Princess Rescue Inc (54 page)

“Ah,”
the general nodded. The teams set up for a kick off. The kick went though then
they set up for another.

“Now
that there has been a goal they will go another round. The game is divided into
four quarters. This is iron man football actually. None of the men are taking
breaks and they are wearing little if any protective gear,” Ryans explained
smiling. “It's a good way to toughen them up and build bonds of trust between
the men.”

The
general nodded again. They watched the kick, then the reception and charge down
the field. Ryans turned away as the receiver was caught and tackled.

“What
can I do for you general?” he asked. They turned away and started walking back
to the barracks. The aides snuck glances over their shoulders from time to
time.

“Well,
I was ah, was going over the logistics of the march. We're going to either need
more trailers towing food wagons, or we're going to have to set up stations
ahead of time. Now the problem with the first is it slows the march to a
crawl... the problem with the second is...”

“Hi
ya boss, come to dump more on me?” Charlie asked tiredly. She sat back on her
stool as he sat on the edge of the desk.

“Feeling
a little overwhelmed?” he asked, crossing his arms. Charlie was decidedly
frazzled, normally curly hair sticking up here and there and her ponytail was
slack. She had circles under her eyes but that was nothing new, they all did.

“Or
underwhelmed, take your pick. God, I don't think I've made a dent,” she sighed.
She threw her hands up in the air. “What's the next emergency priority
project?” she demanded. “More penicillin? More ether for Doc? Glucose? Saline?
Bleach? Rubbing alcohol? Soap? No, they've got soap except it's made with lard
and sucks... Shampoo? Methane? No? Plastic explosives? How about latex for a
thousand and one things?” She said throwing her hands up in the air in disgust.
“I just had Perry in here chewing my ass about the gun cotton and why can't I
just skip to cordite and modern explosives. He pulls that shit again and I'll
shove a wad up his ass and light the fuse myself,” she snarled. “God there's so
much to do, so many projects; I'm not making a dent in anything!”

He
chuckled as she glared at him, and then her eyes finally relaxed as she
chuckled as well. “Feel better?” he asked smiling as he got up. He went around
her and rubbed her shoulders. She groaned head down, chin on her chest eyes
closed.

“God,
now I do. Trying to sleep on that straw mattress is for the birds,” she said in
disgust. She waved to her room beyond. “I haven't got fleas or ticks yet thank
god
.”
He snorted. He like all the gaijin using the native beds had been thankful of
that little blessing.

“Rope
and straw. Stupidest combination,” she murmured, enjoying his ministrations.

He
sighed. “We'll get it fixed. Even if I've got to yank one of the mattresses out
of one of the vehicles or set up an air mattress here,” he said.

She
groaned. “God yes, today. Definitely before I go to bed,” she groaned. She
sighed wiggling her hands then hissing and rubbing her calf.

“Cramp?”
he asked concerned. Sergio looked up, snorted and then went back to work mixing
something or other.

She
hissed, rubbing it and pointing her toe straight. It didn't seem to help. “God
yes, been in this stool too long.”

“Well,
we can fix that.” He pulled her off of the stool and then showed her an
exercise to relieve the cramp. He had her stand with her forearms on the wall,
legs straight and back, toes pointed up as she leaned forward. It stretched the
abused muscle, getting rid of the cramp. Once she felt better he took her by
the elbow and walked her out.

“Where
we going?” she asked. “I've got stuff to do. Not that I'm not complaining or
anything...”

“We
are going to go nab Doc and maybe Mary and then you are going to put up with me
as we eat. You need more water and potassium to keep the cramps to a minimum.
Stretching exercises too,” he said. He nodded politely to a guard.

“I
ah, need to get back to work...” she said turning but he kept a grip on her
elbow.

“Sergio
can handle it for now; you're in for a break. Besides, you asked if you're
making a difference, I think it's time you saw.”

He
led her to the medical wing, and stopped inside. Charlie looked around blinking
and wrinkling her nose.

