Lunchtime found the Deliverance and its crew tied up at a dock in the LaFarge-North America gravel pit complex, with a cookout setup provided by the Saint Loo ponies dockside, the auxiliary gas generator up on the fly bridge running (to get some use in, the thing hadn’t been run since they installed it) with an extension cord running down to a power bar on the table, where four new coffee pots were busy brewing away hot coffee for everyone, the entire Saint Loo pony contingent visiting, even the gate guard, Virgil. Frick and Suzanne were in the pilothouse, chatting with Sandra at the World Seafarer Union, Frack was attempting to teach the three Saint Loo flyers to get off the ground, while Fred, Freida and Fran kept busy cooking and chatting with the rest of the ponies. Fran caused a bit of a stir with the Saint Loo ponies, but some words from Virgil, Fred and Freida rapidly calmed any two-foot hostility in the hometown ponies, aided by the obvious fact that Fran was a CAT, not a ‘thieving dog’.
After a while, Fred managed to get Mary Sue, the large yellow and pink earth pony, off to the side. “I’m told you don’t like to talk much, Mary. I can tell something is bothering you. I will extend to you the offer to listen to you, to get whatever problems you have off your mind. Consider me a traveling priest, ready to hear your confession, and guide you to a better life,” he told her in quiet tones, so no one could overhear.
Mary looked at Fred, a light slowly filling her eyes. “You mean it. You’re willing to listen to me? To help me?” she whispered.
Fred nodded emphatically. “Yes,” he said, summoning up his connections to his gift, searching out the right god for her guidance. “You need help, you know it, but do not know how to get it. Your past haunts and embarrasses you, yet you don’t feel comfortable enough to confess your past to anyone here. I will listen to you when you wish to speak, and I will find the right deity for you. May take a day or two.”
“A deity?” Mary asked, sounding startled. Fred then went into a lengthy explanation of how deities have returned to the Earth after the Event, his own encounter with Raven, and the gifts he was bestowed. “That can happen to me? Why?”
“Because I can feel in you the capacity to go out and do as I do. You just need the right deity to guide you. I, personally, represent no one deity, but am acting as a ‘talent scout’ for any deity who wishes a speaker here on Earth. You should hear from one, if not tonight while you sleep, then tomorrow. That’s the easiest way for deities to make first contact with mortals,” Fred explained before taking a deep cleansing breath. “Face it, Mary, deities are like most other folk, unwilling to exert themselves unless they can see how they could profit from doing so,” he said in such a bland voice, Mary could not help herself and started laughing. Fred soon joined her in doing so.
Ashore, Frack had his three students gathered around him. “After that lunch, I’m sure you all can do with some exercise. You’ve heard me talk about how we flyers require additional protein, the pegasi needing fish and gryphons needing red meat, right, Mister I-crave-Bambi-meat?” he said in lecturer tones, looking right at Josh, the teenage classic eagle/lion griffon, who looked away, blushing a little, licking his talons to get the last of the venison off them. He did have an entire haunch to himself, which he had to admit filled a craving in him he didn’t know he had. Teenagers, bottomless pits, all of them.
“Now, I’m a bit surprised that none of you have yet to learn how to fly on your own,” Frack continued on with his lecture. “Sure, flying is impossible. Wings are too small. Our bodies are too heavy to get off the ground. Is that right?”
After getting a rather ragged agreement from his students, Josh, Carol and Lena, he promptly barked back at them, “Horse hockey! That’s a HUMAN way of thinking, and, looking around,” he stared at each one in turn while pacing about. “I don’t see no humans about! Just two ponies and a griffon! You got those wings! They’re not decorations! Now, get your asses off the ground and come get me, you useless sacks of flesh! Get up here and try to lay a hoof on me!” After that, he leaped into the air, flexed his wings, and rose up, steadily flapping. “Get your damn asses up here! NOW!”
By this time, the three left on the ground, Zach, Carol and Lena, were absolutely PISSED that some stranger would come in here and yell at them like that, which was Frack’s whole intent. The three spread their wings and started flapping, ineffectively, at first. “Eyes on me! Which of you has got the guts to punch me one? Right here!” he taunted, tapping his muzzle with a hoof.
