

#### Trial by Nick

#### by David J. Wighton

#### Book #11 in the Wilizy Series

### Smashwords Edition

### Copyright 2017, David J. Wighton

### This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy.

### Although this e-book might be sold at no cost to the reader at times, I retain ownership of the copyright and may elect to charge a small amount for its purchase at times.

### Thank you for respecting my copyright.

# Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to my wife, Dale, and to my other family members whose support made it possible.

Cover design by Rita Toews at WordPress.com

# Wilizy Family Members as of November 2086

• Doc and Granny, about 75 years old.

• Hank (about 45) and Yolanda (about 41).

• Wolf (21), Mac (21), Jock Jr. (2), Emily (6 months), Jock Sr. (51).

• William (20), Melissa (20), Will & Izzy (2).

• Yollie (20), TG (21), Liset (6), Yo-Yo (2), Hank (1), Ivanika (2 months).

• Wizard (18), Dreamer (16), Wanda (56).

• Lucas (15).

• Theo (14), Nary (15), Marie (about 76).

• Mathias (13) & Kashmira (13).

• Reese (11).

• Winnie (10), Patella (4), Scapula (2), Fibula & Tibia (3 months).

• EmmaGee (6).

Also

• Stu McKenzie (46), Momaka (42), Petro (1 month).

•

**Main Characters from Scandinavia**

• Lieutenant Erik Karlsson; Wilhelm, Prince Regent and Army Chief of Staff.

• Benedikta Ekelund, her mom Akilah, and her father Sven.

**Main characters in Toronto**

• Eldreadth Lewis and her son/grandson Basher.

• Lohla & Lylah and their father Dr. Thomas Richardson. Their mother's name is Paula.

This page is to help you if you get confused about who is who in the story. If that happens, click your way back to the Table of Contents and scroll back one page.

# Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Books in the Wilizy Series

About the Author: David J. Wighton

# Chapter 1

"Identify yourself," a female voice whispered from the shadows.

The male was standing in a small clearing where his body would be visible in the moonlight. He held his arms well away from his body and turned towards the darkness of the deep woods in response to the whisper. "Sandcastle," he replied. The man spoke softly in English which was not unexpected since they were deep in an Aboriginal Nation river valley at the time. "Your turn."

"Flapjack," the female uttered in a low voice. "I'm coming in. No sudden moves."

"I'm not stupid."

Flapjack noticed the slight imperfection in the way the man said _stupid_. This was to be expected. Most Scandinavian soldiers had not received the same number of English pronunciation lessons that she had mastered. Flapjack lit up the other soldier's body briefly with a small light. "Lieutenant," she acknowledged.

The man had his own small light and used it. "Captain," he addressed his guest. "Let's get out of this moonlight."

"Take me as close to the Wilizy's electronic fence as you can without activating it. I want to see where the river leaves their property."

### # # # # # # # #

"This little river winds through their compound. It's running high right now because we've had some rain and a lot of water is draining off the mountains."

"Show me how far I could wade up the river before the red lights begin to flash."

The lieutenant slipped the rifle off his shoulder, pulled the stock to his shoulder, and clicked a lever. A red beam flashed through the woods and splashed against a big boulder in the river. "Right about there," he said.

The captain recognized that the lieutenant was using a laser-guided sniper rifle but she already knew that the soldiers he was commanding in this valley were all snipers. That information had been part of the briefing that the commanding officer of Special Operations had given her. She herself was also a member of Special Ops, but her unit did not deal with surveillance and sabotage.

"You can leave now, Lieutenant."

"Captain, I must caution you. You have no hope of getting past that boulder without being identified as an intruder. Swimming up the river will not work. If the red light appears, turn around immediately. We don't want to alert the Wilizy that we're here."

"I've read your report, Lieutenant. Your caution is not necessary. You're pulling your unit out tonight, I understand."

The captain hadn't actually read the lieutenant's _full_ report. That degree of access was beyond her pay grade. She did read the part of his report dealing with a potential ground-level assault on the Wilizy compound by Scandinavia's elite forces. The Captain's conclusion had been very clear: No possible ground entry into the compound was possible with conventional armed forces. She didn't get to read the other parts of his report where he described other ways of defeating these Wilizy merchants. For his part, he didn't get to read any parts of her strategic proposal at all.

"Yes, we're pulling out tonight. We've done all we can do here for now."

"Your men will be waiting for you, Lieutenant. Don't let me keep you."

The captain waited by the river a full fifteen minutes before turning towards the woods and flashing her light two times and then three times again. A small figure dressed entirely in black approached.

"Muskrat," the captain addressed the figure when it reached the river.

### # # # # # # # #

"Do you know what a muskrat is?" the captain asked.

"It's like a small beaver. We don't have any back home but they have them here in Canada."

"And what does a muskrat like to do."

"Swim."

"And do you like to swim too?"

"Yes. I can swim underwater if I have my mask."

"Did you know that you're the best swimmer in our school?"

"I am?"

"Yes, you are our very best. That's why you're in Operation Muskrat. You get to be a Muskrat and go swimming." The captain didn't mention that swimming was not the most important reason why she was the key to Operation Muskrat. Being small was the most important part. _Muskrat_ was the smallest swimmer they had in the school. "Are you ready to swim?"

"Yes. I knew that I was going to go swimming because I had to wear the wet suit and I have a mask in my backpack."

"That gave it away, I guess. Here's what you're going to do. Listen carefully."

Essentially Muskrat would. (1) Swim up the river or creep along the river bottom to the big boulder that the captain identified. (2) If she were able to get past the boulder without seeing any flashing red lights, she could stand up, put on her night vision goggles, and wade up the river. (3) When she arrived at the compound, she would take pictures of every building she could see but only if she could do so without leaving the river. (4) When she was sure that no more buildings were up river, she would lie down in the river and let it float her back to where they were right now. (5) If a flashing red light appeared in front of her at any point in the operation, she would let the river carry her back downstream and the operation would be over.

"I knew all of this already," Muskrat said.

"I know. I just wanted to be sure that you remembered. Here's a little test. What do you do if you see some dogs?"

"If they're sleeping, I keep going but very quietly. If they approach me, I stay still until I can shoot them with my tranquilizer gun. After they are sleeping again, I continue with the operation."

"Are you scared of the dogs?"

"No, because they won't be able to smell me when I'm in my wetsuit."

"If they charge at you, you can kill them with your weapon."

"I can?"

"Yes, but that will make a noise. You'll have to lie down in the river and come back here as quickly as you can. Try not to wake them up."

"OK. Do I get to kill any bad men?"

"Not this trip. Perhaps if we come back."

### # # # # # # # #

Operation Muskrat went _swimmingly_ for Muskrat up to the point where a red light started to flash as she approached the boulder. As per her orders, she let the river carry her downstream. Muskrat expressed her disappointment as she and the captain hiked back to the hidden copter.

"Klara got to shoot her gun in her operation and I couldn't even take pictures. Stupid red light."

"Not every operation goes according to plan."

"Klara got to skip school for three days as a reward and she had double desserts the whole time too."

"That's because Klara killed the bad man she was ordered to kill."

"Klara says that I'm too small to ever kill any bad men."

"She's wrong about that. You'll get your chance."

Muskrat began to limp.

...

"I hurt my ankle in the river. Will you carry me back to the copter?"

The captain hoisted her onto her shoulders and they finished the trip that way. Muskrat ended the operation with a little smile on her face – the face that the captain couldn't see. The smallest girl in the school was not only the school's best swimmer, but she had received top marks in the lying course too.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 2

My readers may recall that at the end of _Wheelchair Moccasins_ , almost the entire Wilizy family had gathered in Maasin City to hear Kashmira sing. You didn't know that William was back at the home compound on an urgent mission.

You may also recall that at the end of Bean's trial, Yolanda had asked her to translate some recordings as a favour to her. Bean did that willingly although it took her several days to get through all of them. She gave Yolanda a verbal report and then left to find her family in Scandinavia. Yolanda shared that report with Hank who brought in William since it was his defensive perimeter that the Scandinavians were trying to defeat and that's why he was in the home compound guarding it. According to Bean, the Wilizy had nothing to worry about. The soldiers were conceding that no assault on the ground could be successful and they would have left already to work out other forms of attack had they not been told to stay. Special Ops was planning something else entirely, but the soldiers didn't know what.

It was Tuesday, November 26 and William was reporting to the Wilizy Directors. Hank and Yolanda were back at the home compound. Granny and Doc were still living in the skies above Maasin City as Kashmira wasn't quite ready to leave the Philippines yet. Their involvement in the executive meeting was by mental message conferencing.

"I watched a little girl try to swim up the river past the fence, but the system caught her heartbeats and activated itself as she came near," William reported. "She gave up immediately. I followed her and a lady soldier all the way back to their copter and made sure that they were flying home. The other soldiers left that night as well."

"Bean's translations weren't necessary?" Yolanda asked.

"They were more reassuring than necessary," William replied diplomatically. "We now know that they had thought of tunneling underneath the defenses but couldn't find anywhere that this could be done. We now know that they had thought of disguising themselves under the hide of a small deer, but that didn't work. They did have a small girl who could swim and had been trained to kill. We now know that the defenses will work against even that unusual threat. All of this is mostly reassuring, as I said."

"What's not reassuring, William?" Hank asked.

"There are other ways of trying to defeat the defenses beside sneaking underneath. I expect they'll be back. Or somebody like them will be back. We may need this Beanstalk girl so that she can translate again."

"She has already agreed to do that," Yolanda offered. "I gave her a tracker to wear in her hair so that we can find her."

"What's with the little girl, William?" Doc asked. "Had she really been trained to kill?"

"She complained that a classmate had been given a reward for killing a _bad man_. Her handler reassured her that she'd get her chance to kill too."

"'How old do you think she was?"

"It was too dark to see much, Doc. I know that she's small for her age. Other than that, I couldn't say. I can tell you that she's not Scandinavian. She had a definite American accent."

"One of Safe Haven's blonde blue eyed girls?" Yolanda asked.

"Perhaps. I couldn't see her hair under her wet suit. Was EmmaGee being groomed to be an assassin?"

"We've seen no sign of that," Yolanda reported.

"It too much of a coincidence for this swimming girl not to be associated with Safe Haven."

"So the Scandinavians have a whole school of young girls trained to kill bad men and at least one of them speaks English with an American accent."

"We've found some of our missing Safe Haven slave girls," Granny concluded.

"And we can find where they're being kept with time-travel," William added.

"Thanks to Bean, you were here to see her," Yolanda was making sure that Bean received due credit. "I had a feeling that our paths would cross."

"They're not likely to cross again," Hank stepped in. "This girl Bean has gone home and we have no reason to go to Scandinavia."

### # # # # # # # #

By the second week of December, Granny, Doc, Kashmira, and Mathias were back at the home compound. They had taken a leisurely trip home so that Kashmira could recover her health. She was interested in the whole trip especially when they had settled down into the Pacific Ocean and had actually sailed like a sailing ship would. Mathias was particularly interested in this part of the trip too. The ocean was covered with so much debris in spots that the ship had to fly a meter above the water to make any headway.

Bean didn't receive a leisurely stress-free visit home. Her mother was still living in the same house, except that it now had an image of a dark red shawl emblazoned on the door. The smell of animal blood indicated that the image was not a warm _Welcome to the Community_ sign. Not one to shy away from danger, Bean walked right in and took control. "How long has that monstrosity been on the door? Where's Dad? Has anybody hurt you? Why is your refrigerator empty? How long have you been without food?"

Bean became increasingly angry as the story came out. She couldn't do anything about her father's arrest and imprisonment, but she could do something for her mother. They were coptering out of Scandinavia an hour later. It was on that long trip back to North America that Bean confessed everything to her mother. Akilah didn't know anything about talking heads in a shower but she did admit that she had blamed herself for Bean's disappearance. They had plenty of time to work through the misery of Bean's life and then, what she wanted for the future.

First, they had to find a safe city to live in. Not in the United States. Too much risk of a dingle or a dangle working there. Somewhere in Canada. A job for her mother was next to consider. Something in medicine and not something that required her to wash floors. They also wanted a school for Bean to prepare herself for a new career that didn't involve killing.

Bean and Akilah Ekelund ended up in Toronto which was the largest city in what had been Canada. A Muslim community played an active role in the city. It was reasonably safe for citizens of all kinds now that some corrupt politicians and policemen had been removed. In two days, they had found a clinic that was advertising for a female doctor and was willing to give Bean's mother a trial period. An affordable two-bedroom apartment was close by and Bean had ample funds to rent it for two months in advance.

Bean's new apartment was three blocks away from a Toronto high school. Yes, they would accept her and they gave her a series of tests to determine what grade she should enter. Bean admitted to a background in the military in a non-battlefield role. Physical training, that sort of thing. What did she see herself doing ten years from now in her career? Not prepared for that kind of question, Bean blurted out the first thing she could think of. Medicine.

Then, back to the apartment and her mother.

"I'm going back to Scandinavia. I have a good idea where they took Dad."

"The army will release him if you ask them to? Your military background allows you to do that? Will it be safe for you?"

"Sure. I have a friend who'll help."

Later, when she was alone in her bedroom, Bean took Yolanda's tracker out of her hair, disconnected the battery, and re-connected it again. She did this three times. For the next three days, she'd spend a lot of time in Toronto's public spaces. Yolanda had told her that three days would give her sufficient time to copter to any place in Canada or the northern United States. Bean was prepared to wait four days before trying a solo-rescue.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 3

_Did you find him?_ Yolanda was mind-messaging her question from her cabin in the Wilizy/America, which was floating above Toronto and serving as living quarters for the Wilizy teenagers in Toronto. She was staying there under the pretext of visiting the teenagers, which was sort of true. She did want to see them, and she did want to check out whether the ship looked like a bomb had gone off inside of one of boys' cabins. (It didn't.) But really, she was in Toronto because she had asked Melissa and Mac to help with a private operation. They were going to help Bean rescue her father.

Mac's reply was reassuring. _We found him easily. You gave us the date and location when he was arrested and Melissa and I used that to TiTr him. It's the same man as in the picture you sent. He's alive. How healthy he is, we can't say. We only observed him from a distance._

_Where is he?_

_Some sort of work camp way up at the very top of Scandinavia. The prisoners are all making Princess Freya dolls. Push a button and the doll says something that we couldn't understand. We estimate the prison holds sixty prisoners. It was easier to count the guards: four shifts of four men each._

_That seems like very light security._

_They don't need much security. The camp is on an island at least one kilometer off the coast. To escape from the camp, they'd have to swim. They might last five minutes in the water; probably less._

_What kind of transport do the guards have to get on and off the island?_

_No boats. Access into the camp is by copter only. They have four copters in camp on a semi-permanent basis. All four are black military troop transports with capacity for up to twenty. We did a TiTr scan of the traffic into the camp and we saw the occasional command copter come in for an hour or so. Food shipments are weekly and these are handled through troop transports that the guards unload. The copters are kept in a heated hanger. Even the visiting command copter is pulled into the hangar after it arrives. It's extremely cold outside right now._

_How do the prisoners and guards handle the cold?_

_There are six buildings all connected together by enclosed, heated walkways. The camp consists of a large barracks for the prisoners, a smaller barracks for the guards, a mess hall/kitchen for guards and prisoners, a command office, a large building that serves as the doll factory, and the copter hanger that also has a repair facility. Any door to the outside is permanently locked from the inside. Even if a prisoner managed to get outside, he'd die from exposure. They wear orange jumpsuits that are warm enough when they're inside the buildings, but offer no protection from the cold outside._

_Do the guards check outside?_

_No. They may have some electronic form of security, but we didn't see any signs of it. This camp is essentially escape-proof, at least in the dead of winter. It's permanently dark outside. The copter hanger has the highest level of security. One man is constantly on guard inside. Only the camp commander has the key that opens the internal door into the hangar. It's not possible to get into the hangar from the outside. The inside guard has to raise the hangar's door when visitors arrive._

_Outside clothing for the guards?_

_Military apparel complete with rank on both their heavy-duty coats and head coverings. Pants, boots, gloves are all heavily insulated. Anybody going outside wears the full kit, including a woolen scarf covering the face. They have insulated goggles to cover their eyes._

_The cold sounds intimidating. Did Melissa come up with a plan?_

_She needs answers to some questions first. Incidentally, don't count on Melissa to be on any action team. She handled the trip there and back well enough, but the pregnancy makes it difficult for her to move around. She's sleeping at home right now._

_How many people will we need?_

_Three Wilizy plus this other person. You did say that she has a military background and speaks Scandinavian, right?_

_Yes. What questions did Melissa have?_

_1. Did you want this man to escape and visibly appear to die in the process, or does he escape mysteriously?_

_2. Do we appear in disguise, do we appear as ourselves, or do we operate invisibly throughout the operation?_

_3. Do you want other prisoners to escape and be dropped off somewhere in Scandinavia?_

_4. We may have to disable at least one guard. Do you want all the Scandinavian guards and commandant to survive the operation?_

_I'll check with my friend. How much time do you need to pull it all together?_

_Several days once you give permission to go ahead. The biggest challenge will be getting Scandinavian army cold weather gear. If that's not possible, we can wear Saskatchewan army cold weather gear but that opens up the risk that our gear may be notably different from Scandinavia's. If so, we may have to operate invisibly and that may leave Scandinavia wondering how a prisoner could escape from an escape-proof work camp._

_Give me twenty-four hours to think about it._

_Good. I need to sleep._

### # # # # # # # #

"Identify yourself," a female voice whispered from the Scandinavian shadows.

The other female was standing in a small clearing where her body would be visible in the moonlight. Her arms were well away from her body. She turned towards the darkness of the deep woods in response to the whisper. "Beanstalk," she replied softly. "And you?"

"Macintosh apple," was the reply. _[Narrator: Army people give themselves such inventive nicknames.]_

"We're about an hour's flight away from the work camp," Bean said to the three Wilizy who slipped into the clearing. She noticed that they did so without making any noise and relaxed a bit. Yolanda had given Bean the location of the work camp so that she could take the Scandinavian command copter into the general area and select a meeting place. Yolanda said that they'd get to that meeting place on their own. All Bean had to do was signal them with the tracking device in her hair.

Bean led them to a rustic cabin, complete with a small fire. They all unzipped their weather gear, but did not remove it. Bean scanned the group quickly. She saw a young blonde wearing military winter gear complete with a lieutenant's rank. With her were Yolanda and an old woman who walked with a limp. Both were also wearing the same military gear as the blonde. Yolanda had the rank of corporal and the old woman was a private.

"We'll dispense with introductions, I think," Yolanda said.

"Fine with me. We should use military ranks from now on anyway. I'm wearing the Scandinavian weather gear of a Lieutenant Colonel. You wanted me to supply you with Scandinavian gear in a medium, a large, and an extra large. My army friend couldn't sign out the extra-large set of Scandinavian gear without raising suspicions. Your private will have to stay behind. A Lieutenant Colonel will often move around with a small staff. We can complete the operation with three."

The blonde took the Scandinavian clothing over to the fire and compared it to what the private was wearing. "Same colour, same style. The hangar will be mostly dark. She'll pass with what she has on now."

"Is that an unnecessary risk? We can succeed with three. I have the rank to command obedience."

"We chose our personnel for their height so that your own height wouldn't be so obvious. The private should remain in the operation for that reason."

"Fair enough. Lieutenant and Corporal, you should change into the Scandinavian gear now. I'll get the command copter started before it freezes up. It'll be a couple of hours before we're back."

"We have a portable heat unit keeping ours warm," Mac answered the question that Bean was thinking but hadn't asked. "We also have winter gear for your father."

### # # # # # # # #

"T minus ten minutes, Lieutenant Colonel," Mac announced. "Would the lieutenant colonel care to brief the team now?"

"Very well, Lieutenant. I have papers instructing a Lieutenant Colonel Neilsen to pick up a prisoner named Sven Ekelund and deliver him to the nearest army base at Tromso for interrogation. In preparation for that interrogation, the prisoner will be blindfolded and no explanation will be given to him on why he is being taken away. The orders require that extracting the prisoner from the camp should be done without raising attention of the other prisoners. That's why the copter will be arriving before the prison camp awakes."

### # # # # # # # #

"Touchdown is in two minutes. The hangar will be directly in front of you as you exit the right side of the copter." Mac was piloting the copter with the help of a Wilizy GPS drone on top of the hanger. Bean had not been informed of that drone. The Wilizy wanted Bean to recognize that the crew had some decent military skills, but they did not want to expose her to anything that might reveal Wilizy secrets. Like the way they had actually flown to Scandinavia.

...

"Lieutenant Colonel, touchdown is in thirty seconds. Your orders should be out of your pouch. Corporal and Private, have your weapons at the ready as soon as you exit the copter."

Yolanda and Granny had automatic weapons that were typical for operations of this kind. These were from Saskatchewan. Mac had given them enough training so that they knew how to carry them in military fashion. But both would rely on their sling weapons if the operation went south. Mac was wearing a pistol in a holster at her belt. She also had sling weapons available at a thought.

...

"We're down. Private, go bang on the hangar door. Lieutenant Colonel, you're up."

### # # # # # # # #

_[Narrator: the conversations during this part of the operation were conducted in Scandinavian. I have translated them into English.]_

The operation team was now inside the hangar. The private and corporal were standing at ease in front of the closed hangar door. The lieutenant was standing at attention a few steps in front of them. The prison guard assigned to the hangar was now mostly awake and had read the orders. As instructed, he was quite prepared to bring the blindfolded prisoner into the hangar as unobtrusively as possible. The guard had expressed concerns about the prisoner's lack of winter wear and those concerns were now being addressed.

"We'll gear him up inside the copter once we're in the air. We brought an extra suit."

"Sir, I will have to bring my lieutenant back with me. This door will lock itself shut when I leave and he has the only key."

"I will keep the door from closing, Private. But if you feel that it's necessary to wake your superior officer, then by all means do so. You have seen my orders and if, by some chance, you delay any further and other prisoners start to wake in the barracks, you will be held responsible. I can't imagine any posting in the army that is worse than being in this camp, but perhaps a buoy somewhere in the middle of the Norwegian Sea needs to be guarded. In case you haven't noticed, Private, I outrank your commanding officer. Well?"

### # # # # # # # #

Within minutes, the guard brought a stumbling, half-awake, blindfolded old man into the hangar. The guard brought a third lieutenant into the hanger as well.

"Sir, the camp commandant was already awake and checking on breakfast being ready. He asked me what I was doing."

"You have orders?" the camp commandant asked.

"Certainly." A piece of paper was duly transferred.

"I knew nothing of this."

"Many things go on in this army that you are not aware of, Third Lieutenant. You are now aware. The lubricant in my copter is congealing as you dither."

The camp commandant approached the hanger door and tried to peer out through glass panels that hadn't been clear of frost since the summer. Summer had arrived on July 31 and had left the same day. "Open up," he instructed the guard.

Opening up required somebody to haul on a chain. Electronic devices tend to malfunction when they are exposed to extremely low temperatures. Chains don't.

_Granny, help the guard raise the hangar door. Be ready to disable him on my signal. Yolanda, be prepared to hustle the prisoner into the copter as quickly as you can on my signal. I'll take care of the camp commandant._

All eyes followed the lowly third lieutenant who knelt in front of the hanger door and peered underneath it as it rose. He pulled a light out of a side pocket and flashed it on the copter. He saw a black, standard issue, command copter that was fully equipped with the standard set of guns – exactly as he should have seen. Frost was starting to cover the windscreen. The lieutenant turned sideways in preparation for rising out of his kneeling position, and in doing so, his light flashed on his own hangar guard and the Lieutenant Colonel's private who were continuing to pull on the chain. He paused for a second or two at what he saw, and then turned the light off and stood up.

"Sorry for the delay, Lieutenant Colonel."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 4

While Yolanda and Granny were enjoying several days of military maneuvers in Winter Wonderland, Hank was up to his eyeballs in Winter Doldrums. Momaka had called him to her greenhouse to plead for relief.

"We can't put up with this much longer, Hank. Kashmira is driving us all crazy."

"I know. She's complaining constantly. _I'm lonely. I have nothing to do. Canada isn't the same as the Philippines. There are no people here. It's too cold. Mathias is never here. Why is he ignoring me?_ I hear this every day. So does Doc."

"Where's Mathias? He could help her make a better adjustment. Couldn't Reese handle his transports until Kashmira settles in?"

"Reese **is** handing the transports. Mathias is researching something. He said that it was important."

"Can't we find Kashmira something to do?"

"Nothing interests her. She just lies around moping."

"Could we at least stop her from singing? Seeing her moping around is bad enough; but listening to her sing about it hours at a time is... I don't know how to describe it. Her sadness is contagious. I want to crawl into a hammock and go to sleep. I don't have any energy to tend to my plants. Not that I'll have any plants soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at them, Hank. They're dying. This is a year's worth of effort and the plants are suddenly dying."

"Insects?"

"Not in a greenhouse. Have you seen Yolanda's peanut crop?"

"No."

"You won't have any peanuts soon."

"Her singing is killing the plants?"

"Sure looks like that. There is some evidence that plants do respond to human emotions. You gotta do something, Hank."

"I'll tell Mathias that Kashmira's health is deteriorating and he should come home right away. Doc says that Kashmira does not have the physical reserves to handle depression which is what she'll be in soon."

"You know that asking Mathias to come home will be only a temporary solution. Right? Mathias can't be her constant companion."

"I know, Momaka."

"The environment here is much too different from what she's used to. Living here will not work for her, Hank."

"Christmas holidays will cheer her up. The entire family will be here."

"Have you heard that low moaning wind that is sweeping through this valley?"

"Yeah. Part of a warm weather system perhaps."

"That's not wind, Hank. None of the trees is moving. That's Kashmira singing."

### # # # # # # # #

The winter doldrums weren't confined to the home compound. It was a dreary December day in Toronto when Theo, Lucas and Dreamer came back to the ship and plopped down in the galley. Dreamer's face was dribbling out tears, Lucas had his jaw firmly wired into a granite triangle and Theo couldn't keep his legs still.

"Walk," Lucas grunted out. Theo started to pace around the galley, but said nothing.

Finally Dreamer broke the silence. "This really sucks." She blew her nose and disappeared below. Her exit was soon followed by a lot of banging. Lucas and Theo exchanged a look and then both ran below. The door to Dreamer's cabin was open, so they both paused and looked in. Dreamer was throwing her basketball shoes against the walls. Dreamer's grandmother played softball and was a champion chucker. Dreamer would have spent many a weekend watching her. But here and now, Dreamer may as well have been auditioning to be her grandmother's replacement. She was winding up and firing basketball shoe projectiles against the walls. The mirror on her bureau was already broken and glass was everywhere. As usual, Dreamer was in her bare feet.

### # # # # # # # #

"It doesn't have to be the end of the world," Lucas was serving as the voice of reason which might surprise some of my readers. Lucas always got along well with Dreamer and he was unusually sensitive with her. She'd listen to him more than to Theo.

Theo and Lucas had carried her back to the main deck. Dreamer had squeezed herself into a corner of the living room, knees scrunched up to her body, and arms keeping her legs in tight. She was resting her face on her knees. Her face was dry, but it was deathly pale. Both boys were crammed into the same corner, both of them close enough to be touching Dreamer. Theo had his right hand on Dreamer's left shoulder, and Lucas was stroking her hair. "He had some good things to say about you."

The _he_ that Lucas was referring to was the coach of the Varsity Blue's men's team. He had taken them aside and delivered the message on behalf of both the men and women's teams. He had started the conversation with: "All of the coaches appreciate how hard the three of you have been working, and all three of you do have the physical basketball skills to perhaps make one of our teams." He ended the meeting by saying; "You won't be able to practice in our facilities any longer." The words in between were lost in the haze. What wasn't lost however was the impact of the meeting. Picture a basketball. Picture a big sharp knife. Now picture that knife stabbing through the basketball and ripping it into tiny pieces. Those pieces were what remained of three basketball careers.

"It's the end of my world," Dreamer spat out. "I'm turning sixteen in June. I had a chance of getting on the freshman team next season. I can't give the university what it wants. The two of you might be able to. I can't! It's impossible!"

"He said something about appealing the decision," Lucas was trying to remember the details of the conversation. "Theo, do you remember anything about that?"

"Just that he said appeals hardly ever work."

"The coaches didn't make these decisions. Perhaps they'd appeal on our behalf?" Lucas again with the faint hope approach.

"He said that he had already tried. He argued for special circumstances. They turned him down."

Dreamer's comment brought back a memory for Theo. "They don't have enough room for every student who is trying to enroll. The university can't give us special treatment when other more qualified students are being denied entrance. I finished all of my home schooling bots. I don't see why those weren't good enough to get in."

"The registration people didn't think much of our home schooling records," Lucas remembered. "Their experience with homeschooling showed that those students were hopelessly behind other students. They claim that parents will help their children on tests and then lie about doing that." Having faced two judges in criminal charges, Lucas had a good grasp on some of the seamier aspects to the world.

"At least you guys had homeschooling," Dreamer spoke up. "Clearwater had an elementary school and that was it. I was the only one who stayed in the school up to grade six. Everybody else quit before that. I didn't take any school courses after grade six. No way would the university make an exception for me."

"Did you receive any warning about this from any of your dreams?" Lucas with the question.

"All of my dreams have been happy dreams. Scenes of Christmas. Even if I had had a warning, there's nothing I could have done. This is hopeless. I might as well go back to Clearwater and cut lumber. I have to talk with Wizard. This changes everything for us. We had been talking about... you know..."

"The aboriginal nation protects its own," Lucas started and looked at Theo.

"We fight to the death," Theo said.

Both looked at Dreamer and waited for her to finish the oath.

"We don't run away."

Back to the Table of Contents

#  Chapter 5

Dreamer's visions of a happy Christmas at the home compound did prove to be correct. As promised, the entire family was there. Kashmira got to meet everybody, and everybody got to meet the new babies, Ivanika and Petro. Other newcomers to this holiday event included Tibia and Fibula, and the panther cubs, as yet unnamed. Contrary and Theogun also appeared in the flesh – panther flesh. I actually have a picture showing Bob the Visible Dragon hovering over the meadow. Marie is in her alligator form, Winnie and the four wolves are on one side of her, and Kashmira is on the other side of the alligator with the four panthers. Kashmira turned out to be a cat lover, and together with Winnie, she was able to keep the animals from growling/hissing at each other long enough for pictures to be taken. Given what has happened to other family pictures that I have tried to put in my books, I will not make that attempt again.

Of course, song nights were very popular and Mac shipped her mother's piano up by overnight express. She and Kashmira worked on a duet that they performed the last night of the visit with Wolf and Mathias handling the music sound board. To say it was a success would be an understatement. Mac and Wolf made a repeat performance, and a hastily thrown together quartet of Kashmira, Mac, Wolf, and Lucas performed as well.

Kashmira's presence as a cat lover led to the beginning of a close friendship with Nary and that was evident not only in the picture of the Wilizy mysticals, but also through the hours the two spent talking about jungles and what they were like. And of course, in the evenings after the music had died down, the teenagers gravitated into the rec center and cuddled together in pairs, talking long after the parents and grandparents had gone to bed. Theo & Nary, Wizard & Dreamer, Mathias & Kashmira, and Lucas still on his own. Reese and Winnie had nothing in common with this group, so they were also in dreamland.

No record was kept exactly what was said during this time, but it was not frivolous chatter. Granny was the first to pick up on this.

"Something is up," she said to Yolanda.

"What do you mean?"

"The teenagers are staying up late. They're pretending to enjoy themselves after everybody goes to bed but I don't hear any laughter. Just a low murmur. Sounds like serious discussions."

"Winnie will know."

"I tried her. She goes to bed when Doc and I head off. She claims that she doesn't know anything. She didn't even try to hide the fact that she was lying."

"So she does know something, and she wants you to know that there's something, but she won't say anything."

"That's right. When did Winnie ever willingly go to bed early when there was grown-up talk to be listened to?"

"Never."

"Like I said. Something is up. I believe it involves you and Hank."

"We haven't had any spats with any of them. Hank and I are thoroughly enjoying ourselves."

"Perhaps they don't want to ruin that."

### # # # # # # # #

Things came to a head the evening of the last full day of the holidays. Song night was over and the kiddies were being put to bed. Melissa, Yollie and Mac were doing the honours. William, TG and Wolf had surprisingly volunteered to help them.

Wizard had been designated as the first to speak. "Uhhh, some of us..."

Winnie and Reese stood up and left the room. Momaka pulled Stu out of his chair.

"... would like the chance to have a family conversation with Mom, Dad, Marie, Wanda, Doc and Granny. It's not Wilizy business. Would the rest of you mind?"

By the time Wizard had finished, Jock was the only one still in the room who qualified as the _rest of you._ He left as requested. I should point out that Kashmira remained in the room with Mathias. The others were the _Toronto five_.

"We've had some bad news," Wizard continued. "Lucas, Theo, and Dreamer have lost their chance to play basketball at the University of Toronto. Just before we came home for the holidays, the university told them that that they couldn't practice any more in the university's gyms because they couldn't be U of T students."

Wanda was the first to react. She would have crossed the room to embrace Dreamer but Dreamer was now co-existing with Wizard inside his sweater. Nothing was going to pry her out of her hidey-hole. Even her face was hidden. Dreamer had been embarrassed in front of the family once before and now she was reliving it. "We didn't do anything wrong," a Dreamer-like muffle emerged from under the sweater.

"That's right," Wizard confirmed. "The coaches wanted them to play for the university, but the people in charge of allowing students to come to the university said that they weren't qualified."

"That's preposterous," Hank exclaimed.

"From the university's perspective, Dreamer only has a sixth grade education. From the university's perspective, Lucas and Theo have been homeschooled, but they don't trust the marks of anybody who has been homeschooled."

"We know Hector, the Ontario Supreme Court judge. Hank, do you..."

"Mom," Wizard interrupted gently. "We've been talking about this among ourselves and we'd like to solve this on our own. We believe we have a solution, but we will need your approval. You might not like what's in our plan."

"I'm not sure why Granny and I are here. This is between you and your parents. We don't belong here."

"Doc, this plan involves Kashmira. You should stay."

### # # # # # # # #

Boiled down to its basics..., if the university didn't like their lack of a formal high school diploma, Lucas, Theo and Dreamer would obtain one as quickly as they could. They had researched the high schools in the Toronto area looking particularly for schools that would take new students and had a good educational program along with a good basketball program. They had found one such school that had everything they wanted. Even Wizard was interested in it.

"Why are you interested in this school, Wizard?" Doc asked.

"They have a good basketball program. I thought that I could volunteer to be an assistant coach and learn more about basketball. I don't want to take any courses at the school."

"Dreamer, what courses would you take?" Wanda asked.

"Business. Just because I never took any courses in math or science doesn't mean that I don't know math and science. I've managing my own business and I ran a lumber company. How many teenagers do that?"

"Lucas, same question," Yolanda asked.

"If I can enroll in U of T, I can take officer training courses as part of my degree. That means that I will advance further and faster in the military than if I don't. I'll take whatever courses Jock recommends. I need that high school degree."

"Theo?"

"I'm thinking of working as a veterinarian. I could work outside and I sort of love some animals."

"And if any animal gave him a hard time, he could always call on his panther to get up close and personal."

I should point out that this jibe from Lucas was the only point in the meeting where anything close to a chuckle emerged. None of the adults was happy, but their ire was focused on the university, not on their teenagers.

"Nary, why do you want to be in Toronto?" Marie asked. "You know that I'm giving you all the instruction that you'll need."

"I want to play basketball with Dreamer at the university. It's fun. Plus I need more than Voodoo. This school has younger grades. They could help me learn to read, write and do math. I can't learn that on my own and you don't know these things either."

"Mathias. We haven't talked with you about your future yet. You've obviously been thinking about it. Why do you want to go to a Toronto school?"

"Dad, when I was piloting the jumbos, I noticed how bad the oceans were. Then, when we were coming back from the Philippines, I saw close up how they've been ruined by all the plastic lying around. I've been flying over the world's oceans for weeks by myself. The debris is everywhere – even the Arctic Ocean. It has to be affecting the weather patterns. That might be why rain is so scarce. Nobody is doing anything about it. I don't know what courses I'd need to study to fix the oceans, but I bet I'd have to go to university."

Doc went last. He knew how unhappy Kashmira had been in her first weeks in the Aboriginal Nation. But living by herself in Toronto? A girl as cute as her? Plus, her health... "Kashmira," he said. "Your turn."

"I want to go where Mathias goes. I don't like living all by myself in the woods. I promise that I won't have sex with Mathias if we're left on our own. Plus this school has a music program where I can learn to play instruments."

### # # # # # # # #

The discussion was now down to the details. This was a private school. It would cost money. Perhaps lots of money. Were the teenagers expecting Hank and Yolanda to pay for everything?

"Dad, we've all been working for the Wilizy," Wizard responded. "We all like doing that, but we've never been paid. Some of us are presidents of our own business. Our vice presidents make lots of money but we don't. We were thinking that we should be earning a salary too, and that would allow us to pay the fees ourselves. Kashmira hasn't been working for the Wilizy but she has her own money."

