And What of Earth

Chapter 11



"Hey Bethy! Anything new and exciting happen last night?" Jennifer asked, as she arrived for work the next morning.

"All quiet," she answered. "Not even injuries from the barfights we used to see from time to time. My guess is that the MPs are doing extra patrols after dark. Having only one bar in town makes clamping down on drunkenness pretty easy for them."

Jennifer frowned. "Less money in the kitty then. The drunks would never pay using their health insurance in case their spouses looked at the statements. 'What were you doing at the county clinic at 3am?'" she said, as if she were hen-pecking a husband. "Actually, I didn't have anyone come yesterday. We may end up having to do a bake sale or something," she added, only half in jest.

Bethy wanted to say something about that, but held her tongue. She wasn't supposed to know yet. "The only other thing of note was that I apparently fell asleep overnight. Around 4am, I guess. I thought I heard something on the roof of the clinic -- it was probably that branch that keeps rubbing up against the shingles -- then I fell asleep. I was out cold for a good 20 minutes I figure. First time that I've ever fallen asleep while on duty."

"Duty?"

"I mean while on the job. Geez, I'm starting to think like I'm back in the army or something." Bethy grimaced inside at the Freudian slip. Not yet, she told herself. Let her figure it out.

"Well, you've been up a long time, and you're obviously tired. I hope that the kids will let you sleep."

"Me too. I can't wait for school to start up again. Have a great shift, Jenn!"

Jennifer stationed herself by the large window that overlooked Main. She waited for the patrol to pass by the clinic at its usual time of 6:07. As soon as they had passed, and the street looked deserted, she walked over to the counter and visually scanned the room. Nothing out of the ordinary. A quick glance out the window showed that no one was out in the early dawn. Jennifer masked, and scanned the room again.

There. Right above the clock. Scarcely bigger than a period at the end of a sentence. She unmasked and stared at the secret device. "You stunned her," she accused those who were watching from elsewhere. "Some sort of personal antigravity device. You descended from the ship overhead, stunned her through the window, snuck into the clinic and placed the device and returned to the ship before an army patrol came by. These stuns better not cause harm, or I will be very unhappy. You can let the mission commander know." She stared silently at it. "Why? You've trusted me up until now. Why? Is it because of -- the impending visit? If you can't trust me now, how will you trust me when I become your Mother? Bethy is my friend. None of my friends should be harmed." She turned away in disgust.

Moments later, while seated in her chair and looking out the window she added, "Though I do like the added security. Just don't blow it. The army doesn't need to know."

Her only patient of the morning came just after 10. A 12 year old, who, for some reason, had thought that skateboarding down Twin Elm into the ravine would a safe and fun thing to do. At least, he had worn a helmet and pads. Still, a huge gash over his right eye, and street-jam burns on his right upper arm and right thigh proved that all the padding in the world can't keep you from harm when you do stupid things. "You realize, kid, that your mom is going to find out."

"No. She won't. She can't. That's why I'm paying cash for this, so she won't get the bill."

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Tony, have you looked at yourself in the mirror since you face-planted? There's probably more of your skin at the bottom of Twin Elm than what's left on your body." Clearly an exaggeration, but necessary for her explanation of the obvious. "All she'll have to do is look at your face, and then your arm. There's no way she'll believe that it happened when you were sliding home on the baseball diamond. She's probably going to ground you so hard, you won't be allowed out until after you graduate university."

Tony swore. Jennifer winced. "I can't make that gash disappear, Tony. I can use flesh-colored strips that work like sutures, but if she comes within 8 feet of your face, she'll spot it. You're toast, dude. Your best course of action is to do a massive clean job in the house before she gets home, and then plead stupidity. And swear that you'll never try to board down Twin Elm again. Dude, that's dumber than swan-diving off The Rock onto the beach." She finished cleaning up the gash, and pulled out the last of the strips. "Hold still; I've got to spray some antiseptic in there, so it doesn't get infected."