Of the three, the first one to achieve liftoff was Zach, the griffin. With a squawk of rage, he made it off the ground, flapping furiously, aimed right at Frack, who neatly sideslipped and let the screaming griffon go by. Carol and Lena looked at each other, shrugged, and focused on getting off the ground. Within a few seconds, they clumsily lifted off.
Zach, on the other paw, was completely confused when Frack was not where he expected to be. He slowed to a hover, looking around every which way but one, above and behind him, which was where Frack was waiting. With a hoof, he swatted at Zach’s leonine tail. “Tag! You’re it!” he called out before slipping down and to the left, circling away from where Carol and Lena were. “You too, ladies! Come and get me!”
Frack managed to induce the three into chasing him around and about the gravel mine area for ten or so minutes before calling out, “Okay, rookies! Last lesson of the day! Can you LAND safely?” he taunted before gliding down to an easy landing. “I can do it! What’s YOUR problem?” he called up.
The group on the ground, when not enjoying the coffee, cakes and fresh bread that was laid out, with butter the Saint Loo contingent had brought, watched the aerial antics with interest. After Frack landed, Lena managed to touch down, having to trot a few steps. Carol was next, landing hard enough to send her tumbling. “I’m okay!” she shouted as she got back up.
Zach was not so lucky. He landed hard, hard enough so that when he touched down, he went nose-end down and flopped, landing on his back and outspread wings. “Ow…” he muttered.
Fred trotted up to Zach. “Roll over, son. Let me look you over,” he said in gentle tones. Zach obeyed the big blue earth pony, rolling onto his paws. Fred touched him with a hoof, and a white glow passed over Zach for a few seconds. “You’ll be okay. Go have another leg of deer. Can you get to the fly bridge on your own?”
Zach shook the dust off him. “Is it alright if I walk?” he asked.
Fred smiled. “Of course. Go right ahead. Go have some, and I’ll snitch you a cold coke or two, okay?”
Zach grinned. “You’re on, sir!” he said before heading off.
“Fred, are you giving away my stash?” Frack said accusingly.
“Yes. What are you going to do about it?” Fred replied, looking at the pegasus with a placid glower.
“Nothin’. Go right on ahead!” Frack said in reply before going to get some cold water, the two other pegasi joining him.
Inside, Frick and Suzanne finished their interview with Sandra and the WSU. Frick made sure the appropriate contact data was written out, and the two left the pilothouse for some more coffee and cake. “You want to open relations with the damn thieving two-foots across the river? Whatever for?” she said with some heat.
Frick sighed. This is the one part of diplomacy he quite frankly hated, that of teaching some stupid, obstinate pigheaded lout that their position is totally wrong and his is completely right, WITHOUT antagonizing the lout. “There is more than one reason to, Suzanne, the first of which is that there is not enough intelligent life of ANY type left on the planet right now, and that we will all need to work TOGETHER to get some semblance of what was to remain for some time to come. Another is, as you have pointed out earlier, or was it Virgil, that you Saint Loo ponies don’t have the knowledge base to do anything more than hang on by your hooves. We are bringing knowledge to you that you didn’t have before. I know they have one advantage you don’t have, Suzanne!” Frick said harshly as he lifted the two pieces of the arrow up off a countertop and waved them in her face.
“I pulled this out of my brother’s wing not four hours ago! Do you want to have to pull arrows out of any of your folk’s hides? It is not a good feeling!” he snapped.
Suzanne went to say something, but Frick waved a hoof to keep her silent, his cap badge lighting up with a purple glow. “I’m not done yet, Suzanne. I know right now, with your biases, that asking the two groups to merge resources and skills is about as likely as the Second Coming of Christ himself, but the very least I can hope for is to come to an agreement between you and them that will allow a cease-fire and acceptance that if one side crosses the river without permission, the other side has the absolute freedom to stomp the living shit out of the trespasser! That ought to make you happy, right? Have you got all those violent impulses out of your system or will you go back to being a tyrant?” Frick said harshly, all the while keeping his gaze fixed on the zebra.
“You’re passionate about this, aren’t you?” Suzanne said slowly, already rethinking her position and realizing that crossing someone who has already said he was willing to help her tribe out of savagery is Not A Smart Thing To Do.
