descend on the world above us.
“We’re going to work in three shifts.” I explained before plugging my headset back in. “This way we can all get some sleep and have someone to relieve us. It will spread us thing, but I don’t see any other way to keep us working around the clock.”
“I’ll need eight of you to volunteer for the first shift to sleep.”
Hands raised tentatively and I smiled, “There’s no need to be shy, we’re all going to have to work with this for a while and everyone will get a turn.”
I pointed to a few of the raised hands and sent them on their way.
“Now, in about eight hours, we’ll have a fresh set of women ready to work. This is going to be something we may have to do on occasion because there’s not always going to be someone that can take your place.”
A few gave a quick salute, but continued to answer the blinking lines that never seemed to stop.
I couldn’t let them see how weary I was, but I wasn’t sure if I could make. How long did wars last anyway?
-------
Days and weeks began to run together and I had a hard time remembering a time when I wasn’t answering phone lines and transferring soldiers to generals or quartermasters to supply captains.
We’d been informed that another group of women would be arriving soon and we had all been promised a break. Instead of running off immediately, we were going to leave in shifts so that our newcomers could get some rest before they started working like we had.
I’d made sure that I was available to greet them and show them the ropes as the general had for us. Mrs. Potter had promised to have a lovely afternoon tea set up for them when they arrived.
The clock in the hall chimed two and I glanced out the window and down the road for what seemed like the tenth town in the last hour. Not a speck of dust was to be seen and I worried because the Germans had stepped up their bombing runs on convoys or small trucks that could be carrying troops or supplies to help our cause.
Just as I was about to check on how things were going in the basement, a horn honked as the truck raced up the long winding drive. If I hadn’t taken such a ride before, or seen the way most of the army drivers handled their vehicles I would have been fearful for their lives. Instead, I waited for the driver to screech to a halt before cautiously descending the steps.
“Welcome,” I greet the scared, slightly green faces that were piled into the back of the truck’s back.
There were twice as many of these new girls arriving as there had been of the first group with me.
“If you’ll collect your bags, I’ll show you the rooms where you’ll be staying. Shifts will start immediately after breakfast and then rest of you will start training for our portable units that the men use on the battlefields. More than half of you will be going to battlefield units headed up by our ladies that have been working here as your unit chiefs since they have a head start on how things work here.” I smiled at their overwhelmed expressions and relief to be standing on ground that didn’t move.
“Now, Mrs. Potter is waiting for all of you to serve tea so let’s get you settled, shall we?” A few of the others that were off duty right then help me sort out the sleeping arrangements.
In the midst of the crowd I saw a familiar head of hair.
“Inez?
” I called questioningly hoping that I was wrong.
Her head popped up and with it my stomach sank. She was actually here.
“Oh, Emma. I wasn’t sure that I’d see you right when I got here.” She moved through the crowd of women to get to me, but stopped just before throwing herself into my arms.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her into one of the many extra rooms.
“What on earth are you doing here?” I hissed. “You’re not even twenty-four.”
“I lied. I just wanted to come over here and do something for my country in the same way that you did. The war could be over before I ever had a chance to do something like this.” She waved a hand around taking in the amazing features of the room I’d pulled her into.
“What did mother and father say about it?” I crossed my arms in a stern manner.
She had the grace to look sheepish, “They don’t, yet. I let them a note that I was going to do my part, but I didn’t tell them what I was doing because I didn’t want them coming to get me.”
“I’ll have to cable them to let them know you’re okay. Then you’re going back on the first ship that will take you.”
“But I can’t. Mother would hate me traveling by myself. Wouldn’t it be better if I just stayed here and worked? I know you need people to man the lines and I’ve learned enough French that I can answer as if I’ve lived here most of my life.” She pleaded.
“Well, there’s nothing to be done about it today at least. Join the others and then I’ll make a decision by in the morning as to whether you’ll stay or return home.” I pulled her close for a hug thankful to see that even a little piece of home.
She practically skipped toward the door, but turned before opening the door. “Um, so I’m registered under Inez Lawson. It was how I could get into the Signal Corps with the right age. I told everyone I had a sister, but by different fathers so our last names aren’t the same.”
As she left, I let out the breath I’d been holding. Anger welled up in me at her stupidity and rash behavior. Then again I might have done something like that when I was her age if the situation had been reversed.
She wasn’t going to get off easily, I was going to make sure that she was assigned to my unit. Already, she’d seen more in the past few weeks to mature her than anything else. Maybe it would do her some good and I could keep her from coming in contact with any of the troops for her own sake.
No matter what I decided that about her staying or going, I still had a job to do and it wasn’t going to be done while I was in this room.
Head held high, I walked toward the door and into chaos.
Voices from fifty plus women were struggling to work together and decide the shifts and sleeping arrangements.
A shrill whistle left my lips as everyone in the room still immediately.
“Ladies, this isn’t how the army operates.” They all fell into several lines in front of me.
“That’s a little better.”
I began to call them by their last names listed from the roster that had been sent over with them and divided them into six units. Each was given a few bedrooms for them to share since they were going to be sleeping in shifts.
If everything was this chaotic, then I wasn’t going to get my days off before going to the front to set up a unit there.