“Yeah
I know, bleach, but it got the muck and grime off the walls and floor,” he said
smiling. She nodded. “Your handiwork I believe?” he asked, smiling and bowing
slightly to her. She nodded again and straightened. “You do realize we're now
almost totally out of bleach right?” She shrugged. He smiled a little more and
then turned to the open door. “Ready for lunch Doc?” he called.

She
waved. “Just a second,” Sue said. She was giving a man an injection, and then
she explained something to the nurse on duty. The nurse nodded and made a note
on a clipboard.

“The
clipboard is from Max, simple lever and spring and a slab of wood. Simple
really,” Ryans explained nodding. “Paper was already here, you just improved it
with bleach again, and a couple of other chemicals.”

Charlie
blinked and then turned to glare up at him. He smiled. “Come on,” he said. He
led her over to the patient.

“Who's
this Doc?” he nodded his chin to the patient.

“This
is Cedric, he got cut by a saw and it became infected. We've cleaned the wound
with the wood grain alcohol and now we're giving him some of the penicillin
Charlie here whipped up in her lab,” Sue said as she smiled her thanks to
Charlie. “Thanks for that, you have no idea how much it's going to impact these
people. The bleach too... just as soon as the smell goes away,” she grimaced
and waved her hand in front of her nose.

“Can't
open a window?” Charlie asked wrinkling her nose.

“We've
got a couple cracked open but the damn insects come in and eat everyone alive,”
Sue said in disgust. The patient shivered a little. “Relax son, just relax,”
she said. She patted the young man's shoulder.

“Muslin,
or cheese cloth,” Charlie mused, head down, hand on her chin. “It'll let the
light and air through but keep the insects out. Silk screen too.”

“Good
idea,” Sue said smiling. “Wish I had thought of it earlier.” She turned to a
nurse and murmured an order to her. The nurse smiled brightly and then smiled
to Charlie.

“Looks
like that was a hit,” Ryans said nodding. “Even the simplest things can have
enormous impact,” he said. Charlie glared again as Doc moved off.

“Where
did she go?” Charlie asked.

“To
wash up,” the nurse answered. Charlie nodded.

When
Doc was done she nodded and then joined the two of them. Quietly they made
their way through the halls to the kitchen. Charlie moved to go into the dining
hall but Ryans intercepted her. “Just a moment,” he said. He steered both of
them into the kitchen.

“Call
it a surprise inspection,” he said smiling as they walked in. Charlie saw Sue
suppress a shiver just as they entered.

Both
were surprised by the changes. The dark, grimy kitchen had been cleaned; they
could smell the scent of bleach here as well. Some of the counters were now
stone or tile, others were still wood. Containers of cleaners with rags were
nearby in an alcove.

Clean
pots and utensils hung from hooks over counters and the stoves.

Dirty
utensils were in a new metal sink. Food was being washed in a separate sink
before being cooked. Doc shook her head. “Your doing?” she asked to Ryans.

He
shrugged. “Bit of a group effort. Personally I like the stove design,” he said.
He pointed to the pair of metal stoves. Each was a box, cast iron and new. They
had burners on top for cooking, and ducts to channel the smoke up the chimney.
There was even a box for an oven. A baker pulled a loaf of bread out with a
pizza spatula and flicked it onto a counter to cool.

“It's
new actually, they got it in yesterday,” Ryans said. He gave the nearest cook a
polite nod and wave. “They're boiling water in pots until they get the hot
water tanks installed,” he said. He pointed to the area where crates and
barrels were stacked. “Over there I believe. At least for now, it'll have to be
filled by hand until we can run pipe. That's another project altogether,” he
said. He shook his head grimacing. They would need cisterns on the roof tops to
get a gravity assist as well as pumps. They would need to draw the water from
the well, which meant... he shook the engineering quandary off for now.

“I
think we get the point,” Charlie said smiling as her stomach rumbled. “Think we
can eat now?”