“Damn right I am, Suzanne. We’ve cruised down the Big Muddy from Omaha to Saint Louis and you want to know how many times we’ve met fellow sentients? TWICE! Once in Saint Joseph, a little buffalo boy beset by a pack of dogs, and a bunch in Kaycee, where we left the boy amongst ponies, griffins, and a diamond dog whom we KNOW will raise him well! Let the old world die a lamentable death, taking away all the hostilities and hatreds. There’s not enough of us to keep hatreds and prejudices going. Let. Them. GO!” Frick said with passion and heat.
Suzanne sat there at the table, sipping some more of the coffee, letting his words percolate through her consciousness. She thought about her life Before, where she was a successful advertising executive at KMOX radio, having fought her way up the corporate ladder, despite being an African-American woman of middle years. She had taken a secret pride of the nickname she had earned on her way up, Amanda Waller, the hard-as-nails commander of the Suicide Squad from comics. The physical resemblance was there, as well.
“Can you accept the fact I won’t make a snap decision on this, Frick? I have a history with them I can’t just forgive and forget. Whatever you want to do, I won’t stop you, and when you are ready for any of us to get involved, please let us know. If you can get an apology from them, I will count that as a win,” she told the unicorn, whose cap badge was slowly losing its purple glow.
“Of course, I can accept that, Suzanne,” Frick said in a much calmer voice. “I already have an idea on how to go about it. Tomorrow will be soon enough, today we’ll devote to your group. You’ve already helped us, and we you.”
“That you have. You’re really going to give us your gas generator?” Suzanne asked.
Frick blushed a little, his ears going pinkish. “More like an extended loan, Suzanne. I’m sure you already know where most of the goods you want can be found nearby. We will help you gather everything and set them up, then and only then will we take the generator back. We know it works.”
“It does and we do. We’ll give you all the butter, eggs and canned cheese you can carry, and in exchange for your help, we’ll spot out the fuel and other supplies you’ll need. A lot of places right around here you can draw diesel from. Also, thanks for the use of your drone to keep watch on the bridge,” Suzanne said in reply.
“Somehow, I wouldn’t think you would want the watch tower left unmanned, so I’m glad we have a substitute for a few hours,” Frick said, pointing to the TV screen in the saloon, which showed a view up I-70 from the drone on the roof of the guard shack. “Virgil has a lot of sense. After his reaction to the coffee earlier, I thought he would like to step down for a while and have some good home cooking. Freida makes good omelets, right?”
“Oh, how right, Frick! None of us are what you call expert cooks. The trash heap around back is full of our culinary catastrophes. A family of local raccoons is grateful for the pile,” Suzanne said with dry humor.
“Make sure Zach doesn’t go hunting them,” Frick replied with equal dryness. “So, tomorrow morning, myself, Fred and Frack will go to your place for some more consulting, Freida will run the ship here, and Fran will go check out the dogs.”
“Two questions, Frick. Why will Freida be staying here, and why send Fran alone?”
“Okay, first, a rule we have is the boat NEVER is left alone. It takes one of us to unlock the controls, and someone who comes aboard to find a boat he or she can’t steal would likely wreck things. Besides, all of us have enough faith in ourselves to be able to shoot to kill or the equivalent. As for Fran, well, she’s not going to be alone…” Frick trailed off, rubbing his slowly worsening mane absently with a forehoof.
Fran slowly pedaled her way up the I-70 bridge, her bike baskets loaded with venison and other trade goods, Chopin nestled in her headfur, looking like a hairpin. “How I let Frick talk me into this, I’ll never know…” she muttered.
“Because Frick knows what he is doing, and deep down, you know he’s right. You’re the best one to go make contact with the dogs,” Chopin squeaked. “You have two feet, you can ride the bike, and you’re packing heat. You’re also a marksman-grade shooter.”
“There is that,” Fran agreed as they rode down to the north bank of the Missouri. “Where the hell is the off-ramp?”
“About half a mile ahead. You’re getting soft, Fran!” Chopin said playfully.
“I am NOT, little miss I-like-a-warm-bed-at-night! I know you know that!” Fran squealed, trying not to laugh. Chopin, however, had no such problem, and did so.
“Good thing we like each other so much, Fran!” Chopin managed to get out between bouts of giggles. “Exit coming up on right.”
“I see it.” At the right time, she turned off the interstate, then turned to go the ‘wrong way’ down the frontage road. At the intersection with Main Street, she came to a stop, looking about.