Chapter 7
Rudi
It had only been a few months since I’d gotten that package or rather, had re-appropriated that package to work on during my own time.
Now, it was time to test it on a subject and see what it did exactly. I’d been stuck trying to see what the strains in the blood in the vials was composed of. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Every time I added new drops of blood to it, it was always taken over by the virus. When I’d gotten hold of our asset that had sent us the one vial requesting more, he hadn’t seemed hopeful.
I’d been monitoring all of the correspondence coming into the lab so that I didn’t miss it. When it arrived a week ago, I’d been disappointed that there were only four more vials. It certainly wasn’t what I’d been hoping for, but would have to do for now.
With a few human subjects for testing this would become so much easier to try and figure out what exactly this virus was infecting them with.
I still wasn’t telling anyone about this side project and preferred to work on it while everyone was gone with the lab to myself. Which made setting up a couple of test subjects difficult. I’d finally been able to use a few connections and toss a few names around that gained me access to the people that I could try this on.
Time would tell if I had the next great thing in combat or if it was just a common virus that gave us all a cough.
Head up and shoulders squared back, I showed my credentials to the guard at the main gate who allowed me to come inside. This wasn’t someplace that I wanted to show weakness as I passed groups of men forming work groups.
The building itself only housed those who were in the worst of shape or thought to be possible escapees from prison. The warden happened to be dating my cousin and I had used her influence to set up this appointment.
As the jailer let me into his office and showed me a seat.
“Thank you for agreeing to see me sir.” I took off my hat and sat it in my lap nervously crossing my legs.
“Always a pleasure for a cousin of my beautiful girlfriend. Now want can I do for you. Elaine wasn’t completely certain what you needed from me.”
He leaned his wide girth over the top of the desk and I wasn’t sure how the tailor ever found clothes that fit the man in front of me.
“Well, sir. I’m looking for a few test subjects for a project.” I lowered my voice before continuing, “It’s for the army. To help win the war you know?”
The warden puffed up proudly making his large body seem about to burst as he answered.
“If it’s for the war effort, we’re more than happy to help.” He cleared his throat, “It’s only on account of the war that I have to ask, I really hate doing this, but I’ve got a lot of prisoners to feed and we’re so short on funds.”
When I’d contemplated this portion of my experiment I’d known that it was going to take a little bit of money to help things move along in the direction that I was heading.
Reaching into my coat pocket for my wallet, I caught the warden’s hungry glance at the money I’d stashed there.
A few large bills were set on the table just lying there between us as part of an unspoken agreement.
He reached forward eyeing me with suspicion, “Understand that if anything you do is reported, I’ll have to let them know the truth. You black mailed me and I had no choice but to let you have access to the prisoners.”
“Understood. I’ll need a few prisoners that are isolated from the others. I can’t have any chance of a contamination happened if I’m to be sure of my results.” I added an extra bill to the stack he’d been keeping a finger on.
“I have just the thing. Our men that are waiting for executions would be perfect and if anything happens then we’ll just say that we carried out the execution.” He explained agreeably with a wink.
“Ah, yes that would be preferable. There’s a few more bills for you if we keep this between ourselves. Although, I would caution your guards that these men are going to be highly contagious and shouldn’t be exposed unless it’s absolutely necessary.” I warned, “I have no idea what reactions may cause and we don’t want healthy men to come in contact.”
“I’ll have my good man, Schmitt take you to the cell block. He’ll clear everyone out and open each cell himself.” The warden promised me.
I stood and held out a hand, “Can’t thank you enough for the opportunity to do this for the war effort.”
He took my hand in his sweaty, pudgy one, “Always, a pleasure to help the war move along toward victory.”
Schmitt was standing by the door waiting for me and I was certain that he knew everything that went on behind the warden�
��s doors as well as the warden himself did.
“I’ve been instructed to escort you to the prisoners waiting for death. This way.” He took off at a fast pace and I grabbed my bag careful to follow where he was going.
The cells with the prisoners waiting for death were dark and very gloomy which considering that they had a horrible end waiting for them. Everything felt slimy and wet, several of the cells we passed the prisoners were coughing.
It looked like I would be doing them a favor by letting them die early if my injections had the expected consequences I was trying to get from this experiment.
“Against the wall.” Schmitt yelled out.
He needn’t have bothered because the poor man inside was all skin and bones. He wouldn’t have been able to do more than hit one us before he was subdued.
“Hi, I’m going to be giving you an injection. I’m not sure if it will help you or not, but that’s what we’re going to see.” I promised feeling a little bit guilty that these men were going to have to be the test subjects.
Pushing the feelings that were trying to make me forget my job, I took out on of the injections and looked for a good spot to slide the needle in. There wasn’t much point in trying to clean up the injection site because whatever else these men had growing on their bodies wasn’t going to matter. The early tests had shown that this virus took everything and ate it’s way right through it.
The prisoner eyed me, but didn’t protest or try to stop me from giving it to him. It was then I realized that they had no hope left. They were simply waiting for the end to happen.
“All done. We should have a few results in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” I explained to Schmitt as he locked one cell and opened the next one.
I’d only brought along enough to inject ten men which would give me a large enough grouping to be able to figure out what needed to be changed or fixed.
Infected Poppy Fields Page 5