Mirrors of infinity, p.26
Mirrors of Infinity, page 26
He arrived at the National Guard Armory. The military had recalled every retiree and former soldier to help out in the crisis, giving them active duty status for the duration. So, once again he left his home to do his duty and this time he had to leave his wife by herself. Since the kids had all left on their own adventures, he and Donna had been comfortable together, traveling to visit old friends from their army days and seeing a bit of the world they hadn’t had a chance to do before.
Donna stayed busy, volunteering in the community and with their church, and always had one project or another going on to help someone who needed it. She was an accomplished seamstress, crafter, and baker, and he was so proud of her. He had asked her from time to time if she wanted a job outside the home and she answered happily that she had never had any desire to do anything outside her home to make money and she kept busy enough without that, “thank you very much”.
He grinned every time he thought about her, even after all these years.
He pulled into the parking lot in an area reserved for officers and high ranking enlisted men. He had achieved the rank of Command Sargent Major in his military career. He could have easily been an officer, but he told people who asked why he didn’t, “I’m just a hands-on kind of guy” and left it at that.
He was greeted in the reception area by a pink cheeked corporal with a clipboard. For some soldiers, this was as close as they ever got to a weapon outside of basic training. But the army would be in utter chaos without the clerks who kept it all organized. Clerks, cooks and medics were the backbone of a fighting army and the leadership of the military knew it very well.
“Command Sargent Major Japhet, please go to the command center at the end of the hallway. The meeting will begin at 0800.”
He nodded and arrived at the meeting before most of the rest had assembled. It was a quirk of his to never be at an appointment later than fifteen minutes before it was supposed to start. It had driven his family crazy, but he felt strongly that punctuality was a sign of respect for the time of the people you were meeting with and a matter of integrity for him.
The meeting was a fairly straightforward thing as military meetings went. This wasn’t a discussion. It was intended to give out assignments and clarify any of the fine points of each person’s responsibilities if necessary.
Ed was given command of a small battalion that was going to be clearing the highways in about a 10-mile radius of the city limits. When they completed that task, they would be assigned to a unit outside the area. Each battalion was covering a different type of disaster relief, including medical teams, running soup kitchens, and creating emergency housing for those who had been displaced. The battalion he was in charge of was an engineer’s battalion with access to heavy machinery necessary to remove vehicles from the road and repair any damage to the road itself.
They would be accompanied by a small team of combat medics in case there were any unrecovered bodies from the wreckage.
The one reason they could even do this operation was that batteries now worked again. Scientists had reported a mysterious power wave that had happened simultaneously worldwide. They seemed to think the two events were connected but were unable to explain either one.
At this point, Ed didn’t really care all that much. He had always told his kids to do the work that was in front of them, and that was how he operated. He didn’t want to remain ignorant of events, but he also didn’t want to dwell on the things he had no control over. Once a thing had happened, and when you were dealing with the aftermath of something like this, the best plan was to simply get to work at whatever you could do and let someone else worry about the things you couldn’t do.
He called Donna before he set out to brief his battalion to let her know he had arrived safely and to tell her it was going to be a very long day, grateful for the reestablishment of communication, mystery or not.
“Guess what? Jenny called! She was checking to see if we were all right. I told her we were fine. It was so good to hear her voice. She said to tell you not to work too hard. That’s what your troops are for.”
It had been a standing joke amongst them, but they all knew that Command Sargent Major or not, he would roll up his sleeves and get to work right alongside his men when it was necessary.
“I’m glad you got to talk to her. How’s that job of hers coming along?
“She says they have power and finally got cell phone coverage, so she’ll be able to get back to work after she helps them make sure they didn’t lose any data in all of this.”
“That’s our Jenny. She does her duty.”
“You taught them well, Ed.”
“WE taught them well, Donna. I think you had a little bit of a hand in their raising, as I recall.”
They both laughed at this and then signed off with an “I love you.”
She had been crystal clear from the beginning of their relationship that saying I love you to one another was important. She didn’t ask much of him and after a while of being a bit embarrassed about it in a public place he had finally decided that it wouldn’t hurt his men to know that he loved his wife.
He arrived at the training ground where his men had assembled. On other training grounds within earshot, he could hear the sounds of other troops assembling and being given their orders. He wasn’t one for rousing speeches.
“You all know why we’re here. Thank you for answering the call to duty. Let’s do our job. Your platoon leaders have their orders. We will assign two platoons to every sector with appropriate equipment. I will be coordinating the work schedule. You each should have a day’s rations with you and any tools you require in your packs. Each section will also have medics assigned for body recovery and any injuries. But we don’t want to distract them, so there will be no injuries. Am I right?”
“YES, Command Sargent Major!” They thundered in unison.
“Then let’s do this thing. Company dismissed!”