"Where would you live?"

"On the Wilizy/America but it would be anchored to a dock in Lake Ontario."

"Food?"

"The school has a food plan and it covers all three meals. Some of their students live in dorms. We had considered living in dorms but didn't want to take a chance of accidentally revealing Wilizy secrets."

"Who would keep the ship clean? Who would make sure that nobody was being stupid?"

"I will, Yolanda" Dreamer said. She had come out from underneath Wizard's sweater. "Everybody has agreed that I would be in charge."

"What do you need from us?"

"A parent to register us."

"When would you start?"

"Courses for their next semester start next week. They allow new students to enter the school at that time."

"We'll have to talk about this," Granny said. "You made a good presentation, Wizard, but all of you living on your own, in Toronto, without a parent? We'll need to discuss this thoroughly."

### # # # # # # # #

At about this same time, Scandinavia's Crown Prince and Chief of Staff of the Scandinavian armed forces was having his own thorough discussion with the head of his Special Operations force.

"Sir, a man named Sven Ekelund was removed from a secure work camp earlier this month on orders from a Lieutenant Colonel Neilsen. She showed those orders to the camp commandant and they looked legitimate. She also looked legitimate. She was wearing Scandinavian winter gear and had arrived at the camp in a Scandinavian army command copter. She spoke perfect Scandinavian. But we have no Lieutenant Colonel Neilsen in the military."

"Why do I need to know this, Brigadier General?"

"The man that was taken out of the work camp is the father of Lieutenant Benedikta Ekelund. You had instructed me keep you informed on anything dealing with that North American operation. I can tell you that the fake Lieutenant Colonel Neilsen was very tall."

"That means nothing. We have lots of tall soldiers."

"There's more. About a week previously, a middle-aged woman in a small village in the north left her village and has not been seen since. She was the wife of Sven Ekelund and was a known pestilence carrier. Her home had been branded by locals. These two disappearances are highly suggestive."

"Yes, they are. We may conclude that Lieutenant Ekelund did not die in North America. We may also conclude that she was a pestilence carrier herself."

"I personally reviewed Ekelund's recruitment papers. She came to us from this same village as Sven Ekelund. Our data show that she enrolled willingly; however, some years after she had become part of Special Ops, the local police chief was found dead in his police station. His safe was empty and he himself had been burned to death. This incident occurred when Benedikta Ekelund was on leave in Denmark. The police chief was the initial contact between Ekelund and the military."

"He probably raped her and then forced her into the military."

"Yes, he did. The captain had been one of our local operators. Ekelund could obviously pass as a pure Scandinavian. There was no hint that she had Muslim blood. Her incoming records were obviously doctored internally. All of this explains why our most secret covert platoon was destroyed in North America. That also probably explains the death of Ekelund's partner."

"And now she is here."

"She **was** here. We don't believe she would have stayed. Her height makes her too conspicuous. But somehow she learned the location of her father's work camp, she put together a military team, she used a command copter that we had given to the North American force, and she extracted him from that camp. All of this means she used internal contacts to find him."

"We've known that some pestilence carriers have infiltrated the military. You'll redouble your efforts to find them. You mentioned she had other military personnel with her. That was risky. Why did she expose other Muslims to being recognized?"

"They were wrapped in cold weather gear. There was no way that they would be recognized. But the camp commandant provided interesting insight. He wondered why the prisoner had to be blindfolded when he was brought into the hangar. The fake Lieutenant Colonel told him that it was to soften him up for a thorough interrogation. This is a standard operating procedure."

"It was more likely to stop the father from recognizing his daughter and calling out."

"Agreed. The camp commandant didn't know anything about Lieutenant Ekelund. However he did notice that when he ordered his private to raise the hangar door, the private that had accompanied Ekelund went to help him without receiving any orders to do so. Privates in the Scandinavian army do not act on their own initiative."

"Why would he help?"

"To be close enough to disable the other soldier in case they were found out?"

"Perhaps. Might the private have been instructed to help via a hand signal? Perhaps from the lieutenant in the party?"

"Perhaps, but why wouldn't the lieutenant in charge of the party just order the private to help out? Our commandant remembered afterwards that only Benedikta Ekelund spoke. The other three did not say a word."

"Nothing unusual in that. A lieutenant colonel doesn't need any help giving orders."

"When our camp commandant peered underneath the rising hangar door to confirm the presence of a military copter, he accidentally shone his light on the feet of the private helping to raise the door. Their private was not wearing Scandinavian winter gear. It was military gear, but not our military gear. It was much more insulated. Poofier."

"Did the camp commandant say anything?"

"No. He saw hands on weapons and released the prisoner."

"Self preservation."

"Perhaps. But he did raise the alarm immediately after Ekelund's copter cleared the area. He was entirely forthcoming about his decision. Had he been killed, we wouldn't have been able to reach all of our conclusions."

"Such as...?"

"An enemy force intruded into Scandinavian airspace and attacked one of our work camps. Lieutenant Ekelund was in charge of that force, is an active Muslim terrorist, and killed at least thirty of our men in a previous operation."

"This camp commandant. Do you know him?"

"Yes, Third Lieutenant Karlsson."

"In charge of a remote speck of frigid dust. Was he demoted into that position?"

"Yes. He lost a promising career."

"Because?"

"Because he didn't show the necessary exuberance when he was given the chance to interact with pestilence carrying women."

"He has now earned a promotion off that frigid dust bowl. Raise him to Second Lieutenant and post him as an instructor in boot camp."

"Sir, I must point out that the lieutenant cannot be trusted."

"I know that, Brigadier General. Put him on the staff that trains incoming females. Have him watched closely for any signs of friendship with existing female staff or new recruits. We have to assume that years ago a Muslim undercover agent revealed herself to Lieutenant Ekelund when she was in boot camp and has been helping her since. Just because Lieutenant Karlsson can't be trusted doesn't mean that we can't use him to discover pestilence carrying subversives."

"And the enemy army that came to Scandinavia to rescue one of our prisoners?"

"They were elements of the Saskatchewan army. You'll receive orders in time."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 6

Friday, January 3rd, 2087. A small contingent of British Columbian teenagers and parents joined a line waiting outside the counselling center at the Earl Schnauble Private Academy on the northern outskirts of Toronto. The academy had three separate schools: an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. All three fit easily within the extensive manicured lawns and gardens of a plot of land that had housed one of Toronto's most exclusive schools for decades. The meaning of _exclusive_ in this context meant that only rich families could afford to register their children.

The school never did have a royal origin as suggested by the first word in the school's name. _Earl_ Schnauble was a rich German beer maker who had the good fortune of having a great deal of money available to spend when Toronto area land prices dived early in _The Troubles_. He bought up a lot of land, intending to plant barley and produce beer. He went bankrupt instead. His first name was Earl. He was not a member of any country's royalty. He made his money bootlegging somebody else's liquor to private clubs without paying any taxes on it. This part of the school's background didn't make it into the official history of the school that was used for promotional purposes.

Notwithstanding the school's humble beginning, in the 2080s, the Schnauble governors were promoting the school as the institution of choice for families of wealth, influence, and power. The school crest had not-so-subtle indicators of that: a gallant steed that looked on first appearance like a cross between a unicorn and a lion; a golden crown with two crossed swords; and a prince and princess dressed in their finery (as well as their graduation mortarboards) strolling off hand-in-hand into the sunset. The only things missing from the school crest were stylized dollar signs in the corners of the shield. The school sports teams were officially named _The Falcons_ ; opposing school sports teams referred to them simply as the _Schnobs_.

In addition to the usual school buildings, the academy had a performance theatre, two separate gymnasium buildings – the largest having sufficient spectator seating to host the Toronto School Championship in a variety of sports. They also had a full sized indoor pool, an all-weather track, a rugby field, a soccer field, and a cricket field. For those readers who are not attuned to the sporting interests of the privileged, a cricket field does not mean that the field was infested with crickets. Cricket is a sport. I have now exhausted my entire knowledge of this so-called sport. Oh. They also had gender-specific dorms, a school cafeteria, and a school dining room for those who wanted a formal dining experience – as in when Mom and Pop came by for a visit. The school population hovered around eight hundred with five hundred of these students registered in the high school. If all went well, that population would increase a little bit in half an hour.

When their turn arrived, all of the Wilizy entered a small office in the counselling center. In attendance were four parents/guardians (Marie, Granny, Yolanda, and Wanda) and six prospective students. Facing them was a middle-aged school counsellor who was intent on keeping the school membership confined to only the wealthy, and within that small group, to only students who had sufficient intellectual skills to maintain the reputation of the school as an elite university preparations private academy. There was one other restriction as well, but we'll get to that shortly.

Ms. Glenfiddick took her duties very seriously. "Who's registering whom?" she asked smugly. The smugness may have been because she knew enough about English grammar to use the _whom_.

Introductions were made. Ms. Glenfiddick's eyes narrowed when the one white woman in the group revealed herself to be the mother of the black girl. But she dutifully entered all of the students' names onto a list of applicants.

"I only need the parents here now," she intoned. "You children can wait outside. Do not leave the hallway, otherwise your parents may not be able to find you easily."

The room thinned out considerably.

"Please raise your hand if you are citizens of Ontario." Old Fiddicky had been an elementary school teacher before her ascension to counsellor.

No hands rose to the occasion.

"Where is your permanent residence?"

"The Aboriginal Nation," Yolanda responded. She had been designated as the group spokesperson.

"Where will you be living in Toronto?"

"On a ship moored in the harbour."

"All of you will be living on a boat?" Visions of a large raft paddled by coloured people named Huckleberry slipped through the still waters of old Fiddicky's brain. In her previous life as an elementary school teacher, Ms. Fiddicky had prevented her students from reading books like Mark Twain's _Tom Sawyer_ because they presented an image of black children that she thought flattered them far too much. For example, they were shown walking upright.

"It's actually a ship and we won't all be there."

"Explain."

"The students will be living independently. We're quite proud of them for taking on this responsibility."

Visions of drunken orgies on a large birch bark canoe slipped through the ripples of old Fiddicky's brain. "I will need to see birth certificates."

That created a bit of delay because one of the women produced a Philippine birth certificate but could not produce any papers showing that she was a guardian of the Asian looking girl. The white mother of the black girl claimed that her daughter had been born in a part of the world that did not have birth certificates. Under further questioning, the mother revealed that the daughter was foreign-born. The aboriginal spokeswoman for the group said that she had no birth certificate for her three boys because they had been at war at the time and birth certificates would have been dangerous documents to possess. Only the adult representing the very tall aboriginal girl could produce a birth certificate and the guardianship papers that proved she was her grandmother.

Visions of wild orgies on a large war canoe filled with drunken in'juns sunk to Davey Jones' locker at the bottom of old Fiddicky's brain. However, she dutifully filled out forms that indicated where the savages wanted their heathen spawn to be placed. Gathering up her papers, she said, "I need to check with the headmaster. I won't be long."

"We might as well leave now," Wanda muttered.

It didn't take old Fiddicky much time to pass the buck to the headmaster. She also passed the squaws and their spawn to him.

"I have received the following instructions from the headmaster. The two children that you wanted placed in middle school do not have the required formal paperwork to be accepted. Of the four children you wanted placed in high school, only one has the necessary paperwork. But we do not accept children who are not properly supervised by a parent or guardian at home. All students in the school must have a permanent, non-floating address in the Toronto area to be considered for entry. Even if your children had satisfied all of these conditions, our high school classes are now full. Thank you for considering Earl Schnauble Private Academy." She really leaned on the word _Private_.

The teenagers weren't surprised to see the grim looks on the adults as they left the counselling center. "Mom," Lucas said. "They have pictures of the graduating classes going back years and years. All of their grads have been white."

"Yeah," Wanda muttered. "We received the same message."

### # # # # # # # #

On Tuesday January 7, the secretary to the headmaster bustled into his office with a telephone message pad and passed it to her boss. "This lady just phoned. She'd like an appointment with you. In case you don't recognize her name, she owns four mansions overlooking the city and Lake Ontario. She wants to talk about a donation to the school."

"Ask her to come in today. Shift my 3:00 appointment to next week."

The school headmaster's name was Alexander Marwick Kensington, a former insurance executive who had extensive contacts in Toronto's business community. He had no experience whatsoever in teaching, or even in the larger field of education itself. He was adept at fund raising. That and keeping the reputation of the academy pristine constituted his job. He answered to a Board of Governors that was primarily concerned with raising funds for the school and keeping its reputation pristine. The headmaster was responsible for nominating suitable candidates to the Board of Governors.

At 2:55, Headmaster Kensington was sitting in the school's boardroom, a most impressive room. His secretary had dusted off the school's #1 set of china and had made a speed run into a prestigious bakery in downtown Toronto. Soggy Rice Krispie squares from the grade sevens' home economic class would not be up to snuff for this meeting.

At 3:00, the school secretary ushered in the Headmaster's appointment. "Headmaster Kensington, this is Ms. Eldreadth Lewis," she said reverentially. "Ms. Lewis, this is our headmaster."

Headmaster Kensington bowed his head and would have kissed her gloved hand had she raised the hand, or if it had been gloved. To be honest, he would have kissed her feet except that she had just come in from a garden and was bedecked in muddy gumshoes. The gardening motif was enhanced with a set of pink overalls, a black and red checkered shirt, and a straw sunhat topped by a faded, yellow, drooping, plastic daffodil.

Eldreadth Lewis was well known in Toronto circles as an eccentric. People who raised funds for a living liked eccentrics because they were more inclined to donate money without involving lawyers and accountants. Rich people with all their marbles tended to be more circumspect.

"Pardon my boots," she said marble-fully. "I've been gardening in my greenhouse."

"Not at all. Not at all," the headmaster repeated himself. He was somewhat taken aback. This boardroom in all its splendour had never had to entertain a faded, yellow, drooping, plastic daffodil-bearing eccentric. "May I offer refreshments?"

"I don't eat sweets and I have my thermos." As proof, Ms. Lewis extracted a battered metal thermos from one of the overalls' copious side pockets. That effort also brought forth a pair of pruning shears that she placed on the table. A few turns of the thermos top later, she was sipping. The headmaster was left to drink alone from a translucent white china cup. He tried to sip from that cup as inelegantly as possible. He also decided that a sugar free diet was just the right antidote for a struggling balance sheet.

"My sympathies for the loss of your brother."

"He was a worthless piece of trash and the world is a better place without him. But Foster is indeed the reason that I am here. You weren't involved in any business with Foster, were you?"

Sensing the trap, the headmaster retreated. "No, no. The school's reputation was not sullied at all through any interactions with your brother or any of the criminals in City Hall or in the police force. I was merely making conversation."

"Don't bother. I'm not here to make conversation. Foster had many faults. One of them was producing children and then abandoning them. I have responsibility for his grandson who is in need of a proper education. I thought your school would be the best place for him. He's a little slow."

Labelling Arnold as a _little slow_ was akin to referring to Contrary the Panther as a fastidious eater. Neither statement was close to being accurate.

"Well, I'd be pleased to put you in touch with our counselling office."

"Nah. Go right to the top, I always say. I know that Arnold is a handful and so I'm prepared to donate money to the school so that you can accommodate him. I don't expect him to graduate from your school, but I do expect him to stay in the school until his peers graduate. I believe he could contribute to your rugby team. He'll struggle in the classroom. I'll pay the normal fees in addition to the donation."

"Did you have a figure in mind?"

"What's your biggest donation ever? Careful now, I **will** want proof." The headmaster's hope of a marbleless contributor rolled and rolled and rolled away. He named the accurate figure.

"I'll do better."

"Most gracious."

"I get to approve how my money is spent."

"Uhm, usually the donations go into a general fund, like facilities for example."

"I get to approve how my money is spent," she repeated. "This will require my membership on the Board of Governors. You can arrange that, I believe."

"Yes," the headmaster capitulated. He had an opening on the current board and bringing in the largest ever donation to the school would be quite the coup for his career.

"Oh. I should tell you that my brother didn't always legalize the children that he fathered. I can't give you a birth certificate and I can't give you a formal statement of my guardianship. However my grandson is living with me in one of my mansions. That won't be a problem will it?"

"Not at all. We have the flexibility to accommodate students with incomplete certification."

"Good. So you go ahead and register him now. I'll have my lawyer draw up the details of my donation and what I expect in return. I'll want official notification of my membership on the Board before school opens. When all of that is done, I'll sign the donation cheque."

"Is the lad here?"

"Outside in the hall. I'll introduce you."

...

"Oh my. Rugby does indeed look like a good sport for him. Welcome to Earl Schnauble Private Academy, Arnold."

"You guys got any ice cream around here?" Basher asked.

### # # # # # # # #

On Friday, January 10, – the last day to register for the second semester – Ms. Glenfiddick met with a white gentleman wearing a tartan tie. He was also toting a briefcase. This is not generally a good sign. The brief case, that is. Tartan ties are de rigeur in families who have surnames like McKenzie.

Stu introduced himself to Ms. Glenfiddick as the lawyer who had handled the windfall provided to the school by Eldreadth Lewis, the school's new member of the Board of Governors. "Ms. Lewis has recently taken on the guardianship of six teenagers who wish to register in your school. I have the signed guardianship papers with me. The teenagers will be staying in one of her mansions. Ms. Lewis is unable to provide you with all of the formal documents that you might wish to see for these students, but the headmaster has reassured her that Schnauble has the flexibility to accommodate students with incomplete certification. I am on my way to your headmaster's office to pass over the donation cheque that Ms. Lewis has signed, but thought I should register these teenagers first. You have already met them. They're waiting outside. Shall we register them now? I also have the necessary cheques to pay for their registration. They won't encounter any problems like classes being too full to accept them, will they?"

### # # # # # # # #

_Narrator: To be perfectly candid here, I have to acknowledge that the Wilizy bought their way into the schnob school. This is not a route that most families could take. Actually, Eldreadth Lewis bought their way into that school, but she did so in gratitude for what the Wilizy had done for her. Buying your way out of a bigoted problem is probably not something that many of my readers will see as honourable, or worthy of applause. It's simply wealthy people using their wealth to get what they want._

_I admit that there are elements of that here. But Eldreadth Lewis obtained her wealth in an honourable cause: namely, the Wilizy's campaign to bring down her brother and remove the criminal elements that had taken over Toronto. Eldreadth Lewis was determined to use that wealth to make up for her brother's crimes._

_Make no mistake; the Wilizy teenagers were facing bigotry. They themselves came up with the solution and approached Eldreadth who Theo and Nary had met earlier. Still, using wealth and power to persuade a school to admit some aboriginal students feels a little slimy, doesn't it? How many other aboriginal students facing the same problem could do that? How many minorities facing bigotry could do that? Probably none._

_Prejudice and bigotry exist worldwide in many forms. Once established in a school, in a city, or in a society, they are very difficult to eradicate. But any improvements in a bigoted environment usually start with a single, small but noteworthy incident. A black woman refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white person; nine black students insistent on registering in a white school; a young woman putting her life on the line to lobby for education for girls in her country. All of these noteworthy incidents took personal bravery and garnered tremendous support from the larger community._

_Integration of the Wilizy teenagers into a white only private school in Toronto was nothing compared to those heroes. But Eldreadth Lewis' actions do demonstrate how one person who is determined to open unfairly closed doors can have an impact._

_Eldreadth Lewis remained on the Schnauble Board of Governors until her death at eighty-five. During her tenure on the board, she opened the door for students of all colours and religions to register. She established scholarships for students in need. She converted the school from a focus on elite, university preparations to a school serving many other forms of quality education. The school's largest gym was full of alumni who turned up to honour her at her funeral service. Her contributions to Toronto and to that school are memorialized in its crest that she had completely redesigned during her governorship. After her death, one new symbol was added: a drooping, yellow daffodil. Bravery, honour, and achievement can come from anybody regardless of their race, religion, gender, or quirky eccentricities._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 7

The move to Toronto for the teenagers went reasonably smoothly. All six moved into one of Eldreadth's mansions. Nary and Theo openly shared a bedroom. Dreamer and Wizard may have shared a bedroom; nobody was talking about that to any of the adults. Eldreadth got them all set up and then left them alone. However, their entry into school life did not go as smoothly as they had hoped for. Dreamer, Nary, Lucas, and Theo had thought that they'd be welcomed onto the school's high school basketball teams. Sadly, those teams had been picked in October and had been practicing regularly since. They even had won a few exhibition games. The coaches didn't want to upset the team chemistry that they already had. Too bad about arriving after tryouts. So sad.

Wizard looked over the legal agreement. The school had guaranteed that no classes would be full to them; nothing was mentioned about school teams. So Dreamer placed posters all over the school announcing a challenge game. Five new students who were registered too late to join the teams would play the best basketball players the school had. If the new students won, the school would allow them to play for the school teams. If they didn't win, they'd wash the personal copters of their opponents.

The coaches tried to discourage the game, but the attitude of the student body was overwhelming. The students making up this In'juns teams had to be taught their place. That place was washing copters. On the day of the game, the school's largest gym was full. Wizard was coaching the In'juns and had wisely arranged for two referees from outside the school to handle the officiating. Theo and Dreamer had given Mathias some instruction and practice in doing lay-ups. On defense, he was to check the other team's smallest player and stay between him and the basket. On offense, if he saw anybody on his team in position to grab a defensive rebound, he was to go long and look for a pass.

The Falcons brought twelve players to the game, intent on running the five In'juns into the ground. Two of them were girls. They never got to play. Gender discrimination was alive and well in Schnobland. Does that surprise you?

Wizard's plans for defense were simple: Nary would play as aggressively as she could on the Falcon's ball handler. Every time she stole the ball, she would pass the ball immediately to Dreamer, Lucas, or Theo who would bring the ball down the floor. Theo would be the tallest player on the court. He and Dreamer would control the defensive boards and make quick passes to Mathias at the other end of the floor or to Lucas. If the other team were back on defense when they brought the ball up the court, Lucas and Dreamer would drive to the basket or lob the ball to Theo or Nary. Nary could only do one thing with a basketball. Dunk it. Once she had the ball under the basket, she was unstoppable.

The game remained close at the beginning because Mathias was very nervous. He missed his first four open baskets. Kashmira held his hand on the bench when Wizard called a time out and whispered something in his ear. Mathias didn't miss again. We don't know exactly what incentive Kashmira offered, but we do know that it involved Mathias counting how many baskets he made. By half time, the In'juns were up 32 to 0.

The opposing coach took desperate action. Their point guard was not allowed to bring the ball down the floor because Nary would steal it. To counter that, Nary checked the second point guard and stole the ball from him. Theo, Lucas, and Dreamer could beat any Schnaub player checking them. The Falcons countered by placing all of their players into a _zone defense_ that consisted of everybody standing in the key and closing off driving and passing lanes. Dreamer hit six 3-point shots in a row and that put a stop to the zone. With the score 62 to 2, the noon bell rang (ten minutes before it was supposed to) and the Falcons had five new players on their teams.

The In'juns didn't expect anybody to congratulate them and their expectations were met. A couple of the opposing players nodded at them. All but two spectators cleared the gym quickly in a sullen mood. The two spectators came to the visitors' bench. Dreamer was the first to notice them.

"Lylah," she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard about the game. Thought I'd pop in. You guys did great. Who's the youngster?"

"My brother Mathias."

Lylah would have introduced herself to Mathias, but Kashmira took one look at her and hustled him out of blonde bombshell danger.

"How'd you hear about the game?" Lucas asked.

"I have friends here. This is my former school. The Falcons will have great teams now. I'm glad you won. Your teammates will come around. All players like winning."

"Are you still staying sharp?" Dreamer asked.

"I visit the gym at my usual time. Practicing on my own isn't the same as working with you."

"Do you play for the Falcons?" Theo was addressing the second spectator. Blonde, blue-eyed angel #2.

"No," she replied. "I play for another city school. I came to scout Dreamer. Lylah has been talking about her."

"Are you guys twins or something?" Lucas asked. Indeed, it would be difficult to find anything different in their appearance.

"This is Lohla," Lylah interrupted and then answered Lucas' question. "I'm in university. She's in high school."

"Sisters then," Dreamer concluded. "And you're a basketball player."

"Yup. I'm better than my elderly sister."

"In your dreams."

"I'll be seeing you in a couple of weeks, Dreamer." Lohla didn't say this in a threatening manner; it was simply a matter of fact statement. The challenge had been issued. "I gotta go, Lylah."

"I'll walk the two of you out," Lucas jumped into the deep end with both feet.

...

At the door, Lucas worked up some nerve. "Say Lylah, with you not practicing with Dreamer any more, I thought you might have some time, you know..."

"Lucas, I thought Dreamer told you that I'm not interested in men."

"But we could meet and just talk. You know, as friends. Lesbians can have guy friends, right?"

"Nothing between us will ever happen. I'm sorry. That's simply the way it is."

Lohla cleared her throat. Lylah interpreted the sudden onset of early stage whooping cough correctly.

"If you're smitten by the blonde, blue eyed, white skinned beauty type, Lohla here might be interested."

Lucas eyed the younger sister. He eyed her so long, the i's turned into j's.

"I look like her, but I'm much friendlier than this sour old crone."

"A walk in Toronto Park?"

"I'm game."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 8

Let's jump forward to the end of January and I'll fill you in on what's been happening nationally and internationally that's noteworthy.

In Scandinavia, Muskrat and her classmates were experiencing a change in their curriculum. Direct classroom instruction had been dropped in favour of hypnosis and chemically induced conditioning. Pictures of aboriginals featured heavily in the curriculum.

Placing the promoted Second Lieutenant Karlsson into the team of instructors for female Boot Camp had yielded an immediate reward – the discovery of a Muslim undercover agent. She was now under discrete observation and Special Ops were confident that she'd lead them to all of the other hidden Muslims.

As Second Lieutenant Karlsson was no longer needed in Boot Camp, he was promoted into a new position: First Lieutenant in charge of a newly formed platoon of Muslim infantry soldiers. While only permanent citizens of Scandinavia were allowed to enter the armed forces, these particular infantrymen were unfortunately eligible because their fathers were citizens. They had the audacity to apply for positions in the armed forces that they were entitled to fill. The creation of a platoon composed entirely of Muslims was the army's response. Orders for the creation of this platoon had originated at the very top.

The emergence of a plan to host an international symposium had also come from the very top. Invitations to worthy participants would be extended before the end of February.

As to Safe Haven, no Wilizy member had the slightest suspicion of what they had planned.

### # # # # # # # #

Down in the southern hemisphere, Melissa's pregnancy was rounding into shape. _Round_ as in having a semi-inflated basketball bouncing around uncomfortably inside of her.

Tibia and Fibula were full grown now and providing horsey rides to Liset and EmmaGee. Since the satellite compound was in a public community, those rides were restricted to ground travel only and were never as much fun as when they could fly around back in the home compound.

EmmaGee was content being with children her own age and was now referring to Yollie, Melissa, and Mac as _Mom_. Just as all of the other children did.

Liset was doing well in grade one but EmmaGee struggled at times. The teachers didn't understand why she could be quick to learn new material one day and be completely oblivious of yesterday's lessons the next day. They asked for a parental conference.

Melissa came to the school and answered their questions. Yes, EmmaGee was eating a proper breakfast each morning. Yes, she was sleeping well. Yes, she was enjoying school. Yes, they too had noticed that at times EmmaGee struggled with reading and arithmetic. Even though she could read and do arithmetic very well for her age, they noticed that at times she would sit on the sofa by herself and re-read easy picture books. At those times, it looked almost as if she had to sound out some of the easiest words. She could also become confused about the numbers that came after twenty. At other times, EmmaGee was equally as good at reading and arithmetic as Liset. Melissa said that she'd ask EmmaGee if she were having trouble in school that night.

The four EmmaGees talked about Melissa's questions in bed. They were trying to give everybody equal time in school, but they had noticed the strange looks that the teacher was giving _the body_ when Madison was in charge of it. Now one of the moms was asking questions and soon all three moms would be giving them strange looks. They decided that they'd divvy up time in _the body_ differently. From now on at school, Madison would be in control of the body only during art class, lunch hour, and recess. The other three would share equally during school hours. Madison would receive extra time with the body at home to make up for losing out at school.

### # # # # # # # #

Bean and her parents were settling in to their new life in Toronto. Akilah was now a full-time physician in a near-by health clinic and was attracting many female patients to her practice. Sven had stepped easily into a local barbershop and was working part-time for now. Beanstalk was struggling with the math and science courses in her new school. She was concerned that she might have to repeat some courses. These academic struggles had prompted her to turn down the pleas from the basketball coach who wanted her to come out for the senior girls team.

### # # # # # # # #

On the basketball front, Lohla's challenge to Dreamer turned out to be a non-event. Her school, the Georges Vanier Vikings, had a good team with one star player – Lohla. Her claim that she was better than Lylah might actually have been true. She had the whole package – dribbling, driving, and shooting. However, when the Vikings met the Falcons, their coach ensured that Nary or Dreamer was always on the floor to defend her. Lohla's skills had been well known ever since she began playing in grade eight. All the coaches in the city knew about her. Nary tied her up in knots and she could barely get by her. When Dreamer was checking Lohla, she'd sit back and use her superior height to tip Lohla's outside shots, or in two memorable moments, she stuffed her completely on a drive to the basket.

On offense, Nary was unstoppable when she received the ball under the basket even when the Vikings double-teamed her. As to Dreamer, when the Vikings had a quick guard defending her, Dreamer played under the basket and scored at will. When the Viking put a big forward on her, Dreamer stayed outside and shot 3s. The result was predictable. The Falcons won by twenty-five.

Lucas and Theo's team was cruising through the city round robin, never being seriously challenged. No team had a player with Theo's height and skills. Lucas didn't have a reliable outside shot, so he could score only off drives. But Theo was scoring twenty or thirty points a game and dominating on defensive boards which led to fast breaks which led to Lucas scoring in transition. Lucas was putting up at least twenty points a game. Both Lucas and Theo had superior defense and held the other team's best players to low scores.

Mathias' team was struggling because they couldn't find a coach. Wizard's offer to help had been ignored.

Kashmira was enjoying learning to play the guitar in school. Mathias had given her a mandolin as a Christmas gift and she had brought that to Toronto and practiced with that in the evenings. She struggled with her classroom work, but Mathias helped her with her homework.

Nary was placed in a middle school grade that was several years below her age group. If anybody had any concerns that she'd feel awkward about that, they were mistaken. Her sense of humour kept cracking up her classmates. The teacher tolerated it, perhaps because Nary was bigger than her. In time, the teacher started laughing out loud too.

### # # # # # # # #

On the romantic front, Lucas and Lohla did go for a walk in Toronto Park. They managed to find a tolerable day when the wind coming off the lake was not biting. We don't know what they talked about on that hour-long walk. We do know what was discussed after Lucas had walked Lohla back to her apartment. They were standing on the sidewalk, both of them with nothing to say. Typical for the end of a first date. Lohla's invitation made it even more awkward.

"Do you want to come upstairs? We can have sex."

"What?"

"We can have sex. You know. Get naked; roll around on a bed."

"I know what sex is."

"So what's stopping you? I won't charge you."

"You charge for sex?"

"I thought Lylah told you. I turn tricks. I like you, so you won't have to pay."

"She didn't tell me."

"That explains why you're surprised. I thought that was why you wanted to go out with me."

"No. I wanted to go out with you so that we'd get to know each other better."

"That's what all boys say. All they want is sex."

"I'm not like that."

"That's what all boys say."

"Why are you turning tricks? Does your family know?"

"Hard for them not to know since I tell them what I'm doing whenever I have the chance. I want to go to university but my dad won't help. I'll have the grades to get into university, but not the money. So I have to work. Selling sex is what I do."

"There are other jobs."

"Not that pay this well."

Lucas was dumbfounded. He didn't know what to say.

"I'm fifteen years old and I figure that I'm at the top of my earning power for turning tricks. But I don't have much time to go out on professional dates because I study and practice basketball a lot. So, I focus on wealthy men who like underage girls. After one old man finds me, others follow. I only need to date once a week and the money from that covers living on my own in this apartment and saving up for university."

...

"So, you wanna come up or what? It's OK if you don't want to. It not like I can't have sex whenever I want it."

"I don't think so, Lohla."

"Suit yourself."

Lohla stood on the sidewalk and watched Lucas go. At one point, he turned around and looked at her. She gave him a friendly wave. Then he walked out of sight.

Back to the Table of Contents

#  Chapter 9

With the month of February winding to a close, it is time to catch up with notable events on the Wilizy's social calendar.

First on the schedule was the birth of Melissa and William's third child, a ginormous daughter. My readers know that William took his name from William Shakespeare; Melissa wanted to give her daughter a poetic name as well. She named her _MayaLou_ after Maya Angelou who was her favorite author. Melissa had difficulties with gestational diabetes in the last six weeks of her pregnancy but kept it under control with Doc's assistance. He suggested that the size of their daughter was a result of the diabetes.

Also in February, Toronto's senior high school girls' basketball season came to an end with the Schnauble Falcons playing the Vanier Vikings in the championship game. The Falcons had been undefeated; the Vikings had lost only the one game to the Falcons. This time, the Vikings looked different. Walking on the floor for the starting jump was a tall spindly girl who was actually taller than Dreamer. She won the jump and an entirely different game began.

This time, the Vikings ran a lot of screens to free Lohla from Nary's checking. This time, they played a specialty zone against Dreamer: one in which a shorter player was challenging her outside shot. When she drove, she was driving into the new girl – the one her teammates referred to as _Beanpole_. This beanpole also intercepted many of the lob passes to Nary. At half time, the Vikings were up by ten points.

In the second half, Nary's difficulty doing anything with the ball besides dunking it became obvious. The only way she could get the ball was to set up outside. When she did that, no Viking guarded her; instead, they denied all the possible passes. Every time Nary travelled or passed away the ball, the Vikings got another scoring opportunity. The game ended with the Vikings up by 25 – the same margin of score that they had lost by earlier.

"Our coach was better than yours," Lohla murmured to Dreamer as they went through the handshake line. That was certainly true. With his team cruising through the opposition, the Falcons' coach had given them practices that consisted of half an hour of shooting once a week. Meanwhile, the Vikings coach was scouting the games that the Falcons played against other teams and devising winning offensive and defensive strategies that they practiced almost daily. "Are you going to try out for the Toronto All-Star team?" Lohla asked as she moved on to shake the hand of the next girl.

"I don't know anything about it," Dreamer called after her.

"Talk to Lylah. I can't tell you. I'm supposed to hate you."

### # # # # # # # #

On the boys' side of the tournament, Theo and Lucas dominated in the City Championship finals and the Falcons won the city boys championships easily. Mathias' team didn't make it into the playoffs. Wizard asked Theo if he could find out why they didn't want him as an assistant coach on Mathias' team. By this time, Theo was getting along very well indeed with his own coach.

"He said that they didn't believe you could coach basketball because you can't do any of the skills yourself."

"I can teach strategy. I certainly could have predicted what Dreamer's team was going to face."

"Don't argue your case with me, Wiz. I'd like to have you as an assistant coach on my team, but none of that will happen. In their eyes, you're an in'jun who can't catch a basketball."

### # # # # # # # #

"What's the catch?" Doc asked. Jock had received an invitation to speak at an international symposium on national border controls and had brought it to the directors for discussion. Also present at the meeting were Stu, Momaka, Marie, and Mac. Doc had a bad feeling about this Scandinavian invitation.

"Somehow Scandinavia has heard about Saskatchewan's RADAR program where we work cooperatively to control border issues like smuggling," Jock explained.

"You mean our Raging Gardeners?" Doc pursued.

"Yes, but I doubt they know about that. From what I see in the agenda, I believe they want ideas on how to control borders so that Muslims can't enter European countries illegally. From Yolanda's friend Beanstalk, we know Scandinavia is struggling with what they call _pestilence carriers_. This symposium suggests that they're looking for cooperation from all of their neighbours to limit the influx. They've issued invitations to all of their neighbours, plus England and some others parts of Western Europe. It could be a very big conference."

"I thought that there were lots of Muslims in Europe," Momaka confessed.

"That was before _The Troubles_ ," Stu explained. "We had plenty of bloodshed here in North America, but from what I've heard, it was worse in Europe. Entire populations of minorities were _cleansed_. Now the cycle is repeating itself. Muslims are starving; they're trying to move to places where they won't starve and can raise their families. Some people in those countries are tying to keep them out. Same as what happened sixty years ago."

"But why did they send Saskatchewan an invite? And, how did they hear about you in the first place?" Doc didn't give up when he was pulling on a thread.

"I agree it's a questionable invite. I believe they're checking me out," Jock replied. "We know from Yolanda's friend Bean that at one point they considered the Saskatchewan army to be their main threat. Bean's partner even scouted me in Regina, but concluded that we were harmless. Now, for some reason, Scandinavia invites me to a symposium. They must suspect us of something."

"What?" Granny asked.

"I don't know," Jock replied. "We do know that they have scouted the Wilizy river valley thoroughly and were trying to break through William's defenses. Then they left. Now they appear to be looking at Saskatchewan's army again."

