Second Chances (44 page)

“And expecting us to honor some sort of warranty?” Brian asked, now amused. The girl nodded, totally serious. Brian slowly frowned thoughtfully. He turned to Mitch. “I don't know; she could be right. I know people back home did that all the time.”

“Yes,” Janet said.

------*------

The intel they had was frustratingly incomplete. It was still more than they had before but still incomplete. “There is nothing else we can do?” Mitch asked after he attended a briefing.

“Not now. We can maybe run the drone out, but I'm not thrilled about that. We're already close to max range. If it runs into an issue and crashes...” Mitch shrugged uncomfortably. Travis nodded.

“From what I understand, we're all on the same continent, so that's a plus,” Gunny said slowly. “But scattered in pockets of about a hundred people. Well, starting groups of a hundred. That's certainly changed.”

“Yeah, the animals had something to do with that,” Travis said.

“Not just animals, some people had natural accidents. And I'm betting a few people died due to dysentery or just gave up and died from starvation or something,” Mitch said, scowling at the map from where he was sitting.

Sandra came up behind him and frowned thoughtfully at the map. “I wish we could get more information but we can't.”

“And there is no way your ability can help?” Brian asked, looking at Mitch.

“I don't see how,” Mitch grumped. “I'm good with numbers sure but...”

“Why don't we try this,” Sandra said, resting her hands on his shoulders. “Close your eyes,” she said softly. He looked up at her. “Come on, close em,” she ordered.

He sighed and settled himself as she squeezed his shoulders, then closed his eyes. “Now what?”

“If they get mushy, I'm out of here,” Brian teased.

“Hush,” Sandra said. “Okay, let's try an experiment. What is the number of people in front of you?”

“Number?”

“Um, what does that ...?” Brian paused when Travis waved him to silence. “Okay,” he drawled, now confused.

“Which way is he facing?” Vance asked.

“North...um...” Travis pulled out a compass. “North by northwest. Turn him directly north.”

Sandra moved Mitch's shoulders until he was facing north. “Anything?”

He scrunched his face tight then shook his head. “Six.”

“Six?”

“What good...wait, six. In the base?” Brian asked. Travis nodded, tapping his lips. Sandra turned Mitch slightly so he was facing northeast. “What number now boss?” Brian asked.

Mitch frowned thoughtfully. The answer popped into his head. Three hundred ninety-eight.”

“And we know Iron Village is in that direction, and they've got...”

“Eighty-seven as of the last census,” Brian said, checking his tablet. He nodded and looked up. “Yeah, eighty-seven.”

“So, that leaves three hundred and eleven other people. In groups of one hundred settlements...”

“Let's keep trying,” Sandra said quietly, having them make a note. She turned Mitch east.

“Two hundred. I'm not sure if I'm getting...” Mitch was cut off as Sandra rubbed his shoulders.

“It's okay. Just relax honey and let it go. Give us the numbers. We'll process things later,” she urged. He nodded.

He went around the compass twice, once in faces, then again in finer increments to try to get a better feel for the numbers. It gave them a rough direction and number to go off of. Once they had that they rearranged the map.

“It's crude,” Travis said. “And I'm not sure about relying on...” he grimaced. “Psychic crap,” he said. “No offense Mitch,” he said.

“None taken,” Mitch said, opening his eyes to find Sandra smiling down at her. He reached up and patted her arm.

She wrapped her arm around his neck and hugged him from behind. “You did good honey,” she murmured, kissing his cheek. “We can do this again in other locations to better refine it, right?” She asked, looking up to Travis.

The gunny nodded, glancing at the SEAL. “Yes,” Travis said thoughtfully. “You're talking about triangulation. We would have a bearing but no range,” he said. Mitch had pointed out that there was no one directly south of them but communities to the southeast and southwest. He had trouble with that since the ocean was in the south. He was puzzled because Mitch had been on the dot so far. Was he right? “I'm not sure about this,” he murmured thoughtfully, tracing a finger over the southern hits.