They immediately went to their assigned areas to assemble and move the equipment. Ed got up into the passenger side of the cab of a Dusenhalf that would carry troops to the worksite. The young Sargent driving the vehicle nodded and waited until the bang-bang of a flat hand on the side of the truck indicated all were aboard and ready to leave.
The convoy left within fifteen minutes, having prepared everything before they had gotten into formation on the training grounds. It was very apparent where they would be working. Vehicles weren’t only scattered all over the road, but there was broken windshield glass all over the highway. These roads weren’t as highly traveled as in many large cities and the blackout didn’t happen during “rush hour”, but the damage was enough to be going on with.
His men immediately went to work, and he was proud of the way they systematically worked as a team. Civilians had enough on their hands taking care of the many injured people and making arrangements for children orphaned by the disaster, not to mention property damage. Who knew a power outage could cause so much destruction and loss of lives?
The sound of large machinery working was nearly overwhelming, and yet he heard her voice instantly.
“Dad? It’s Jenny.”
He looked around, confused. He could see no one, and...how could she have gotten here? There were no planes in the air until further notice. “Jenny?” he hollered in a random direction.
“You don’t have to yell. Just think what you want to say, and I will hear you.”
“What? How are you doing this? Am I finally losing it? They say as you get older...”
Her warm mental laugh was disconcerting and yet comforting in a way.
“I can’t tell you. Let’s just say that there are more things in heaven and earth, Dad, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. I’ve always wanted to use that one on you...”
“OK, so let’s say I’m not losing my marbles and you can’t tell me how you’re doing this. What is this all about?”
“It’s about you doing what I already knew I’d find you doing. It’s about you knowing that this might not be the end of it and I can’t tell you how I know this. It’s especially about you knowing that none of the governments of Earth are responsible for this.
I can’t tell you much more than that, and I don’t want to worry you or mom, but you need to know that there are good guys working on the problem and Earth is being protected. But even with all of that, please make sure that when you are done cleaning up this mess that you make your usual preparations without alarming Mom. Nothing may come of it, but if it does, it will help me to stay focused, if I know you are as safe and prepared as you can be.”
“You aren’t ghostwriting at all, are you?”
“Got it in one, Dad. But don’t tell Mom. I know she can be as tough as nails when she needs to, but I’d just as soon not worry her unless she needs to be worried. OK?”
“I agree. Let’s not worry her if we don’t have to. I’ll take your advice under consideration. Does this thingy work two ways? Can I contact you this way from my end?”
“Sorry Dad. No. But I’ll stay in touch as often as I can, I promise.”
“OK, Jenny. You know your mom and I miss you, right? I love you.”
“I love you too Dad.”
And then she was gone, and he had work to do.
Chapter 33: Behind the Mask
Sam saluted the guard at the gates of the fortress. Finally, she had made her way to the capitol. She waved the courier message before the guard’s face when he asked her business. “For the Marshall, Sargent; his eyes only.”
“What do you hear from out there?” the guard asked before waving her in.
“It’s crazy. Someone or something is creating havoc and destruction. No one knows how or why, but they have it in for the military; makes a soldier almost want to ditch the uniform. Whole battalions decimated right where they stand. But I’d better get this to the Marshall, or I won’t have to worry about getting killed by this creature or whatever it is, because he’ll have my hide if I don’t get it to him right away.”
The guard nodded and turned his gaze back to the busy street before him, already dismissing her as if she weren’t even there. This suited her purposes just fine. She wanted to be as invisible as possible here. She had something special planned for this group and wanted it to be a surprise. She liked surprises as long as they were on somebody else.
She chuckled to herself. She was worn out and needed sleep and time to plan. There were messenger barracks in the keep, and it would give her a chance to orient herself and give herself the best chance of success.
She handed the message to the Marshall. She had managed a simple bit of forgery to alter the message slightly. Basically, it said that they needed help at the farthest city away she could think of a name for. The message was a cry for help because the Mayor was dead, and people were dying and please to send help right away. It was signed by a citizen totally made up out of whole cloth by Sam and marked “Urgent”.
The Marshall scowled at the message without dismissing Sam. “Another one,” he said shaking his head. It was all Sam could do not to smile. She could well imagine the number of these types of messages he had received in the past several days. She had been very busy indeed.
“Well, there’ll be no reply. I’ll pass this on to the guys who make these kinds of decisions. Glad it’s not me. I imagine you’re tired and could use some feeding up.”
He handed her a voucher for food and lodging with the garrison in their “guest quarters” which basically meant a large room with a few score beds in it and a shared privy. She thanked him and left to make herself comfortable.
Sure enough, it was only a large barracks room. Most of the beds were unoccupied and there was a place at the end of the bed to insert the lodging half of her voucher to claim the cot as her own. Next to the bed was a footlocker. No one was there, so she made herself at home.