"Could this be fall out from the help we gave to Bean and her father?" Hank mused.

"I don't see how that stealth operation could be tied back to Saskatchewan," Mac replied. "The copter was Scandinavian, only this Bean girl talked and she did so in Scandinavian. They would have pinned the extraction on Muslim insurgents."

"Which in turn prompted them to develop this symposium," Stu connected some dots.

"So, perhaps it's legitimate; perhaps not. Is there any way to obtain more information?" Momaka asked.

"The program of events that they're offering is interesting," Jock offered another tidbit of information. "They are inviting families of the participants to come to Scandinavia and enjoy a holiday at Scandinavia's expense. While the military people are meeting, families will be given guided tours of Stockholm. They'll stay at homes of the Scandinavian royalty."

Momaka pursued, "Surely they wouldn't attack you or your family on such an international stage, would they Jock?"

"I would," Marie declared. "But I'd hide it. Like inside the agenda of a legitimate symposium."

"Taking our family over to Scandinavia would give this Wilhelm a chance to attack you or your family. Or kidnap perhaps? Or just eliminate the threat." Mac wasn't too enthused about Jock going to the symposium. "What do we gain by going over?"

"Know thy enemy," Jock said. "I can ensure that I have a face to face meeting with their Chief of Staff. We can relate on a military basis. All they're doing so far is making soft reconnaissance. When they really come after us – be it the Wilizy or the Saskatchewan army – we'll be better prepared. I'll know his capabilities better. Think of it as a scouting trip of our own. I bet I could plant a drone in his office."

"Who would you take? You can't take any aboriginal faces; otherwise, you could reveal your connections to the Wilizy."

"That's true, Stu. Let's see. I'm a widower, so I have no wife to bring. I'd take my daughter, her husband TG, and my two granddaughters Liset and EmmaGee. Before anybody has a fit about exposing EmmaGee to danger, we could dye her hair the same colour as Liset's. Having her over there gives us access to anything they say in Scandinavian."

"I was on that extraction team, Dad."

"And only the tip of your white nose was visible. You never spoke."

"I don't like it, Jock," Doc said. "It's too risky."

The discussion that followed on the benefits of learning more about Wilhelm versus the risks of Scandinavia's Princess Freya being recognized and Liset being harmed was spirited. You might say it was quite a _dust-up_.

### # # # # # # # #

"Can you see what Nary is doing?" Dreamer's question brought Wizard out of a daydream where seven foot giants were gathered around him listening attentively as he gave them half-time instructions in the World Championships final for basketball giants.

"What?" Wizard mumbled. The Toronto 7 were lying around in the living room of their mansion, killing time until it was time for bed. All were exhausted or bored with the exception of Kashmira who always seemed to have mental energy to spare. She was fingering some chords on her mandolin and strumming gently. Mathias was reading over her English assignment, while Lucas and Theo were foot fighting (who could push the other player off the sofa with only their feet).

"What is it that I'm doing?" Nary asked. She was standing in the middle of the room and looking at the floor

"You have all those dust motes spinning in a circle."

They all looked. Indeed she did.

"Can you make them spin the other direction?"

Turns out that she could.

"How'd you do that?" Mathias asked.

"Voodoo. One of Marie's homework assignments."

Everybody uttered a collective "Huh."

"You think we should dust this room?" Dreamer asked the question but everybody had gone back to what they had been doing or not doing as the case may be.

### # # # # # # # #

It was Friday afternoon and school had just let out. Lucas had used his sling to speed away into Toronto. A minute later, he had de-activated his sling in an alley and sauntered out into a deserted street in a part of the city dedicated to small apartment buildings. He sat on the stairs of one such building and waited.

Lohla saw a figure sitting in front of her apartment building but only recognized it as a male. Closer in, she saw who it was. To her credit, she didn't turn around and pretend to have forgotten an important errand that required her to be anywhere else rather than here.

"Lucas," she said cautiously.

"Lohla," he replied.

"What are you doing here?"

"You mean what am I doing here in front of your real apartment and not the one that you pretended to live in?"

"So you know where I live. So what? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask you why you pretended to live in that other building. What would you have done if I had agreed to go upstairs with you?"

Something about the end of that first date had bothered Lucas. The invitation to have sex – yes. That had bothered him. But something else had too. He had walked away from Lohla's building. When he had turned around, she was turned in his direction and watching him. Why hadn't she turned to go into her apartment? Why would she still be watching him walk away? This last month, he had been doing a little research. He had developed some questions. Now, he wanted some answers. He didn't know if he'd get any.

"If you had accepted, I would have suddenly remembered that Lylah had borrowed my key."

"The two of you cooked that up? You offered to have sex with me just to help your sister out?"

"Yeah. She had been moaning and groaning about what to do with you. I told her that you were probably only interested in her body. For some guys, nailing a blond, blue-eyed beauty like Lylah can be like hanging a scalp on their belt. It was my idea, not hers."

"Did you make that bigoted insult about a scalp deliberately?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"To see how you'd react. Just like I invited you to have sex with me so that I could see how you'd react. I did that so I could tell Lylah if you were really interested in her or if you were only interested in adding me or her to a list of conquests."

"Did you tell her that I didn't go upstairs with you?"

"Yeah."

"What did she say?"

"You'll have to ask her that yourself."

"Is she interested in me?"

"Same answer."

"Is she really a lesbian?"

"Same answer."

"So going on that walk in Toronto Park with me was only to pull that trick? You lied when you said that you had enjoyed it."

"No. I did enjoy it in spite of not wanting to."

"You didn't want to enjoy it?"

"No, I definitely didn't want to enjoy it. I wanted to hate you."

"Why?"

"Because if I liked you, I wouldn't be able to see you again. Lylah found you first. My sister and I have a big rule. No stealing boyfriends! We can't even be friendly with a sister's boyfriend. It's hard enough to find a good man without losing him to a sister."

"But Lylah doesn't like me. She won't have anything to do with me."

"That's what she tells you."

"It's not true?"

"You'll have to ask her."

"Why'd you lie about turning tricks? You didn't have to make that up to check if I'd sleep with you."

"Why do you think it's a lie?"

"Because you said you turned tricks because you needed money. But you work weekend shifts at the Tim Hortons three blocks away."

"Have you been stalking me?"

"I don't know how hard it would be to make enough money to go to university, but work at Timmy's would be enough to pay room and board in this place."

"Will you answer my question about stalking?"

"Will you answer my question about turning tricks being a lie?"

"OK, I admit that I don't turn tricks."

"I didn't stalk you. I did check into you, but only enough to reveal these ... confusions. Then I came here tonight. Why'd you lie about turning tricks?"

"I think the answer to that is pretty obvious, isn't it? If this inquisition is over, I have to change for my shift at Timmy's." At that point, Lohla brushed by Lucas, unlocked the front door, and disappeared inside.

Lucas didn't think the reason she lied to him about turning tricks was obvious at all.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 10

It's mid-March and eight teenagers were now living in that mansion in Toronto, not seven. Basher had moved in with them.

Let me re-word that slightly. Basher had **been** moved in with them. Eldreadth thought that he'd be easier to handle if he was somewhere where she didn't have to handle him. She asked if the Toronto 7 would mind. Basher had no friends and he had nothing to do when he wasn't at school. Except eat ice cream which was making him even heavier. Dreamer observed to the others that they didn't have a choice about taking him into the mansion.

After talking with Lucas about how Basher liked to live, Dreamer had required certain conditions. Basher would keep his own bedroom neat; he'd share in the chores; he'd go to bed and get up in the morning at the same time as the others; he'd eat his meals at the school and have only healthy snacks at home; and he'd go to school without arguing about it.

Basher agreed and sort of smiled at her.

Dreamer felt a vibration and added another condition: he wouldn't peek at either of the girls when they were in their bedroom or in the bathroom.

Now that you know about the new living arrangements, let's check in with the Toronto 8.

Wizard was receiving feedback from Theo, Lucas and Dreamer on his plans for the spring basketball practices that he was going to run for the Schnauble School. Surprisingly, the school had accepted his offer to run practices for senior boys and girls combined. Wizard didn't know this, but they had agreed to his proposal solely to shut him up. This was the third proposal that he submitted with plans for making the school's program better. The school didn't believe that anybody would show up at the practices. Who played basketball in the spring?

Well, Dreamer for one played in the spring. She had tried out for the Toronto All-Stars and had been accepted onto the team, as had Lohla. Nary and the beanpole didn't try out. Theo and Lucas had made the boy's all-star team. So three of them already had a full spring practice schedule but agreed to come out for his practices too. Nary wanted to improve, so she'd be attending too and Mathias asked if he could come even though he wasn't old enough. Privately, everybody believed that they would be the only ones on the floor. But when they read what he was planning to teach in his practices, they all thought that it wouldn't be so bad after all.

Theo asked the critical question. "What will you do about not being able to demonstrate the skill, Wiz? You can't teach it using a clipboard and Xs and Os. You have to teach it on the floor."

"I'll ask one of you to model it."

"That will mean that they'll have no respect for you."

"But I can't do the skill. I always fumble the ball."

"Why don't you use an invisible ball?" Lucas suggested out of the blue.

"You mean put one of William's filaments around it? What good would that do?"

"No filaments. Just pretend to have a ball in your hands. Pretend dribble it. Pretend to shoot it. Most of what you're planning to teach are screens, traps, and clear outs. You can teach those things without having to handle a ball."

"I understand the theory of dribbling and shooting, Lucas. I just can't do it."

"So pretend to do it."

"I need help learning those things too," Nary said.

"Wiz could practice teaching you those things with his invisible ball," Dreamer suggested. "Private lessons, perhaps?"

So that's how Wizard's infamous invisible purple basketball with its orange and lime green stripes was born. Speaking of private lessons, in another corner of the living room, Basher was sitting with a picture book in his hand and with a diminutive teacher sitting beside him. He was sounding words out; she was praising.

Another not so diminutive student was doing her homework by standing in the middle of the living room and making the swinging door between the kitchen and the living room move one way and then the other. At one point, she had been slamming the bedroom doors shut from the living room, but the noise had disturbed the others and she was always having to go down the hallway and open the doors again. The swinging door was less troublesome. Nary's roommates were used to strange things happening inside their house now. Basher was so focused on his picture book, and especially on his pretty teacher, that an earthquake could have rattled the house and he wouldn't have noticed it. However, Mathias did notice the inside-the-house breeze and was standing next to the breeze-creator. Watching, feeling the breeze, asking how she did it. Nary tried to explain but Mathias wasn't a Voodoo prince.

### # # # # # # # #

In another part of the globe, two grade one girls were talking about their upcoming mission to Scandinavia. As the reader knows, the Wilizy family actually had five girls in grade one: Liset along with Madison, Maddy, Karita, and Freya. Those inhabiting the body of EmmaGee weren't on the same page with this mission.

Having their hair dyed so that they'd be sort of like a twin to Liset had received mixed reactions. Freya had objected because Scandinavian royalty was always blonde. Karita went along with the rinse job because she didn't want to cause problems. Madison didn't mind so long as it didn't hurt. Maddy didn't care anything at all about her hair; they could cut it all off if that's what was needed for the mission. The dye-job went ahead as planned.

Almost everybody in _the body_ understood the mission and thought that they could do it. It was simple. Be a kid. But, be a kid that listens to other people speaking in Scandinavian. Tell Mac if they overheard anything that might put them in danger. Translate anything Mac or Jock asked them to translate and tell them what it meant with mental messages.

The part about the danger was the sticking point. Madison didn't want to go to Scandinavia. She'd pee her pants and everybody would notice; they'd get caught and shot.

The other three tried to change her mind because they wanted to go. Freya wanted to see her homeland. Karita wanted to wear the fancy dresses that Momaka and Yolanda were making for Mac and the two girls. Maddy wanted to be on an operation with Liset. They came up with some suggestions that they thought would make Madison feel better.

When they were on the mission, Maddy would be in charge of the body so there'd be no danger of Madison losing control of the body. At night, Karita would help Madison fall asleep. Freya said that they'd let Madison eat all of their desserts if she agreed to go. Freya didn't check with the others on that idea and there was some initial anger about having to give up desserts, but they did agree to it if Madison would stop whining about being scared. (Maddy's words.)

None of this worked. They were less than a week away from leaving and Madison was starting to break down from the fear. "You'll make _the body_ sick," Freya exclaimed. "I don't like being sick. Stop doing this!"

"Don't be a wuss!" another said. You can guess who.

"Madison, what about trying this?" Again, I don't have to tell you who's talking here.

So, Karita reminded Madison how everybody liked hiding _the body_ and listening to the adults talk. Why didn't Madison try hiding **inside** _the body_? Like, hide inside and go to sleep the whole time they were in Scandinavia? Let the other three control _the body_ and then she could wake up when they got home.

They all talked about that, but didn't know how to hide inside _the body_. Two days before they were scheduled to leave, Madison stopped talking to the other three and didn't respond even to offers of extra dessert.

### # # # # # # # #

Speaking of not talking...

Lucas was facing a conundrum, a dilemma if you like. Lohla had sort of suggested that Lylah was interested in him. But she had refused to say anything about that or answer any of the other questions he had. If he wanted to know more, he'd have to ask her. But Lylah had refused to have anything to do with him. What to do? What to do?

Anybody who knew Lucas well would realize what he'd do next. Pursue it. When he had discovered what he thought would be enough, he waited for Lylah to come out of the U of T practice gym where he knew she practiced. He made sure that he was standing under a light at the exit where she'd be sure to see him because he didn't want her to think that he was stalking her.

"Lylah."

"Are you stalking me, Lucas? I told you that what you wanted was impossible."

"I'm not stalking you. I knew that you were still practicing because you told Dreamer that when I was right there. May I walk you home?"

"So that you can find out where I live?"

"Lylah! I've known where you live ever since you invited Dreamer to move in with you. Come on!"

Silence.

"This is just a polite invitation. May I walk you home? I'm sure you know that Lohla and I have talked about our walk in Toronto Park. I'm sure you know that she pretended to be a prostitute. I'm sure you know that she refused to answer any questions I had about you. She told me that I had to talk with you if I wanted any questions answered. How can I talk with you if you won't even let me walk you home?"

"I didn't ask her to pretend to be a prostitute."

"I know. She told me that. But because of her pretending, you now know that I'm not trying to be your friend so that I can have sex with you and hang your scalp on my belt."

"She shouldn't have said that. It was very rude."

"It was, but I didn't mind. So now it's clear that you aren't refusing to see me because I'm only interested in having sex with you. You know that I'm not."

"OK. I thought you might be like that, but you aren't."

"See. We're talking. Like real people. Why don't you let me walk you home? Or if you don't want to do that, why don't we go to the SUB and I'll buy you a hot chocolate? We can talk in the cafeteria."

_[Narrator: SUB = Student Union Building which had a food court.]_

"I'll go with you to the SUB. I'll buy my own drink. It's not a date. You can ask me five questions and I'll answer them truthfully."

...

Lucas deliberately wasted his first question. He had found a school year book picture from when Lylah and Lohla had been in grade one at Schnauble. He wanted to be sure that she wasn't still playing games.

"You and Lohla are twins, right?"

"Yes. I'm older by a couple of minutes. We'll be sixteen this year. When I was ready to go into grade three, they jumped me way ahead. My dad is very smart. I take after him. Lohla takes after my mother."

At least she wasn't answering with Yes/No words. Lucas wanted to ask why she was hiding the fact they were twins, but didn't want to waste a question.

"Are you a lesbian?"

"I'm as much a lesbian as Lohla is a teenage prostitute."

Part of Lucas' research included looking into the public news on her family. He found lots of articles on her father – Dr. Thomas Richardson, Research Scientist at the University of Toronto. He was in charge of a potentially huge breakthrough in medical science with a concept that he called _Plasma Surgery._

"Do some of your hesitations about me have anything to do with your father?"

"You know about my father?"

"Only what's in the media."

"Yes, I am heavily influenced by what my father wants for me."

"Is it true that you don't want to have anything to do with me?"

"No, that's not true."

"Will you go out on dates with me if we can arrange for them to be a secret from your father?"

"Yes, but you can't touch me. There can't be any physical contact."

"Why not?"

"You've run out of questions."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 11

Operations _Matching Panties_ – as Yollie would name the excursion to Stockholm – was scheduled for the last weekend in March. Guests to the symposium were asked to arrive during the morning or afternoon of Friday, March 28. There'd be a formal welcoming dinner for all guests that evening starting at 6 p.m. Men were expected to be in dress uniforms or tuxedos. Ladies should wear full-length gowns. Some latitude was acceptable for children. Yolanda and Momaka had designed and sewn full-length ivory white gowns for Mac, Liset, and EmmaGee. They had even included some Rider green highlights around the neck and hems. The early start for the dinner was to accommodate the many children of the delegates.

The Saskatchewan delegation arrived in a deserted part of Scandinavia at about 3:30 local time. Their total travel time by sling from Regina to their _touchdown_ in Scandinavia was about ten minutes. _(I did mention that there was Rider green in their gowns so you shouldn't be surprised if I make a football pun)_. TG had flown a Saskatchewan army helicopter over the polar cap the day before and landed it in the isolated camp that Mac had used in their earlier rescue operation. He also unloaded all of the equipment and weaponry that they didn't want the Scandinavians to find. He'd draw from these stores as necessary during the weekend. This base camp would be their staging area. Other Wilizy participating in the operation were already in this camp when Jock and his family arrived.

Jock used the Saskatchewan army copter to make the last leg from their hidden base camp to the Scandinavian's main army base in Stockholm. From there, the Saskatchewan delegation was taken by Scandinavian copters to the luxury home where they would be housed. Their own copter would be parked at the base. From this point on, all of their transportation needs, including travel into and out of Stockholm, would be handled by the platoon of soldiers stationed at Gustaffson House for such services.

_Essentially, we are now stranded here and subject to the availability of Scandinavian soldiers_ , Mac messaged her father.

_All within the guise of providing us with a luxury home and dedicated hospitality_ , he replied.

Gustaffson House was a three-storey mansion built in the eighteenth century. Eric Gustaffson was a cousin to the king of Sweden, Gustav III. A member of the Gustav family had been resident in this house for centuries before the troubles. The house was considered an historical, national treasure and rebels had left it untouched during _The Troubles_. Being outside of Stockholm and situated within a broad sweeping range of treed mountains had been another reason why it had escaped vandals. It was now a heritage museum with live in accommodations available for museum staff. That staff had been transferred into Stockholm for the weekend.

_What do you think?_ Jock asked Mac.

_Wonderful historical house. I could spend days here going through the museum. The small apartment for their staff is perfectly fine for us._

_I meant militarily._

_We're inside a deserted zone where nobody will be around to hear any loud noises that might occur. We are surrounded by dense woods that could hide several platoons. We can be attacked at any time without warning from any direction. The house is impossible to defend because it is so big and has so many unguarded entry points. We're sitting ducks._

_And, our military hosts have now taken everything we own up to our apartment and unpacked it for us. They'll know that we brought no weapons with us._

_So, we are sitting defenseless ducks._

_Isn't that redundant? Aren't all ducks defenseless?_

_Dad, are you enjoying this?_

_We know what's coming. What we don't know is whether we'll be attacked by the troops assigned to serve us or not. Why don't you check them out?_

_We're safe today and tomorrow, right?_

_Yes, I'd say so but we should remain on alert._

_I'll have our Sling Warriors search the surrounding area for warning signs._

### # # # # # # # #

Saturday was a full day for everyone. The delegates were in meetings well into the evening. The families were divided into groups according to the age of their children. Jock's family enjoyed an hour of boat sightseeing, several hours at an amusement park, a visit to a children's library, and shopping. They were accompanied by official tourism hosts and by six Scandinavian students who joined them as companions for the girls. These young girls showed them the best rides at the amusement park, suggested the best Scandinavian clothes to buy, and helped them chose food at the various breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurants that they went to. All families were delivered back to their accommodations in time for a 7 p.m. bedtime if such were necessary. Jock returned at about 11 p.m. He staggered out of the helicopter much the worse for wear.

Here's what Jock and Mac discussed that evening.

_Are they going to accomplish anything at the symposium?_

_I doubt it. There's no military solution to the spread of these refugees. Some countries are using their armed forces to shunt people on to the next country. Others like Scandinavia are using armed forces to keep them out. Neither strategy is working well and all it's doing is making all the countries mad at each other. This is a political issue and it has to be solved by politicians._

_Did you speak?_

_Not much. I gave them an edited version of the RADAR group and it was clear that the little bit we do policing isolated areas of central North America is not adaptable to Europe. Later I talked about what we did with our undesirables._

_Undesirables?_

_Yeah, our aboriginal problem. I told them that we gave them their own Aboriginal Nation. I explained it as confining all of them into one area and keeping them there where they couldn't pollute other, more desirable land. When I told the symposium that it meant giving up ownership of those lands, they lost interest quickly._

_Are you drunk tight now?_

_No but they believe I am. We were given lots of wine at the dinner meal. Afterwards we broke into small groups for discussion, which essentially meant military men talking about their battles and politicians talking about fundraising so that they can get re-elected. My glass was refilled many times. Wilhelm sat down in my group at one point. I made sure that I made disparaging remarks about aboriginals to him._

_Like what?_

_Like he'd never find me with any aboriginals in my family._

_Which is true. He never will find them._

_Yes, I find it easier to lie when I tell the truth. That comment got his attention. He invited me to have a private meeting with him Sunday afternoon at their military headquarters. It's likely that the meeting will drag on for a while. He says that he's interested in learning more about the Aboriginal Nation. They're going to give me a guided tour of their base._

_Which we don't need since we have drones over all of their bases._

_But I will be discussing bigoted matters in his personal office. We haven't been able to identify that location yet._

_Define "drag on."_

_The meeting will end too late for us to leave Scandinavia that night. He has invited us to stay over one more night._

_At Gustaffson House?_

_Of course. It's much too complicated to move our things out for only one night._

_Now we know where and when we'll be attacked._

_That we do. Did you investigate the soldiers guarding us? Are they any good? What about security of the house?_

_Dad, the house has no effective security. The civilians here don't receive much tourist traffic and all they do is ensure that the number of visitors who come in equals the number who leave. They have nothing electronic._

_Is TG working on that?_

_Yeah, they kept us busy today, so he's installing everything tonight._

_Their soldiers?_

_You're going to love this. After the kids were in bed, I chatted up the lieutenant in charge. He's confused about this assignment. These soldiers are all recent recruits who are only partway through their boot camp. They are all Muslims. Apparently, the Scandinavian armed forces are trying to demonstrate that Muslims are welcome in the country. The lieutenant wonders why their training was interrupted so that they could fly our family back and forth._

_What have you done about this?_

_I've put the Sling Warriors in surveillance posts about ten Ks out. We'll scan for incoming heat signatures. Hank is bringing the scanning equipment in from our base camp tomorrow. Plus he's hiding all of our conventional weaponry in the nearby woods._

_Those Muslim soldiers are likely to die Sunday night aren't they?_

_If Wilhelm has his way._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 12

Sunday, March 30th was another full day for the Saskatchewan visitors.

Jock attended the symposium meetings again and participated with the others in drafting a public statement that would document what they had accomplished. They had spent about eight hours on Saturday working on their problem. They spent six hours on Sunday drafting a statement that said, essentially, that they didn't come up with anything remotely useful for solving the problem. By late afternoon, all of the other symposium guests had departed.

It was then that Jock received his tour of the main army base in Stockholm. He showed a lot of interest and asked many questions. You might wonder why he did that since all army bases are built on the same basic design. Jock was being very diplomatic by showing an interest. He wasn't interested. It was an army base, for crying out loud.

By suppertime, Wilhelm was more than ready for their meeting. So was Winnie. Jock was sitting with Wilhelm in his actual office – having expressed the desire to see where all the big decisions were made rather than sitting in a typical meeting room. You would be correct in thinking that he had a reason for doing this.

_Winnie, I'm in Wilhelm's office now. Can you see me?_

_Yeah, I'm just outside the big window. This is a safe location to do some time-travelling._

_When will you install the spider?_

_I'm going back one full year to March 30, 2086. That's the capacity on the spider's storage. It will store everything that is said and done in this office from then to now._

_How will you install it in Wilhelm's office?_

_I'll make a little hole at the top of this big window, put the spider into the office and it will hide itself in a dark spot. Then I'll come back to real time and download the data. TG said that he'll review the data when we get home._

_[Narrator: A reminder to my readers of something that I reported in book #9 "Bite Me," chapter 5. It was in April of 2086 and Wilhelm was meeting with Jak in his main office. Wilhelm mentioned the hole in the window behind him and how it would be repaired soon. He didn't know what had caused the hole to appear. Now you know why the hole was there. I bet you had forgotten all about that.]_

Jock had accomplished his objective for coming to Scandinavia when he had agreed to this meeting. They now knew where Wilhelm conducted all of his important business on the main base and they'd know everything he had said in this office for the last year and from now into the future. But Jock had to drag the meeting out so that his family could be kidnapped later that night. So, he and Wilhelm talked military matters and in the process Jock learned that Wilhelm was a politician first and a military man second. If the Scandinavian forces ever had to face the Wilizy in a pitched battle, Wilhelm wouldn't be up to it.

Jock also had to drink a great deal in the meeting. He thought that he was just showing military courtesy; he didn't realize that Wilhelm was checking whether Jak's analysis of his drunken nature was accurate. When Jak's observation appeared spot on, Wilhelm relaxed. He was confident that tonight's two operations would go smoothly.

### # # # # # # # #

Jock's family had enjoyed another day of sightseeing starting with an indoor petting zoo complete with bunnies and miniature pigs. Accompanying them on the trip were the six school guides who had helped them the previous day. The highlight of the afternoon was supposed to be a tour of the Royal Palace where they saw the state apartments, the crown jewels, and collections of regal clothing. Liset and EmmaGee heard that Queen Freya was not in the city right now but would be returning soon from her trip to North America where she had given birth to a baby boy (Prince Knut) who would be a brother for Princess Freya. When it became time for Queen Freya to step down as the ruler of Scandinavia, Freya's brother would become King. As they were leaving the palace, EmmaGee's body said that she was feeling sad and wanted to go back home. (Freya was in charge of the body at the time.) Their guides offered to cheer her up with a sleepover at their school. Mac accepted the offer because that would allow her to get back to Gustaffson House in time to prepare for the coming battle.

That battle began soon after darkness fell with a platoon from Scandinavia's Special Ops forces spreading out in a giant circle and belly crawling in towards its center, which just happened to be Gustaffson House. The Wilizy tracked each soldier in the darkness through his heat signature. Between the two of them, Doc and Granny were able to sneak up invisibly behind each of them with a hypodermic needle full of sleepy-time juice that Winnie provided. The other sling Warriors bundled the sleeping bodies up and prepared them for travel.

After the threat had been neutralized, Mac revealed herself to First Lieutenant Karlsson as a member of the Saskatchewan army and introduced him to the sleeping soldiers who had been sneaking through the woods. "These men were going to capture us and in that process kill you and your men. Our capture would be blamed on Muslims – obviously you are untrustworthy dolts and all Muslims would be banned from joining the armed forces in the future."

Lieutenant Karlsson didn't need much convincing that this indeed would have been their fate. Nor did he and his men need to be convinced that it would be best if they skedaddled before the sleeping soldiers were found or awoke on their own. Mac gave him directions to a certain isolated camp that they could use as a hidden base until the search for them had been dropped. "I could finish the platoon's training there," Lieutenant Karlsson mused. "We could keep you supplied with food and other necessities," Mac offered.

You may be wondering how Winnie was able to supply Doc and Granny with sleepy-time juice. You may remember that one book ago, Hank had given Winnie the responsibility for determining what Ingrid was doing in Scandinavia and, as well, to set up surveillance drones over their military bases. _[See Wheelchair Moccasins.]_ It was only natural that Hank would ask her to track the little girl who tried to swim up their river back to her home base. It was only natural that Winnie would put an observational drone over the building that served as a school to train young girls to be assassins. It was only natural that she'd fill the school with spiders. It was only natural that she'd check the spider data frequently. It was only natural that she'd see how the students were being hooked up to intravenous drips, drugged into a comatose sleep, and conditioned to believe that it was all right to kill little girls so long as they were aboriginals. And now you know where Doc and Granny obtained their sleepy-time juice.

As the reader will have suspected, the young guides that followed them all over Stockholm were from that school for assassins. Their assignment on this weekend was to lure the two Saskatchewan girls to the school, kill any adult who accompanied them, and then hold the girls there for further instructions. Winnie knew all of this, as did Mac. The specific offer of a sleepover was not anticipated but something along those lines was expected. EmmaGee herself had already told Mac that the guides who were following them around were saying bad things about them in Scandinavian and planning to hit them. EmmaGee didn't understand the special meaning of the word _hit,_ but she knew that she wouldn't like people slapping and punching her. Momaka and Winnie did understand what was intended and joined Liset and EmmaGee invisibly at the sleepover, but they would have done that without EmmaGee's warning anyway. They knew what the sleepover party would mean.

It was Winnie who had the idea of all the girls playing hide'n'seek. The two Wilizy girls turned themselves invisible and left the country. This was the Wilizy version of hiding. Scandinavian seeking wasn't up to the task.

It took three days but Wilhelm's forces finally found their assault troops trussed up and sleeping in some woods several kilometers away from Gustaffson House. They had intravenous drips inserted into their arms and the following hypnotic instructions were cannonading through their minds. Mac had dictated the words, but a young girl had taped the instructions in perfect Scandinavian.

_You are a cute little girl. Cute little girls don't hurt people. Cute little girls should never use guns. Don't even pick up a gun because it will be greasy and might wreck your clothes. Cute little girls always wear a clean skirt and blouse with matching panties. You won't be cute if you don't._

Now you know where Yollie got the name for the operation.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 13

TG prepared a summary of a year's worth of conversations in Wilhelm's military office within two days and called for a meeting. He thought that it was sufficiently important for all senior Wilizy personnel to be there. This meant that all of the adults were participating as well as Winnie. Lucas and Theo would have been invited but they were now on leave from Wilizy operations so that they could concentrate on their schooling.

"We now have absolute proof of what Wilhelm has been trying to do through his work with Safe Haven and what his Special Ops forces have been trying to do internally."

"Wilhelm sent Queen Freya and Prince Samuel to North America to get them out of the way so that he could take control of the country. Their two guards had the authority to assassinate them if necessary. Jak deemed it necessary to kill Queen Freya. She was promoted as a reward for doing so."

"Prince Samuel had been tasked with devising a way to create clones of Queen Freya using her baby eggs and he was making progress so Jak brought him back to Scandinavia so that he could continue his work. Wilhelm was quite content if those clones had limited intelligence. The purpose of the Queen Freya clones was to ensure that white people would remain in charge of the country. Prince Samuel is continuing to research the idea of cloning but he is working with Ingrid now in a secret location."

"Wilhelm and his military have been waging a war on their own Muslim citizens. We have proof that they have poisoned some of them so that the women wouldn't be able to have babies. We also have proof that Wilhelm imprisoned a lot of politicians for complaining about vaccinations that were in fact poisonings. We also have proof that he ordered the Muslim platoon to be formed so that they could be killed in an attack on a family attending the symposium. Their exact target was never mentioned in that office."

"With Queen Freya dead, Wilhelm is trying to find Princess Freya so that Ingrid and Prince Samuel can harvest her eggs. As you know, EmmaGee is Princess Freya. She is not expected to live after that harvesting. The whole reason that they were scouting us in our home compound, and scouting the Saskatchewan military base, was to pursue leads that Jak and the Beanstalk had developed on where Princess Freya might be located. The exact reasons why the Wilizy or the Saskatchewan army might have Princess Freya are clouded. Given our recent operation and how we spanked the Scandinavian army, it's probably safe to conclude that their focus will be on the Saskatchewan army from now on if they do pursue their efforts to find their princess."

Jock interrupted TG at that point. "I did that deliberately. The Saskatchewan army is better prepared to fight a military battle with a Scandinavian military force if they ever decided to escalate their efforts. I was hoping to take their attention away from finding out more about the Wilizy and where we live."

TG resumed: "As part of his efforts to adjust the balance of citizens in Scandinavia to more white and less Muslim, Wilhelm contracted Safe Haven to kidnap young blondes and convert them to Scandinavian speaking young girls. This was why EmmaGee was kidnapped. As an escalation to that contract, they took older girls who could pass as Scandinavians and conditioned them into being assassins. I found no other reference to Safe Haven in Wilhelm's tapes."

Hank stepped in. "We ourselves have seen no response from our attacks on the slave ranches. When we took their gang members out of the cities, we saw no Safe Haven presence and there has been no response to the boys disappearing. All of this suggests that Safe Haven is no longer a threat to us. Would you agree, Jock?"

"Based on this evidence, yes. However, Wilhelm conducts business in two different locations. As Army Chief of Staff, he has an office in their Stockholm military base that we now have tapped into. However, he is also Scandinavia's Prince Regent and he has an office is the royal palace in Stockholm. We do not have ears in that office. He may have been communicating with Safe Haven in his capacity as Prince Regent."

"Why haven't we bugged that office?" Doc asked.

"I didn't believe that we would need it," Jock replied. "I would argue that what happens in Scandinavia is none of the Wilizy's business. We have acted solely to protect EmmaGee. They scouted our home base and we let them. We did not respond. What happened in Stockholm last weekend was a consequence of them trying to lure a Saskatchewan army family into a trap where they would kidnap our children and force us to exchange them for Princess Freya."

"That didn't work. They have no idea where Princess Freya is or who might have her. Scandinavia cannot fight a military war with Saskatchewan. They do not have the resources. The Saskatchewan army doesn't have the resources to fight a war in Scandinavia either. We should consider this war to be over. Scandinavia is unlikely to threaten us again. If they do have designs on us, we'll hear about that in our bug in Wilhelm's office."

"What about their plans to clone a large number of white blonde women?" Melissa asked.

"They won't be doing that with EmmaGee's eggs. Nothing is stopping them from using eggs from one of their own women. If they do, it's none of our business." Hank made the statement and Jock nodded in agreement.

A pregnant silence entered the room and began reproducing offspring.

"I don't think so," a feminine voice finally said in a Kashmirian tone. As my readers would expect, it was Granny who started the debate about how women were being treated in Scandinavia and whether or not the Wilizy should do something about that.

At the end of a long marathon discussion about the sanctity of Scandinavia's internal affairs, the Wilizy could only agree to disagree. At least they didn't take six hours to write a public statement. They never did get back to talking about Safe Haven.

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# Chapter 14

EmmaGee returned to the satellite compound with mixed feelings. Maddy enjoyed the hide'n'seek game the most, especially because the other girls were being so mean. Karita liked the petting zoo best and wearing the fancy dress was a close second. Freya was enjoying herself until the trip to the palace. When she heard that Queen Freya had given birth to a boy who was Princess Freya's brother, pieces of the puzzle in her head suddenly clicked into place. She hadn't picked up on what being a Queen meant. Living in a huge palace, wearing fancy clothes, and ruling a country. She only knew of her mother the queen as a person who had bought a magnet so that she could hang a drawing on a refrigerator. Why were they saying that her mom was alive? Why were they saying that she herself had a brother? Why had she been kidnapped and taken away from her mother?

Freya's overwhelming reaction to the trip was one of sadness. She had seen pictures of her mother in her fancy clothes. She had seen her bedroom. This was where her mother had lived. She didn't know that this palace was supposed to be hers. She just wondered why her mom had died far away from her palace. And she wondered why those schoolgirls had been trying to hurt her and Liset. Even Fibula's enthusiastic welcome home could not shake Freya out of her sadness.

The other girls living inside the EmmaGee body also became sad. Partly because when one girl is using the body to mope around, pick at her food, and do nothing except lie on the bed with Fibula... well, they had to do the same thing. But they were also sad that Madison had not yet returned from her hiding place. For all of her fears and her confusions, they liked Madison. They wanted her back.

As their days of sadness became prolonged, EmmaGee's behaviour and mood became noticeable. Melissa tried to cheer EmmaGee up by giving her and Liset responsibility for helping with MayaLou. Mac made some special desserts, but was surprised that EmmaGee never actually finished any of them. She always left a quarter of the bowl behind. For her part, Yollie didn't say anything about Fibula being on top of the bed, but she did tell them to stop Fibula from trying to sneak under the covers and sleep with them.

And still, EmmaGee continued to go downhill.

Maddy and Karita did continue to try to help Freya, but they had to be careful what the EmmaGee body said around adults. So, that's when they told me (Liset) how four of them were living together in one body. I remember asking them if they had four little bunk beds inside the body so that they all had somewhere to sleep. They didn't know. They thought it might be possible. None of them knew where they were in the body when they weren't in charge. It could have been four bunk beds inside the tummy. That's how little we knew about the human body.