“You all right, Fran?” Chopin squeaked quietly.
“I just got a feeling, Chop. Like we’re being watched. Suspicion, curiosity. No overt hostility, but it is not far away,” Fran said in little more than a whisper. “Let’s keep on keepin’ on. We got us a job to do.”
“Right.” Chopin whispered as Fran started pedaling again, heading towards the Ameristar, following her instincts. She pedaled down the drive, to find two garages waiting for her, one left, one right. Without hesitating, she went to the one on the left and rode in, to find the first floor full of cars and RV’s. She parked the bike in the motorcycle section, got off and stretched like only a cat could, getting the riding kinks out of her back and legs.
“That looked like you enjoyed it,” a woman’s voice with an accent Fran could not quite place said from the direction of the RV’s.
“I did,” Fran said in reply. “Who are you, where are you, and can we chat a while? I brought lunch. Just hope I brought enough.”
“The name is Anna Tereshkova, I’m over here, and yes, nice chat with friendly face is refreshing,” Fran heard as a door opened in one of the RV’s and a diamond dog bitch stepped out, one easily Fran’s height and at least three times her mass, carrying a teapot in one meaty paw and a basket in the other, wearing a bathrobe that was easily three sizes too small, sleeves torn off at the shoulder. “Come with me. Fire is around other side of RV. Best place for it.”
Fran took out the meat and a thermos. “You know the area. I’m Francesca Vasquez, from Fremont, Nebraska. How long have you been here?” she asked as she hurried to catch up with Anna.
“Many months for sure. Snow not yet on ground when we come back here. Been very cold. Family stick together, we pull through. Wish could go elsewhere, but no fuel and RV very hard to drive when we look like this,” Anna said, gesturing at her body as she sat down on a chunk of rock before a pre-laid fire. From the pocket of her robe, she pulled out some kindling and a large, long lighter. A few moments later, the fire was burning bright, and Anna put the coffee pot on an iron ring in the fire. “Now, we wait. We trade questions?”
“We trade questions. Fresh coffee?” Fran asked, holding up the thermos.
“Da! Miss hot coffee, we all do. Husband, two sons, daughter. Going, we do, from Denver to Atlanta for daughter’s wedding. Miss it, we do. Ekaterina, she sad she not wed Ivan. Ivan wealthy person in Atlanta. Gemologist,” Anna explained as she held out a mug. Fran poured, then Anna sipped, a smile coming over her bulldoggish features. “What that meat? Not squirrel, not raccoon.”
“Venison. My friend killed it a few days ago as we were coming downriver, and another friend smoked it,” Fran explained as she cut some slices off the haunch and offered two to Anna.
“Venison? Not see deer here, none do. Squirrel, raccoon, wild turkey once, no deer. Meat we need now, but not much meat to find. Not eat dog nor cat. Call family out for them to have some?” Anna asked. Fran could not place Anna’s accent. Part Jewish, part something else.
“I certainly hope there is enough for all. Once I meet everyone, I would like to ask some questions. If you think they are too intrusive, please let me know and I’ll stop. Okay?” Fran asked as she kept on cutting pieces off of the haunch.
“Deal. I call family,” Anna said before taking a slug of coffee, put two fingers between her lips and let out a whistle that shocked both Fran and Chopin, who shivered and folded her ears down before burying herself in Fran’s hair. Within a few seconds, four more dogs came out from the RV, three males and a female. The female was not wearing much of anything, and what she was wearing was being held together with shoelaces. Soon, they were gathered a respectful distance from Fran and Anna.
Anna said something that Fran could not understand. The four dogs reached under the RV to pull out folding chairs to sit on, while Anna remained perched comfortably on her rock. “What is that meat?” the largest male said. The four dogs did all resemble each other, bulldog-like, brindle color with mixed white patches. The males all were wearing sweat suits liberated from the casino, while the female wore a robe that was too small.
“Venison, killed and smoked not three days back,” Fran said as she passed slices of the meat around, followed by the coffee thermos. “I don’t know if there are any around here, but we plan on looking about. How far have you searched?”