Sue
chuckled, “If you insist.”

Ryans
smiled as a waiter approached. “Can you set the three of us up with those
sandwiches I showed you and Casius yesterday Mich?” The waiter nodded smiling.

“Thanks,
we'll go find a table,” he said. He bowed slightly and walked out of the
kitchen entrance to the dining room with the girls.

In
the dining hall he smiled slightly as both women looked around. Bleach had been
used here as well, not as thoroughly and liberally as in the kitchen and
medical wing, but it did have an impact. The tables and chairs were scrubbed
and cleaned; some of the wood now had a glossy stain and looked almost new.

Deidra
spotted them and nodded. She was sitting with a lord and lady near the royal
section.

Ryans
led them over to a small dining nook and seated each woman. Deidra made polite
excuses to her lunch date and came over. He noted the princess's cool
expression and smiled. She was dressed in one of her outfits but it had been
re-tailored recently to sport more cleavage and leg.

“Just
making sure the ladies here get fed. They keep forgetting to keep a regular
feeding schedule,” he said with a polite smile.

Both
Terran women gave him a dirty look then rolled their eyes to Deidra who was
thawing. “Men, can't do anything with them, can't shoot them,” Sue said
smiling.

“Amen,”
Charlie snorted sitting.

“So,
what do you think? Or should we go for a longer tour Charlie?” he asked seating
Deidra. She seemed to preen as he pulled the chair out for her and then pushed
it in.

“What
tour?” Sue asked.

“Nothing
and no, I got the point,” Charlie replied, giving Ryans a quelling look.

“What
point?” Sue asked, sounding annoyed.

“I
was feeling sorry for myself until Ryans here shook me out of it,” Charlie said
blushing slightly.

“Men
aren't always known to have their foot in their mouths, sometimes we're
useful,” he said with a slight twist of his lips.

“Surprising
that,” Charlie said smiling slyly at the other women who smiled back.

“Oh
ha ha,” Ryans joked as he sat. “I was thinking though, now that you've got the
basics down, how about spinning some of it off, and maybe taking on an
assistant or two? Or more?”

“Got
one. Sergio remember?” Charlie asked. Which wasn't really true, Sergio assisted
both her and Wanda and attended to his other duties.

“No,
he's got a point Charlie; you need some native help too. You need to
teach
some of them to do some stuff, even if its basic stuff,” Sue interjected. “I've
had a lot of teething problems with my staff, but we're getting them ironed
out. The language barrier and reading is still our biggest problems. They're
eager though!” she smiled.

“That's
a blessing and a curse you know. The last thing I need is for someone to mix
oh... bleach with ammonia,” Charlie deadpanned. Deidra gave her a curious look.

“It's
bad dear, deadly if you breathe it in,” Charlie explained.

Sue
nodded, totally sobered by that idea. “Yeah.”

“Well,
we've got to set up the school soon. I'd like to run some of the more flexible
adults through it. And some of the chemicals you make could be better made in a
factory environment. Bleach for one,” Sue said tapping the table. “Heard you
ran out?” she asked giving Ryans a look.

He
shrugged. “Only so much to go around. The medical wing and kitchen had
priority. Now that Charlie's got the bugs out we can get a couple of people to
train to make it then have them make it in quantity.”

“My
lab's cluttered enough already. And too damn dangerous for industrial use,”
Charlie replied with a growl as the waiter approached. Ryans looked up and
smiled at the tray laden young man.

“Ah,
lunch,” he said. He got up and helped the young man with the trays. Deidra
looked surprised.

“I'd
rather help him than have an accident and end up wearing it. This smells too
good to waste,” he replied. She looked surprised and then nodded slightly.
Ryans was on his best behavior because she was. And because they were in public
and he really was hungry.

“It
does indeed,” Charlie said feeling her appetite return as her mouth began to
water. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked, looking at the brown goop in a
glass bowl.