It didn't help that the Wilizy children had so many weird things happening around us that we all took for granted. If an invisible dragon were flying around and if an alligator might be an alligator but also might be a gray haired lady... well, you tend to believe anything. I didn't doubt that four different personalities were living in one body. I did agree not to tell anybody about it. But that's because we all thought that the adults would solve the problem by having Doc cut them out of the body one at a time and... well, we didn't know what he'd do with them but it wouldn't be pleasant. Doc was always the biggest worry for EmmaGee. Back at the home compound, he used to watch her closely. He even had a notebook that he'd open from time to time and jot a note. We had to keep the EmmaGee family of four a secret.

I didn't know what to do about Madison being missing, but I did know what to do about Freya being sad. "You have to find out why your mom died and why you were kidnapped," I told them. "The adults know. Ask the mom who you think will tell you the truth."

So Maddy the Brave took over the body and asked Mac if she could ask her some questions. She also asked if I could be there with them. That's when we learned about the Scandinavians and why those girls had been so mean. When Mac started to tell us why Maddy's great-uncle was trying to take her back to Scandinavia, she had to make a little detour and talk about what was inside girls' bodies. We had no idea that we had tiny eggs inside of us. We had our first sex talk that afternoon and I remember thinking that if our bodies had room inside for our ovaries, maybe they did have enough room for miniature bunk beds.

Freya cheered up a little after that talk. She cheered up a lot the day we played dress-up.

We asked one of the moms ahead of time, of course. Melissa said that we could wear our Scandinavian gowns if we were careful with them. Freya would be herself and I would be the Princess of Alaska, which is sort of where I came from. We needed a prince so we pulled Fibula into the bedroom and wrapped a black sweater around her. Karita created a black tie out of a black ribbon for the prince and then we were ready to make our grand entrance into the King's ballroom that was going to be the living room in Mac's house. Karita pinned three butterflies to the gown she was wearing and that's when I found out what those butterflies meant. She left Madison's pink butterfly on the top of the bureau and we left the bedroom in a regal procession. Freya first, me second, and Prince Hairy last. At least we tried to. Prince Hairy refused to leave the room. Instead, he went to the bureau and whined.

Freya grabbed him by his fur ruff and pulled him into line. Prince Hairy went back to the bureau. Freya tried it again. Back to the bureau went our prince. This time, Fibula rose up on her hind legs, put her front legs on the top of the bureau, gently mouthed the pink butterfly, and delivered it to Freya.

"I don't want to wear this, Fibula," she said. "It belongs to Madison." She took the pink butterfly back to the bureau.

Fibula picked up the butterfly again, but this time she gave it to me. Then she started pulling at her black sweater with her teeth and whining.

That's when we figured out where Madison had gone.

At least, we were fairly sure. We did some tests, like asking Fibula if Madison was inside. She nodded her head. We asked Fibula to add 3 plus 2, and she tapped her paw 5 times. When we asked her to subtract 2 from 3,she tapped her paw 5 times. Madison hadn't learned subtracting yet. That's when we were sure.

We changed into our play clothes and took turns going for a ride on Madison. Tibia wasn't interested. In fact, she seemed a little hesitant around her sister wolf which made us believe even more that Madison was inside Fibula. That night we shared some of our dessert with Fibula, which got the official frown of disapproval from my mom. We all went to bed early and I bunked in with EmmaGee. Fibula climbed on the bed and tried to pull the covers off, so we helped her and she slept with us under the covers. The next morning, mom found white fur inside EmmaGee's bed and we lost our desserts for a week. We didn't care. That's because one day after we had discovered a human inside a wolf's clothing, Fibula showed up with Freya's blue butterfly in her teeth. Neither Madison nor Freya could communicate with us, but they understood everything we said.

To finish the story: Some time afterwards, we told William that we were pretty sure that the two wolves would be able to communicate with us if he could hook them up the same as he had done with Winnie's wolves. I believe he was only humouring us, but he did it anyway. (William can be convinced to do just about anything if we hug him first. However, we only use this power for good.) This meant he made pinky ring computers that attached to their paws and fit them with slings. Worked like a charm. Even Winnie was impressed that we had discovered their abilities. She was more than happy to allow us to change their names. From that point on _Madison_ and _Freya_ were their names and they were our wolves to care for.

Once they were able to communicate, we asked Freya why she started living inside Fibula. It was mostly because she wanted her own body. Sharing and negotiating with bunkmates was never one of Freya's strong points.

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# Chapter 15

Lucas and Lylah were now on their third walking visit. They just happened to meet each other at Toronto's Chapman Park Ravine, a wild, untended green area inside Toronto's metro area, but one that was so difficult to traverse that it would attract few visitors. Like a University of Toronto professor.

Their first two walks had been in more public areas – areas that might explain why two teenagers might accidentally meet and sit down and chat. Shopping centers, for example. This time Lucas wanted to get some exercise. Lylah agreed to go hiking by herself at Chapman Park and came with her feet encased in hiking boots. She also brought a small snack for herself that would have enough extra to feed some squirrels, perhaps a raccoon, or even a male teenager out for a walk. Lucas brought extra liquids in case he encountered a sudden sun storm that might cause heat prostration. They were now working through these supplies while sitting at the top of the ravine that was unlikely to give anybody a view of two teenagers not touching each other while talking animatedly. Lucas was in mid story. The topic? His most embarrassing moment ever.

"So I'm sitting in the living room working on my Star Trek game while Candi is walking buck naked around the apartment and I'm not looking at anything she wants me to see because I thought that she might ask me to help her clean the apartment."

Lylah erupted in laughter. "That's what you thought she was after?"

"I swear," Lucas said and held up a hand holding a fried chicken leg. Something for the raccoons, no doubt. "I was so naive. I didn't realize that she was a prostitute selling her services to school kids. I thought she was a tutor who went into the woods and gave lessons on forest ecology. I didn't realize that in helping her collect money, I had become her pimp. I didn't even know those kinds of people existed."

"And you ended up in court charged with pimping?"

"And of availing myself of Candi's services while she was frantically trying to push me away and save her virginity."

"What happened?"

"My family knew a good lawyer and he demolished Candi in court while I was wishing I could hide under the chair. Both my parents were in the courtroom and had to listen to Candi and all her lies. But our friend proved that she had made everything up."

"What happened to her?"

"She went to jail because they caught her selling sex to minors when I wasn't there to take the blame. But before the trial, I hid in the woods for a full week so that nobody in my family could see me and I ate leftover food that Theo snuck out to me. After the trial, I was too ashamed to be with anybody, especially a girl. It took me over a year to get over it. Dreamer helped me a lot."

"How?"

"Not my story to tell."

"And all of this because you walked around a group of girls putting your hands on their boobs?"

"Yeah. I was a walking vibrating male hormone. Most of them let me touch them for a while before saying, _Take your hands off my boobs, Lucas_. I still cringe when I hear those words."

"Wow. That _is_ embarrassing."

"What's yours?"

"Mine happened in a basketball practice."

"Clothing malfunction?"

"I wish. I was a first year player on the U of T's women's team. I was the only first year player on the team and I actually was two years younger than what other first year players would be if they could have made the team."

"You were that good?"

"I was, and I was getting decent minutes. I was essentially their back-up point guard and got to play when the first string point guard screwed up which she did frequently. At least the coach thought she did; everybody on the team thought she was great. She had been named to the conference's first all star team the previous year. But the coach rode her, and rode her and rode her. He was the kind of coach that gets right in your face and yells at you from spitting distance away. If you made a mistake in a game, you'd be sitting on the bench one substitution later. If he couldn't take you off the floor, he'd yell at you from the bench. Nasty stuff. Not suggestions that would improve your game; more like descriptions of what a terrible player you were."

"Which doesn't help at all. And taking you off on a single mistake would mean everybody on the team would hesitate before shooting or driving."

"Exactly. If we ran his system which other teams had scouted and knew how to defend, we'd end up with no baskets. If we improvised and score, he'd yell at us for not running the system. Most of the girls on that team wanted to quit, but if they did, the team would fold. Some girls needed to be on the team for their scholarship. So everybody just sucked it up and took it."

"One day at practice, he was harassing the point guard and I could see her quivering and I figured she was about to quit. So, I spoke up. I don't normally do something like that. I normally suck it up when something bad is happening. I didn't say anything to all the spoiled kids in Schnauble Academy when they were ragging on some poor kid. I didn't say anything to my Dad when he was ranting at Lohla. I'm not that type. I don't know what got into me, but I called him out for being such a monster. Told him how he was hurting the team, not helping them. I gave him everything that the team had talked about in the locker room."

"So he turned to me, grabbed me by my jersey, pulled me into him. He was a big man so my head came up to his shoulders at best. And he was bragging on how many conference titles he had won, and how I was only a lowly little freak show who has never played university basketball before. Then he started using words that even gynecologists wouldn't use. By now, he was really wound up and he became physical which he hadn't done with anybody before and he shoved me on my shoulders. I staggered back and he pushed me again and kept pushing me all the way across the gym. He turned to the rest of the team and yelled. "Those of you who want to keep your scholarships, pick up a ball and stand on the baseline." They all did as they were told because they needed the money. He ran them into exhaustion while he stood over me and made me watch. They didn't speak to me for a very long time."

"You got back on the team?"

"No. I filed a complaint of assault and abuse but nobody in the athletic department believed me. The other girls couldn't take the risk of telling the truth. So I was banned from playing on a University team until I apologized to him. I've been allowed to work with younger players. In return, they let me use the practice gyms whenever I want so that I'll be able to contribute to the team when I come to my senses."

"You're still mad about it, aren't you?"

"I'm learning to suck it up and keep myself under control. Something I should have done before."

"You could have told me about something else in your life."

"You shared your worst moment, I shared mine."

"Have you told Dreamer?"

"She knows something happened but not what. This won't affect her. It will be fixed by the time she gets on the team."

"Why would you apologize? You were completely in the right. The coach is a jerk."

"What makes you think that I'm going to apologize?"

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# Chapter 16

I'm going to skip forward about two months to June 7, 2087. It's a Saturday. North America was in the middle of its summer season and the days were a seemingly endless stretch of hot and dry weather. The Wilizy were in a period of protracted peace. Life had returned to normal, but as in all families, normal life did include challenges. Let's look at what each of the Wilizy family members were doing on this day.

Marie had said that she was off to sleep in a mud bed in Lake Ontario but she actually was giving Nary's father a report on his daughter's progress in her Voodoo classes. The Wilizy didn't know anything about him. Nor do you.

Doc was in the middle of planning the Wilizy's annual singing competition for the WZBN. They'd have more entries from the Wilizy this year.

Granny and Wanda were responding to an emergency call reporting that a young girl had been abducted. This came to them through the WZBN. More people were learning about this hot line service and the Raging Gardeners had been relatively busy this summer. There were no signs of organized abductions, but they did receive a steady enough stream of calls that made the Gardeners feel they were doing something worthwhile.

Jock had given Lucas a series of assignments that he could complete when he wasn't working on his high school classes. Today he was reading Lucas' report on Saskatchewan's military handbook and whether it was effective in giving young recruits a basic understanding of their new military life. Jock had the handbook open beside Lucas' report and was slashing entire paragraphs with a heavy red pencil. Those slash marks were in Saskatchewan's handbook, not Lucas' report. Those readers who are fans of Lucas can now breathe again.

Stu was taking a series of meetings. For example, some of Kashmira's businesses had received visits from unsavory businessmen. Crime was returning to Maasin City. Stu had to make a decision whether to break out the black motorcycle helmets and light sabres or bow to the inevitable.

Hank was looking over a site in Saskatoon that could house the province's second WC&D store.

Momaka was painting Petro's bedroom while he napped in a hammock in the shade.

Yolanda was reading a report on some inventory discrepancies in their Kelowna store. She'd be talking with Winnie shortly.

Wolf was checking on their diamond harvesting facilities. The ozone-level needle hadn't budged yet on their air quality sensors. Melissa had asked whether they should open up another cleaning station on the other side of the world. William was hesitant about moving too quickly.

Mac was tending to a small vegetable garden while Jock, Hank Jr., Will, Izzy, and Emily played in Mac's fenced back yard. The men had built an adventure playground so that all the young toddlers could play together and be watched by one mom. It was Mac's turn to watch today.

TG and William were installing satellites that would carry the brunt of the data flow for the Wilizy's Western Canadian Communications Network (WCCN). This was the communications net that would also carry a military bandwidth. Difficulties in keeping that secure from eavesdropping had delayed the project.

Yollie had four large pots of dinners on the go. She'd freeze the contents of three of them and have the fourth for a group supper tonight.

Melissa was on a cleaning binge in her house; she'd be switching to cleaning Yollie's house soon. She'd have Mac's house cleaned before supper.

Wizard was working on a spreadsheet of costs and projected revenues for the new WCCN. He was relaxing in his bed after enjoying some physical exercise. Dreamer was engrossed in some homework next to him, also relaxing after enjoying some physical exercise.

Theo and Nary were playing with their panther cubs in the neighbouring astral plane.

### # # # # # # # #

Lucas and Lylah were at the SUB where they just happened to bump into each other after just accidentally having had a basketball workout together for the last two hours. Lylah had admitted a week ago that she was missing basketball and was getting stale. While Lylah may not have had any pull with the university's athletic department, Lucas definitely did. He went to the men's coach and told him how he and Theo had been selected to the Toronto all-star team. Then he told him how he and Theo had tried to practice at their school, but they had found it very hard to get into the gym. Would it be all right if he practiced in the near empty gym complex at the university? (Regular university classes were finished.) The coach agreed and gave him a pass for four months. Lucas asked for a second pass as well and the coach incorrectly assumed the obvious.

Both Lucas and Lylah had skills that the other person needed. Lucas needed help dribbling and shooting from outside; Lylah needed help driving and shooting against a bigger and stronger player. Obviously there'd be physical contact. Lylah rescinded the no touching rule when they were in the gym.

But now they were in the SUB. They had finished their meal and Lylah had asked about the Star Trek game that had so captivated Lucas when he was younger. Lucas went to the edge of the SUB where the university stored free electronic gear such as microwave ovens, web browsers, and video display consoles. Back at the table, it took only a few seconds to hook his pinky ring to the display unit and pull up the game. Lylah scooted her chair next to Lucas' chair and she began to watch Lucas play a beginner level.

Partway through the first battle, Lylah reached her arm forward to point at the screen. "What's this thing?" she asked.

"Vulcan cruiser. They have good weapons but they're too slow."

Lucas noticed that Lylah's arm had accidentally touched his arm as she reached. He also noticed that she had withdrawn it immediately.

"The worst enemy is the Klingon battleship. See if you can find it."

Lylah reached over to touch the screen, and again, her arm had to brush against Lucas'.

"Here? How about here? Here? This tiny dot here?"

To each query, Lucas said _No_.

Lylah scooted her chair even closer to Lucas' chair so that she could reach further. "This? This? What about this?"

To each query, Lucas said _No_.

"I can't find it."

"Nobody can find the battleship when it has its invisibility shield up. You have to wait for it to attack you. To fire a missile, it has to lower its invisibility cloak and that's when you can blast it, if you're lucky enough to be looking at his hiding place when it removes its cloak."

Lylah leaned back in her chair. If she had had a sleeve on her tank top, it would have been touching Lucas' t-shirt sleeve. If he had been wearing one. As it was, a Star Trek game had actually brought some skin molecules together. Lylah must have been a Trekkie fan and hadn't felt the skin-to-skin contact.

"You actually enjoyed this idiotic game?" she said.

Well, perhaps she wasn't a _rabid_ Trekkie fan.

"Yeah, I did."

"And this is what you wanted to do rather than look at a woman's naked body?"

"Given the same choice today, I'd put the game away."

"Good to know."

### # # # # # # # #

Back to the rest of the Wilizy family.

Mathias was researching how winds formed so that he could figure out how Nary was creating a breeze strong enough to roll a basketball back and forth in their back yard. All she did was twirl her hands and mutter some gibberish. The diagram he was looking at suggested that winds always blew from a high-pressure area to a low-pressure area. How was she creating both a high-pressure area and a low-pressure area in their small back yard? There had to be a scientific explanation.

Kashmira was back in the house chatting to somebody on her pinky ring. A month ago, she had joined a choral club where they sang songs with actual words. One week into her membership, she earned the lead singer assignment. Two weeks into her membership, the club performed in front of the school. Now she had boys following her everywhere in the school. She didn't seem to mind even though Mathias warned her that some of these guys were slime-buckets. Kashmira was also collecting a number of girl friends. If anybody suggested that this was a clique, Kashmira would have been the queen bee. She was on the phone a lot now and especially on the weekends. She and Mathias didn't even sit on the same sofa any more.

Reese was picking up three shipments: food in California, sportswear in Vietnam, and mechanical parts in Germany. He was controlling all three jumbo planes from the Wilizy transportation hub in Calgary. The planes essentially flew themselves from one location to the next. Landing and taking off were the only times that Reese actually had to pay much attention. Right now, all three planes were on the ground with their cargo bays wide-open waiting for local cargo haulers to finish loading them. They believed that the pilot was napping behind the locked door leading to the flight deck. In fact, the pilot was in Calgary and was actually playing the same Star Trek as Lucas had demonstrated to Lylah.

Winnie was talking with Yolanda, as mentioned. They were looking at Winnie's schedule to determine the best time for her to visit the store in Kelowna.

Basher was sitting on the same couch as Kashmira back in the Toronto mansion. He was supposed to be reading his picture books, but Kashmira was so busy on the phone that she hadn't noticed that he hadn't turned a page for a long time. She also hadn't noticed that Basher's arm was now pressed up against her arm. She didn't notice the smile on Basher's face either.

Liset and EmmaGee were riding their bicycles along the sidewalk in front of Mac's house. They were allowed to go two whole blocks in either direction. These bikes had recently had their training wheels removed and both girls were still a little wobbly. They were having slow motion races to see who could go the furthest without having to put one foot down to stop the bike from falling over.

Further down the street, they saw a copter land in front of a house. Two men in gray overalls and shirts emerged and started unloading boxes and stacking them on the grass in front of the house. They had seen this copter in the neighbourhood before. The people who lived in the house had moved. The men were probably helping the new people move in.

Liset and EmmaGee had to go past these men in their race. Liset was winning and had her head down. She didn't see one of the movers put a carton on the sidewalk and had to stop and put her foot down. So did EmmaGee. The last thing Liset saw was a white pad approaching her face. That's the last thing that EmmaGee saw too.

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# Chapter 17

Mac was pulling a potato out of the ground when a white wolf with a blue ribbon collar around her neck materialized in front of her and bit down on her hand and the handle of the trowel.

"Freya, what are you doing? That hurt!"

Freya let go of the hand, pushed Mac with her snout, and began whining.

"Stop it!" Mac rose to better defend herself from what had become a very aggressive wolf.

Freya continued to snout-push Mac towards the gate in the fence. The whining became a howl. At that point, Mac noticed the blood on Freya's fur. Mac bolted out of the back yard, looked wildly in both directions, saw the copter and two bicycles on the ground, and charged down the street. Freya followed immediately behind.

As Mac approached the overturned bikes, she saw Liset and EmmaGee's bodies on the sidewalk. Both were motionless. Both were covered in blood. If one can shriek in one's mind, that's what Mac began doing.

_All Wilizy. Emergency! Emergency! Leave any building you're in! Go invisible! Get into the air! We are under attack. EmmaGee and Liset have been murdered!_

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# Chapter 18

A few minutes later, the shriek had left Mac's voice but she was still hyperventilating. Melissa and Yollie were on their knees next to the two girls. They had wiped the blood off their faces and had frantically searched their bodies for a pulse; when they found that, they searched for injuries that needed tending now! They didn't find any.

"The blood is theirs," Melissa concluded and pointed her chin at two men who were lying on the ground, bloody gaping holes in their throats."

Mac picked up two pads that had been white but were now red. She sniffed shallowly. "Chloroform."

"Kidnap attempt. Freya and Madison saved them." Yollie drew the obvious conclusion. Both wolves had blood around their snouts and into their fur.

Mac took over. "Yollie, you and I will carry the girls into the house and wash them up. We can't let them wake up here. We'll bring the toddlers inside too. Melissa, get high in the air and look for anybody approaching the neighbourhood. I'll call for help."

...

_All Wilizy. Liset and EmmaGee are alive but unconscious. We have found no injuries. Madison and Freya killed two kidnappers before they could take the girls away. My warning to all Wilizy remains. Stay high and stay invisible. This could be a coordinated attack. We need help down here. Dad, you'll have to take charge. I can't think straight right now._

Seconds later, Jock responded.

_All Wilizy, stay where you are. Report your location to Granny and wait for instructions. Stay high, stay invisible, and stay quiet._

A few seconds later.

_William, TG and Wolf. Ignore the order to stay where you are. Go home. Sorry._

### # # # # # # # #

Reports on location and safety came in quickly. Only Marie, Theo and Nary did not respond to the initial warning but they were presumed safe. Hank didn't need Yolanda's high volume urging to "get my babies home" to set that as their first priority. The home compound was the safest spot for everybody to be right now. However, they also had to control the death scene. It would not be good for news of this attack to be made public. Orders followed quickly.

The Toronto group would fly immediately to New Zealand to assist in packing up the three households for relocation to the home compound. They should transport the big bulky items by overnight express packets. Other things could be brought home via a jumbo. Mathias would remain behind in Toronto to tie up loose ends and then fly the Wilizy/America home.

While they were waiting for the Toronto group to arrive, the adults at the satellite compound should remove the kidnappers' bodies and copter. As far as the public was concerned, this attack never took place. The Wilizy would take pictures of the two men, keep some biological tissues, and then dispose of them and their copter.

Reese had multiple instructions: Fly the jumbo currently in Vietnam to the airport that was closest to the satellite compound. Set it down there and wait for the satellite families to arrive. Fly them to the home compound. As to the other two jumbos, he was to get them into the air and then park them. After that, Reese was to pick up both the Wilizy/Europe and Wilizy/Asia and bring them to the home compound. Both were parked above the Philippines right now.

Winnie and Momaka's Mystical Warriors would provide air and ground cover while the satellite compound was being shut down.

Granny and Wanda should finish up their Raging Gardener's projects and return to the home compound.

After the Toronto group was finished helping in New Zealand, they should return to Toronto, pack up what necessities they needed, and return to the home compound.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 19

Hank let the family calm down for a couple of days until the Wilizy ships arrived and while TG, William, and Wolf did some TiTr research. Meanwhile enough food was brought in to handle the sudden influx of family. He had scheduled a meeting for after breakfast on Tuesday, June 10 in the rec centre. That day had arrived. Yollie was taking care of the kiddies outside the building and was keeping Liset and EmmaGee under constant watch so that they couldn't eavesdrop.

Wolf began. "We TiTr'd the two kidnappers back to Wellington which is the closest major center to where we lived. We established that they were street criminals with a long history of minor offenses that earned them some jail time, but nothing extensive. They were essentially thugs but thugs with no history of kidnapping."

"We couldn't establish who had paid them to kidnap Liset and EmmaGee," William continued. "It's obvious they were paid to do this, but they were on Wellington's streets all the time and had plenty of contact with other people. We listened in on some of their conversations, but they could have received instructions from anybody at any time. Or they received instructions electronically and TiTr'ng won't reveal any of that."

TG ended the report. "We feel confident that somebody told them how to attack us. Wanda told us that unloading packing cartons while a girl approached on a bike was a tactic that one of Safe Haven's kidnappers had used successfully. These guys weren't smart enough to think of this on their own."

"Are you actually saying that the kidnappers are a dead end," Yolanda asked Wolf aggressively.

"Mom, we can't TiTr everybody who ever came in contact with these guys."

"But we're sure that Safe Haven helped in the attack because they must have shared the kidnapping tactic?" Lucas asked.

"Safe Haven doesn't exist any longer," Theo argued. "That's what both Dad and Jock said."

"The organization may not exist, but the people who used to work for it may be still around. Only the senior management level personnel were killed in the bomb blast." Wizard was familiar with how companies worked.

"So, people from Safe Haven ordered the kidnapping?" Lucas pursued.

Doc disagreed. "Wizard is right that the bomb didn't kill all of their personnel, but the bomb did kill all of their personnel who would want to attack us. A management brain is behind this."

"Did this attack come from Scandinavia? In response to what we did to their soldiers?"

"I don't see it, Nary," Jock replied. "They'd have to have tied the Wilizy to the Saskatchewan army first; then, they'd have to learn where we were hiding the youngsters. And, they'd have to know about the Safe Haven kidnapping strategy. That's quite a stretch. It's gotta be Safe Haven."

"So, a Safe Haven manager person who didn't die is after us," Lucas was intent on identifying their target.

"I don't believe so," Stu said. "It doesn't feel right. Lucas, did you find any reference in the Safe Haven documents to a manager who wasn't in the Chicago building when the bomb went off?"

"Only the courier and he would have been an employee. They had other recruiters besides Fred Brown but these guys would have disappeared after the money for kidnapping disappeared."

"We have many missing girls still to find. Safe Haven could have had different branches of their organization. Did you find any reference to associated groups?" Stu with an idea.

"They paid some fees to a group that was identified simply as SHSL." Lucas remembered.

"That's our starting point," Stu said.

### # # # # # # # #

The discussion on how they could find the SHSL entity was winding down. They were fairly sure that the first two letters of the acronym stood for Safe Haven. It was probably a corporate entity because reference to it had been found in the business records of another corporation. Granny asked Stu the crucial question. "How do you find corporate information from a short acronym?"

"You can't find it if the owners don't want it found. No public companies exist any longer and that means that there are no public records. We ourselves have hidden information on the Wilizy's corporations very carefully. We've stored those records in a secure safety deposit box in our bank. Until we obtain more information to go on, there's nothing we can do to identify SHSL."

"So we're all stuck here in the home compound?" Dreamer asked.

"Safe Haven found our satellite compound," Jock replied. "That was a very secret location. We have no idea how they found it. That means that we don't know how to hide any other satellite compound we might want to develop. Until we learn how they found our hiding place, we'll stay at the home compound. We'll be safe here."

The rec centre cleared out quickly after that. The meeting was not a resounding success and there was no reason to hang around. Nobody had noticed the white wolf with the blue ribbon collar sleeping in the corner of the hall because she was mostly hidden by the piano. The wolf left soon after all the humans had departed and found Yollie, Liset, and EmmaGee. Liset knelt down and gave Freya a little hug and a pat on the head.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 20

Over the next week, life returned slowly to normal, or as normal as it might be with over thirty people living in or above a five-house community in a small river valley. The three families from New Zealand moved into the Wilizy/Asia while the Toronto teens were given the Wilizy/Europe for their home. The Wilizy/America was reserved for anybody who felt the need to be alone.

The youngsters had lots of room to run around in the compound, so keeping them busy was not a big adjustment. Two white wolves patrolled during the day and two black wolves at night. Family meals were a major challenge. Mac and Momaka were making trips to the WC&D store in Kelowna every other day to stock up on food. Two different kitchen crews were established and they worked one day on and one day off. If you weren't on a kitchen crew, then you were on a clean-up crew with laundry and dish washing required every day. Kashmira took her turn on a clean-up crew without complaint and moved back in with Doc and Granny.

Wizard returned to Toronto to shut down their presence, hopefully for a temporary period. Basher had returned to his grandmother when they left and he was still there. Wizard obtained Eldreadth's signature on a letter apologizing for having to take her guardians out of school early. They would be back in September. He delivered that letter to the school headmaster. The headmaster in turn informed Wizard that four of Eldreadth's guardians would be receiving school awards and they could pick them up in September: Dreamer was the Female Athlete of the Year for the senior school; Theo received the same award for the males. Kashmira was awarded the Arts and Music award for the middle school and Mathias won Top Scholar for his grade level.

Lucas joined Wizard on the trip – pleading that he had a research project on the go and had to shut it down properly. That research project wasn't too happy about his sudden disappearance and failure to communicate. More importantly, she wasn't too pleased that he wouldn't tell her now why all of this had been necessary. "Family emergencies," he replied but refused to give her any hint at all what they were.

The teens were frustrated by having nothing to do, so Hank assigned them to TiTr the two kidnappers. As Wolf had predicted, finding their contact person, be it Safe Haven or Scandinavia, was proving to be an impossible job. Wolf, TG, and William were tasked with finding Wilhelm's office in his palace and inserting a bug.

Winnie finally made it to the Kelowna store and walked around with Patella and Scapula in close attendance. She came back to report that one man was hiding something. On Tuesday, she arranged with Reese to accompany her to the store on the coming Friday. She couldn't schedule the re-visit earlier because the man had the next two days off.

### # # # # # # # #

Wednesday morning, first light, Patella came into Winnie's bedroom and nudged her awake with her nose. _Campfires. Getting bigger._

Winnie flew north up the river valley and found the fires. A band of them crossed the valley and, with the breeze, they were heading south and spreading as they came. They were no longer campfires; they were now brush fires and the trees and underbrush in the valley were extremely dry. The pattern of how they started screamed _deliberately set._ Winnie alerted everybody that a forest fire would be coming down the valley soon. The Wilizy would all be safe; they could load up into the ships and disappear. But, they'd lose their homes and possessions.

Jock sent Theo, Lucas and Wolf south down the river valley with instructions to find where the enemy were located. He had no doubt that either Safe Haven remnants or Scandinavian forces were using the fires to push the Wilizy out of their compound and into a trap. Lucas found the trap downriver from their security fence. More than thirty Scandinavian soldiers covered all the possible escape routes. Another klick further south, Wolf found their black copters.

Perhaps it was the calm composure of Jock taking command, or perhaps it was the disciplined way that Lucas and his brothers found the trap and reported it in a calm dispassionate manner... whatever the reason, the Wilizy didn't panic. Jock, Hank, Lucas, Melissa and Mac met above the intended trap and worked out a battle plan. They'd lose their homes but not their lives. The same could not be said for the enemy soldiers.

The command group returned to the compound and brought everybody into the rec center. Jock's instructions were clear and concise. The Wilizy spread out three minutes later to follow their orders.

Everything of sentimental value that could not be replaced was to be brought to the Wilizy/Asia. They had five minutes to store this as quietly as possible because the children were still asleep. Granny and Doc would take the ship well out of danger. Kashmira would go with them to help calm the children down if they became upset. The Freya and Madison wolves would go aboard as well; they were too young to trust in a battle where fire and smoke were involved. The other two Wilizy ships would remain anchored well above the compound.

Stu, Reese, Winnie, Patella and Scapula would search upriver for the soldiers who had set the fires and follow them. They would likely have a hidden camp further north. If it looked like they were going to escape, Stu would message Jock and he'd send him some trained sling Warriors to stop them. Bob the invisible dragon would circle high overhead the compound and serve as emergency weapons support. Jock had given Winnie and Reese assignments that did not put them in direct danger, but he saw Yolanda's stricken look at Mathias. Jock assigned Mathias to serve as his communications officer.

That left.... Jock counted heads... thirteen sling Warriors who would handle the threat to the south. His instructions to the Warriors were brief: "These soldiers are there to kill you from the shadows. We will respond in the way that they have decided to fight. Silently and without warning. We will fire laser weaponry from invisibility. No Scandinavian soldier can be allowed to return to his home base and reveal our weaponry. Form up into your natural pairs. Wanda, go with Wizard and Dreamer. Dreamer, are you up for this?"

She nodded.

"Hank is in charge. Make your first volley simultaneous. After that, fire at will."

### # # # # # # # #

The Warriors handling the trap to the south were the first to return to the compound. All enemy soldiers to the south were now dead. The fire hadn't reached the compound yet so they decided to move more possessions into the ships. The northern group returned soon afterwards. Five soldiers had set the brush fire and had then left the area in a black copter. They were two klicks north and on their way home when the Warriors caught up to them. The Scandinavians didn't survive the copter crash. Stu said that he had his head down and didn't see who had fired the disabling shot. On their way back, they had noticed that the fire had turned back on itself and was now just smoldering.

Yolanda was looking over the crowd milling around outside the rec center making sure that everybody had returned safely when she noticed that two Warriors were missing. "Where's Nary?" she asked. "Where's Marie?"

Some frantic searches later, they found both in the rec centre, stirring the chocolaty contents of a big pot steadily.

"We went up to look at the fire while you guys were making plans," Marie said. "Guess we got back too late to be assigned."

When told that the fire had turned on itself and burned itself out, Nary shrugged her shoulders. "Winds in these small river valleys can be unpredictable."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 21

"Never respond in haste when you have the time to contemplate," Jock said to every Wilizy who asked him when they were going to meet about the forest fire. Thus, three days had passed before the Wilizy met as a large group to plan a response. The extra time did prove beneficial – to a degree.

The Toronto teens had circulated the news that Nary had been learning how to generate wind to roll a basketball back and forth in their house as part of her Voodoo lessons. In response to persistent questions about her role in the battle, Nary finally conceded that yes, she had turned the forest fire back on itself. But it was no big deal. She had used the same Voodoo words and hand gestures as she had in Toronto, but from a higher altitude than she had used for the basketball. Mathias subsequently disappeared into his bedroom and came out bleary-eyed in time for the Saturday meeting, none the wiser after his self-imposed crash course in wind power.

Mathias did learn that forest fires generate considerable heat that draws in more and more of the surrounding air. The turbulence created by this inflow can cause strong surface winds to form. This wind feeds the fire, which makes the fire burn harder, produces more turbulence, and creates stronger surface winds. In the face of such self-perpetuating power, a forest fire only stops when it runs out of fuel, or when a weather system brings in a lot of rain. That didn't happen on that Wednesday. Instead, the forest fire met a wall of wind and that's what stopped it. The amount of wind that would be necessary to counter all of that heat and turbulence and turn the fire onto itself would have been tremendous. There was simply no obvious scientific explanation for the presence of that wind.

### # # # # # # # #

Reese and Winnie had returned from their trip to Kelowna to report that the man they wanted to investigate had left the area. He had been hired the previous month and had the credentials to be assigned to the store's accounting team. Co-workers reported that he had spoken with a slight foreign accent. A quick TiTr search revealed that the man had retrieved a black copter on Tuesday night and had flown north. He was now long gone.

Further investigation revealed that his accounting credentials had been falsified. He did have good technical skills however. Good enough to find that the Wilizy had an account in this WC&D store that allowed the family to buy food during the month and pay at the end of the month. Wilizy purchases in that account had skyrocketed that week indicating to anybody who could access their account that plenty of people were eating food in the Wilizy compound. Further research revealed that another foreign speaking man had been hired in the last month by the Calgary WC&D store but had disappeared two days later. The Wilizy did not buy their food out of Calgary.

### # # # # # # # #

William and TG had spent the two days before the meeting studying the schematics of the Wilizy's electronic defenses. Some of the foundations of that system were embedded in the forest floor, some were embedded in trees, and some were situated in invisible repeating stations in the air. Theoretically, the system might withstand a forest fire and be fully operational after it had passed through. William lit bonfires under several key electronic junctures and the defensive wall crashed.

### # # # # # # # #

All Wilizy of teenage years or older were invited to Hank's meeting. Reese and Winnie, at eleven and twelve, were considered teenagers for the sake of this meeting. The first question Hank posed was: _Do the Wilizy go to war?_

Hank summarized the events in the last months: Spies had been inserted into the woods surrounding the home compound and into their stores. An attempt had been made to kidnap two of their children while they were on an invited holiday in Scandinavia. Later, in a different part of the world, a second attempt had been made to kidnap the same two Wilizy children, perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not. An attempt had also been made to destroy their home compound and, as part of that plan, to kill all the family members at the same time. The Wilizy had been lucky in the last two attempts. The enemy had not planned for the presence of two flying invisible guard wolves. Nor had they planned for a Voodoo princess being in the area. The Wilizy might not be so lucky the next time. Should they wait for the next attempt? Or should they take the war to their enemies before they could strike again?

The answer was unanimous. War.

### # # # # # # # #

The Wilizy response to the second question was not as clear-cut. _Who was the enemy?_

The meeting got bogged down in discussions about whether the two recent attacks were coordinated. The attempt to kidnap Liset and EmmaGee in New Zealand looked like a Safe Haven effort. The forest fire in the Aboriginal Nation was definitely a Scandinavian assault. The timing was suspect. First Safe Haven attacked in New Zealand causing all Wilizy to retreat to the home compound where Scandinavia tried to kill everybody. It sounded like a wonderful joint plan. But the evidence of Safe Haven's participation in New Zealand could not be confirmed. Many Wilizy had opinions and shared them.

Eventually, Wanda had heard enough yammering and cut through the clutter in her normal direct manner. "What does it matter if the attacks were coordinated or not? We know we have one enemy that is sneak-attacking us. We probably have two. We're not going to conduct a war on two fronts if we can possibly avoid it. Why don't we just focus on Scandinavia, which we know for certain has been attacking us? While some of us do that, perhaps others can try to determine if Safe Haven still exists and is a threat."

Everybody agreed on attacking Wilhelm first and with enough force to remove him as an enemy. But many remained concerned about Safe Haven. That attack had come unexpectedly at a supposedly secure hidden site. What if Safe Haven attacked again while all of the Wilizy's attention was focused on Scandinavia?

### # # # # # # # #

This brought up Hank's third question. _How do we keep our children safe in the future?_

William reported that the forest fire would probably have crashed their security wall. He might be able to beef up the system with titanium components that didn't burn, but he could give no guarantee that the wall would still be secure if an enemy made a second attempt to burn them out. They couldn't count on having Nary in the compound the next time. However, the Wilizy themselves would have easy escapes.