“But it's a start,” the gunny said, looking at Mitch. “Good job,” he said.

“Phew,” Mitch said, wiping his brow. “I feel like I ran a marathon though. Forcing it...sometimes it doesn't work,” he admitted. “I'm not sure how reliable it is.”

“Sometimes we have to start with guesses and work out what we know and eliminate them from here on out,” Travis said, studying the board. “It gives us something to go on though. We already knew the locations of Copper Town, Iron Village and the general location and size of East Village. You confirmed their locations and numbers, so we know you are on the right track.”

“I did?” Mitch croaked, throat dry.

“Here boss,” Brian said, handing him a cup of water. Mitch smiled his thanks and took it and then sipped.

“You did very good. We're on to something. And Doc's suggestion of doing this at other known locations is a good idea. If we know the distance between them and refine the bearings, we can use the triangulation method to get the approximate ranges to the other villages.” Travis said.

“Twenty-four of them,” the gunny said, rubbing his chin. “Not a whole hell of a lot,” he said.

“Twenty-four including us?” Mitch asked. The gunny grunted an affirmative. “We're all survivors.”

“I'm wondering if any would band together if they knew where their neighbors were?” Sandra asked softly.

“Who knows,” Travis said. “We did when that damn leviathan thing came stomping through our place and the neighbor’s village. It trashed everything,” he said, shaking his head.

“Based on this we've got a general range of where some of the communities are. It's rough; we'll, like you said, need to refine it,” the gunny said, fingers trailing the map where they had guessed which communities were in them based on the numbers. “Here be dragons,” he murmured, indicating the sections of the map that had yet to be explored.

“Spring,” Mitch said, finishing his drink and then getting to his feet. He smiled to Sandra, then hugged her to his side. She could feel how tired he was. She looked up in concern but he wasn't looking her way. Apparently using his gift took a lot of energy and concentration.

“Spring indeed. If you go to Copper, East, or Iron though...”

“We'll try this trick again,” Mitch said.

“As soon as you've got time to recover,” Sandra said firmly, now feeling guilty about the idea. “Come on, we're all tired, we've got other things to work on. This will keep. You've got all winter to play with it,” she said, pulling Mitch to the door. “It's close to dinner. Everyone wash up,” she ordered.

Travis grunted but then nodded to her no nonsense expression. “Yes ma'am,” he murmured politely.

She smiled and kept pulling Mitch out with her.

Chapter 25

Sandra was called out in the middle of the night. Mitch rose to go with her, but she pushed him back down and kissed him. “I'll be back,” she said. He heard her grab her robe and then leave. He thought about following her to see what the problem was but a furry weight nuzzled up to him. The weight started to buzz and the rumble lulled him back into dreamland.

Sandra met an anxious looking Dora at the entrance of the infirmary. “What's up?” she asked, tucking her hands into her pockets. She'd remembered to put her slippers on, but it was still chilly.

“Frances went into labor,” Dora said. “Paul's anxious, despite Tina's assurance that she's okay,” she said, eyes wide.

“How far along is she?” Sandra asked. Tina Riley was a navy medic; she could handle most situations. She was good, very good at trauma medicine, but a birth was a bit far out for her. She was, however, anxious to be in on one though. Delivering a child was a notch on any medic's belt that they were proud to have.

“She's dilating fast. Over a half-centimeter since I called you a few minutes ago and in a lot of pain,” Dora reported, handing her the tablet with the pregnant woman's chart. “I was prepping for delivery in the morning, but I'm not sure the baby was going to let us wait that long, Doc, sorry,” she said.

“All right,” Sandra said, checking the woman's vitals. She frowned thoughtfully, then handed Dora the tablet back. She pulled a scrunchy out of her pocket and put her hair up in a ponytail. “I'm going to go get dressed and wash up. Go check on our anxious parents and then find me something to help shake the cobwebs out,” she said. Dora nodded clutching the tablet to her chest.