The hissing sound of the spray was quickly followed by a sharp loud "Ow!" "Sorry honey. I should've warned you that it stings. I seem to remember an axiom somewhere that says 'Knowledge always comes with a little pain'. If you didn't get enough pain bouncing on the asphalt, there was a little more to ensure that you've learned your lesson. Now, I need for you to not move an inch, otherwise I'll have to stitch you manually with some sutures." The boy froze. Jennifer tried hard not to smile. Once the strips were on, she tended to the other injuries.

When the tending was done, she tried to ease his emotional distress by charging him only six dollars. "Remember Tony, you can't slide your way out of this one. Do something spectacularly wonderful for her, confess your guilt, show that you've learned your lesson, then plead for mercy. You might end up getting off with a lecture then a hug. Now, scoot, before I call her at her sister's."

"Miz Hodges? Who do I go talk to if I saw something?"

Jennifer was baffled by the question. "What sort of something?"

"I dunno. Just before I hopped back onto my board, I looked across to the other side of the ravine. I thought I saw some men going down the ravine wall on the other side of the creek. Near where the creek widens and shallows out."

"I'll take care of it, dude. The general running this operation eats lunch with me almost every day. I'll let him know. Now, take my advice -- do something nice for your mom and then plead stupidity. It wasn't all that long ago that I was your age. 'k?".

"Yes Ma'am", he said in a dejected tone. He then peeled off six ones and limped out the door.

"Was I that reckless when I was that age?" she asked aloud in the empty clinic.



That day's lunch, courtesy of the US Army, was fish in batter. Jennifer was surprised to see it, since she knew that Mrs. Summers rarely ventured away from ground beef or chicken breasts. The taste, especially that of the malt vinegar that came with the meal, brought back memories of Jennifer's Great Camping Adventure, when her family camped their way across a half-dozen states and into the province of Ontario. All that was missing was the smell of campfires burning. It took a few seconds to shake herself out of her reverie.

"Miss Hodges? Are you alright?" General Comiston asked.

"Huh? Oh, sorry General. The fish and the vinegar took me back to a specific event in my childhood. What were you saying?"

"I was asking if you knew more about what is troubling our guests."

Jennifer let the mouthful of fish melt in her mouth before responding. "Your bribes are getting better, General. I never thought you would be able to top cheese fries." She took a pull on her cola then prepared her answer. "Yes. Yes I do know why they are becoming restless and anxious. Unfortunately, that pesky Honest Broker thing prevents me from saying what it is. I can say that it is big. I can't say how big without betraying their trust and putting some of them at risk. I can't even give you an example analogous to it without it being plain what it is." She put her fork down and turned to look directly at him. "It's big. It's scary big. It's got me this close to being freaked out. Remember that blithely naive girl you met here in this clinic a couple of weeks ago? She is now incredibly concerned. Anxious. Nervous --. Maybe even scared."

The general dropped his fork in response.

"There's more," she said, as if to add to his discomfort. "I had a patient earlier this morning -- good smart kid. His mom was my Grade 3 teacher. In fact, she was preggers with him when she taught me. Anyways, he was skateboarding on Twin Elm, not the flat part here in 'downtown Jewel', but where it turns and drops down into the ravine. He thought he saw several individuals descending the far wall, not far from here. Do you have motion detectors or infrared cameras watching over the ravine?"

"No. We have satellite pictures and foot patrols. Perhaps he only imagined seeing them."

"You don't have any sort of detectors?"

"Not this close. We have the mesa east of town carpeted with troops doing frequent patrols. Any intruders would have to get past over a thousand soldiers in order to get to the ravine here. Our intention was to keep everyone not entitled to come here well away from here. The perimeter is almost 30 miles in all directions."

"You need to do something about the ravine. Pardon me for telling you what to do General, since your specialty is military operations and mine is tending to the sick, but we can't take any chances."

The general looked like he was going to take umbrage, but pushed the feelings aside. "I can't see how anyone could've gotten this close. Are you sure he wasn't seeing something?"