"But we'd lose our houses and possessions," Yolanda observed.

"Yes," William answered. "I can't protect those."

"Will there be a second attempt, Jock?" Yolanda pursued.

"The Scandinavians might have second thoughts. We've shown them that we can eliminate their attackers. Wilhelm doesn't know what happened to them; he only knows that they didn't return home. But another enemy may not be so informed. Bottom line: we're vulnerable to fire."

### # # # # # # # #

What followed next was the quiet part of the meeting. Jock asked "Options?" and everybody started mulling. Lucas put an end to the depressing silence.

"We should relocate our home compound to Montana," he said. "We already have a military training camp there which, in time, would be able to deter attacking forces. We can have access to deserted slave ranches that can provide temporary accommodation for us. The land is mostly flat and barren and that gives us long sight lines. With satellites stationed over the area, we'd be able pick out gophers that wandered into our territory. We have enormous military capabilities, especially if we armed the satellites. Any military force that tried to attack us could be destroyed before they got close."

"Nothing in the area can burn out of control," Theo added. "There are no other natural dangers. No chance of flash floods; seismic activity in the area has been limited."

"We could build homes for each family that could sit inside their own defensive electronic wall," Wolf added.

"We could build high safety retreats into the mountains and cliffs and hide them inside invisibility shields," William mused. "I bet I could design an electronic defense that projected an image of a bleak landscape but actually hid a house under an invisibility cover."

"We'd be together again as a family," Melissa shared.

"Some of us will want to live in Toronto," Dreamer warned.

"It's a big city with lots of people. We can hide in anonymity," Wizard offered.

"You won't be anonymous for long. Not with your basketball games," Hank contradicted. "If anybody connects the school's star basketball players to the Wilizy, you will no longer be safe. You're aboriginal. You're already being noticed unfavourably."

"We really have to find out how Safe Haven or Scandinavia found the families in New Zealand," Lucas observed. "Until then, the teenagers could go back to living in an invisible sailing ship over Toronto."

"And Basher?" Doc asked. "We could never risk exposing our secrets to him."

The Wilizy agreed that all family members would move to Montana. Living in Toronto was off the table for now. It was not a unanimous decision by any stretch of the imagination.

### # # # # # # # #

The Wilizy had broken for lunch but the Toronto teenagers had taken their plates out to the gym, sat on the floor, and huddled in. Reese and Winnie had joined them. The rest of the family ate in the main room and discussions about the move to Montana were animated. When I say "rest of the family," I am of course omitting the children who had been taken on an excursion for the day. Once again, Yollie volunteered to keep them busy with the willing help of Liset and EmmaGee. The nature of the excursion prevented the two wolves from being with them.

After lunch, Hank talked about forming a committee to plan the move to Montana. Volunteers would meet that evening. He then turned the meeting over to Jock who asked for volunteers to sit on a committee that would work on the strategic approach to the war with Scandinavia. The volunteers for that second committee were: Mac, Melissa, TG, Wolf, William, Lucas, and Winnie. Yolanda was an unexpected volunteer; everybody had thought she'd been keen to work on the Montana committee. Granny and Wanda came in shortly after the meeting convened when Yolanda messaged them that they needed more women on the committee.

Jock started by laying out some _givens_.

"We can destroy the Scandinavian armed forces but our fight is not with them. Such an action would leave the Scandinavians open to assault by enemies from outside. We would be completely changing the future of their country when all we should be doing is protecting ourselves from Wilhelm and his efforts to find EmmaGee. We should not weaken their military any further unless that is unavoidable. Does anybody disagree?"

Nobody did. Jock went on.

"Wilhelm is obviously the key to our struggle. We could easily assassinate him. He appears in public often enough. We could do it, and nobody would know that we had murdered a foreign country's chief of state. But we would know and this kind of despicable act would colour our future as a family whose goal is to bring justice to the weak. The Wilizy do not assassinate people we don't like just because we can. Does anybody disagree?"

Nobody did. Jock continued.

"Our war with Scandinavia should be all about protecting our children and our families from Wilhelm's efforts to generate millions of Princess Freya clones so that he can ensure that there'll be more white voters than other voters in his country. Our war should not be about addressing what we think are issues with Scandinavia's treatment of its minorities. To do so would be to interfere in another country's internal affairs. What they do within their society and as part of their cultural values is their business. It's not our business. We cannot force them to be religiously tolerant. On the other hand, we **can** win this war with a single battle with a single objective. Destroy Prince Samuel's genetics lab. We have already demonstrated that we can stop Scandinavia's military with ease. If we take away his reason to kidnap EmmaGee, he'll have no further excuse for attacking us. Does anybody disagree?"

Five hands shot up into the air. Had the Wilizy been attracted to frivolous cosmetic tints, the fingernails on those hands would have had coloured nail polish on them.

The battle of words began. The men, genetically programmed in their deficient manner, argued that only the people within a country have the right to decide what their future is going to be. Outsiders do not have the right to impose their own goals, principles, and cultural values on other people. This is what military invaders do. They impose their own set of values onto another society and use military power to force the people to accept those changes.

The other five members who had the benefit of having genetic programming that valued how life existed outside a military world argued that women had the right to protect other women who could not fight back when they faced gender discrimination, chemical sterilization, and rape on a systematic basis. The reader may notice that your narrator is not sitting on the philosophical fence in this matter. My sentiments are clear. You may agree with me. Or, you may agree with the stupid point of view.

The discussion went back and forth. Religion entered the fray. Granny ushered it out. "Yes, we would like to change how the Scandinavians are intolerant of their Muslim population. Yes, we would like to see a world where everybody was treated fairly and with respect. But our mandate as Raging Gardeners is to help those women who are powerless to fight on their own. There is no question that some Scandinavian women have been physically assaulted in numerous ways and are powerless to prevent it from happening again. They need our help. We have the means to provide them with help."

That's the way the discussion went for far too long. "Not our business." "Yes, our business."

Finally, Jock took back control of the meeting. "It seems that we are at an impasse. I remind all of you that our goal has to be focused on Wilhelm whether we want to take away his excuse for attacking us or if our goal is to protect an element of their society. He is the key to everything. He has to be eliminated but not by assassination. He has to receive justice. Does anybody have a solution that will work for all of us?"

"I have an idea," Winnie said.

### # # # # # # # #

The rec centre had been returned to normal and the Wilizy adults were long gone when Freya emerged from her hiding spot beside the piano. She sniffed the air and ambled over to one of the tables. It held a plate containing an intriguing smell. She pulled a chair away from the table with a paw, and used that to step on top of the table and explore the plate further. Some of Granny's goodies remained on a china plate.

Freya jumped down from the table and went to one of the wastebaskets. A used paper plate had been folded into two and stuffed into the basket. She retrieved the plate with her teeth, jumped back onto the table, and used her front paws to flatten the plate. Using only her teeth, she carefully removed five goodies from the china plate and deposited them on her paper plate. She teethed that plate right to the edge of the table. Then, it was back down to the floor where she muzzle-pushed the chair back in place, stood on her hind legs, and gripped the paper plate with its goodies in her teeth. The door to the rec centre responded to a rump shove and she was gone.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 22

Yolanda eyed the outside door of the Toronto medical clinic. The tracker in Bean's hair indicated that she was inside but... a medical clinic? Perhaps Bean was seeking medical help. It was the weekend after the Wilizy's long day of meetings and Yolanda was here to follow Winnie's instructions: _See if you can bring the Scandinavian girl into the operation._

Yes, that's right. An eleven year old girl was planning the Wilizy's upcoming war with Scandinavia. Yolanda was not hesitant about following Winnie's instructions – not after she had heard her idea. Nor was she hesitant about bringing a trained assassin into Winnie's plan; the more trained military assassins involved on the Wilizy side of this war, the less danger Winnie would be in.

The electronic tracker had brought Yolanda to a small Toronto neighbourhood where she found a mixture of languages, skin colours, and cultures. The medical clinic itself was on the ground level of a non-descript three-storey building. All of the buildings on this busy section of St. Clair Avenue West had living accommodations of some kind on the top floors and businesses on the ground level. The clinic had a simple sign on the window _Midtown Clinic_ and another sign on the front door saying _Drop in hours 8 a.m. to 8 p.m._ The blinds on the windows had been drawn, perhaps to protect the privacy of their clients, or more likely because the clinic's windows faced south and June in Toronto could be sweltering when the humidity index was off the charts as it was today.

Yolanda opened the door and began scanning for Bean. She wasn't sitting in any of the wooden chairs in the waiting area, so perhaps she was in one of the examination rooms that were out of sight down a hallway behind the reception desk. The receptionist was busy talking to a woman doctor who was pointing out something on a patient's chart. Yolanda assumed that she was a doctor because of the stethoscope hanging around her neck. Her gender was clear because of the clothing that completely encased her body in black. Since only her eyes were visible, Yolanda could only guess at her age. The receptionist was also dressed completely in black, but her face was uncovered. Yolanda looked at that face. She saw a young girl's face. As Yolanda reached the desk, the receptionist looked up with a tentative smile on her face. Then her eyes bulged. She shook her head slightly several times. No. No. No. Fortunately, Yolanda knew how to read headshakes be they given in English or in Scandinavian.

"May I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm new to Toronto. Could you give me directions to a coffee house, or to a bakery, or perhaps to a tea house where I could have a bite to eat?"

"Sure. Sally's Strudels is two blocks to your left as you leave the clinic."

"I was hoping to meet a friend there. What time would you suggest would be good for a meeting? I was hoping to find a quiet table where my friend and I could talk."

"It's busy at lunch, but I've always found it to be near empty between 2 and 3."

### # # # # # # # #

Yolanda was sitting in the booth that was furthest from the street when Bean walked in, spied her, ordered her lunch, and approached the booth with an empty cup and a steaming tea pot in her hand. The sandwich would follow.

The conversation was painful. Yolanda asked Bean about school, her work in the clinic, the way she was dressed now, her involvement in sports, and even the weather. Bean responded with one sentence answers. She had decided to become a doctor like her mom. She tried sports but had only played one game. She was getting used to the clothing. As to Toronto's humidity – she was getting used to that too. Everything in her life was OK now that she was living with her parents.

The conversational topic switched.

"Why are you here, Yolanda?"

Yolanda answered with more than a single sentence. She described how some of her family had been invited to Scandinavia for a symposium plus holiday. That invitation had led to an attempt to kidnap two of their children but they managed to prevent that from happening. Wilhelm had set them up in a remote location, guarded by a platoon of trainees. Those trainees were supposed to die in a surprise assault by Scandinavian troops who would kill the Wilizy and blame it on the trainees. That prompted some questions.

"Where did they put you?"

"Gustaffson House."

"Yes, that is perfect for such an attack. Did the attackers spread out in a giant circle far away from the house and belly crawl in?"

"Yes."

"Special Ops. The soldiers who were guarding the house were trainees? Why would they be given such a job?"

"We were told that the army was recruiting Muslims to show the country that the military forces were open to all citizens."

"They were all Muslims? Openly Muslims?"

"Yes, although the First lieutenant in charge of them was not. One of our team was friendly to him and found out that he was worried about the assignment and knew that his men were not ready."

"They were all killed?"

"No. We learned what Wilhelm was planning. We incapacitated the men assigned to assault the house and then helped the Muslim platoon hide in a remote Scandinavian camp where they could complete their training."

"You did all of that while pretending to be guests at a symposium?"

"Some of us were pretending; some of us were guarding. Incidentally, you met that lieutenant. Lieutenant Karlsson. He was in charge of your father's prison camp."

"The Wilizy aren't actually storekeepers, are you?"

"No, we're not."

### # # # # # # # #

"Why are you here, Yolanda?"

This time, that question lead to Yolanda telling Bean about the attack on their satellite compound that they thought was well hidden. That also led to the attempt to burn out their main compound and to kill the Wilizy as they attempted to escape.

"Some of you survived?"

"All of us survived but we were lucky. We may not survive the next attempt. I'm here to ask you questions so that we don't have to rely on luck again."

"OK."

"We have two enemies – Scandinavia and Safe Haven. You know both of them."

"I know very little about Safe Haven. Jak did all of that work."

"Anything that you tell us could help."

"OK."

"Could Scandinavia have launched the attack on our hidden compound? They tried to kidnap two of our children by posing as delivery men."

"Possibly. Special Ops can operate in the daytime or at nighttime. The officer in charge could have thought up the idea of the deliverymen. But it's not part of our training."

"Our hidden compound was on the other side of the world in the southern hemisphere."

"Less likely then. I've never heard of an operation so far from Scandinavia. Simply getting there would have been very difficult."

"So, probably Safe Haven. Do you have any hint at all on how they could have found a hidden compound?"

"No. As I said, I had little to do with them."

"We know that the people who attacked our home compound were Scandinavians. We know that they inserted spies into local stores who found out that we were buying extra food. Then they tried to burn us out with a forest fire. Does that sound like a completely Scandinavian operation or might they have been working with Safe Haven."

"It was Scandinavian. In high priority operations, our spies are trained to investigate all elements of a target's life. I am not surprised that they looked into where you bought your food. If the target had been a single person, the operation could have ended as your person left the food store. Burning an entire forest down however is not a tactic that I have heard of before. What happened to the Scandinavians?"

"Their spies made it home. The assault force did not."

"Good. I am glad for you. You should understand that others will visit your compound."

"We're relocating."

"They won't stop looking until Wilhelm gets what he wants. I don't understand why he would want Princess Freya so badly. He's ruling the country now as Prince Regent. Princess Freya would just be in his way."

"Wilhelm had Queen Freya assassinated, Bean."

"You think that or you know that?"

"We know it. Jak killed your queen by blowing up her house, but Wilhelm ordered it."

"I wondered about that. I knew Prince Samuel was back in Scandinavia but Queen Freya had not returned. Wilhelm wants the princess so that he can kill her before she can take the throne."

"Yes. But he won't kill her until he can take her baby eggs. Prince Samuel will use those eggs to create thousands of blonde, blue-eyed, white girls."

"Wilhelm deserves to die."

"We have something like that in mind for him. Would you like to help?"

### # # # # # # # #

Yolanda described how Bean might be able to help them in general terms only. Running an undercover operation in Scandinavia with Lieutenant Karlsson's platoon.

Bean shook her head. "It's impossible. I can't help you."

Yolanda moved onto the risks and rewards.

"There'll be some danger but no more than usual with such an operation. We'll disguise you so that you won't be noticeable. We don't expect any outright battles with weapons. We do expect that Wilhelm will not be running the country when we leave."

"I can't, Yolanda. My mom is happy for the first time in almost twenty years. She told me that the best gift I could ever give her was for me to become a doctor like her. She and my dad are working two jobs so that I can go to university. They're going to do this for the next seven years. I can't go back to my old life. I treated them very badly before. I can't hurt them again."

"Removing Prince Wilhelm from power would improve the lives of thousands of Muslims in Scandinavia. Your parents wouldn't support that?"

"They have left Scandinavia behind them. I am now their entire life. Everything they do is for me. I can't disappoint them again."

### # # # # # # # #

_You'll have to rework the plan. Our Scandinavian friend turned us down._ Yolanda was mind-messaging Winnie as she flew back home from Toronto.

_We'll have to rely on the First lieutenant, but he hasn't had any undercover experience at all. I'll have to re-assign Mac to the undercover work, which will take her away from battle command operations. Melissa has to stay where she is now so I can't put her in Mac's role. That means I'm short a key position. Any chance of your friend changing her mind? We have time for her to join the operation late._

_I doubt it. But I did give her William's brain plug and connected her up so that she and I can mind message each other._

_She believed the explanation that we talked about?_

_That it's a military net that operates off inaudible whispering? Yes._

_You couldn't tell her that she has to think of you in her mind to contact you. How'd you get around that?_

_I gave her my picture and wrote the code that she'd need to contact me on the front. When she enters the non-existent security code, she'll be looking at my picture that will be front and center in her mind. We tested it out. It works._

_Mom! I didn't know that you were so sneaky. Way to go!_

_I've had to become sneaky so that I can find out what my children and grandchildren are up to. I can't rely on you any more for information._

_I'm too busy. So, do I get my sneakiness from you?_

_You certainly don't get it from your father. He can't lie to save his life._

_Mom, you lie?_

_No dear. Whatever gave you that idea?_

_Did you just lie?_

_Yes, dear._

_Are you lying about lying? Mom? Mom?_

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 23

_OK, I'm Third Lieutenant Karlsson. I'm a youngish man who is the commandant of a camp full of Scandinavian men who have married Muslim women. I have gone through officer training program but somehow I ended up in this horrible assignment. Why did they put me here?_

It was a couple of days after Yolanda and Bean had met in Toronto. Bean was running on her treadmill while picking at a nagging feeling that she couldn't shake. There was something about that lieutenant.

The treadmill that was taking the brunt of Bean's agitation was in her bedroom. With the help of the money that Bean had remaining from Wilhelm's expense money, the Ekelunds had rented a compact two bedroom apartment in Mid-Town. Her mom and dad had taken over paying the rent when Bean's money ran out. She was earning a little bit of money from working at the medical clinic, but it wasn't enough for her to live on her own if she had wanted to. Such independence wasn't going to happen. Her mother would not approve of a young woman like her living alone.

The treadmill was flush against the outside wall of her bedroom. If the tread miller wanted to leave the bedroom, she'd jump on top of the extra-long bed that filled the room, walk across the bed, and dismount. To the left, she'd see a one-drawer bed stand. Directly in front of her would be a closet. Only one door on that closet could open; the second door would open only partway before banging up against the bed stand. The door to the hallway opened quite nicely. Outside in the hallway, a three-drawer cupboard held whatever clothes Bean had that she couldn't stuff in the closet. To slip by that cupboard, a _bedestrian_ would have to squeeze her way gently sideways. Bean's father couldn't fit and that's why she had the bedroom at the end of the hallway and her parents had a similar sized bedroom closer to the living room. Their own bedroom bureau was part of the living room furniture.

The rest of the apartment consisted of a compact kitchen, a compact dinette, and a compact living room. Emphasis on the condition of being compact. While I am exaggerating a little, Bean could stand in the living room looking at the display unit on the wall and cook dinner on the stove at the same time. That's what I meant by the apartment being compact. The Ekelunds could live this way because there was hardly any time in the day where all three were in the apartment at the same time. You'll recall that the Ekelund parents were working two jobs to earn money for Bean's university.

Back to the treadmiller.

_I was assigned to run this camp because I almost flunked out of officer training. I'm a terrible officer._

_But, if I'm a terrible officer, why was the camp run so efficiently? Dad said that everybody was fed on time, they were warm, the camp guards did not abuse the prisoners, and the prisoners were content enough making Princess Freya dolls because the commandant had arranged to have music piped into the room. If I'm so terrible, why was I awake at the crack of dawn and checking on breakfast for the prisoners? Why did I want to look at the transfer order? Why did I check that the copter parked outside was what it should have been? Why didn't I just approve the transfer?_

_OK, I'm not an incapable failure. So, why am I in that camp in a meaningless position?_

???

_I'm here as punishment. I was demoted. What did I do wrong?_

_???_

_It doesn't matter what I did wrong, Bean. I did something wrong and now I'm stuck in a camp full of married men who are not a threat to do anything other than insert a pull string into a doll incorrectly._

???

_Why didn't the guards abuse the prisoners? The Scandinavian military spend all their time and energy trying unsuccessfully to keep pestilence carriers out of the country. They have to be carrying considerable hatred towards pestilence carriers. Here's this camp in the Arctic wasteland full of Scandinavian men who brought pestilence carriers into the country and gave them citizenship. The men probably produced a child like me who also has citizenship. Why didn't those prison guards hate and mistreat the men?_

_???_

_They did hate them. There's no way that they didn't. So why weren't they abusing the prisoners in a remote camp where nobody would hear about it or care about it?_

_???_

_Lieutenant Karlsson was sympathetic to the prisoners. He stopped the guards from abusing them. Perhaps the military knew about his sympathies and assigned him to the camp as punishment. He was a pariah to them. A traitor. They put him in a place where he couldn't infect others with his sympathies. They'd never be able to make him into what they wanted._

### # # # # # # # #

"I'm telling you Winnie, I can't make what you want. The time line is way too short. Plus there are technical problems that would take a lot of research to resolve."

That was William speaking and he was reacting to one of the items on Winnie's list of scientific needs for the upcoming war with Scandinavia. I've mentioned before how the Wilizy always assumed that William could invent whatever we wanted him to invent. We thought that he could solve any technical problem. Winnie just found out that William couldn't build a functioning spaceship in the next two weeks. She'd have to rethink the plan.

### # # # # # # # #

_I have to rethink. If Third Lieutenant Karlsson is actually a good officer, that must have been why he was promoted to First Lieutenant in charge of a platoon of Muslims. Right?_

_???_

_Not a chance, Bean. In what alternate reality would a Muslim sympathizer in Scandinavia be promoted? You're going soft in your head just like you're becoming soft everywhere else. Focus. Increase the treadmill speed. Think!_

_???_

_If they needed a reason to wash him out of the service, an escaped prisoner would have been enough. Instead, they promoted him to First lieutenant. Why?_

_???_

_He must have spotted something when we rescued my dad and he told his superior. What did he spot? I was the only talker. We were all heavily camouflaged. Everything went smoothly except for the lieutenant wanting to see the command copter._

_???_

_It doesn't matter what he spotted. He spotted something that got him promoted to a cushy job in boot camp. These instructional posts are hard to get. It must have been something really good._

_???_

_Where'd I put that picture of Yolanda?_

_???_

_Yolanda? Hi, it's Bean. I've been wondering ..._

### # # # # # # # #

"I wonder where Winnie got the idea for these clothes."

That was Momaka speaking and she and Yolanda were sitting in front of some old fashioned sewing machines in the home compound. Wizard had found the fabric easily enough, and Granny knew enough about dying to produce the right colours. Wanda had cut the dyed fabric into the right-size pieces. The final step was sewing everything together. There'd be five finished products. All different sizes.

"They're uniforms for Melissa, TG, Marie, Nary, and Stu," Granny answered Momaka's question.

"I know that," Momaka said. "But these won't look like any uniform I've ever seen."

"Winnie says that they'll fool the Scandinavians," Yolanda said. "She was confident about that."

"I wish I was confident about these seams holding up and not splitting apart," Momaka replied. "Sewing with stretchy material is difficult."

Yolanda abruptly changed the subject. "I have to ask TG if he found anything on the drones in Wilhelm's office that would explain why that Lieutenant Karlsson was promoted. Then I have to wait for the answer. Why don't we take a break?"

### # # # # # # # #

Bean had taken a break from her treadmill and was in the living room working on the dance she used to calm herself. Perhaps that would allow her to stop wondering about the lieutenant. Yolanda's reply came much sooner than she had expected.

_OK. He was promoted because he spotted a flaw in our disguises. The Saskatchewan army's winter gear wasn't the same as the Scandinavian army gear. Plus the woman acting as our private had helped the camp private to raise the hangar door without being told to. That's not typical behaviour for a lowly private. That confirms that he's a good officer. That makes the promotion simply a well-deserved transfer._

_???_

_So why does this not feel right?_

_???_

_It doesn't feel right because they promoted him all the way up to First lieutenant. They wouldn't do that. That would attract far too much attention. They must have promoted him to second lieutenant. So what did he do as a second lieutenant that got him promoted again to train that Muslim platoon?_

_???_

_The promotion to second lieutenant had to be to a position in Boot Camp. What kind of jobs could they trust a Muslim sympathizer to do in Boot Camp?_

_???_

_Oh, no!_

_...._

_Yolanda, it's me again. I have some important questions._

### # # # # # # # #

"These are important questions," Dreamer was stressing. She was in a meeting with Hank who was in charge of the committee organizing the move to Montana. None of them had understood how much work would be involved in planning that move. Right now, Hank and Dreamer were trying to work out how the Wilizy could feed themselves when they were scattered out over three different slave ranches that were long distances apart.

"I think we have to build a giant mess hall in the main camp in old Ranch #2," Dreamer continued. "We'll need a wooden structure, not a tent. It has to have a big kitchen with lots of storage. Plus, properly trained nutritionists and cooks. These are young kids that we're feeding. That giant mess hall will solve the food problems at the camp well into the future. Plus it will allow us to send huge amounts of food into one location without a lot of questions being raised."

"I agree," Hank said. "The committee will too. It's a good improvement to the military camp. What's next on your list?"

"If we build the giant mess hall, any Wilizy family could eat their meals in the camp if they wanted to. That means if we teenagers were living in our own house in Toronto, we could get decent food by flying to Montana."

"You can't sling from a house in Toronto into a military cadet camp, Dreamer. That's not going to work. The kids in training will notice new people in the mess hall and they'd notice that they had no visible way of getting there."

"True, but we can solve that easily." Dreamer plopped a picture down on the table. Hank looked at it and then at her. "I can give you fifty of these, Hank. Soon."

"Fifty? I don't know about that."

Dreamer reconsidered the number. This meant that she turned herself into a human calculating machine. Wizard used his spreadsheets. Dreamer held most of the data that she'd need when she was in a business meeting in her head.

"You're right. We don't need fifty. I'll give you one hundred and fifty."

"I was thinking that fifty was too many."

"You have to think about the future, Hank."

### # # # # # # # #

_I have to think about the future, Yolanda._ _I can't do it._

We're back to Bean again. She had heard a key in the lock of the front door and had scooted into her bedroom so that she could finish her conversation with Yolanda who was telling her something that Bean had been expecting. Third Lieutenant Karlsson had been promoted to second Lieutenant in the woman's side of boot camp. Wilhelm used him to identify Muslim sympathizers. After some months in that assignment, Karlsson was promoted to First Lieutenant and put in charge of the Muslim platoon. He was probably promoted because he had identified one of Bean's Towell Ladies. Spies were watching her now. She'd be bound to lead them to the others. All of them would die. Bean told Yolanda what those women had done for her. That's when Yolanda offered to help Bean rescue her _Towell Ladies_.

_I have to think about the future, Yolanda._ _I can't help you on the operation._

_What do you mean – the future? Your future?_

_No. My mother's future. I can't do this to my mother, Yolanda. After you helped me rescue my dad, I promised her that I was finished with military life. I told her what my job actually was and what my hobby was. She was horrified. She said I had to make up for killing all those men. I could do that by saving lives as a doctor. That's why she was overjoyed that I had taken that as my career. My soul would be saved. I can't go on this operation or any other. It would kill her._

_If you don't go, those Towell Ladies will die, Bean. What about their future?_

_I can give you one of their names. I can describe her. I know a bar that she goes to._

_We can't stay undercover in Stockholm waiting for her to go to a bar. Even if we somehow managed to find her, she wouldn't talk to us. We're strangers who can't speak Scandinavian. She'd never reveal her contacts. She'd think we were working for the army._

_I want to go, Yolanda, but I can't. Rescuing them will take at least one or two days. My mother talks with me every day either at work or here at home. I can't slip away without her knowing._

_Do you get time off from the clinic?_

_Yes. Fridays and Saturdays._

_You could go then._

_But I always spend my time off at home. I have nowhere else to go. I work out. I study. She'll expect to see me at home._

_Tell her that you're going to stay with a friend for a couple of days. If your mom checks, your friend could lie. I did that when I was young and it worked._

[Narrator: Remember how Yolanda had indicated to Winnie that perhaps she might have lied one or two times in the past? Guess why she lied. It was all Hank's fault, of course.]

_I have no friends. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, Yolanda._

_You said something about a sports team?_

_The school's basketball coach asked me to join his team. I was going to do that but my mother said that any bare skin other than on my face and my hands had to be covered. A scarf for my hair was necessary too. With my height, I'm enough of a freak show as it is, Yolanda. I didn't need even more people looking at me and talking about me. I told the coach I was too busy with my studies. I also told my mother that I had changed my mind about playing sports._

_So, you didn't play sports after all?_

_One of the girls on the team came to me near the end of the season. They were in the city championships against a very good team. She was really persuasive, plus she was always very friendly to me. It would be only for a few practices and one game._

_You played?_

_Yes, one game. We won the city championships. The team that we beat had a powerful black girl and a tall aboriginal girl that I was expected to stop. But somebody took a picture of the team with the trophy and that picture ended up in a story in the local media._

[Narrator: At this point in the evening, Yolanda made a mental note to research the Toronto media for high school boys and girls basketball championships. Nobody told her anything!]

_Your mother saw the picture._

_Yes. She was disappointed that I had lied and that I had exposed my skin to people watching the game. I had to promise that if I ever played sports of any kind again that I would cover myself properly._

_Do you think that you could pretend to visit this teammate? Would she lie for you? Would her parents lie if your mom tried to reach you?_

_There'd be no problem with my mother phoning her parents. My teammate lives by herself. She had some huge argument with her father and he kicked her out of his house._

_Sounds like you could get away for two days without your mother knowing. I'll need time to set up a rescue operation, Bean. Are you in or out?_

_I know where my teammate lives. I'll ask her. But she'll have to swear to keep everything a secret. I can't disappoint my mother again._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 24

On the theme of sneaking around behind a mother's back, Lucas and Lylah were now practicing basketball together every other day which meant that Lucas was sneaking out of Montana and into Toronto every other day. Theo was covering for him. On this early July afternoon, they were relaxing after practice in the SUB, which must have been the target of a cold polar wind because Lucas was finding the atmosphere downright chilly.

"We can't go to that oldy moldy film festival I told you about?" the polar wind asked.

This would have been their first actual, real live date. Lucas wanted badly to say _Yes_ , but his absence back home would be noticed. He was on a tight commuting schedule from Toronto to Montana as it was. "Ummm, I'd like to, but I can't."

"Why not? I bought the tickets. I thought you'd want to go." Lylah did not believe in helpless women waiting for men to call. I expect my readers had figured that out already.

"Family business stuff."

"This is the family business that you won't talk about?"

"We're sort of into selling stuff."

"What stuff?"

"You know, uh, toys, some food, things like that."

"And you have to go somewhere Friday night so that you can take your turn at a cash register?"

"No. We're looking into moving and I have to help plan the move."

"Where are you moving from?"

"A place in western Canada."

"Where are you going to?"

"Uh, that is still undecided. I can't really say."

"How can you move if you don't know where you're moving to?"

"Well, we have a number of options."

"Like where?"

"Well, uh, we, uh..."

"Lucas! Do you have another date Friday night?"

"No, it's just that..."

"Are you seeing Lohla? I told you that she and I have a pact."

"No. I haven't seen or talked to her since you and I started training together."

"Well she's acting very secretive. She has something going on that she won't talk about."

"I'm not seeing Lohla."

"Is it another girl?"

"No. Of course not."

"Lohla is keeping a secret from me. You're keeping a secret from me. I'll find out if the two of you are dating, you know. Twins can't keep secrets from each other. We can sense it when one of us is lying."

At that point, the polar ice cap left the SUB and set off for Lohla's apartment at a very non-glacial speed. It did not have much success though. Lohla took her promises very seriously. Besides, it was none of Lylah's business what Lohla did for her friends.

### # # # # # # # #

"The general said that I have to run the operational plans by you before I pull all the Wilizy together for the pre-war briefing," the strategist for the upcoming war with the Scandinavians said. Winnie and Melissa were meeting in the hold of the Wilizy/Asia which had held a battle command center once before.

"Let's see what you have," Melissa answered.

Winnie projected her plan onto the big screen and Melissa scrolled through it. The scrolling didn't take very long. Deciding what she'd say to Winnie, and how she'd say it, took Melissa much longer. While she's doing that thinking, I'll describe what she was looking at.

Winnie's plan consisted of five pages of what can only be described as "rough notes." Page one was the title page and it was this page where Winnie had concentrated her energy. It held the purpose ( _War Against the Scandinavians_ ), the time frame that this war would be conducted ( _July, 2087_ ) and the author of the plan ( _Strategist: Winnie_ ). To make the title page more impressive, Winnie had used three different fonts, three different font sizes, and three different colours. To her credit, she had considered but had not added a border of smiley faces around the outsides of the page.

Page two was the time frame for the war that was due to start later this week. Each day of the war was listed (July 8, July 9, July 10, etc). What was to happen on each of those days was identified as: Stage #1, Stage #2, Stage #3, etc.

Pages three and four sketched out what was going to happen in each of those stages.

Page five gave a list of each Wilizy member who would be part of the war and what role s/he would be performing. These roles were described in one or two words.

"The idea underlying the war is very good," Melissa opened.

In truth, it was. Winnie had nailed the idea, which she usually did. Converting the idea into an operational plan was something else again. Melissa had made this point with Jock and Hank several days previously when they had suggested to her that Winnie be made the strategist for the war. Every argument Melissa presented for why Winnie was not prepared to fill this role had been dead on. Jock and Hank agreed wholeheartedly with everything she said. But still they wanted Winnie to be the strategist. Mac had been at the meeting too, but she had said nothing. It wasn't her place to comment on a younger Wilizy taking on the role that an older Wilizy had always held. But privately, she wondered what Hank and Jock were thinking. Or, what they had been drinking/smoking/ingesting.

Jock explained why he and Hank wanted an unqualified strategist to plan the war. "Winnie has always felt left out of the wars that we've had. As she's gotten older, we've managed to give her small responsibilities, but mostly we've kept her out of the wars. Yolanda has always insisted that she be kept away from danger and she won't relent on that. Not yet. Nor will Winnie back off. In that upcoming struggle between mother and daughter, Winnie will be an irresistible force meeting a brick wall. The irresistible force is going to sneak behind Yolanda's back and become directly involved in risky operations if we don't let her participate more fully in our dangerous operations."

Hank added his own perspective. "Winnie has all of this creative energy bursting out of her. We should use her more. Her idea for this war takes us completely out of a military war with its potential for casualties and into a stealth operation where the risk of casualties is light. We need to help Winnie grow in ways that don't involve high risk to her personally. Assigning her as strategist makes sense given this background."

"She has no idea what it takes to convert an idea into a plan," Melissa argued.

"That's where you come in," Jock had said.

### # # # # # # # #

Melissa came in on tiptoes.

"I see you have added a time-frame too and you've outlined individual responsibilities. This is good."

Winnie nodded modestly. She was used to being praised.

"Let me ask you this. At this stage in the battle – Melissa highlighted the appropriate place on page 3 – you're going to use this weapon for the first time. You don't think of Bob as a weapon, but you should."

"OK."

"Have you tested this weapon to make sure that it works?"

"But this weapon always works."

"But this weapon has never been used in this kind of situation before. It may not be able to do what you want. What if the weapon fails? What if the weapon misfires and kills a Scandinavian citizen? Do you agree that we need Scandinavian citizens on our side? Killing them could cause the war to fail, right?"

"Yes."

"So you need to build a pre-war stage where every new weapon that you're planning to use in the war is tested for safety and accuracy."

"OK."

"You need to test the sub too?"

"Why? It's just a sub. It works."

"But it will be used in different circumstances and with a guest. Will it work for that guest?"

"I need to go into the sub as though I've never seen it before?"

"Yes. Here's another thought. William has invented a new ray for you. You need to test it where it's going to be used."

"But going into the royal palace before the war adds to the risk."

"True, but it's a very low risk. The palace is open to the public. You and William can sneak in invisibly, wait for people to leave, and then test the ray. What would happen if something were embedded within the palace walls that caused the ray to misfire? If so, the whole plan will fail. Adding a small amount of danger is worth it if the risk of damage to the plan is very high."

"OK. What else?"

"Do you know what _building in redundancies_ means? Or, _having a contingency plan_?"

"No."

"Contingencies and redundancies have to be built into a plan so that you have something already planned out in case you face an unexpected danger or failure. Contingency is like having a Plan B. A redundancy is having extra resources on hand in case a weapon or a soldier can't function. You don't have any of those, do you?"

"No."

"A final question. You have assumed that the Scandinavian girl will be part of the war. What happens to your plan if she isn't?"

"But she's on an undercover operation with Mom right now."

"To save some lives. She didn't want to go."

"Mom will convince her. Nobody says _No_ to Mom when she wants you to do something."

"The Scandinavian weapon that you've listed is not Yolanda's daughter. She has her own mom. What happens if her own mom stops her?"

"I need a Plan B?"

"And a Plan C and a Plan D. Fortunately, Jock has battle software that will help."

"We're not going to war this week, are we?"

"No, we aren't."

Winnie blanked out her five page plan on the big screen. "This wasn't very good, was it?"

"You've made a good start. The creative overview is the most difficult step in planning for a war. Coming up with the plans to make that overview work is comparatively easy, but time consuming. I'll help."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 25

The operation to rescue Bean's Towell Ladies was scheduled for Friday July 4 and Saturday July 5. Everything had to be squeezed into a tight time frame to accommodate Bean's contrived escape from her mom's supervision and that included the time needed for Bean to copter to Scandinavia and back.