“Several miles in each direction. South, we only went once. They have guns. They missed shooting at Isaac, so we haven’t gone that way since. There’s an Aldi’s a couple of miles up 70 we go to a couple times a week, all of us, with carts and bicycles. Oh, I’m Gregory Tereshkov, you’ve met my wife Anna, my sons Isaac and Aaron, and my daughter Katherine,” he explained, indicating each one in turn.
“Which one of you is short an arrow from yesterday?” Fran asked.
“That would be me,” Aaron said. “I was afraid that the ones we saw flying were from the south bank. Is that one all right? I was aiming for the wing. That was a nice rescue the griffin did.”
“Well, you caught Frack right through the wing. Missed all the bones, fortunately. Our healer, Fred, can’t heal broken bones. We cut the arrow in half to get it out, then Fred healed the wound. Frack’s just fine now.” Fran explained.
Aaron sighed in relief. “Good. Not want to truly hurt. Just to veer off. I am the best arrow-hunter of us all. I’ll ask his forgiveness later.”
“You’re going to need it. He can get your RV running again, and knows a way to purify the gasoline or diesel so it can run again. He fixed the boat we’re using to go downriver. By working together, we have the skills to go downriver,” Fran explained.
“Something missing from us all. I remember some from life on kibbutz, but that was long ago. We manage here, but it not the happiest,” Anna said wistfully.
“Well, ladies and gentledogs, have I got news for you!” Fran said happily before explaining about the WSU, their contacts with them, and their current plans on heading downstream to link with the WSU.
Gregory spoke up. “There’s a boat ramp a ways downstream, and three boats parked on trailers in the west garage. Maybe we can get a boat running and follow you. Better than languishing here, right?” followed by muttered agreements in something Fran thought was German.
“I’ll bring that up with my friends. I’m sure a deal can be hammered out. I can’t commit fully, though. That’s up to the Captain,” Fran told the dogs honestly.
“Then, you do that. We check out boat first, da?” Anna said, getting up. That’s when the penny dropped in Fran’s head.
“THAT’s what I was missing! You’re Russian Jews!” Fran exclaimed.
“Four out of five are American. Anna’s from Irkutsk, by way of Israel. We met there when I spent a year in Israel back in 1989,” Gregory explained. “We married there, went back to Denver, and raised three wonderful children. Except for the fact we have no grandchildren yet, life has been good.”
Fran came to a decision. “Let me call in with the boat, okay?” she asked, raising her radio from where it hung by her side. “Cornhusker Five to Cornhusker Three, Fox Two.”
“This is Cornhusker Three. Go ahead, Five.” Freida responded.
“Three, I’ve made contact with the dog group on the north side of the river. They claim they have gone south of the river once last fall, then stayed to the north. Family of five, all dogs, who want to see if they can get a boat refurbished and follow us downstream. There are three boats on trailers in the other garage. Can you relay this data to One for consideration?” Fran told Freida.
“I can do that, Five. Are they going to need supplies?”
“I’m sure they can use much of our venison and pemmican. We should go hunting tomorrow,” Fran advised.
“Well, then, get your tail end over here to make the delivery! I’ll have the stuff taken down and ready to go by the time you get back here!” Freida said with a snap, followed by a laugh.
“On my way, Three! Five out.” Fran got up and looked at the family. “I’ll be back in an hour with supplies and maybe some answers. I’ll see about getting our mechanics over here tomorrow to check out your boats. Deal?”
All eyes swung to Anna. “Da! Deal!” she said with a smile.
“Okay! Back soon!” Fran said as she got up, taking the thermos but leaving what was left of the venison. She got on her bicycle and headed out with a wave and a smile before applying herself to the pedals.
Thirty minutes later, Fran was loading her bicycle baskets with venison, squirrel, pemmican, bread, some butter and cheese. Frick was giving her some help, Suzanne standing near. “So you say they are peaceful, and have been staying on the north side since fall?” Suzanne asked.
“That’s what they told me, and I believe them. They want to leave and follow us downstream, if they can get some boats working. Looks like you have a third party prowling, and a good one,” Fran opined as she squeezed in a dozen eggs.
Suzanne frowned. “Maybe I should go over and apologize,” she said. “We know of the others around the Arch, but we’ve only met twice. Bit of a distance, and it takes time.”