Jennifer chewed on her lower lip. "Yeah. There's something else that will tend to support his claim. First though, there's a cleft in the far wall that runs from the top of the cliff all the way down to the floor of the ravine. It's almost but not quite straight down, and it is surrounded on three sides. Your guys down by The Rock wouldn't be able to see it. Guys patrolling on this side of the ravine wouldn't be able to see it. There's a spot, just as the road does the lower switchback and plunges down to the ravine floor, where, if you get down low, you can make it out. Tony would've been in a crouch on his board, leaning hard to make the turn. He might have been able to see into the cleft."

She put another bite of the fish into her mouth, waiting for a response from the general. When none was forthcoming, she brought forth her corroborating information. "A few days ago, I had four men come into the clinic separately, all with the same injuries -- cuts, scrapes, bruises and sprains. In all of the cases, the sprains were severe enough to seem like possible bone breaks. I had never seen any of these men before. They came in separately, throughout the day, and they paid by insurance. The same company. If you remember, Wednesday overnight was particularly stormy with high winds coming from the south. The opening of the cleft faces south. If these four individuals had been climbing down the cliff via the cleft, the winds would've slammed them into the rock face repeatedly, if they were descending by ropes. And they would've descended by rope, I would think, if they were doing it in the dark."

"I still can't see how--", Comiston started to say.

"With respect, General, the how doesn't particularly matter right now. What matters is ensuring that this access point is completely and utterly sealed off, and to find these individuals. They were hanging around the Baptist church on Sunday, wandering the gardens and looking at the gravestones in the cemetery there."

"What would be the significance of the church? Or the cemetery?"

"Highest spot in town," she told him. "Built on a hill four blocks west of Main. When I was a kid, my dad would volunteer to go in every 4th Saturday and clean the place. He would take me with him, thankfully, to get me away from my mom. I used to climb up into the bell tower when he wasn't looking. You can see the football field and the school from up there."

The general's face went white. "I'll get guards posted there right away."

"The advantage we have, General, is we know that the key event will take place in about a week and a half. There is no way anyone other than you, me and the Wakira can know this. If they are bad guys, then they don't know when they can do the most damage. But if you put guards at the church, they'll know that we know about them. And they might end up coming up with an alternative plan, whatever that might be. Right now, they've probably gone to ground, waiting for whatever time to arrive before they act. I know I'm overstepping my bounds again, but why not just keep an eye on the church? Close off the hole in the security scheme, and start doing random identity checks. I'm sure that your people canvassed everyone in town the first couple of days, and you have lists of names of people who belong. Detain anyone not on those lists. Or, follow them discreetly." Jennifer shrugged.

"Are you sure they can't know when whatever is supposed to take place?"

"Absolutely. I only found out Friday. And until a few minutes ago, I was the only human to know."

Comiston pushed his meal away, still mostly uneaten. "And the survey? Is it still ongoing?"

Jennifer shook her head. "I don't think so. Myka seems to be locked away in his office compiling the results. I don't think our history allows us to hold our heads high."

"Still no idea if there are consequences for failing?"

"None that I can tell. They are very silent when it comes to the survey."

Comiston sighed. "Not enough information. I need to know more. Can't you tell me anything about this impending event?"

She thought for a moment. She wanted to help him grasp the importance of the Emperor's arrival without the Wakira realizing what she had done. "Do you remember the poker reference from a couple of weeks back? Well -- I'm not totally sure, but I have a feeling that I just got dealt a pair of twos." Jennifer watched his body sag. "And now you know, in a very small way, why I feel freaked."



Jennifer got an unexpected visitor a little after 3pm. "Barb? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting for tonight's shift? It's your long week, right?"

"Hi Jenn. I just rescued John's mother. She called to say that Billy was becoming 'too helpful' in the kitchen. Apparently, when she wasn't looking, he took the potatoes she had cleaned and peeled outside and started tossing them into the air."

Jennifer looked aghast. "My cheese fries?"

Barb was surprised by her response. "Don't worry. She has more potatoes still unpeeled for tomorrow." She eyed Jennifer closely, looking for any sort of facial tell.

"Oh good. Cause, y'know Barb, I'd really hate to have to beat up your 5-year-old," she deadpanned.

Barb waited for Jennifer to start laughing. When she didn't, she exclaimed, "Dammit Jennifer Allison Hodges! You scare me every time you do that!"