The planning for the operation began the day after Bean had told Yolanda that she would pretend to stay with a friend while she helped out on the rescue operation. That friend turned out to be Lohla, as you've learned. Yolanda had asked Bean for specific information on the ladies who had to be rescued. For example, where would they likely be living? Exactly where in the base did the discovered Towell Lady work? What was her name and rank? What did she look like generally? She also asked for the location of the best shopping center in Stockholm, but more about that later.

Melissa and Mac spent a few hours creating the outline of a rescue plan complete with contingencies and redundancies. Mac and Melissa were good at this. The Wilizy didn't always realize how much of their success was due to this duo, but Winnie was beginning to appreciate it. Right now, Melissa would help Winnie with her own operational plan while Mac executed the rescue plan. Accompanying Mac to Scandinavia were Yolanda, Yollie, and Momaka.

The biggest problem that this quartet of Raging Gardeners faced was not creating the plan or actually rescuing the women. That was quite easy. Their biggest problem was hiding Wilizy secrets while they did the rescuing. Bean was an outsider as were all of the Towell ladies. They couldn't leave these Scandinavians with unanswered questions as to how the Gardeners travelled to Scandinavia and back, how they travelled around while they were in Stockholm, and how the Towell Ladies could actually disappear while Special Ops spies were watching them. All of this was achieved with some flim-flam. This flim-flam was more creative than the actual rescue.

Another tricky thing about this operation was that the rescue was only the first part of how the Towell Ladies would be used. After their rescue, they'd join Lieutenant Karlsson and his men in their isolated camp. These two forces would become part of the Wilhelm operation shortly afterwards. Winnie didn't know that this was going to happen yet. Melissa would suggest it to Winnie as part of her assistance.

Bean was scheduled to leave Toronto early Friday, July 4. The day before, the four Gardeners loaded up a Scandinavian troop transport (from Bean's stash of equipment) with more supplies than five women could possibly use in this short operation. Some were necessities for camping in the woods, like food, sleeping bags and a large tent. Also included were items that any experienced camper would look at and scratch her head. A fat suit. Attachable wrinkles. Wigs. A fake cast. Kashmira's wheelchair. They unloaded all of this at the campsite they had used as part of Operation Matching Panties.

While Bean was using her own Scandinavian command copter to fly to that campsite, Mac and Yollie were searching the base's personnel office before any of the soldiers arrived at work. They did so invisibly but that wasn't necessary. Like other army bases, security within the Scandinavian main base itself was unduly lax. Once the army's security personnel had systems in place to keep bad guys out of the base itself, they never thought that they'd have to protect the base's buildings. Yes, individual offices might be locked, but not the buildings' outside doors.

Yollie found the cubicle for the Towell Lady whose identity had been compromised. Her name was Mathilde Lindgren. Yollie and Mac waited invisibly until Sargeant Lindgren arrived at her desk, confirmed that she fit the description that Bean had provided, waited for her to leave her desk, and then inserted a bug into the sargeant's purse which she had placed in the bottom right drawer of her desk.

With that task safely accomplished, the quartet prepared to go shopping. Wizard had provided them with European currency and like all members of their gender, they considered shopping in stores that didn't exist where they lived to be an inalienable right that no man dare deny them. Some personal items that were purchased that morning did indeed make their way home to the Aboriginal Nation. But most of the items they purchased were for the Wilhelm operations and they stayed in Scandinavia. Since Yolanda or Yollie's aboriginal appearance might draw unwelcome attention, those two shopped invisibly. Mac and Momaka could appear as themselves without raising suspicions and loaded up their shopping carts with their own finds as well as their invisible partner's requests. The Towell Ladies would need Scandinavian looking civilian clothing soon; so would the men in Lieutenant Karlsson's platoon.

That shopping excursion took the morning and the only difficulty was in transporting the purchases from the shopping center to the staging area. It was safe for Momaka to appear as herself briefly at the check out and she was able to take all the paid items out of the store. A quick foray into a dark alley later, Bobbie the Invisible Shopper was winging her way back to the staging area. So long as a package had a handle on it, she could carry any number of them hanging from her talons.

They were back in camp in time to watch Bean's black command copter land in late afternoon. Yolanda made the necessary introductions – first names this time – and then gave Bean a chance to rest and eat.

While she was doing that, Mac and Yollie were hovering above the Scandinavian base waiting for Sargeant Lindgren to emerge, go home, eat, and re-emerge. It was Friday night. No self-respecting military man or woman would be staying home.

When Mathilde disappeared into a nearby tavern, Mac entered as herself and checked out the tavern's restroom. Satisfied, she mind messaged Yolanda who by this time had Bean in a disguise. Yolanda and Bean used Bean's copter to travel from their camp to a nearby copter parking lot where Mac met them and pointed out the targeted tavern. Momaka had been serving as an invisible guard and joined up with Yollie who also was invisible.

A blonde young woman entered the tavern and asked for a table near the washrooms which the staff immediately honoured since this blonde young woman had a battered cast on one leg and was in a wheel chair. The blonde ordered a drink and nursed it. Sometime that evening, Mathilde would have to pass the blonde's table in order to reach the restrooms. She wouldn't refuse the blonde's request for help in moving her wheelchair into the restroom and then into the extra large stall for such people. Bean was safe from accidental discovery since tall girls don't look so tall when they're confined to a wheelchair.

Later that evening, Mac met Bean outside the tavern as planned and together they returned to camp in the command copter. The extraction of all of the Towell Ladies was set for Saturday night. The women were to sneak into Sargeant Lindgren's quarters after dark and, by 10:00 p.m., they should be on the roof where they'd meet a blonde woman who'd help them escape. They were to bring only items of sentimental value.

Mathilde hadn't needed much convincing. She sensed that she had been under observation.

### # # # # # # # #

On Saturday, Sargeant Lindgren began talking surreptitiously to her Towell Lady colleagues, Mac, Yollie, and Yolanda were watching from above. They spotted one spy following Mathilde as she went about her morning. Another took his place for the afternoon. Both were males, which was helpful to the Wilizy watchers because Mathilde was spreading the word in feminine-dominated environments: a beauty salon; the poetry section of a library; a family planning clinic; and the always-popular women's washroom. It is a fact of life, commonly considered _uncanny_ by men, that women will find it necessary to visit washrooms in pairs. Centuries from now, scientists will undoubtedly find the cause: perhaps it's an enzyme in women's bladders that emits signals to other nearby feminine bladders when one bladder is full. That signal prompts the other bladder to search its own body for excess fluids that it can use to enlarge its bladder to sympathetic fullness too.

Or perhaps women go to washroom conventions so that they can talk about their husbands, boy friends, or other less popular women friends in a uniquely feminine disparaging manner without hurting any of their collective feelings which is a shame because some very juicy observations can be shared in an environment which has a lot of running water operating in the background that prevents curious bystanders from listening in. Whatever the underlying reason for the popularity of the Tinkle Tandem phenomenon, Mathilde did indeed pass on her message in three washrooms.

However, the suspicions of the single Special Ops spy who was watching Mathilde were sufficient for him to raise an alert. By evening, the four Towell Ladies who had been discovered had observers stationed in the shadows outside their sleeping quarters. All four of those women lived in barracks on the base. The three who had not yet been identified lived off base.

While Mac, Yolanda, and Yollie were watching the spies, Momaka and Bean were left alone in the camp for the day. This was deliberate. Of all the Wilizy women, Momaka was considered to be the most likely for Bean to accept as a friend in a short time. She was paired up with Bean in the hope that Momaka might find a way to encourage Bean to join the Wilizy for their war with Scandinavia. If not, Melissa would not be available for her role in the dramatic epic that would form the crux of the operation. All but one of the cast of this epic had to have white skin, so Winnie's choices were limited. Winnie had penciled in Marie as Melissa's understudy but that could prove to be an unmitigated disaster seeing as how Marie had no idea of what this epic was about. The show's director was facing another problem. Melissa was finding it difficult to speak her lines. Whenever she read the part, she broke up into uncontrollable giggles. Meanwhile Granny was serving as the show's critic as the cast learned their speeches. "Nobody will believe this!" she'd repeat daily.

Back we go to Scandinavia.

Momaka found out early in the day that Bean was not interested in hearing about babies. Dreamer's sixteen year old biological clock might be unwrapped from its storage carton and deposited on the bureau next to the bed that she was sharing with Wizard, but Bean's nineteen year old biological clock was sitting on a shelf somewhere in a factory awaiting installation of the battery. Petro's advancement from crawling to falling on his face from a standing position did not seem to impress Bean who successfully swallowed a few yawns without Momaka seeing them. This line of conversation would not survive through the next stage of the conversation, which would consist of discussions on the gradual introduction of solid foods into an infant's diet with a side trip into what would happen to the contents of Petro's diapers as a result.

Bean mentioned that she should probably start on her workout now in case she was needed that evening. Momaka expressed some curiosity and shared that she too had some knowledge of martial arts. That led to some serious exchanges of fists, elbows, knees, .... well, exchanges of just about every part of the human anatomy that had a hard pointy bone in it somewhere. By afternoon, they had mutual respect for each other, but no confidences were shared other than, "That one really smarted." The mantle of Bean's would-be-confidante would have to fall to Yolanda who would accompany Bean on the copter ride home.

But for now, Yolanda and Bean had only a few tasks left to perform. Once darkness fell, they loaded up almost all of the gear and the purchased clothing that they had brought into the camp earlier into a troop transport and set off for Lieutenant Karlsson's camp. They left the tent and a wire clothesline behind. At Karlsson's camp, his men unloaded everything while Bean and the lieutenant exchanged a few words. These were:

"You saw through our disguises, I hear."

"Yeah. I was lucky. Did your dad get home alright?"

"Yeah. He said you ran a good prison camp."

"Do you know what my platoon is supposed to do or what this gear is for?"

"Don't have a clue."

Yolanda and Bean brought the troop transport back to their original camp, now missing its tent and clothesline. They waited there until Mac mind-messaged Yolanda that the seven Towell Ladies were safe at which point Yolanda climbed into the passenger seat of Bean's command copter and said, "We've picked them up and they're safe. We can go home now."

When Bean asked Yolanda on the way home how they were able to move the women off the roof of the barracks, Yolanda avoided a direct lie by saying, "We have a stealth transport that we use during moonless nights and when defenders have not been alerted." When asked how they knew so much about what the women were doing and what the Special Ops men were doing, Yolanda put it down to "electronic surveillance, like what we have guarding our home compound." Bean seemed to accept those explanations and didn't ask any further questions about the operation.

### # # # # # # # #

Here's what actually happened.

As darkness solidified its hold on the Stockholm skies, six Towell Ladies tried to sneak unnoticed into Sargeant Lindgren's bachelor quarters on the second floor of a barracks in the army's main base. None managed to make it into the building undetected. A dozen Special Ops men were lurking in the shadows outside the barracks. They had identified four spies but they didn't know how many more were still undiscovered. They wanted to be sure that all of them were in Mathilde Lindgren's quarters before capturing them all and hauling them off to prison. There was no need to rush into the capture; the building had only two entrances/exits and both of them were under surveillance. Unfortunately for the spies, when they did decide to break into Lindgren's quarters in the early morning, the traitors were gone. The operatives never did figure out how the women had escaped capture. Their commanding officer put it down to sloppy surveillance work and demoted them all.

Here's how Mac and Melissa extracted the towell ladies out of the base.

Mac was waiting on the roof for the women and had partially erected the large tent. She had the women enter the tent with all of their possessions and make themselves comfortable lying on the ground and cuddling together into a tight cluster. Mac then collapsed the tent and wrapped it into a tight roll. Using the wire cable from the satellite compound's clothesline, Mac tied the tent up so that it couldn't unravel. She finished the wrapping by forming the tail end of the cable into a circle. _Bob the Invisible Shopper_ became _Bob the Invisible Traitor Transport_ and he grabbed the cable circle in his talons and pulled the tent under his body where it would be invisible. He transported the tent and its contents to a clearing outside Lieutenant Karlsson's camp. Mac unwrapped the tent, assured the women that she had a copter nearby, and pointed in the direction the women had to go. She advised them to stay in Karlsson's camp until further notice. Somebody would be by in a couple of weeks to offer them a chance to be part of an operation that would reveal what Wilhelm had been doing to the Scandinavian nation.

As I've said, the rescue plan was easy to design. Yollie came up with a suitable name – she called it _Operation aTENTshun!_

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 26

Bean was not, by nature, a talkative person so the first half of the trip home was quiet. Yolanda didn't want to pry into Bean's private life although she did wonder about Bean's mother and why she had so much control over her daughter's life. Bean was the one to break the silence.

"I wasn't sleeping during the trial," she confessed. "I was just pretending."

"Why did you do that?"

"Embarrassment, I guess. You were going to find out about my secrets. I didn't want to see you looking at me."

"Your secrets?"

"The lesbian charge. Plus, I did kill that man and dump him in the lake. He was going to attack me. I've killed many others like him." _[Narrator: I'll skip the conversation where Bean tells Yolanda about this part of her life. You already know it.]_

"What bothered you the most about the trial?"

"The lesbian part. I don't have any guilt about killing serial rapists. They had their chance to walk away."

"I know others who have killed serial rapists without feeling guilt and I don't have a problem with you being a lesbian, Bean."

"I'm not a lesbian. Well, not now anyway. If a man had offered me drink after drink and had been charming and friendly, I would have recognized what Detective Bertoia was doing. She was seducing me, just like charming men tried to do. But she was a woman, not a man. I never realized what she was up to until we were back in my apartment. I realized what was happening through the alcoholic haze and put a stop to it. Some stuff happened, but not like what she said, and I kicked her out. She came back some days later to apologize, or at least that's what she said she was doing. I told her that I didn't want to see her again, but I let her into the apartment to use the bathroom. That was probably when she saw my father's knife. I was dumb."

"You said that you weren't a lesbian now. What did you mean?"

"I had been attracted to Bertoia initially. At least enough to sit at the same table together in a bar. I've felt that same kind of attraction since. A girl in my high school made some approaches. I thought she was nice and we started hanging out together. One lunch hour we found a private place and we held hands. She was going to kiss me, I knew that. As she approached, I saw Detective Bertoia's face and that put an end to that. Just like when I see a man that might be interesting, I see my rapist's face instead of his. Means that there'll be no marriage for me."

"You can't say that for sure."

"I can say it, Yolanda. Being close to a charming man or a charming woman makes me want to puke now. Unless there's a third gender around here that I don't know about, I won't be getting married."

"Recovering from traumatic experiences can take time."

"Yolanda, I'm an unsociable freak of nature. Who'd be interested?"

### # # # # # # # #

"Do you ever talk with your mom about things that bother you, like your lesbian encounter?"

"She knows just about everything that has happened to me but not the lesbian stuff. She'd absolutely freak out if she knew. In Scandinavia, gays and lesbians are hunted down and prosecuted as perverts. Becoming a doctor will excuse the sins I committed in my life as an assassin and a rapist hunter, but it won't cover any hints of homosexuality."

"She's making you become a doctor as punishment?"

"She's not forcing me. Becoming a doctor is more like an opportunity for salvation. I can make up for all my killings by saving lives. I don't know about that. I have different views on her religion than she does. I do know that I can't disappoint her again. So I took the job in the clinic and I will go to university and become a doctor. I'll get used to it."

"Like you'll get used to covering your entire body with cloth?"

"Yeah. Like that."

### # # # # # # # #

"Sounds like you're making some sacrifices about your future life to please your parents?"

"They make sacrifices for me, I make sacrifices for them."

"Whose idea was that?"

"Dad's easygoing. My mother is more of a take-charge kind of person. Now that the family is back together, she's going to make sure that I have a good life."

"So tell me, what would you be doing with your life if you weren't making sacrifices for your parents."

That question opened some floodgates. Bean would be planning for some career other than a doctor. She would be wearing the same clothes as the other girls in her high school. She'd be playing sports like volleyball because she enjoyed it, she was good at it, and she didn't have to make idle chatter in bars to have a good time with other people. She'd live the way she had lived in the military. On her own. With money. In an apartment that was big enough for her to move around. She'd come and go as she pleased. She wouldn't have to take her mother with her whenever she wanted to leave the home when it was dark.

"You take your mother with you when you leave the house when it's dark? As a chaperone?"

"No. My mother is so worried about me coming to harm that she insists on being there to protect me in case another rapist comes after me. Yolanda, my mother is old, she is not as agile as I am, she can't think as quickly as I can, she doesn't know three different lethal forms of martial arts, and she doesn't have a knife strapped to my forearm like you had suggested. She believes that she's protecting me by carrying a whistle."

"A whistle?"

"A whistle that she can blow which will bring help. She won't let me do anything on my own that has the potential to be dangerous. Drives me crazy."

"You said she was old. How old?"

"I'm not sure. Early forties? Middle forties?"

_[Narrator: Yolanda was forty-one.]_

"And you let her run your life because...?"

"Because I was a terrible daughter. I never once communicated with her or Dad after I had been coerced into the army. After boot camp, I had time off. I could have visited. I could have written. I didn't."

"Because?"

"For the first couple of years, I was intent on dying in the line of duty. My parents would receive a letter saying that I had died protecting the country and could be proud of me. Afterwards, when I was killing, I didn't want them to see what I had become."

"Have you told them this?"

"No. Dad wouldn't care. He hugged me when I rescued him, told me that he loved me, and assured me that everything would be fine again."

"And your mom?"

"Telling her that I had been suicidal would make it worse. It would give her even more reason to protect me, but this time, to protect me from myself."

"If you could have anything that you wanted from your mother, what would it be?"

"She'd hug me, tell me that she loved me, and assure me that everything would be fine again."

### # # # # # # # #

"Have you given much thought to what career you'd like to follow?"

"Not much. I have to find out first if I've passed all my courses this year. The military gives its recruits a narrow field of study. I was way behind in all my high school subjects."

"What skills do you have?"

"Other than assassination, you mean? With my martial arts, I could work in security. Bouncer in a bar? I taught some physical education courses in the army, I could do that I suppose. Teaching evening fitness classes in a community center? I know a lot of different sports, so I could work in a gym. Hand out basketballs, set up nets. That kind of thing.

"You're eliminating anything that would require further study, like in a university?"

"If I'm not going to be a doctor, my parents will not be working two jobs."

"Probably a good thing. For you and for them."

"I'll be lucky to find a job that will pay my room and board. Working at anything that requires courses after high school is a dream."

"Did you know that the University of Toronto will pay the tuition fees for students who make their sports teams? They call them athletic scholarships."

"Huh."

"How good are you in sports?"

"Lohla says that I was good enough to make Toronto's All Star basketball team. I don't know about volleyball. I never saw any of their games."

"Might be worth thinking about."

### # # # # # # # #

Bean parked her copter in its usual spot behind the family apartment. Yolanda made no move to leave.

"We're going into a war with Wilhelm soon. He has to pay for what he's done. If we don't take him down, we'll always be looking over our shoulder."

"How's Princess Freya doing?"

"Some little hiccoughs growing up, but nothing serious. She's close friends with one of my granddaughters."

"Does Princess Freya know who she is?"

"Yes. She knows about her mother's death too. That's one of the things Wilhelm has to pay for. We have space in this war for a person skilled in undercover operations who can speak Scandinavian. It would be a management role; not an assassin role. This person would be working with Scandinavian Muslims who will be there when Wilhelm is judged. This war will last several weeks at least and this person will be away from Toronto for that whole time. Do you know anybody who might be interested?"

"How much time before this person has to give you a decision?"

"She can't take more than a week. Less if possible."

"I'll think about it."

Both Bean and Yolanda made movements to get out of the copter. Bean put a hand on Yolanda's sleeve and she paused.

"Yolanda. I have two questions. I need honest answers."

"OK."

"Your satellite community that was attacked – the one in the southern hemisphere."

"U'huh."

"Is that where you hid Will and Izzy after they faked their deaths?"

"Yes."

"Will they be fighting in this war?"

"Yes."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 27

Monday, July 7. Lucas was back in Toronto – waiting in the gym wondering if Lylah would show. He had missed their Friday practice, but she had known about that. She had also known that he couldn't go to a film festival with her for "family business reasons." She had left him sitting in the SUB and he hadn't heard from her since. Mind you, he hadn't tried to communicate with her either.

Lylah did arrive at the usual 10:00 a.m. time, pulled out her basketball and began her ball handling warm-up drills. Lucas did the same. No words were exchanged in the first hour. They didn't need to talk to know what drill was coming next. At one point in a drive into contact drill, Lucas caught her flush in the chest with a shoulder and Lylah went down hard on her butt. "Sorry," he said and held out a hand to help her up. She ignored the hand, rolled over onto her hands and knees, rose stiffly and made the referee's sign for a charge. Like I said. No exchange of words.

At 11:00, they took their five minute break that usually consisted of sitting on a team bench, drinking, and exchanging observations on the drills just completed. Not this time. Lylah took her drink and a towell into the women's changing room. She came out five minutes later mopping herself down with the wet towel. She saw Lucas looking at her. "Not now," she snapped, picked up her basketball and went to the other end of the gym to do her fifty foul shots.

They ended the practice with the usual long set of lines. This was a straightforward drill for endurance and speed – Lucas' strength. Lylah grunted, "Don't patronize me," when she saw Lucas holding back and so he accelerated away, finished far ahead of her, and left the gym for the showers. Both locker rooms had a door into the gym (obviously) and another exit door into a hallway leading out of the gym complex. Lucas rushed his shower and came back into the gym. Then he waited to see which door she'd use.

In previous practices, Lylah would return to the gym relatively quickly with her hair still wet. She'd rub it dry with a towell while they talked about what had gone right and what had gone wrong in the practice. Lucas enjoyed watching her as she did her hair; Lylah didn't seem to mind him looking. This day, she came into the gym with her hair done and her sport bag packed. But she did come back into the gym.

"SUB?" Lucas asked from the bench where he was sitting.

"I hate it when Lohla keeps secrets from me," she said in response. Lylah was standing in front of Lucas, bag in her hand, ready to leave.

"I'm not seeing Lohla."

"That's what she said. But she's still hiding something. So are you. You're hiding a lot."

Lucas remained quiet.

"Relationships can't survive when one person keeps secrets from the other. I thought you wanted to have a relationship."

This time, Lucas didn't stay quiet.

"When I asked you my five questions, you said that you were heavily influenced by what your father wanted for you. What did you mean by that? What does he want for you?"

...

"Why do we have to hide the fact that we are practicing basketball from your father?"

...

"Why don't you ever talk about your mother?"

...

"Why is Lohla living on her own and having to work to support herself when you don't work and don't have an athletic scholarship that you use to pay your fees? Who's paying your fees?"

...

"When I asked Lohla why she had lied to me about turning tricks, she replied that it was obvious. But I know that she didn't have to make up that lie to see if all I wanted was sex from her. You know the reason why she did that. So why did she lie about turning tricks?"

...

"Why weren't you upfront about you and Lohla being twins? What would be the point in hiding that?"

...

"Why do you insist that we don't touch each other? Were you assaulted at some point in your life? Are you afraid of me?"

...

"OK," Lylah admitted. "I get it. I'm keeping secrets from you too."

"There are things I can't tell you about my family, Lylah. I just can't do it. And I can't explain to you why."

"When I registered in university, I lied about my age so that I could enroll. I was way underage. Lohla and I pretend to be older/younger sisters rather than twins so that she'll have a better chance of being selected to the Blues varsity team. When the time comes, she'll change her appearance so that we don't look the same. If the coach knows that she's my twin, he won't take her."

...

"It's your turn now, Lucas."

"I can't, Lylah."

...

Lucas knew what he was going to say next would make things worse. Lucas never did shy away from doing what had to be done. "Starting next week, I have family commitments that will take me away from Toronto. I can practice on the coming Wednesday but that will be all I can do for a while."

"Where are you going?"

"I could lie, but I won't. I can't say where I'll be, Lylah."

"Don't bother coming to the gym on Wednesday. I won't be here."

### # # # # # # # #

While Lucas and Lylah were talking about families and their secrets, Lohla was returning to her apartment. The school had posted everybody's final grades on bulletin boards inside the school and she had gone down to check them. She was ambling along the sidewalk, wondering what to do as a mini-celebration when she looked up and saw Bean sitting on her stoop. She also saw two bulging backpacks next to her.

"Bean. What happened? Did your mother find out that you were away? I didn't receive any calls here." Lohla wasn't exactly a slouch in the brains department, as you will have guessed.

"She kicked me out for other reasons. Uhm, I..."

"Of course you can stay here." Bean had said the magic words: _kicked me out_.

"Lohla, I don't have any money, but I'll pay my share of the rent and food as soon as I get a job. I don't know how long that will be and how much I'll earn. I have to go back to school next year. I failed every important course."

"The good thing about that is you'll be able to play basketball for the school next year. You'll play, right?"

"Yes. I intend to. That was one of the reasons my mom kicked me out."

### # # # # # # # #

Lohla was finishing the grand tour of her apartment with a look into the sewing room that a previous tenant had created. It was too small to be a bedroom, but Bean didn't mind. "It's bigger than what I have now. Lohla, I have an extra long bed, but it'll fit."

"Good. My shift at Timmy's starts in half an hour. I'll take you down and speak to Harold about putting you on the same shift as me. He's the manager. He'll give you a nasty job, but it pays better than what beginning counter staff get."

"What is it?"

"Cooking the doughnuts. Lots of stinging grease spray. Hot conditions."

"I've had worse jobs. You think Harold will give me the job?"

"Yeah. This job is hard to fill and even harder to keep filled. Besides you have the essential qualifications for anybody working on Harold's shift."

"Hard work?"

"Boobs."

### # # # # # # # #

Lohla was dressed in her work uniform – Bean was in a low-slung tank top that Lohla had lent her. She had assured her that this revealing top would get her in.

"I don't have much to reveal, Lohla," Bean stated the obvious.

"Won't matter to Harold."

"Do girls at Timmy's have trouble with Harold?"

"Nah. Harold's a girl at heart; he just got dealt the wrong body. Harold doesn't hire guys because some give him a lot of abuse. You sort of look like a guy with your height. This top will make sure that Harold knows you're a girl. He's nice. You'll see."

On the way to Timmy's, Lohla stopped at a red light and turned to Bean. "I have a secret that I am going to tell you. You need to know this before you move in."

"OK," Bean said cautiously.

"I'm earning money to go to university by turning tricks. I'm very discrete and I only have sex with old guys. I don't bring them home to the apartment. Are you OK with that?"

Well, if sharing secrets was necessary in order to live in Lohla's apartment....

"My hobby is killing serial rapists," Bean confessed. "I won't bring them home to the apartment either."

The two girls looked at each other. The street light changed just as Lohla burst into a loud guffaw. "That's the best reply anybody has ever said when I've told them that lie. We're going to get along great. Where have you been hiding that sense of humour?"

Bean didn't actually have a sense of humour. But she did know that she had said the right thing. "I kill them with the barber knife that I use to shave my legs," she added to see what the reaction would be.

Lohla was still in mild hysterics when they reached Timmy's. True to Lohla's prediction, Bean was working in the grease pit a few minutes later. Harold wanted her so badly he'd even let her have some time off in a week or two.

### # # # # # # # #

Three days have passed and Yolanda was in her living room. Vacuuming if you must know. Winnie and Reese entered the room and motioned Yolanda to turn off the vacuum.

"Mom," Winnie spoke. "Reese and I are here as a delegation. Please sit down."

"Delegation? From whom?" Yolanda asked as she perched herself on the closest seat – her antique wooden rocking chair.

Winnie and Reese took seats on the sofa. "She was vacuuming," Winnie said to Reese. "Just like Mom."

"She has Mom's colours," Reese said to Winnie.

"I'm right here in the living room, you know."

"Sounds like her," Winnie concluded.

"Easy to fake," Reese replied. "Mom, the other teenagers have asked us to come here on their behalf. We have to ask you some questions."

"OK."

Winnie spoke first. "Who are you really?"

"And what have you done with our mom?" Reese finished.

"What? I'm who I am. I'm your mom."

"Should we believe her?" Winnie asked Reese.

"Colours didn't show any lying."

"Mom, or whoever you are, we have a test. The mug that Reese is holding in his hands is half-full of congealed hot chocolate. It will stain the fabric on your good sofa. Reese is now going to tip the mug over. Go ahead, Reese."

"Ack," Yolanda said and exploded out of the chair. She snatched the cup (of basking soda) out of Reese's hand before his heart could beat again. "Don't you dare!"

"She's our real Mom," Reese concluded.

_[Narrator: Yolanda had come back from Scandinavia with a sinking suspicion that she might have some similarities with Bean's mother. The age, for sure. The common need to protect a daughter from danger, as well. Perhaps she hadn't gone to the protectionist extremes that Bean's mom had, and Winnie was only eleven and she needed some protecting, but still... Might Winnie be as upset with her as Bean was with her mother? Was Yolanda driving her crazy? As to the others in the family, Yolanda couldn't remember the last time that she had hugged her children and told them that she loved them._

_So, she did just that over the next two days. Several times each, as a matter of fact. That prompted the children to ask Hank if Yolanda might be dying and was giving each of them a final good bye. Other family members became involved in the search for the reason behind Yolanda's inexplicable behaviour. Granny came by and tried to get her talking about the mission, but Yolanda didn't say anything about Bean. Secrets had to be observed. Doc tried to inveigle her into her annual check up six months early. The family finally decided that talking directly to Yolanda was the best way to approach this concern. Winnie and Reese were delegated as they were the two youngest and were least likely to be charred and burned at the stake, metaphorically speaking.]_

It was up to Winnie to explain to Yolanda what had caused them concern and to ask if they could have the old mom back. They were used to her. They didn't want to have to break in a new mom.

As to Bean, she also had thought that talking to her mom was the best way of solving the concerns she was keeping secret. As you've read, that didn't work out too well for her. Keeping secrets and knowing when/how to reveal them can be tricky.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 28

Typically, the week before they entered a war, the Wilizy tied up loose ends and tried to relax. This war was no different.

In the week of July 14th, the team handling the move to Montana shut down everything they were doing. The magnitude of the move was proving to be daunting. Just planning accommodations for so many different families was taking all their time, especially when each family had different ideas of what they wanted. Wanda simply put in a huge order for lumber and let it go at that for now.

Stu was the only person still actively working on the move. He was struggling through issues of obtaining legal ownership of the land of all five former Montana slave ranches. That was proving to be a nightmare as land title records were hit and miss in remote isolated areas of the former United States. That was similar to other areas of North America where state or provincial governments had not been re-established. In such areas, somebody could own land simply by "squatting" (living) on it. If nobody showed up with a valid legal claim to the land within a certain period, the law gave the squatter legal ownership of where he was squatting.

Jock approved Winnie and Melissa's plan for the war and Mac took over the battle commander's first duty – putting personnel in place. She sent Bean to Scandinavia to scout for suitable battle locations. The key for success in Bean's part of the war was to keep her troops moving and always wearing different disguises courtesy of the Raging Gardeners' shopping trip in Stockholm. Bean and the other Scandinavians in the war would operate independently, partly so that the Wilizy didn't have to worry about them learning about their secrets. They were also operating independently because Bean's forces would cover a lot of Scandinavian territory. The Wilizy would operate almost exclusively in or above Stockholm. Bean was in charge of all of the Scandinavian forces and she'd liaise solely with Yolanda through the Wilizy "military net." Although Bean now knew about Will and Izzy being alive, she didn't know any other Wilizy secrets.

Speaking about Wilizy secrets, Momaka found a way to disarm Bob's talons. He was flying around now with giant oven mitts on his feet and hands. From a distance, they wouldn't be noticed because the mitts matched his leathery colours quite well. Yollie had gotten the idea for the oven mitts when she was lifting a giant casserole of lasagna out of the oven a couple of suppers previously.

Nary wasn't sure if Contrary would respond to her call when she was in Scandinavia, so she flew to Stockholm be sure. Wherever Contrary lived in the other side of the astral plane, she definitely had direct connections into Scandinavia.

Melissa asked for a dress rehearsal in front of an audience for one of the important battles. Melissa, TG, Marie, Nary, and Stu all wore the uniforms that Momaka and Granny had sewn. This dress rehearsal proved to be valuable because Stu's costume split one of its seams. While Momaka frantically sewed in an additional stretchy panel, Jock helped Stu remember how to speak in a Scottish brogue.

William had previously confirmed for himself that his new ray would work in the royal palace and demonstrated it at the dress rehearsal successfully.

Doc finished his whittling stick.

Mac had everybody go outside to listen to Kashmira's song and all agreed that it had been very gruesome.

After the dress rehearsal, some of the older Wilizy approached Lucas with reservations about the whole idea. Lucas reassured them that everything was realistic and Wilhelm would probably buy what Winnie was selling.

Theo and Nary won the draw for which couple would be chosen to fly the submarine into position. Wizard and Dreamer entered the draw which told everybody who knew the secret of the submarine that Wizard and Dreamer were now officially a couple. But then, you already knew that.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 29

Norway had survived _The Troubles_ reasonably well. Although they objected to becoming a Swedish governed province when the countries were joined together, Norwegians had been, and are, a peaceable people. The new combined democracy survived.

The rise of water levels by the destruction of the two polar caps had little impact because Norway is a mountainous country well known for its fjords – deep grooves cut into the land by prehistoric glacial action. A few lowland areas around Oslo were flooded, but their major cities remained functional. The same cannot be said for the many small communities that existed on the Norwegian sea, the long western side of the country. All of those villages ceased to exist, in part because of rising water. When a small community is perched on the side of a steep precipitous mountain and the ocean keeps rising and rising, there's nowhere to go. The disappearance of the fishing stock also had a big impact on these communities because fishing had been a large part of their economy. Mind you, the fish in the artic regions of the world were the last to disappear as ocean pollution was heaviest in the big oceans. But water pollution migrates as does air pollution, as does the population of a dying community. Norwegians headed south.

The disappearance of oil-based businesses hit Norway hard as its economy was heavily based on its natural resources, especially oil. The southern cities did survive, although with reduced populations. As the oil-based economy died, and as the world's financial systems imploded with hatred of the banks that profited at the expense of dying and starving people, so did the Norwegian's social safety net. Especially health care. People died in large numbers in _The Troubles,_ not from revolution but from illness and starvation that were caused, to a large extent, by banks who refused to extend credit to people, companies, and countries alike.

The entirety of Norway's population now resided on the coastline defined by the Skagerrak Strait with Denmark on the other side of the strait. The economy was now dominated by trade across that strait. Goods were travelling back and forth in sailing barques. Food and other necessities were imported; natural resources like lumber and some minerals were exported. Major Norwegian communities included Kristiansand, Arendal, Sandefjord, Tensberg, and Drammen. Oslo remained the largest city in Norway.

The first strange sighting occurred in Kristianand on the southernmost tip of Norway on Monday, July 21. A young Swedish woman was asking about having her hair done and, solely as a matter of making conversation, she happened to mention that she had seen this huge something in the sky. It had appeared suddenly and had disappeared just as suddenly. A big flying bird, perhaps. But bigger than a bird. Much bigger.

The Swedish woman was not the only person reporting this sighting. So did a young man in a bar, an elderly gentleman in a park where seniors congregated, a middle-aged man in a food store, and a young woman browsing through the city's only shopping center. These five people shared their observation widely. Nobody noticed, or would have found it unusual, that they all spoke with a Swedish accent.

Various people within the Norwegian communities of Arendal, Sandefjord, Tensberg and Drammen also reported such sightings. As with Kristiansand, these anecdotal comments were made in locations where people liked to chat and share stories. Nobody would have observed that all of these people spoke with a Swedish accent. Nor could these people have been questioned by anybody in authority afterwards, if such a need had arisen. They did not give their name to anybody that they talked to. They were just anonymous strangers in a city that was big enough to have anonymous strangers visiting there. And nobody noticed that all of these people in these communities were picked up later that night in a Scandinavian troop transport piloted by somebody who was very tall and wearing men's clothing.

On Tuesday that same week, twenty-five citizens of varying sizes, shapes, ages, and dress shared similar observations in Oslo.

On Wednesday, the cities of Gothenberg and Malmo in southwest Sweden received twenty-five visitors who shared these same observations in the same manner and with the same degree of anonymity as the Norwegians had.

On Thursday, unusual sightings were reported in Norrkoping, Sodertalje, Vasteras and Uppsala. These were small cities in the area surrounding Stockholm. Friday and Saturday were Stockholm's turn. On Sunday, the twenty-five bird watchers returned to their camp and prepared a different set of disguises for the next week. But mostly, the males just rested and talked military shop with seven very interesting women who also had a military background and who had participated in the charade.

### # # # # # # # #

The following week, the same twenty-five people visited the same communities, but not on the same day as the previous week and not wearing the same disguises. This time, they not only declared that they had seen a big bird of some kind, but they pointed to the real thing in the sky. This disclosure of course necessitated that they be out in the open. But it was summer, the weather was comfortable, and lots of people were out in the open. As was a very big bird that appeared high in the sky and very far away. Suddenly it was there and then it wasn't. And each time the creature appeared, a person was there to draw its presence to the attention of citizens in the neighborhood whether that person was in Sodertalke, or Gothenberg, or even Stockholm. And that same person encouraged spectators who were looking into the air to draw a picture and report this very big, strange looking bird to the authorities. The urge to report the bird and to add a hand-drawn picture of it greatly increased when the bird was repeatedly seen around the two major cities. Photos from amateur journalists now started to appear in media. It wasn't a bird, that was for sure. No bird could ever grow that big. No bird had a long snout like this one did. Speculation began to mount that it was a flying dragon, but that was impossible.