“I'll do the initial assessment and then we'll see,” Sandra said.

“What about Cassie? And the other students?” Dora asked.

Sandra frowned thoughtfully. Her daughter wanted to be in on the childbirth, and having her see what it was all about might make her think twice about getting too involved with Vance. But they already had three people on hand. She didn't want to alarm Frances. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Let's wait. We can always call her in to cover the rest of the patients if we need to,” she said, indicating the dozen injured sleeping in the dimly lit bays.

“Okay, Doc, you're the boss,” Dora said doubtfully as she rushed off. Sandra nodded. She'd deal with Cassie later. The girl might be disappointed, but if she was she'd have to make certain she was on hand when Anne delivered. Actually, that was a very good idea, an all hands on deck with Anne and her twins, she thought as she went into her office to change.

------*------

The next morning Paul brought a swaddled baby into the great room at breakfast. The room became hushed as people near the door saw him and recognized his burden. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a girl!” the proud daddy said.

Janet grinned and rushed over to his side. She cooed at the baby as did Cassie and some of the other women. Mitch caught the gunny rolling his eyes, but he didn't say anything. “She's so cute!” Jolie gushed.

Pete grunted. “Tiny little thing,” he said.

“She is not,” Jolie said stoutly.

“She's seven pounds two ounces, so she's good,” Paul said, still all smiles. “Aimee Fen. That's what we're naming her. Her name means loved.”

“It's a great name dad,” Laurence said, nodding. His sisters Crystal and Nora agreed, nodding enthusiastically. Kamerin Fen looked a bit doubtful, but when Crystal hugged him ecstatically he seemed to brighten up.

“A good way to start the morning,” Mitch said, nodding to them. “Congratulations to you and to your lovely wife,” he said, calling that out over the crowd. Heads turned his way, then a smattering of applause started. It grew into a thunder that woke the baby. Paul cooed to her to calm her down, bouncing her gently. He nodded and walked out with the kids trailing behind. From the look of it, the two girls were already anxious to hold their baby sister.

“Another mouth to feed,” Akira said.

“Another person to welcome into the world,” Mitch said.

“I'd wondered where Doc had gotten off to,” the chief said. “Usually she's with you for breakfast.”

“I remember her getting called out vaguely,” Mitch said, turning his attention to his cereal. He shrugged. “Now we know what for.”

“Are you going to have that chat today?” Jolie asked, coming over to him. She was still all smiles, glowing a bit.

“Chat?”

“With the other towns? The radio chat?”

“Um...”

“Damn it, Pete!” Jolie said, rounding on her helper.

He spread his hands helplessly from a few feet away. “What?” he demanded. “What'd I do this time?”

“Didn't you tell him??” She said, clearly annoyed as she indicated Mitch.

“It's in his e-mail,” Pete replied with a shrug. “It's not my fault if he hasn't read it yet,” he muttered.

“I've been busy,” Mitch said. “Why don't you go ahead and give me the short version,” he said, looking at Jolie. This was the second time she'd dropped the ball; although this time it seemed it wasn't her fault.

“Mike, Jack and Professor Lane want to have another radio chat. Like the ones you've been doing. They mentioned it when you asked me to have them write up the intel reports,” she said, nodding to Chief Roberts and Gunny Hodges.

“Which we're still sorting through. We haven't gotten the latest dump though,” Hodges said, looking at Jolie.

“We've lost two transmitters between here and East,” she said, squirming a little under his gaze. “I got it this morning. It's in your in-box, or it soon will be,” she said.

“It'd better be,” he said. She nodded.

“What do they want to talk about?” Mitch asked.

“Planning for the future. Meetings, trade, a world government, you name it,” Jolie said. “Everything and anything's on the table as far as Professor Lane is concerned. Mike's only interested in trade though,” she said.