"Next you're going to tell me that I should've been an actress," she stated, trying to hide a smirk.

"Well you should have. I almost believed you."

Jennifer found it increasingly hard to not laugh. "Who said I was acting?" Finally, the dam burst, and she laughed so hard, there were tears in her eyes.

"You cow!" Barb exclaimed. "You wicked wicked cow! You do this to me every time! I'm going to get you for this. Somehow." She started laughing, then added, pretending to be angry, "Bethy was right -- we should never have hired a teenager."

Jennifer snorted a couple more laughs. "As if I would hurt him. He loves his Auntie Jenny. So, what did you do with him?"

"I left him with Trudy for a few minutes. I had to stop at the bank anyways -- John wanted me to see if a progress check had arrived for engineering sub-contract work he had done for the new bridge up near Valentine. I would've told you what I had found, but after what you said about beating up my son, I think you'll just have to find out for yourself." Barb gave her friend a mock-sneer.

Both sets of eyes shifted to the toy stuffed Dalmatian on the counter. "Not Snuffy!" Barb cried out, with a nervous giggle. Jennifer's right hand flashed out and grabbed the toy before Barb's desperate lunge snagged the prize. "Not Snuffy!" Barb cried out again.

In a very bad tough guy accent, Jennifer said, "Now, sing like a canary, or da dawg gets it. Unnerstand?"

"You wouldn't! You love Snuffy as much as I do!"

Jennifer put her hand around the toy dog's neck. "Da dawg means nuttin' ta me. Now tawk!"

"Not until you put Snuffy back down. You can't make me. Put the dog down, Jennifer."

Jennifer pretended to start squeezing the neck then starting laughing hysterically. She handed it to her friend. Once they had managed to stop laughing, she said, "Y'know, the two of us are going to have to grow up sooner or later."

"Speak for yourself," Barb told her. "I'm still denying the fact that I'm almost 9 years older than you." She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes before continuing. "If you have your bank card with you, go to the bank after your shift. You'll be pleasantly surprised."

Jennifer looked exasperated. "C'mon Barb. I spared your toy dog; I promise not to beat up your kid for his lunch money. Tell me."

Barb's eyes gleamed. "We got our back pay. There were thousands of dollars in the joint account. Even with John's check, there should've only been like $500. We got our back pay!"

Jennifer hesitated. "That doesn't make sense. Four days ago, they were threatening to throw me in jail and to seize my dad's house, which they couldn't have done, and now they've given us the money they owe us? That doesn't make sense."

Dammit, Barb thought. This isn't working. I told Bethy she was too smart! "Maybe they were covering their butts. While I was at the bank, I overheard someone saying that the county offices were raided this morning."

Jennifer's eyes went wide. "Raided?! By whom?"

"Feds, I guess. FBI, or some other member of the alphabet soup gang. I don't care. I'm just happy we got our money."

Jennifer still looked dubious. "Maybe it was something else. I don't know -- something else. I can't see the county finally coughing up the money. I guess I'll find out after you relieve me." She grabbed the dog from Barb's hand and held it up in front of Barb's face. In a childlike voice, Jennifer said, "Don't let her hurt me, Mommy." She put the dog back down onto the counter, leaving the joke threat unspoken.

"You are SUCH a bad girl, Jenn! Bethy's going to send you to bed without supper when she finds out." They laughed and embraced. "Seeya just before six. John and I are going to have a celebratory glass of wine with our early supper."

"I sure hope you're right, Barb," she said as the other headed for the door. "It'll be nice having money again." She walked to the window and waved as Barb passed.

"I think she bought it," Barb said to herself as she headed back to the Jensen house.

"This is a bunch of hooey," Jennifer told her hidden audience.

Sure enough, when Jennifer accessed her account, there were thousands of dollars there. She took $200 out and went to the All-in-One store and dropped half the money on fresh food and treats for her and her dad. She actually enjoyed preparing a "real meal" for a change, and spent some extra time with her dad helping with the clean up. She chose to ignore, for the moment, that the amount in the account was far more than it should have been.