Or was it?

Norse mythology did contain references to dragons. Flying even. Here's a translation from an anonymous Norse poem from about the tenth century. _There comes the shadowy dragon flying, glittering serpent, up from Dark of the Moon Hills. He carries corpses in his pinions._

This dragon's name? Nigbobb. In Norse mythology, Nigbobb was a dragon that devoured the corpses of evildoers. According to legend, when he tired of eating the dead, he would turn his attention elsewhere.

By mid-week, the Scandinavian military was aware of the rumours of a flying dragon cruising in their airspace. By the end of the second week, so was Wilhelm. It was at that time that Bean brought all of her personnel back to camp. This stage of their involvement in the war was now over.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 30

Wednesday, August 6. Wilhelm had convened a meeting with his top military men who all brought their subordinates with them in case they needed to blame somebody. The air force general was on the hot seat right now. Actually, he wasn't on a seat. He was standing at rigid attention as Wilhelm questioned him.

"Why can't you catch it?"

"We can't see it until just before it strikes. By the time we vector a copter into the area, it has already grabbed a citizen, devoured it, and disappeared."

_[Narrator: That's right. Devoured. I did mention that there was a possibility that Nigbobb would turn his attention away from eating corpses to something else.]_

"Radar?"

"We're scanning the skies over all of the cities that it haunts, but so far, we haven't had a single blip on a single screen to warn us in time to respond."

"We're getting pictures of it though?"

"Yes, we have army personnel stationed throughout all the affected cities. They manage to take reasonable pictures. The men are armed, but the beast attacks in public areas without any warning. The men do not have enough time to get off a safe shot."

"What else are you doing?"

"We've been putting most of our personnel into open areas like parks. That may be deterring it."

"Are you suggesting that it could be killed if we could get a shot at it?"

"Perhaps. Or it might not be taking victims from the parks because the only people who are there now are military and we're in the trees. It's now picking its victims out of crowded streets."

"Are you sure that it's eating them?"

"We can't see what it does with them after it flies off because it disappears. But we can hear the victims screaming in agony as the beast flies away and disappears from sight. The wind is carrying the sound. Makes the hair on your arms stand up it's so gruesome."

"That's it? That's all you're doing? Taking pictures?"

"You have my recommendation already, Sir."

"Confine everybody to their homes?"

"Sir, yes Sir. We've had no casualties at night because people are too frightened to come out of their homes. If we order a twenty-four hour curfew, the beast might leave us alone. It might start eating the Finns perhaps."

"Have you warned them?"

"Of course not. And I've ordered a blackout on all our media so the Finns won't find out what's happening here. We've taken down all of our electronic communication networks as well. Nobody has access to email, phones, or messaging. But that was because communications were leading to panic. We do turn the net on so we can deliver messages to the people, but that's it. We've set it up so that we can blast a message to everybody with an electronic device that's turned on. We've told them to keep their devices on so that they can receive warnings. We don't let them communicate out."

"The military net still works?"

"Of course."

### # # # # # # # #

The staff meeting didn't generate any fresh ideas on how to protect the people from the beast. The only solution appeared to be that twenty-four hour curfew, but that wouldn't work for long. People would need food and they'd sneak out of their house. Scandinavia's military had no realistic solution and the longer the beast stayed around, the more the country would grind to a halt. All they could do was try to starve it long enough that it would move on.

Wilhelm's private meeting with the head of Special Ops added more concerns.

"It's hard to determine exactly how many citizens have been eaten. We're essentially holding people incommunicado in their homes. Judging from the screams of the victims, we estimate up to fifty people have disappeared since the beast started grazing. We may have double-counted some people, but on the other hand, we may have missed victims who didn't scream or whose screams weren't heard."

"That's not bad," Wilhelm said. "That's four hundred people a month, five thousand for a year."

"The death toll is not what will hurt the most, Chief. People will question why the government can't protect them. They'll ask why the armed forces can't protect them. They'll ask why their prince regent can't protect them. Republican sympathizers will be festering away in the background soon."

"But we're holding everybody incommunicado."

"These people know how to meet secretly. I have more bad news on the pestilence carriers, Chief."

"They're mounting an insurrection?"

"No. That's not possible. But the longer the beast hangs around, the more quickly the Muslim composition of our population will grow."

"Explain."

"We had already confined the Muslims to their homes twenty-four hours a day. That has meant that they aren't out in the streets where they can get snatched. They obtain food from friends or sympathizers which helps us identify more people to put under surveillance, but our prohibition on them leaving their home is actually keeping the Muslims safe. We don't believe that they've lost a single voter. Meanwhile, with the military forced to concentrate on the safety of the cities, our borders are virtually undefended. More pestilence carriers could be poring into the country. We wouldn't know."

"Do you have a solution? Any solution?"

"Only what we've come up with so far. We have to starve the beast into moving on."

Thursday night, the beast acted unexpectedly. It started feeding on citizens who were breaking the curfew. Apparently, it could see in the dark. Given the quickness that it began its midnight snacks after that staff meeting, it probably could hear in the dark too.

### # # # # # # # #

By Friday, August 8th, Lucas had not been practicing with Lylah for over a month now. Lylah hadn't expected him to be incommunicado for so long. She hadn't expected him to remain unapologetic for so long. But that's not the remarkable unexpectedness that she initiated on the balmy evening. Lylah contacted her father that evening.

"It's me," she opened.

"Who's me? A stranger trying to sell me something?"

"Don't start. I warned you that I wouldn't be working for you this summer."

"Are you phoning me to beg forgiveness? Oh, wait. That would be my other disrespectful daughter. You're the one who ignores her responsibilities."

"Lohla's alright."

"I didn't ask. I most certainly didn't ask. What do you want?"

"Do you still have contacts inside Schnauble?"

"Yes, I know two board members and the school counsellor. Why?"

"I need as much information as you can give me on a family of aboriginals who registered in the school this year."

"It will cost you."

"Why am I not surprised?"

### # # # # # # # #

On that same Friday, Melissa congratulated and advised all the Warriors who had been at the receiving end of Bob's oven-mitted talons that this part of the war had been successful. She also extended congratulations to Kashmira for the vocals. She advised everybody that the war was about to take a dramatic turn.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 31

It was Wednesday, August 13. The strategy of having all Scandinavians stay in their houses was not going well. Today, Wilhelm was using his ability to blast messages to citizens with a functioning electronic messaging system. He was initiating Plan B. We'll join a public announcement that is already in progress. A female voice is speaking.

....

"We are enjoying our stay in North America as much as possible given the circumstances. We are seeking the best medical care possible for Prince Knut. Princess Freya is growing rapidly and asks me frequently to tell her stories about her homeland. Prince Samuel and I are well, but we're homesick. We will return as soon as we can after Prince Knut's illness is resolved."

"I understand from my dear Uncle Wilhelm that some people believe that Scandinavia is being attacked by some man-eating beast. He assures me that rumours of citizens being killed are false. Some citizens are claiming to have heard screams of anguish, but our weather experts believe that those noises have been generated simply by wind currents. We believe that these citizens may be reporting false sightings of a strange beast in an effort to provoke panic for political purposes."

"Prince Samuel and I understand everyone's concerns about these fake sighting, but we urge you to stay calm and follow the orders of the military who are doing their upmost to verify if this strange creature does exist. They are also looking for those people in our society who could benefit from creating panic about some imaginary mythological creature. I warn these people that their attempts to scare Scandinavians will not work. We are not easily scared. Until we know for sure if there is such a beast, or if it's only one more republican attempt to disrupt our society, do stay cautious. Avoid being outside in the open. But otherwise, try to lead a normal working life. If you're scared, we're sure that most businesses will provide you with safe accommodations in the place where you work so that you do not have to expose yourself to danger. Carry on with your lives as best as you can. Traders should continue to import food. Grocers should continue to sell their food. There is no reason to starve yourself out of fear of what could be a weather balloon gone astray."

"Finally, I'd like to say how much I regret the transmission difficulties that we are having. American technology is weak in certain locations and unfortunately the hospital that is caring for Prince Knut can only support voice transmission. Thank you to my dear uncle for his marvellous management of the temporary interruption to our healthy and safe Scandinavian live style."

### # # # # # # # #

Speeches by the royalty were a normal part of Scandinavian life. For decades, Queen Freya's father and mother would collaborate jointly in writing and reading their speeches on New Year's Day and on the country national holiday, June 6th. That tradition ended with their tragic copter accident. Queen Freya cut such nonsense back to once a year – June 6th – and even that speech consisted only of a couple of sentences and a wave of the hand. In exchange for giving such a rousing greeting, Wilhelm let her skip the personal appearances that she would normally have to make during the day. Since Queen Freya's trip to North America, there had been no speeches from the throne. Transmission problems were cited as the reason.

Given the difficulties that the nation faced, the queen had gone out of her way to send a voice transmission into the country, albeit with much static. What the people in Scandinavia saw on their screens was her coronation picture. Regardless of the difficulties that the queen had faced, her subjects would listen intently and follow her instructions. At least that was Wilhelm's hope. He needed to get the economy working again even if it meant that citizens ate and slept in their work place.

Traditionally, the speech from the throne originated in the media room in the royal palace. This room served two purposes. Media might be invited into this private part of the palace to interview the country's royalty on specific newsworthy events. The room was quite small and invitations were thus limited. The relative exclusivity of receiving an invitation, and then the awe of being accompanied down several luxurious hallways in the royal palace meant that any reporters so selected would be sufficiently overwhelmed that they'd lob underwhelming questions to the king and/or queen.

The room also served as a transmission studio where royalty would read their speech. Invitations to this event were severely restricted. No visitors were allowed since no speech ever went perfectly. The public didn't need to know how many takes were required before a passable speech was transmitted. Today's speech needed to be even more private given that the queen who was giving the speech was dead.

Wilhelm attended as the speechwriter. The head of special ops was present to push buttons on the camera and on the transmission equipment. Also in attendance was the special ops guard who served as Queen Freya's maid the first year in North America. She had been around the queen long enough that she could imitate her voice and her speech patterns. Both special ops officers left with assurances from Wilhelm that the speech had gone well.

In fact, it had. Wilhelm remained in the room not because he had concerns whether the public would react favourably. They would. The monarchy was such a strong institution that any trained actress could read that script and the public would buy it. No, the reason he stayed behind was to mull over two possible courses of action: (1) Begin arresting republican sympathizers in public, or (2) put as many copters into the air as possible to give the public reassurance that they'd be safe on the streets. The military was serving no purpose by hiding in trees. Copters in the air would show their presence and might actually deter the beast.

Wilhelm had settled on the copter option when his thoughts were interrupted by a sizzling sound coming from inside the room. He looked up to see five shimmering and crackling electronic pillars emerging in the darkness of the room near the hallway door. These pillars gradually took the form of five human bodies and as the shimmering coalesced, he saw five people grouped in a small scrimmage line. The young woman in the center of the line was closest to Wilhelm and was watching him carefully. She was wearing a gold, long sleeved jersey with a wide black neck collar. The wrists of the jersey had four solid gold braids. Over her heart, she wore a piece of jewelry that looked like a stylish silver arrowhead. The uniform was completed with black pants. Not dress pants; more like stylist military fatigue pants designed for ease of use. The black shoes that she wore were athletic wear, not dress shoes. Light red hair plus freckles made for a pretty appearance.

The four other figures with her were dressed almost identically except that their jersey top was either blue or red. The braids at the bottom of the sleeves were different as well. One, two, or three braids – some solid in colour, others in dashes. The four were all facing different directions in that scrimmage line – looking for danger, right hands at their waistbands and holding some sort of silver mobile telephone.

Wilhelm made movements to rise.

"Freeze," the gold uniform said. "We come in peace. Security, what's our status?"

A black woman in a blue jersey held some sort of scanner in her left hand and rotated it in an arc covering the room. "All clear, Captain."

"Phasers away. Normal precautions."

The four underlings did something with their hands and their cell phones disappeared. Perhaps into a pocket; perhaps into a holster on the belt. They stood at ease, feet positioned shoulder wide, hands clasped behind their backs.

"We come in peace," the woman in gold said. "My name is Jane T. Kirk and I'm captain of the Starship Enterprise. We understand that you have a problem with a man-eating dragon. We're here to offer you our assistance."

### # # # # # # # #

"Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise?"

"Yes, at your service."

"I don't know how you got in here but..."

"Sir, sensors indicate that danger may be imminent."

"Thank you, Spock. My own human intuition told me that already. Expedition Crew, set phasers to stun and stand ready."

Five starship-based hands were now touching silver objects. Wilhelm began to rise.

"Lieutenant Nary, a demonstration please."

A black woman pointed her phaser at the prince regent and pressed something. Wilhelm awoke to find himself on the floor behind his desk and looking up at the face of the old lady on the crew who spoke. "You were stunned temporarily unconscious. I have verified that you are not injured. You may stand up, but I advise you not to test the lieutenant's ability to push the correct button on her phaser again. I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker."

"Thanks, Bones," Captain Kirk said. Dr. Marie McCoy moved away from the body reclining on the floor of the media room.

"The power of that gun doesn't mean anything," Wilhelm stood up and began his verbal attack. "A skilled actor with an advanced research level weapon could have achieved that. You're expecting me to believe that you are the starship crew from a fictional television series that aired one hundred years ago. You didn't even get the genders right. It's Captain **James** T. Kirk."

"Lieutenant Nary. Sniff test, please."

The Enterprise's Head of Security placed her phaser back into its holster, approached Wilhelm, and sniffed deeply.

"No indications of extraterrestrial life, Captain," she said. "I'll use my advanced sensory body now." Where a human body once stood, a four legged black panther now occupied the same space. It sniff-circled Wilhelm before rising to its hind legs. With front paws on Wilhelm's shoulders, it sniffed deeply, put its face right in front of Wilhelm's face, showed its fangs, and gave a muted panther scream.

Once again, Dr. McCoy had to be brought into service.

"Captain James T. Kirk was my great, great, great, great grandfather," the redhead informed the regent after he had regained consciousness. "Lieutenant Nary is an extra-terrestrial creature from a planet inhabited by intelligent panthers. You'll have noticed that she can adopt a realistic humanoid body; however, sometimes her paws do not convert fully to humanoid fingers and accidents can happen. Spock is the name of our other extra-terrestrial on this expedition crew, but that is not his real name. All of the crews that the Kirk family has commanded since the ship was revealed in that ancient TV series have named their science officers Spock out of respect for the original Vulcan. Our own first lieutenant comes from the planet TeeGee which has Vulcan-like humanoids but without the pointed ears. Like the original, our Spock has advanced science skills but he has no sense of humour whatsoever. You don't mind me saying that, do you Spock?"

"No, Captain. The comment is accurate although I do find it curious that you would need to explain my lack of a sense of humour in a tone that would suggest that such a failing would be a weakness. That's highly illogical. It begs the..."

"That'll be all, Spock."

"Yes, Sir."

"Wilhelm, I expect that you have a personal office in this palace that you use when you want privacy. Why don't you take us there now? It would be best if nobody else in this palace knew that we were here. Scotty, let the Enterprise know that we're changing transporter coordinates."

"Aye, aye, Sir," Stu said in his best Scottish brogue.

### # # # # # # # #

"The extraterrestrial that you have in your skies is from the planet NigBobb. You've had these visitors before – they're part of your ancient history. One of its ancestors obviously visited this planet early in its life and was known to terrorize humans. Such visitors were common before the United Federation of Planets was established."

Melissa was giving Wilhelm a history lesson. TG was standing in a corner of the office that Wilhelm could not see and was pointing to the corner that would work best for a single spider to record all of the conversations in this office – the office that the Wilizy had suspected existed and might be where Wilhelm had his most private meetings. Winnie was there invisibly listening to TG's instructions. She now knew the route to take from the public section of the palace to this location. She'd be able to go back in time, install the spider, and then collect the data from outside the palace. Marie, Stu, and Nary were standing at ease against one of the office walls.

"An early version of the UFP was in place by what you refer to as the Middle Ages. It was at that time that all rumours of strange creatures roaming your world ended. The protective forces of the UFP were simply doing their job. As a pre-civilized planet, your world was under protection from travelling extraterrestrial beings intent on mayhem. At some point in your future, when you cease to be a danger to those around you and are considered civilized, a task force of the UFP may visit you and invite you to join the federation. For now, spaceships like the Enterprise provide protection. Most of the time, we can do that without revealing ourselves, but this NigBobb arrived here before we knew it had escaped from its own solar system. We are revealing ourselves only to you, your country's leader. We will save your country from Bobb but you must swear to keep our existence a secret."

"So you travel back in time?"

"No. Time travel doesn't exist in spite of what science fiction writers may say or what you may have seen in the Star Trek shows. The members of the crew of this ship exist in 2087. Most of us are earthlings who were chosen years ago by UFP scouts and invited to serve as protectors. We selected our extraterrestrials from volunteers willing to leave their own planets for an extended tour of duty."

"You travelled to their planets?"

"Yes, of course. We can talk about that later. For now, let's focus on Bobb. Your copters do not have the weapons to kill him. All you'll do is send him flying around further and faster, and that will only make him hungrier. The Enterprise has the weaponry to kill him, but right now he's too excited over all of the humanity that he can devour to stand still for very long."

"All the humanity he can devour?"

"Yes. Right now, he's going through the scrumptious smorgasbord you have most generously offered him and is taste-testing the offerings. He may move on to other countries, or he may simply devour all of Scandinavia first. The Enterprise is concealed from view behind your moon. If we bring it in closer, our sensors may be able to detect Bobb even through his invisibility cloak. But, there's a risk that earthlings could detect the ship. I am not inclined to take that risk. Preferably, we can use the smaller shuttle with less risk of being detected but with less powerful weapons. If we can catch Bobb in the act, Second Lieutenant Nary will be able to track him by his scent and kill him. If she can do that, Bobb disappears, we disappear, and you take all the credit. If you agree."

"Agree?"

"You have to decide if you believe that we are, as we say, from the Starship Enterprise. Then you have to agree to do as I say."

"Like what?"

"If you want us to rid your planet of Bobb, you need to remove all of your copters from your bases and relocate them to a city that Bobb hasn't visited yet."

"That will leave us defenseless."

"But we will be here to protect you. When you want to meet again, use this signalling device."

Dr. McCoy pulled a small wooden stick out of her medical bag and passed it to Wilhelm.

"A whittling stick? What's this ugly creature on the top?"

"It's a troll. At one point in your planet's history, it was one of your mythical creatures. In reality, it was a star traveller. Trolls are ugly, ugly creatures."

"It's upside down on the stick?"

"Yes. It's crawling down the stick. This is its face down here. The messaging chip is embedded in the thickest part of the troll's body."

"The butt?"

"Yes. To communicate, simply whisper your message into the chip in the butt. You'll be speaking into the microphone of a highly advanced communication device that operates from wood power. But keep the troll here in your office so that I will know who's calling. Don't try to communicate with me from a public location."

"If I did, people would think that I was kissing the troll's butt."

"Really? I never thought of it that way. Expedition Crew, prepare to board the Enterprise."

The five space travellers formed a small scrimmage line.

"Scotty, signal Enterprise to beam us up."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

A sizzle and a crackle later, the star travellers were gone and Wilhelm was left alone to consider his options. The Wilizy waited for Wilhelm to leave before dropping down from the ceiling. Melissa removed her invisibility, opened the office door, and turned invisible again before leading the crew of the Starship Enterprise out of the palace.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 32

It was Thursday morning, the day after Wilhelm had met the crew of the Enterprise. He had come to a decision. Sort of.

"Wilhelm to Captain Kirk. Wilhelm to Captain Kirk, come in." Wilhelm was in his private office in the palace, holding the whittling stick and whispering into the troll's butt.

"Kirk here. Have you made a decision yet, Wilhelm?"

Melissa's voice was coming out of a tiny little speaker in the troll's mouth that TG had installed.

"Perhaps we can talk in your starship where we can't be overheard?"

Winnie had anticipated this test. Wilhelm didn't get where he was by being trusting.

"We can do that. But transporting you through the palace's walls might be dangerous for you. We have full biological data on all of our crew, but we don't have any biological information on you. We'll need to transport you from a spot that we can see you clearly with our sensors. Here's what you should do. Leave the palace and enter the gardens. Walk slowly through them as though you were thinking deeply. When you are clear of any possible witnesses, we'll beam you up to our shuttle and we'll use that to reach the Enterprise. Tell your staff that you'll be unavailable for a couple of hours."

"What? No warp speed?" Wilhelm asked caustically.

"When we're in outer space, we will go boldly where no man has ever gone before. But when we're inside any planet's solar system, we go cautiously. The UFP has rules about pushing moons out of their orbits Wilhelm, and we follow them closely."

### # # # # # # # #

Wilhelm awoke to find Bones once again peering at him from above. "He's recovered, Captain."

Another face appeared. Captain Kirk's. "I was afraid of this. We could only estimate your body mass. The transporter beam had to work harder than we anticipated bringing you up and it made you lightheaded. You drifted off to sleep as you were being transported."

"I felt myself getting drowsy."

"This may happen again when we transport you back to the palace grounds. We don't have the equipment here to give you a full medical. Bones brought you awake as soon as she could do so safely."

"Dammit, Jane. I'm a doctor, I'm not somebody who guesses weight at a carnival." Bones stormed off out of sight. She didn't say that she was a Voodoo queen who could make a person fall asleep, or wake up, by mumbling a few words while she was invisible inside a sling.

"Where am I?"

"Shuttle Enterprise. Let me help you up. We're in the shuttle's command center."

Captain Kirk got Wilhelm seated in the co-pilot chair and introduced him to the controls: navigation, weaponry, sensors.... the lot. "If you look out the observation port to your right, you can see the Earth."

Indeed Wilhelm could. And like all first time visitors to the sub, he was mesmerized by the sight of the Earth slowly receding from view. They let him watch for a good twenty minutes. They wanted him to be confident that he was in space.

"I have to close the viewing ports now, Wilhelm," Captain Kirk said. "Once we pass above the earth's atmosphere, we may encounter harmful radiation. This vessel is built to withstand that, but the viewing screen is not."

This was mostly true. But the real reason they were closing the viewing ports was so that they could put the sub into a gentle orbit. Sadly, Wilhelm would not make it to the Starship Enterprise. This existed only as a blip on a fake sensor screen if they ever needed to show him that screen. However, Hank's construction team had done a great job of converting the sub's bow into the semblance of a space shuttle.

"Crew's quarters are in the back of the shuttle. I'll ask Spock to join us. Bones will monitor radiation levels from the sick bay."

"The other two?"

"Scotty is controlling our passage from the rear command center. Lieutenant Nary is on Earth waiting for Bobb to strike. If she can find his trail quickly enough, she'll track him to his lair."

"Gentlemen."

"Grab a seat, Spock. Wilhelm was about to tell me if he wants us to kill Bobb or not."

### # # # # # # # #

Wilhelm had some questions first. "How did the Star Trek series start?"

"My great, great, great, great-grandfather accidentally revealed the existence of the Starship Enterprise and the UFP when he was keeping an eye on the planet during the Vietnam War. He was on leave in Los Angeles, got drunk in a bar, and started spouting off about extraterrestrials, space ships, and the like. Gene Roddenberry was in the group of drinkers that was egging him on. Never one to back down from a challenge, the esteemed Captain James T. Kirk offered to prove that what he was saying was true. He'd take one person up to the Enterprise. That person was Roddenberry. I believe he spent a week in the ship on his first trip and met the people who would become the characters in his show. He may have gone on some missions. The family suspects that this was the case because some of the extraterrestrials in his series existed in real life. Klingons, for example. Vulcans. The creatures in the latter Star Trek movies and TV series were strictly inventions of the writers. But the original version was very much the truth."

"I always wondered. Spock was actually real?"

"Short, fat, balding humanoid. Very irritating personality. A little negligent on body hygiene. At least that was my ancestor's experience."

"And the United Federation of Planets?"

"Existed then and does so now. It's a governmental agency for civilized planets. Earth does not count as one of those. Other than Roddenberry, no other non-UFP Earthling has learned of our existence. The Enterprise that you'll be visiting is the original craft, but the writers of Star Trek series have greatly exaggerated its size and the number of crew that it carries."

"And you have revealed yourself to me because of Bobb?"

"Partly. He's the first extraterrestrial to pose an existential threat to humanity. We've always allowed visitors to observe you, for a fee of course. Earth has a certain inter-stellar reputation for being an entertaining zoo."

"And the other reason?"

"I've admired the way that you've lead Scandinavia on the path to reaching the status of a civilized planet. If more world leaders had the vision that you do, Earth might expect an invitation to join the full ranks of the UFP in forty or fifty years."

"Scandinavia's culture is rich."

"UFP doesn't care a jot about the culture that a planet has. They do care about the composition of the population. You are intent on creating the correct composition no matter the cost."

"I don't understand."

"Skin colour, man! Think about the Enterprise crew you've seen. One black and four whites. Eighty percent of our crew is white skinned. That didn't happen by accident. It means we exceed the benchmark for civilized humans within a starship crew. Planets have to meet the same expectation for civilized humans or they'll lose their status. At least 75 per cent of a planet's population must be white-skinned. The other 25 per cent can be subhuman, for example coloureds, slaves, or contracted extraterrestrials. It doesn't matter what they are so long as they are controlled, especially in terms of their breeding habits. The way that you have been trying to reach that balance... well, a very admirable effort. I have circulated your name among the highest corridors of power in the UFP. They're asking me for details on how you are controlling the breeding habits of your subhumans. I thought you might want to oblige seeing as how this is a long trip."

### # # # # # # # #

Even megalomaniacal despots enjoy praise and Wilhelm was no different. He talked about his programs with obvious pride. Spock and Kirk marvelled at how Wilhelm had created the rape program, the chemical sterilization program, the house arrest program, and the way in which he had arrested every known Scandinavian who had married or had shown an interest in a Muslim of either gender.

"It must be hard getting that done in a democracy."

"It is," Wilhelm admitted. "We have an active group of politicians who favour a republic. I imprisoned many of those on trumped up charges after Queen Freya left for North America, but more have taken their place. Sadly, they didn't survive the harsh environment of their prison camp. Tomorrow evening, Special Ops will be capturing all of the republican supporters that we can identify. We'll take them up to a secret prison camp that we've set up in the north for Scandinavians who don't support our country's goals."

"Will they face trial?"

"Don't be silly."

"Tomorrow night, you say."

"Yes. That's why Queen Freya encouraged them to carry on with their lives as best they could. They'll be easier to capture if they are outside."

"The risk to the others from Bobb?"

"He has eaten minimal numbers. Plus, we'll be blaming the republicans for perpetrating a fraud. The pestilence carriers will remain under house arrest with no politician able to mount a protest. It's a great opportunity for us to remove all of our enemies in one move."

"Truly brilliant," Kirk exclaimed.

"Fascinating," Spock spocked.

"About the queen and that announcement she made about coming outdoors," Kirk began to _reign_ on Wilhelm's parade. "We didn't understand how the Queen could be in North America while her body was reading the speech in the palace's media room."

"The queen has been dead for a couple of years. A special ops officer was reading the announcement that I wrote."

"She's dead?" Spock queried. "That's not logical. She gave birth to a son recently."

"That's easily explained. I sent Queen Freya to North America so that she wouldn't learn about my programs for keeping Scandinavia white. While she was there, she became a security threat, and as per my orders, a Special Ops agent assassinated her. Prince Samuel helped my agent and then came back to Scandinavia where he's been working for me secretly. Prince Knut is an imaginary baby. Once I have full control of parliament and the republicans and pestilence carriers are under control, I will announce their deaths."

"Wouldn't Princess Freya assume the throne?"

"Until she's twenty-one, I will continue to serve as the country's ruler. She won't be having any babies, I can assure you of that. We'll be collecting her baby eggs for, shall we say, scientific experiments. Prince Samuel and an old woman geneticist are operating that program from the high security bunker in the palace's basement. Princess Freya will have a fatal accident before she comes of age. Perhaps a copter accident like her grandparents had."

"You killed King Alfred and Queen Sofia?"

"Well, not personally. But I gave the orders. They wanted to welcome pestilence carriers into the country. They wanted to give them full citizenship. I couldn't have that."

"Fascinating," Spock spocked.

"Truly brilliant," Kirk exclaimed.

"I don't recall seeing Princess Freya recently."

"She's in North America and temporarily outside of my control. I've contracted a group to re-capture her. I'm expecting good news soon."

### # # # # # # # #

_Commence Operation Nest Egg_ , Mac instructed Nary and Momaka by mind message.

"Captain," Stu tried to interrupt as Wilhelm and Captain Kirk were discussing the terms of Wilhelm's contract with the Enterprise.

"We need to know what you're doing if we are to coordinate with you, Wilhelm. What is it, Scotty?"

"Urgent communication from Lieutenant Nary. I'm piping it through to you now."

"Captain, Bobb is capturing military copters and disappearing with them."

"Can you follow him?"

"Negative, Captain. Too much wind. His scent disappears too quickly."

"How many copters has he taken so far?"

"Six and counting. Bobb's taking them off the tarmac at the Scandinavian main base. Nobody is there to stop him."

"I thought I advised you to move those copters to a place that Bobb hadn't visited," Kirk snapped at Wilhelm. Captains of interstellar space ships are used to exercising authority.

"We needed protection," Wilhelm stammered.

"Where's the army?"

"In the streets showing the citizens that it's safe to move around."

"Scotty! Turn us around. Return us to Scandinavia as quickly as you can."

"We can replace the copters," Wilhelm tried to calm Kirk down. She was in full battle mode, and as her great great great great grandfather did, she would go into battle all guns blazing.

"You fool! Bobbie will use those copters for nests. They're perfect for keeping her eggs safe and warm. The copters will be hidden deep in the northern woods. We'll never find them before they hatch."

"I thought Bobb was a he."

"He was; now he's a she – Bobbie. While she's nesting, your population will be safe. She'll be focused on defending the nests. But after that, it will be gruesome. Nobody knows how many eggs a Bobbie lays at a time. You could have twenty or thirty man-eating dragons cruising the Scandinavian skies inside of two weeks."

...

"Scotty, how far out are we?"

"Half an hour, Captain."

"Not good enough, Scotty."

"The engines are operating at capacity now, Captain. There's nothing left."

"Not good enough, Scotty."

"Aye, aye Captain. I'll turn the shuttle upside down to cut down on the resistance. It's going to be a rocky ride. Hang on."

"Captain."

"What Spock? Are you going to tell me not to get too emotional?"

"No, Captain. You'll do that no matter what I say. Telling you that would be a waste of my time, and as you know, we will be excruciatingly low on time. My purpose in interrupting your unfocused thoughts was simply...."

"Get to the point, Spock."

"Aye, Captain. Once a Bobbie makes her nests, she will feed voraciously for a short period to energize her eggs. Then she'll lay them. Once those eggs are in the nests, Scandinavia is doomed. But until then..."

"Wilhelm. Negotiations are over. You will cooperate fully with us or we'll leave you alone to deal with the dragon."

"Agreed."

...

Wilhelm was amazed at how quickly Captain Kirk could devise a plan that would not only catch Bobbie before she could lay her eggs but a plan that would also remove a significant obstacle still facing him. All the time she was doing this, they were hanging upside now. He was feeling nauseous the whole time and, as a result, not paying much attention.

"It will take daring on your part, Wilhelm. This wouldn't have been necessary if you had moved your copters as I told you to. Do as you're told from now on."

"Agreed," Wilhelm swallowed hard. World leaders who are mentioned in the halls of power don't toss their cookies in space ships. That's all he had been focusing on as Captain Kirk discussed her plan to go into battle.

Melissa also had been focusing on other things beside describing what Wilhelm was going to do for the next two days.

_Winnie! Wilhelm revealed that he has contracted a group to re-capture Princess Freya. He's expecting good news soon. That may be the attack on the satellite compound that he hasn't heard about yet. Or it might be a new attack. You need to work through that TiTr data quickly. Bring in help. Hank, call an emergency meeting! We'll meet as soon as we dump Wilhelm._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 33

Thursday afternoon. Wilhelm had been put to sleep, dumped on the palace grounds and propped up against a tree. He'd wake within minutes. All of the available Wilizy were in the Wilizy/Asia that was anchored in the skies above Stockholm. The ship served as temporary quarters for all of the Wilizy forces in Scandinavia except for Bean and Lieutenant Karlsson's platoon. They were in their camp and awaiting orders. Hank began the meeting as soon as the crew of the Starship Enterprise had bustled in, still in their Star Trek uniforms.

"Let me repeat what I said to you when I called for this emergency meeting about a potential attack on us in Montana. The youngsters are safe. But we've made a change in their hiding place. As you know, we were planning a cruise over the Pacific Ocean, but that will become stale very quickly. They need a place to roam. William thought about putting them into Stanford University and he's on the way there now to open the security fence that will allow them into the buildings. The Wilizy/Europe will be anchored above the university. It is fully stocked and the ship's sensors will see any attacking military force long before they can reach the island. Doc, Granny and Yollie can handle the ship easily. They'll just bundle the kiddies up and disappear somewhere else. A stealth operation is unlikely to succeed – William says that the password to enter the university requires very advanced skills in physics. The kiddies can run free on the grounds with Madison and Freya watching over them. At night, they can sleep in the ship."

"We also had Zeballos Prison if we needed it," TG reminded them all. "It's not a very comforting place for youngsters, so we put that idea on hold."

Hank continued. "Winnie had brought TiTr data on conversations that Wilhelm had in his private office in the palace. Mac pulled a team together and they managed to plow through two years of conversations quickly. I'll turn the meeting over to Mac now."

"These summaries are what TG, Theo, Lucas, Nary, Mathias, Winnie, Wizard, and Dreamer were able to pull together quickly. We might find more information on Wilhelm if we went back earlier than 2084, but our search was focused on finding out how we came under attack in New Zealand and why we might be facing a possible attack in Montana."

Mac continued. "We already knew of Safe Haven's relationship with Scandinavia as a contractor who kidnapped little girls, conditioned/brainwashed them, and then delivered them to Scandinavia. We knew that there had to be some form of communication between them. We found that link in these tapes."

"Over the last two years, a representative from Safe Haven has visited Wilhelm in his palace office semi-regularly. Mostly it was to give updates. The two men had a cordial relationship."

"We'll be able to TiTr the Safe Haven man, right Mac? Do you have a name on him?"

"Yes Dad, we can TiTr him. We have a good picture of him. We believe that he just walked into the public area of the palace and then Wilhelm brought him to the office. He will have arrived by copter. We can track it back to Safe Haven's base. We don't have his name. We've been calling him _SH-man_."

"It's a long way for SH-man to come from North America for regular meetings though," Jock persisted.

"We don't believe he came from North America. He has an accent that nobody in the data collection team could place. More on that later. First the history. The cordial relationship between the two men deteriorated when SH-man reported that they had lost Princess Freya. Wilhelm responded as we know. What we didn't know was that the relationship between the two came apart after our attacks on the ranches."

Mac continued. "The senior management team for Safe Haven Ranches was based in Chicago. When they couldn't get a response out of the Minneapolis office, they sent an investigation team that found everybody dead and all of their management files missing. Their personnel officer, Fred Brown, had warned senior management of an imminent military attack but he had been ignored as paranoiac. They next sent investigation teams to all of their ranches only to find most of the slaves gone, along with every single little blonde blue-eyed white girl destined for Scandinavia as well. They concluded that only a military group could have pulled off those attacks. SH-man reported the disappearance of the girls to Wilhelm. He had no choice because of the contractual obligations that they had with Scandinavia."

"Wilhelm insisted that Safe Haven pay him a penalty for losing all of the little girls he had contracted for. That fine was immense. SH-man argued that they had faced an act of war from unknown military forces and so were exempt from the fine. _Acts of War_ are always considered legitimate reasons for voiding a contract. To prove his point, he described how all of their slave ranches and his management team had been destroyed in the space of three days. Wilhelm argued that his operatives had warned them of the risk and had offered an elite platoon for their use. SH-man argued that this offer proved his point. Obviously, with the offer of a military platoon, Scandinavia knew that a war was imminent. Wilhelm argued back that none of this would have happened if Safe Haven had kept their girls secure, as the contract required them to do. He demanded the penalty money. SH-man responded that Safe Haven's Slave Ranch operations had been declared bankrupt, so good luck collecting that money."

"Any questions so far?" Mac asked. Seeing no hands, she continued with her summary of the TiTr data analysis.

"SH-man appeared back in Wilhelm's office on November 19, 2086. Apparently, Wilhelm was still after his penalty money and claiming that the bankruptcy did not mean that funds were not available. He was going to spread his complaints about their business fraud to other potential customers. SH-man was more conciliatory. He had been very busy removing all of their personnel from North America and hadn't been able to respond to Wilhelm's concerns properly."