Fran waved a paw. “Better yet, let me go over and talk to them again, bringing your words. Maybe tomorrow invite them over here for a parley? They have bicycles, so they can come here easily,” she told Frick and Suzanne,
“I like that idea,” Frick said. “Let them come to us here, and we all can have a nice chat with them. At least me, Suzanne and this Anna lady. Here, over coffee.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me, Frick. What time tomorrow? Breakfast may be too early,” Suzanne said.
“Ten-ish. Mid-morning, before noon. I’ll give Fred boat duty tomorrow, Freida hunting duty, and the rest of us scavenging. Fran, you tell them that you will come by tomorrow to bring the clan over for coffee, chat and salvaging work,” Frick instructed.
“Plans like a sound to me, Captain!” Fran said as she got back on her bicycle to go back to the dog lot.
Saturday, January 23rd dawned cloudy and cold, a front having come through during the night, dropping several inches of snow. Fran brought the Tereshkov family over about mid-morning for brunch, the Saint Louis contingent having brought over some party awnings, tables, chairs, and two propane-powered space heaters for the conference. A fine meeting was had by all, suspicions clearing up within thirty minutes of sitting down, and some fine-fettled dickering was done by all sides. Very little animosity was shown, but there were a lot of laughs heard over each side’s bargaining for aid from the Deliverance crew. It wasn’t long before the topic of what each side wanted or needed was completely hammered out and written down by both Frick and Fran. Frick was about to announce a decision when the radio came to life.
“Cornhusker Three to Cornhusker One!” Freida’s voice called out.
Frick picked up his radio. “Cornhusker One. Go ahead, Three,” he said calmly.
“One, I’m several miles up highway Ninety-Four, near the town of Orchard Park. Damned if I have not found the biggest herd of deer I have ever seen, just grazing out here, nosing the snow aside. I’m counting forty, then I lose track and start over. There will be no problem hunting a deer, it’s transport that’s going to be a problem. Any interest?” Freida asked.
“Stand by, Three. Everyone has heard you. How much do you think you can transport on your own?” Frick asked in reply.
“I can get a side plus some of the organs. Much more than that and I’ll be wiped out for the rest of the day.”
“Okay, Three, do that and RTB. We’ll see about arranging a hunting party. Thank you for the information. One out.”
“Three clear.”
Frick looked at the assembled dog and pony show. “Okay, does anyone have any ideas about going out a few miles for some good hunting?” he asked the group.
Gregory was the first to speak up. “There are several security electric carts over at the Ameristar. We can get a generator from up the road, siphon and purify the gas, and charge the cart. With any luck, it could last the distance.” he told everyone.
Suzanne spoke up. “You say there’s more than one, right? Any objections if we claimed one?” she asked.
“Swap a cart for two dozen eggs, a tub of butter, and a can of cheese and crackers. Got any flour or potatoes? Maybe I can make blintzes or knishes for you!” Anna said cheerfully.
“Throw in teaching us how to make them, and I’ll add a sack of flour and three cans of potatoes. Deal?” Suzanne countered with.
“Deal!” Anna replied with a laugh and an offer of a very big hand. Suzanne offered a hoof, and they shook on it.
Once that was over with, Frick said, “Okay, I know it will be too much to ask the two groups to live together, so how about we all agree to work together? We of the Deliverance will stay a week or so, teaching each other what we need to learn to make life a little better for all before heading out on OUR mission. Can we agree to that?” The resounding “YES!” that followed damn near blew him into the river.
The next few days, be they fair or foul, were very busy for everyone involved. Frack, Isaac and Virgil were kept busy building purifiers, checking out gas-powered generators from whatever source they could be found in, be it Earth City or Saint Charles. Once that was done, Isaac got to work in the Ameristar garage, siphoning and purifying gasoline left in the cars, while Virgil did the same thing on the other side of the river, at a couple of gas stations, using some clean barrels they had found to transfer gas.
Freida and Josh, the first few days, were the hunting team, going out in the mornings to the deer herd, taking one, gutting and butchering the kill, then flying back to the camp for more detailed butchering and smoking, which Frick handled while teaching Virgil and Sadie how to do the smoking meat spell.