It was common for traveling soldiers pretty much anywhere else to provide their own locks, but these were seldom used in the Insenium. The penalty for stealing was death. The concept of a prison was foreign to them. People knew the rules. If they chose not to obey them, they didn’t belong in Inseni society. That meant removal, not free meals and housing. The executions were always public, but they were few, as these people were conditioned to not even think in that direction.
She stowed her belongings in the trunk, kicked off her boots and got as comfortable as she could, still in her uniform. It didn’t take long for her to go to sleep.
When she awoke later in the day, she realized she was famished. She rearranged her hair, put her boots back on and wandered out to the mess hall. She found it easily drawn by the aromas of cooking food. Although Inseni didn’t go out of their way to make fancy dishes, the food was always tasty enough and stuck to your ribs. Sam thought wryly that if she spent much more time on this wretched planet, it was going to ruin her girlish figure. Not that her Norgoth persona had much of a figure to be concerned about. Norgoth were mostly built tall and solid, no curves worth mentioning.
She sat down at a random table next to another female soldier. The woman didn’t even look up. She just continued to stare at her plate, shoveling the hearty stew into her mouth as if she hadn’t eaten in weeks. That suited Sam just fine. She plowed into her own meal in silence. The woman next to her finished and took her tray back to the area designed to collect them.
Sam finished and after putting her tray into the collection bin wandered out to have a look around.
The fortress had open areas around the main buildings, unlike the towering self-contained community on her home planet. Of course, this planet was in a stable orbit around a healthy sun, so they had plants and scenery worth looking at and didn’t have to restrain population due to limited resources as the Fleistians did.
Sam had never explored her planet much beyond going to the Groga encampment. She had heard there were mountains somewhere, but the mountains were as barren as the plains and Sam only knew about them from her instructors.
In the courtyards surrounding what passed for a palace here were garden plots and herb gardens, but no statuary or decorative plants. Every building was all edges and right angles and all the same color. The only thing that differentiated one building from another was the simple lettered signs which hung over each door.
Various military personnel, servants and those who appeared to be dignitaries moved purposefully about the grounds. Occasionally a few would stop to talk. Norgoths weren’t supposed to “gossip”. It was considered counter-productive, a sin in the opinion of the Overlord of the Grand Insenium.
But they were definitely passing the latest news about the depredations of the mysterious stranger among them, looking occasionally over their shoulders to see if anyone was looking.
“Someone told me the creature shot lasers from its eyes!”
“No, it used a bomb. Nothing else could have caused so much death at once.”
“I heard they are hunting the creature with master hunters from all over. They will bring its head back and post it on the fortress walls!”
“All I know is that I’m glad I retired from the military already. I don’t see how they are going to defeat the creature.”
Sam walked by trying to hide a grin. It was satisfying to see that even in the capitol she had sown fear and misinformation. She noted the appearance of one of the servants and stepping into a deserted space between buildings, assumed the persona changing the features slightly. She had discovered that a good disguise didn’t have to be a huge difference from the person you copied. Small differences, hair color, a difference in the length of a hem or adding freckles or a mole seemed to work just as well as radical changes.
She walked into one of the larger buildings as if she knew where she was going. The sign above the door said, “Necessaries”; the Norgoth version of the word hospitality. Sam found it amusing that this was also the British word for toilets.
She strode down the main hallway to a large room. Standing at a table laden with what appeared to be unfolded laundry was a hard-looking woman, her hair woven into a simple braid that she had wound around her head. She stopped folding the rough towel in her hands and put both hands on her hips.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking Sam up and down, obviously unimpressed.
“I was told you needed some help,” Sam said simply, meeting her eyes, but not projecting any kind of challenge.
“Hmmph. Well, it’s about time. You can start on the linens,” pointing to a pile at the end of the table.
It was obvious someone had already started folding, which was good. Sam supposed there was a limited number of ways to fold a sheet, but she wanted to be sure to not stand out by not knowing how to do such an apparently simple thing.
She began folding, allowing the woman to see her hard at work. The woman nodded and went back to folding towels.
“New here?” the woman asked, not looking up from the towel she was folding.
“Yes. I lived with my sister in Ankal until the ‘creature’ came through and killed all those soldiers. I didn’t stay around. I’d always wanted to visit the capitol, and my brother-in-law knew someone on the staff here and sent me with a recommendation. I hope I can stay. I would like to do something that is worthwhile, and this might be the best place to start.”
“My name is Jolla,” the woman said, stacking yet another towel on the large stack before her.
“Kinney,” Sam said.
“Well, help me get this laundry folded and put away, and I’ll see what else I can find to keep you busy. There’s never a shortage of work here. Once we have a few other chores done, I’ll take you on my delivery rounds. We deliver towels and bedding to the maids and body servants every day about this time. It lets them do their work before everyone returns to their rooms after supper.”