Frick, Fran and Suzanne went out scavenging for satellite phones and laptops, with Katherine as their aide. At first, Frick and Suzanne walked while the other two rode their bicycles, to haul back their finds. On the fourth day, the teams got two security carts from the Ameristar charged and working, the third not working and they didn’t want to tear it apart to find out why. With the carts, Anna took one to use at the hunting grounds, to bring back two deer at a time, while whoever was doing Saint Charles prowling took the other. That saved a lot of time and effort, having something to drive. On the fifth day of work, Aaron brought back radios he had taken from Saint Charles fire department and charged them. Not to be outdone, Carl, the former taxi driver, went south in another cart to his old cab company, where he promptly liberated some radios and set them up, one as a base station and four portables. After a week, the two separate colonies, north and south, had improved their quality of life by quite a lot. Electric lights at night, world-band radios to listen to WSU broadcasts, and a base station at the south colony that could call the WSU, with several computers to aid. North side had computers as well, but they had to be paired to a phone to use the limited Internet, and as such was not used for that purpose often. Battery-suckers, they were.
One problem they noticed is that while the two sides were in agreement and working together, there were still thefts from the south side food storage. Once every day or two, something else vanished from their storage rooms. One day, a haunch of venison. Another day, a pound or two of butter. All little things, but noticeable. When they kept watch during the day, nothing happened. Another day, they put the drone up as a monitoring camera. Someone threw a towel over it, blinding the camera. Fred, on watch at Deliverance, didn’t notice anything unusual until the towel was removed, the motion catching his attention. By the time Mary Sue (who was the closest) got there, no trace was left of the perpetrator. An idea was proposed at the communal lunch on the fifth day, and it was put into effect.
While much of the colony's personnel were either out scavenging for materials or inspecting the boats at the Ameristar for suitability, Chopin settled in for a watch over the storeroom door, perched on a high ledge. That way, she could see the door, but was hidden from view.
It was only an hour or so when Chopin spotted some movement at the door. The movement resolved into a small figure that looked like Fran, but was wearing an outfit made of crudely stitched together towels from Holiday Inn, including foot wraps (it had dusted snow the night before), and an empty Dora the Explorer backpack that had seen better days. Chopin watched as the black-and-white (from what she could see) kitten deftly opened the door to the food store, went in, and came back out two minutes later with a full backpack. The kitten shut the door carefully before scampering out quietly. Chopin left her perch and followed.
Chopin trailed the kitten at a distance as it crossed Earth City, heading for the Interstate. The kitten used duck-and-cover skills well, remaining unseen from the scavenging ponies. The kitten went to a spot along I-70 some distance southeast of where the guard shack was, slipped through the fence, crossed the Interstate, and went directly to the Holiday Inn Express there, going through a door that did not shut all the way. Going inside, Chopin listened for footsteps, which she did not hear, but she did hear a door shutting off to her left. She flew that way until she could hear noises coming from behind a door. She could not make out the words, but there was definitely noise coming from room 112. Going back outside, she went along the wall until she found the window to that room. Again, she heard noises, but nothing clear enough to understand. Content, she flew back to the Deliverance to report.
That evening, over supper aboard the Deliverance, Chopin told what she saw that day. The rest of the Deliverance crew knew something had been stolen, because Suzanne had called and griped about it before Chopin got back to the boat. “A kitten, dressed in towels, slips in and out without being noticed?” Frack said, incredulous.
“Entirely possible, Frack,” Fran told him. “You know how I get a feeling about what’s ahead? Maybe with the child it’s more refined. She could sense when everyone would be out, or when they’re looking.”
“I think I’ll know what’s going to go on tomorrow morning,” Frick told the group. “Fran, you, me and Fred will go over to the hotel, with Suzanne, to check on this little one. Freida, I want you at the food bank, and Frack, you have the boat. Hopefully, this won’t take too long, and we can get back to our regular schedule.”
“Do you feel anything, Fran?” Chopin squeaked.
“No, but I’m not surprised. With me, at least, if I try to peek, I see nothing. If I let it happen, I get a warning when I need it. Like when we first met the Tereshkovs. I knew someone was around, and I went right to them. We’ll see about tomorrow when it gets here,” Fran answered the breezie.
“I know why you want me, Frick,” Fred said. “Who knows how healthy the kitten is? Let me get to see him or her and I will know.”
“Got that right, Fred. After supper, I’ll call both groups on the radio and advise of the change of plans,” Frick said with a sigh. “It’s been a long day already, and tomorrow is going to be… intriguing.”