"Personnel from North America?" Winnie asked. "That can't have been the gangs. We had them already."

"Perhaps all of those missing young girls." Yolanda offered.

"Perhaps," Mac said. "They didn't comment about this again."

"Removing them from North America suggests that they have operations outside of North America too," Dreamer observed.

"Yes, we caught that as well. That may explain the accent we couldn't place. There was nothing in the tapes that described other operations elsewhere."

"Was SHSL mentioned?" Jock asked.

"No. But SH-man did ask if Wilhelm would drop the demands for penalties if Safe Haven helped them destroy the Wilizy. Scandinavia could have the rights to any resources they could gain from our destruction. Wilhelm replied that it wasn't the Wilizy; it was the Saskatchewan army that was responsible. They couldn't agree on which was responsible."

"Safe Haven argued that the Wilizy business was trying to put the Safe Haven business out of business. According to them, the basis of the war between the two is a wealth grab. Safe Haven had to fight back to save its business. On the other hand, Wilhelm saw the battle as a military one. Saskatchewan objected to the presence of his covert forces in the area – forces that were discovered through the RADAR group. He was simply trying to regain his property (Princess Freya) that had been stolen from him. For reasons unknown, Saskatchewan's army was trying to hold on to her."

"In the end they agreed that it was possible that the Wilizy business was working with the Saskatchewan army. They decided to collaborate as well. Military against military; business against business."

"So they **are** working together," Lucas reinforced.

"Yes," Mac replied. "Safe Haven will drop its accusations against Scandinavia if Wilhelm helps them defeat us. Scandinavia will drop its demand for a penalty payment if Safe Haven will help them defeat us. Both will share in the spoils of war. As a show of good faith, Scandinavia told them, in advance, of their forest fire attack on our home compound. Safe Haven told them, in advance, that they had found some Wilizy living in New Zealand and they had contracted some outside contractors who could serve as kidnappers. They agreed to coordinate their attacks for maximum benefit."

"Any mention of how they found us in New Zealand?" Melissa asked.

"We know that Safe Haven was trying to identify the individual Wilizy members on the assumption that if they found one of us, they'd find us all. Scandinavia was using a military strategy. Find our home base and destroy it."

"We learned that the New Zealand contractors focused on you closely because you were living comfortably but they couldn't find the source of your revenue," Winnie added. "Also, they noticed that you were away for an extended period at Christmas but all of your copters were parked in their normal places. That raised suspicions that you had hidden transports nearby. Normal families don't hide their transportation."

"We never thought of that at all," Melissa confessed. "Like William always asks: What should you be seeing that you aren't seeing? They were looking for our jobs and copter usage and didn't see any. We didn't think of showing that."

"But that doesn't explain how they found you in the first place," Jock pursued. "The incomplete picture only confirmed their suspicions. Any mention of how they found us in Montana?"

"No," Mac replied. "Only a brief mention that Safe Haven had discovered us and would be acting on that information."

"We're facing a war on two fronts," Lucas observed.

"Jock and I have talked," Hank revealed. "He says that we have to react militarily. Jock will explain. The directors have agreed to his plan."

### # # # # # # # #

Effectively, the Wilizy decided to split their forces. The operation in Scandinavia was almost over and the Raging Gardeners would finish it. They had been running most of it anyway. Granny and Yollie would leave the youngsters in Stanford and join the Gardeners in Stockholm. Doc said that he could keep the youngsters busy but would need Kashmira's help. Her role in the Scandinavian operation was over anyway. Except for Stu and TG who were needed in Stockholm, all of the men would relocate as quickly as possible to Montana.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 34

Life is a little stressed in the Wilizy World in the evening of Thursday, August 15, so let's take a little break while the Wilizy are flying back and forth between Scandinavia and Montana. What better way to enjoy the evening than an intimate family dinner?

The place? The Richardson house which was a forty minute copter ride north of Schnauble Academy. You'll remember the Richardsons. Dr. Thomas Richardson was the man behind _plasma surgery,_ a medical breakthrough according to the numerous research papers and experimental studies that the Plasma Surgery Center had conducted. You'll also remember Dr. Richardson's twin daughters, Lylah and Lohla.

I mention the forty minute copter ride because that had been the reason for a critical decision that Dr. Richardson had made early in the twins' schooling. Schnauble Academy was the only possible school that could be considered for the education of his daughters. He himself was, in his own estimation, a medical genius. His wife, Paula, was a doctor in her own right. Organic chemistry, if that means anything to you. It doesn't to me. Schnauble School was the only school in the area that could properly provide for his presumed genius daughters.

The Richardson family lived on a large tract of land near Franklin Beach that had a beautiful view of Lake Simcoe. During his search for a residence, Dr. Richardson hadn't been attracted to the property because of the view. Or the house. The house was a normal three-bedroom affair. He was attracted to this property at Franklin Beach because of the complex of buildings that were sitting, unused, on that property. The presence of easy access to fresh water and the location of the property within an agricultural community of farmers who were willing to grow a lot of barely had meant one thing to a previous owner of that land. It was perfect for a liquor still. A legal one even. Franklin Beach was the location of Earl Schnauble's bankrupt-resulting attempt to become a beer baron. The buildings that were part of that beer-making effort were perfect for converting to biological labs. By the time he was finished re-working that property, Dr. Richardson had a one minute commute from home to business.

For other wealthy parents, living on the original Earl Schnauble land could have been have been the reason why they chose to enroll their daughters in Schnauble for their first year of schooling. But Thomas Richardson could care less about that. He did care about Schnauble's ability to educate his daughters. He also liked the fact that they were a boarding school. Forty minute commutes into school and back twice a day with his girls was too much time for him to spend outside of his lab. He was quite comfortable boarding them out instead, their young age not withstanding.

But that was years ago and this year, one of his daughter's had asked for his help. They were meeting for dinner where he was offering grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon. Yum. Dr. Richardson's lunch time specialty. Normally, he would cook his sandwich in the microwave in his lab and save himself the one minute commute. Tonight's dinner was prepared in the kitchen of the house. He and Lylah were eating the sandwiches sitting on the living room recliners with a plate on their lap.

"You could have given me the results of your research by email," Lylah said after wiping her hands on the paper towel thoughtfully provided by her host. Dr. Richardson used a lot of butter on the grilled portion of the bread, plus he didn't bother to drain the bacon properly.

"I thought you might want to look through some of the results from this summer's research program."

"I told you that I was taking this summer off."

"You didn't say why."

"Basketball."

"That girl you're coaching?"

"I'm coaching, yeah. Plus I'm working on my own skills."

Lylah didn't mention that the girl was a guy that was new in her life. Nor had she mentioned to Lucas that she was booking off her entire summer so that she could be available for practices, and in time, real dates.

"It's not the same without you in the lab."

"I'm allowed to take some personal time. You agreed to that."

"The girl who's doing the tech work is a local high school graduate. She's not very good."

"Do the tech work yourself then. Do you still have Eddie trapping all the animals you need?"

"Yes."

"So what's the problem?"

_[Eddie was the son of a nearby farmer. He and Lohla had been sort of friends when they were in school together. Eddie was a little slow in the head, so Dr. Richardson had banned Lohla from seeing him or even talking to him. Eddie was good at trapping rabbits and rats though. In Spockian terms, the local rodent population did not live long and prosper.]_

### # # # # # # # #

After she had had the argument with Lucas, Lylah had tried to reason out why Lucas would keep secrets from him. Since Lylah was keeping her own secrets due to a family issue, she automatically thought that Lucas was doing the same. He was hiding something about his family because that something was very bad.

What might that be? How could she find out without Lucas knowing? Who could she ask?

That had led her to the possibility that Lucas and his siblings might have been farmed out to Schnauble so that they could avoid problems that they might be having back home in western Canada. That was a very long way to go to hide a secret. That meant it could be a really bad secret. She knew her father had contacts in Schnauble, so that's why she had asked for his help. That help would require payment at some point, but Lylah was used to that.

### # # # # # # # #

"I found out that the family is wealthy," Lylah's dad said. "If not in their own right, then they have access to friends who are wealthy. They have a connection to Eldreadth Lewis who owns five mansions in a prime area of Toronto. Schnauble's fees didn't slow these aboriginals down for a second, as they were supposed to. We also know that the family is willing to spend that money to get what they want."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a young boy. Mathias. The school gave him an award for top scholar."

"So what?"

"That's impossible. You've read the scientific studies. You know aboriginals do not have the brain size that is necessary for understanding even normal instruction. That's why they lie around drunk on Toronto streets. They have small brains and slow synapses. This liability in their biology has been scientifically proven."

"From studies that were done by organizations that have no real credibility except with you and your kind."

"Doesn't matter. Science doesn't lie. This Mathias boy couldn't have won that award legitimately. The family bought it for him."

"Why would they do that?"

"To give him legitimacy in the white world."

"Why?"

"For criminal purposes, I expect."

"Why would you say that?"

"You remember last May when soldiers were in Toronto?"

"Sure."

"They were brought into the city to restore peace after some criminal gangs began fighting each other. It was quite dangerous and the military hung around long enough to clean everything up. The crime families involved were all associated with Foster Lewis who was a judge when he wasn't running the criminal underworld. Lewis had four sisters. Three of those sisters died when their organizations started fighting each other. Nobody knows why they did that, but the sister who owned the casino, for example, lost it to an Asian woman. The sister running the prostitution business lost it when her clients deserted her for hygienic reasons."

"Foster was tried in a military court and found guilty of something. Nobody knows what they charged him with or what happened to him. He has disappeared. The only person left in Toronto from that criminal organization is Eldreadth Lewis. She didn't face any charges, but people did see her entering the courtroom where her brother was on trial. She obviously was there to give evidence against him."

"Giving that evidence worked out very well for her. She now owns all the mansions of her sisters and brother, and has inherited all of their other wealth. She gives the appearance of a somewhat batty woman, but she is obviously very smart. She would have had her own crime business and was never caught. She probably provoked the sisters into fighting each other, and she ratted out her brother. Her grandson is attending Schnauble now and he does not have the intellectual skills to be there. Eldreadth gave Schnauble a huge donation in exchange for his entry into the academy. She is now a governor. This information is well known among the staff."

"This boy Mathias is living in the same mansion as Eldreadth's grandson. Also at this address are siblings named Dreamer, Theo, Lucas, Nary, and Kashmira. All of these students are only in Schnauble because of Eldreadth's guardianship and her presence as a governor. Three of these students are aboriginal, one is black, and the other is yellow. The black girl is retarded but she was enrolled in the school just as the grandson was. This girl can barely read, compute, or write. The counsellor knows that that these coloureds are living unsupervised in the mansion, but cannot do anything about what they might be doing in that house. Drinking, sex, and the like. The Head Master has obviously been bribed to relax the entrance requirements. Nothing else can explain why these coloureds could have met the school's requirements."

"The requirements to be white."

"Yes, of course. You should ask yourself: Why would a member of a long established Toronto criminal family give support to this family of coloureds?"

Lylah didn't respond.

"She'd only do that if this other family were criminals too. The aboriginals are almost definitely the owners of the casino that used to be run by the Lewis family and is now being run, presumably, by an oriental person. The Lewis sister lost the casino in a gambling game to a pregnant white girl. When the white girl won the poker game that gave her the casino, she asked her father-in-law to take over for her. Many people heard her make that request. Her father-in-law is aboriginal. His name is Hank."

Lylah didn't respond.

"An oriental girl is living with the aboriginals and she is described on the school registration form as a sister to the others. This man Hank must have fathered the young Asian. Perhaps in a wild orgy where he had sex with the Asian running the casino, or perhaps he has multiple wives."

Lylah didn't respond. She did remember though that Dreamer had been running a doughnut shop for the family but it had been bombed out of business. She did remember that Nary couldn't count. She did remember that Lucas had said he was part of a family business that sold things, but he wouldn't describe what they sold. She did remember that Lucas had been a pimp and had been put on trial for that. Lucas had been quite open about that but had excused his behaviour as naiveté. If he was open about his pimping, what kind of family business was he hiding? Was he an enforcer? He had the physique for that and he had done some boxing at the U of T gyms. What if he was a killer and didn't have any qualms about that at all?

...

Lylah was wary of forming a hasty conclusion. She knew that her Dad was a racist. She thought of a question that she could ask Lucas that was so innocent that he'd have no reason to hide the answer. His answer would clear everything up. But first, she'd think about what her father had said some more.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 35

Friday morning, August 15 was the day before the final battle in Stockholm. The Wilizy were ready. Captain Kirk and Spock had beamed into Wilhelm's palace office for a final briefing early that morning. They were now back in the Wilizy/Asia and reporting to the Gardeners. TD was live monitoring Wilhelm's communications and, at the same time, gaining access to both of Wilhelm's palace and army communication net. He'd be able to send out orders in Wilhelm's name within the hour.

"Wilhelm is up to something," Melissa warned. "He told us what he was going to do tomorrow, but not how. I didn't push. But I gotta say, he has something up his sleeve that he's not sharing. We can't control him completely."

"Let's just focus on what we **can** control," Mac stressed. "Namely, what we ourselves will be doing tomorrow."

### # # # # # # # #

Back in Montana, the Wilizy's focus was on the distant horizon. Jock had Reese bring the Wilizy/America from the home compound to Montana and placed the ship high overhead where its long range sensors could see over a hundred miles in any direction. William programmed the sensors to look for metallic objects, flying or otherwise. Since they didn't want to disrupt the daily activities of the military camp below them, the men ended up living in the Wilizy/America and waiting for an attack.

### # # # # # # # #

Over in Stanford University, Doc too was waiting for an attack. He was hiding in the underbrush of an overgrown garden initially planted by the university's Department of Horticultural Studies. Clad in his buckskins, and wearing moccasins that left no imprint, he was almost invisible. The kiddies were trying to find him by tracking his progress through Sherwood Forest. Once they had him surrounded, they would attack.

Doc was the Sheriff of Nottingham who could change into Darth Vader when he felt like it. This afternoon, EmmaGee was serving as Princess Leia (no surprise there) and Izzy was Yoda. Will was Luke, Liset was Obi Wan, and YoYo was Chewbacca. Kashmira was Sulking. That wasn't a character in any of the Star War releases, but that was the role she chose to play. In response, Darth Vader had imprisoned her in a castle tower, and the only way she could be rescued was by lowering her hair. Since it would take some time for Kashmira to grow enough hair for it to reach the ground, she couldn't expect to be rescued any time soon. Translation: Doc had gotten tired of Kashmira's sulking and complaining and had thrown her in the dungeon, metaphorically speaking. He planned to have a conversation alone with her tonight after all the kiddies were sleeping.

### # # # # # # # #

In Stockholm, long after everybody was sleeping, all of Special Ops' spies, saboteurs, and undercover operatives spread out through the city to complete their assignments. They did so without interruption or interference and within an hour, they had bundled their republican sympathizers into five troop transports and were winging their way north to a certain speck of frigid dust. Mind you, it was summer in Scandinavia, so it would be more properly described as a mosquito-infested hellhole.

### # # # # # # # #

Back in Stanford, Kashmira also had similar infested sentiments about the camp where she had been parked. It was infested with "diaper drooping, drool drenched, drivel dripping dunderheads." _[Kashmira had recently completed a language arts unit on alliteration.]_ She was a teenager. She should have been assigned to be with the teenagers. Doc should send her there now. Anything less would be _discriminatory discipline_.

That prompted another lesson. This one was on contributing to a team effort the best way that she could by caring for the kiddies as she had been told to do. Only after Kashmira had grown out of her "whiny, whimpering, wheedling whoop-de-doing" could she be trusted to perform safely in a battle and only then would she be allowed to join the other teenagers. Doc wasn't a slouch himself when it came to alliterating allegations.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 36

Saturday morning, August 16. The citizens of Scandinavia were going through their normal Saturday morning breakfast routines when all the churches in the country began ringing their bells in a measured slow beat. Those citizens who had their electronic communications devices turned on also received an urgent flash message. "Important announcement at 9:00. Stay tuned."

As the clocks in the country approached 9:00, the country came to a stop – waiting for the bad news. Church bells didn't ring slowly and ponderously except in case of national sadness. At 8:55, the message on their communication devices changed from the "stay tuned" text message to an image of a flag flying at half-mast.

At 9:00 exactly, the image changed to the standard picture of the national palace and then the face of Wilhelm, Prince Regent appeared. He was dressed in his regal robes. As he began to speak, the camera zoomed into a view of Queen Freya's crown lying on a purple velvet cloth but tilted on its side. The camera's focus remained there for the rest of the broadcast.

"Citizens of Scandinavia, I have terrible news for us all. At 5:15 a.m. Scandinavian time, Queen Freya passed away. Her attending physicians could do nothing to save her. An hour earlier, Prince Knut had died from his battle with a severe illness that the American physicians have now diagnosed as infectious pneumonia. Queen Freya followed him to his ultimate destination. The doctors agreed that she had died from a broken heart. Immediately after Prince Knut's diagnosis, Princess Freya had been placed in an isolation ward for her own safety. She shows no sign of pneumonia, but the doctors do not want to take any chances. Prince Samuel is with the princess and consoling her as best as he can."

The image changed to one of Queen Freya with her daughter soon after her birth. Unfortunately for Wilhelm's staff, they couldn't find many pictures of the queen with her children seeing as how they had left Scandinavia before the princess turned two. Surprisingly, none of the pictures of Prince Knut were shown in this broadcast. The prince regent told his staff that he had several folders of these pictures on his computer, but in his grief at the news of his niece's death, he had been unable to find them. Wilhelm was stable enough in his grief to be able to continue to read from the rock-steady paper in his hands which, of course, were never shown. Let's carry on now with the rest of the announcement.

"Late last night, Queen Freya contacted me from the American hospital. She told me that the prince had only a matter of hours left. Prince Knut bore a remarkable resemblance to his grandfather, King Alfred, and this reminded the queen of how much her mother and father had hoped that Scandinavians of all kinds could live in peace. She knew that her parents would have reached out to the refugees struggling to find a life in Scandinavia. She asked me to do what King Alfred and Queen Sofia would have done for our visitors. She asked me to find a way to give them full citizenship. At that point, I realized that my dear niece knew that her reign as my queen and yours was coming to an end."

There was a small pause in the speech. Some snuffling sounds emerged and then citizens heard the sound of a nose being blown.

"My pardon for having to pause. I was very close to my niece. I am now acting on Queen Freya's last wishes. As the Scandinavian army's Chief of Staff, I am announcing that visitors to our country may enlist in the military even though they are not citizens. This offer is applicable to males as well as to females of any colour or religion. Since non-citizens cannot normally enlist in our military, I am also announcing a one-day exemption to that regulation. Any visitor who enlists **today** in our military forces will automatically receive full citizenship **today.** We will enroll up to two hundred new recruits today. If we receive more than two hundred applicants, we will select recruits at random."

"Sadly, I cannot extend this offer beyond today as we can't absorb many new recruits at this time. Our training facilities are stretched as it is. However we hope to be able to make this same offer next year, and for years to come, as a fitting memorial to Queen Freya's reign."

"Non-citizens who wish to enlist in the armed forces today should present themselves to a temporary recruiting office that we are setting up on the grass in Tele2 Soccer Stadium here in Stockholm's suburbs. I advise you that you will need to be patient. Military and government officials are learning about this offer at the same time as you. Be prepared to wait. We will begin taking applications at 2:00 p.m."

"A final note. There may be some lingering fear over rumours that have been spread by malcontents that a beast is roaming the skies. We have found the people who were spreading these falsehoods. They will pay for their crimes. Our soldiers will be in the streets and skies of Stockholm today to reassure the good citizens of Stockholm that you have nothing to fear."

### # # # # # # # #

"Does this announcement change anything for us, Melissa?"

Granny was sitting in the command center in the Wilizy/Asia and was back in charge of the Raging Gardeners. She was the one who had asked the question on behalf of all of them.

"No, I don't think so," Melissa answered. "Winnie, what do you think?"

"We knew that he'd be putting the Muslim citizens out as bait for Bobbie, but we didn't know how he'd offer the bait. Or where. I wasn't expecting him to kill off Freya and Knut."

"Nor was I," Melissa admitted. "Did you notice that he is ready to kill Princess Freya too?"

"Does that mean he has some doubt about what Safe Haven is planning?" Yolanda asked.

"Perhaps," Melissa replied. "But I believe he's only setting up a contingency plan. She's been exposed to infectious pneumonia. She can die anytime he wants her to."

"Is there any action appearing in Montana from this announcement?" Wanda asked.

"Wizard said that they were flying around in circles waiting for Safe Haven to attack," Dreamer replied. "They've sent all the cadets out of the camp for a week of simulated battles in the wilderness." Sensing everybody looking at her, she added. "What? We always talk together every night before we go to sleep."

"Hank didn't believe today's announcement will have any impact on what happens in Montana," Yolanda changed the focus before Melissa and Mac could start teasing Dreamer.

"Wilhelm's announcement could have an impact on what we do though," Winnie mused.

"I feel a bright idea approaching this meeting," Marie predicted.

"Mom, you can communicate with the beanstalk girl, right?"

"Sure. She's in the staging area for the next couple of hours with Lieutenant Karlsson and his men."

"TG – you have control over Wilhelm's communications both in the palace and in the army base. Right?"

"Yeah. I own his computers and phones. What'cha got in mind?"

### # # # # # # # #

"Are you sure that you want to do this, Winnie?" Yolanda was asking the question, but all the gardeners were wondering too.

"Yes, Mom. I thought that I could plan battles for the Wilizy, but Melissa is way better at it than I am."

"You're learning, Winnie. You could be good at it."

"Melissa is being kind. She did most of the preparation work on this operation. I didn't enjoy creating different versions of the same basic battle and I got bored. That's dangerous for everybody. What I'm suggesting is something I could be good at. Plus Mom will be less stressed if I'm not directly exposed to danger when we're in battles."

"I'm trying to control that, Winnie."

"I know, but I'm your baby. Always will be. Besides, this role requires some sneakiness that nobody else in the family has. I'm good at that."

"That's true," Granny said.

"Plus this idea will allow the Raging Gardeners to go after criminals outside our jurisdiction. We've had to tippy-toe around Wilhelm because we couldn't put him on trial and then plant him. Granny's badge has no power here."

"True again." Granny, again.

"Plus, we'll be able to use any TiTr data that we obtain to prove our target's guilt. We can't do that now."

"I like that part of your plan," Wanda said.

"So do I," Momaka chimed in. "Knowing what happened and then proving it has been difficult."

"It will be easier now. The proof will be obvious." Yollie added her vote of approval.

"Nobody can ever know that it's you." Stu added the warning even though he was not genetically eligible to be at the meeting."

"TG said that he could hide me electronically."

"Our discussion was hypothetical," TG blurted. "I didn't know that this was what she was planning." TG also didn't belong in the meeting and was sitting in the corner of the battle command center. _Cowering in the corner_ is probably not the right description, but it's close enough. Grandmothers-in-law can be formidable, especially when they have no qualms about shedding blood.

"But you can do it? You can keep her hidden?" Yolanda was still looking for 100 per cent safety. Any mom would.

"Yes. Nobody will even see an outline of her body, let alone her physical size or gender. Her voice will be computerized."

"Are you still planning to adopt a new adult name? You can if you want to, but you can't change your mind afterwards."

No. I don't want to stop being Winnie in the family. I'll just use my new name when we're prosecuting criminals."

"There is the question whether anybody in the public will believe her," Stu added. This was a very good point. What Winnie was proposing was even more implausible than the Star Trek crew visiting Earth in 2087.

"Spock said something very deep," Winnie spocked. "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"You do know that Spock was a fictional character, right Winnie? The whole Star Trek television and movie juggernaut was fictional." Yollie never could understand how her brothers could believe such drivel. Now Winnie was claiming a fictional humanoid from a fictional planet was a deep philosopher.

"Are you sure about that?" Marie asked. "You didn't believe Voodoo existed. Just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist."

"When will you do this, Winnie? From where?" Granny pulled the group back into focus.

"I'll go with Stu and TG to the media center in the Royal Palace during the final performance. TG will handle all the electronics. I'll have the script and images ready to go. After it's over, Stu and TG will break into Prince Samuel's secret lab and destroy it. There's no way that we could gain entry covertly, so we'll have to be obvious about it. Nobody will notice the attack on the lab. They'll all be reacting to what they've seen and heard on their screens."

"TG and I are not going to touch Prince Samuel or Ingrid, remember? And, you aren't going to tell the Scandinavians what to do with Wilhelm either, are you?" This was Stu once again raising the issue that had bedeviled the Wilizy men and the women. Do the Gardeners have the right to make decisions for the country even in a situation that would be morally correct for them to do. He was against it.

"The men are right on this," Winnie agreed. "The people of Scandinavia will have to decide what to do with their criminals. I'm only going to shed some light on the subject."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 37

Wilhelm looked around as he climbed the cement stairs to the royal box at the top of Tele2 Stadium. It was 1:30. He had ordered a full platoon of armed soldiers to be in the stands by this time. He saw no such soldiers. The prince regent hesitated in his ascent and then saw a familiar symbol – a series of pips on the top of a sweater that was much too small for the officer wearing it. He nodded at the officer as he went by and the officer nodded back. _Only one man?_ Wilhelm sat down on the next bench and surveyed the non-citizens who were crowding onto the field and sitting on the grass. That part of the plan was working well. But this protection assignment was badly undermanned.

"Captain, how many men do you have in your detail?" he whispered over the Captain's shoulder.

"You'll excuse me if I don't stand, Prince Regent, but I do not want to draw attention to myself. A full platoon is here, Sir. We are all dressed in civvies with only the pips on our clothes to set us apart from normal citizens. I have taken personal charge of the most direct set of stairs to the royal box. Others in the platoon are scattered on other stairs, but the majority are stationed at the very top of the stadium. There are multiple stairs up to the top of the stadium, Sir, so we have put the bulk of our men near your box. We can't predict what staircase insurgents might use to gain access to your box."

Wilhelm looked around and saw that it was as the officer had described. No signs of pips from here, but lots of male faces with determined looks. "Arms?"

"In the duffle bag at each man's feet. I myself have an automatic weapon, multiple magazines, plus smoke grenades as well as lethal grenades. You'll pardon me if I don't reveal those to you."

"Understood. What's your name, Captain?"

"Stephenson, Sir. I should point out that we have more than a platoon of Special Ops soldiers here. Scattered in this section of the stands are more than thirty armed men. They are dressed as though they were family men with wives and children. Yesterday they were sleeping in an army facility. When they heard that you were putting yourself in danger by coming to this stadium, they volunteered to be here. Nobody will be climbing these stands and approaching your royal box without passing us first, Sir."

"Very reassuring. You must find it hard to find normal civvy clothes, Captain. I notice that sweater is quite snug on you."

"Yes, Sir. As you have noticed, I'm very tall. That gives me an advantage in man-to-man combat which is my specialty."

Wilhelm took a long look around the stadium. Lots of scarved-women were sitting on the soccer pitch. Some Muslim men as well. More people than he had expected actually. The stadium was mostly empty, but he saw pockets of white faces. Some with families even. All of their faces would be entered into the files as Muslim sympathizers. Names would be attached to those files later. More white faces were coming into the stands now. That surprised Wilhelm. He had thought that Scandinavian Muslims were universally detested.

### # # # # # # # #

Just before 2 p.m., a transport copter entered the air space above the retracted roof of Tele2 Stadium and landed on the soccer pitch below. Twelve soldiers in dress uniforms quickly exited and began setting up. Six folding tables and twelve folding chairs were unfolded and placed on the front edge of the south penalty box. Four cartons of paper documents were opened revealing the military's standard recruitment papers. A sargeant took a quick count of the people sitting on the pitch and announced: "There's 175 of you and all of you will be admitted into the military today subject to the normal health examination. Take a recruitment package from one of the cartons in front of me and form a line in front of each of the tables. You may sit on the grass. While you are waiting, read the information in the package. After you have signed your documents, wait in front of the medical tents to receive a health clearance certificate. When you have that, wait in front of the citizenship tables. Staff from the Justice Ministry and Health Ministry will be here shortly. On behalf of the Scandinavian armed forces, I welcome you to the new Queen Sofia and King Alfred regiments."

True to her word, another copter appeared and landed on the pitch. The occupants set up their tables at the opposite end of the field. Again, staff were present to help the applicants fill out the many forms: application for free medical care and application for free education to name only two. Two judges in their robes were directly in front of the goal posts and were prepared to hear oaths of allegiance to the Scandinavian monarchy. If satisfied that the person had read the oath correctly, one of the judges would sign the temporary citizenship document. Formal citizenship papers would follow in about a week.

While the Justice Ministry was setting up, another military copter landed and soldiers erected six tents. They left and another copter deposited cartons of forms as well six doctors and six nurses who stood in front of their tents awaiting customers.

"This is actually happening," one high-ranking official thought. "They're getting citizenship."

The origin of that thought had his face plastered against the window in the royal box. Frantically, he began to kiss the butt of an ugly creature on a piece of wood.

"Kirk here," a fictional character replied.

"Did you do this?"

"Do what?"

"There are 175 Muslims in the stadium. They're actually going through the process of receiving their citizenship."

"Isn't that what you told the country would happen?"

"Yes, but you said that they'd sit patiently on the grass for Bobbie to eat them. When she was full, she'd fly away. With a full load, her invisibility cloak would fail. You'd use phasers from the shuttlecraft to kill her at her first nest. Or, the panther girl would do that. That was your plan. They weren't supposed to fill out any forms. They weren't supposed to obtain their citizenship. Did you do this?"

"How could I? I have no idea of what forms they'd need or who would be authorized to process them. I don't speak Scandinavian – none of the crew does. How would the Enterprise crew arrange this?"

"Where are you?"

"High overhead Stockholm in the shuttle. You can't see us from where you are."

"Where's the panther woman?"

"Waiting outside the stadium for Bobbie to appear."

"Where's the dragon?"

Kirk took a page from Dr. McCoy's book to answer. "How would I know? I'm a starship captain, not a tour guide for an invisible dragon."

### # # # # # # # #

Captain Kirk was quite correct that she couldn't have done what Wilhelm was accusing. She hadn't even thought of it. Winnie had, and Yolanda had passed on the necessary instruction to Beanstalk who could make Winnie's plan work. Beanstalk set the official part of the afternoon's activities up quickly. The people who were responsible for the various new citizenry processes were already speeding to their ministry offices in response to Wilhelm's announcement that citizenships would be conveyed this afternoon. When they arrived, they found an urgent message: "Contact the prince regent's office immediately on this secure line." With TG's help, that secure line went directly to Bean. Her instructions to set up and process citizenship ceremonies for up to two hundred Muslims were followed without question.

Beanstalk was also the Scandinavian-speaking Assistant Under Secretary of National Holiday Celebrations who made other phone calls – supposedly on instructions from Prince Regent Wilhelm no less. These calls were to people and organizations that were frequently part of official celebrations. She told them that if they had any questions about her requests, they should phone the Prince Regent's office in the palace. She was working immediately outside Wilhelm's private office and would interrupt his grieving if that's what the caller wanted her to do. All the people she called were willing to drop everything and come to the Tele2 Stadium. They had no questions.

### # # # # # # # #

At 2:15, the three sets of officials on the field were all working their way slowly through the applicants. A sound of music in the air was quite distant and did not attract much attention from the participants. But when the Scandinavian army's marching band entered the arena, the applicants for citizenship did take notice. It would be hard not too. These particular soldiers were always at the front of any ceremony involving the royalty. In their march from their barracks to Tele2, they had attracted quite a number of citizens who recognized them from their full dress uniforms and their music and tagged along to see what was happening. They took seats in the stadium as Scandinavia's most famous marching band made laps around the field, bugles blaring and drums beating – all of that invigorating music echoing through the entire suburb of Johanneshov where the stadium was located south of Stockholm center. More people entered the arena.

The next noteworthy event occurred at about 2:45 when the marching band was setting up for the second half of their performance. A citizen in the stands tried to send an electronic message to a friend telling him what was happening in the stadium. The message got through! The blonde citizen stood up in her excitement and announced that her communications were working. Since her attempt to make her call had occurred at the precise time when the stadium was quiet, and since her voice was remarkably strong, everybody in the stadium heard her. She spoke Scandinavian with a strong foreign accent, but everybody heard and understood the three words that she boomed out. Word of what was happening in Tele2 spread quickly. Many more people entered the stadium after that announcement.

At about 3:00 when everybody's attention was on the marching band on the field, two woman wearing gray skirts, white blouses, and blue blazers entered the stadium and scurried up the cement steps to the stadium's media center. This was on the opposite side of the field from Wilhelm's royal box so they faced no obstacle in finding their way into the very top section of the stadium reserved for media and for employees of the stadium who handled technical matters during soccer games and other events.

The media center was deserted except for two men. One man was in an officer's uniform and he was the one to accept a bot from the women on behalf of the army. He spoke perfect Scandinavian. That officer – a First lieutenant if you must know – handed the bot to another man – by appearance a slav. He said nothing, but simply brought the contents of the bot up onto the small internal screen that technicians in his job would use to preview what was going to appear on the two giant screens at either end of the stadium.

The opening image on the bot declared the contents were focused on _Remembering Our Royal Family_ which unfortunately for the technician were written in Scandinavian which he did not understand at all. He did understand his way around technology though. He was the reason the country's cell phones were working now. He ran through the first couple of images to verify that they would load, stored the contents of the bot on his computer, and handed it back to the lieutenant. The lieutenant returned the bot with thanks to the two members of Sweden's National Historic Society who left to sit in the stands.

At 3:30, after the marching band had played its last number, the Slav pressed the button on his console to fire up the big screens. He brought the opening image up to the screens and paused it. Nobody in the stadium had noticed either screen. Fortunately all soccer stadiums the world over always have a rendition of their national anthem stored somewhere in their computer. The Slav let the Scandinavian anthem play through to the end as everybody on the field and in the stadium stood and sang. Well, almost everybody. One man didn't. He was sound asleep in his royal box. After the anthem was over, the Slav started the presentation put together by Sweden's National Historic Society. It was about an hour in length and contained still images as well as video clips of Sweden's Royal Family, both in the recent past and in historic times as well. It was a big hit and even more people outside of the stadium heard what was happening and came to watch.

### # # # # # # # #

"Good job Friday night, Erik," Mac said. She was sitting in the stands next to Lieutenant Karlsson who had come down from the media box to watch the show. There was no reason to try and hide their meeting. Two people sitting together in a stadium that was now half full of other people sitting together would not be noticed.

"Thanks, Mac. It was pretty easy actually. We were hiding in the dark when the Special Ops transports arrived with the captured republican sympathizers. We waited for everybody to enter the hangar and then immobilized them all. No shots were fired. We left the republican sympathizers in the hanger while we put the Special Op forces into cells and took the imprisoned husbands of Muslim wives out of the cells. We brought both groups back to Stockholm without incident. Like I said, it was easy."

"The prison guards?"

"Imprisoned in the cells as well. I captured them at gunpoint. They had no choice but to obey me. I don't see the army blaming them. They'll be safe. I left six of my men behind. Once everything is over, they'll release everybody and disappear leaving the camp without any transportation. The army can decide what they want to do with the Special Op forces."

"Six of your platoon are disappearing?"

"Yes, they want to lead a normal life in a new Scandinavia."

"They should be all right. The Towell Ladies had acted as soon as they heard about the treason charges facing your platoon. They gave all your men fictional names at fictional addresses. Nobody will find those men. What will the others in your platoon do?"

"Re-enlist under their new names. We trained on our own, slept on our own, ate food on our own – the army didn't want us to corrupt the others. There's little chance that they'll be recognized because nobody hardly saw them. Plus they all have beards now. They won't talk about what they did."

"I kept a stack of recruitment forms; take what you need and have them go down to the field in small groups."

...

"The republican sympathizers. What did they do after you rescued them?"

"They went back to their families. They were gone for such little time that few people would know they had been arrested and imprisoned. I see some of them in the stands. They'll want to talk with Wilhelm about their arrest."

"What about the husbands you rescued?"

"They're all here in the stands. Disguised as what they are. Normal Scandinavian citizens. They want a chance to chat with Wilhelm too."

"They'll have to stand in line. And you? What will you do?"

"I can't stay here. Too many people know me and can identify me. Plus, I threw the prison camp guards into their own cells."

"We could have worked a way around that for you."

"Nah. Too risky. Besides, I rather liked the idea of the military camp for young boys that you told me about. I'm going to accept your offer to be a trainer for your recruits."

"Good. All of the Towell Ladies will be there too. Some will be classroom instructors and others will handle military matters."

"What about Beanstalk?"

"Are you interested in her?" Mac asked slyly. _[Narrator: Given even a small chance that a romance might be possible, women by their nature will always explore the opportunity on behalf of their comrade in arms. Make that their "comrade in nobody's arms yet." If the quarry indicated that yes, he might be interested, Mac's genetic programming would kick in and she'd let Beanstalk know that the lieutenant was interested in her. If Beanstalk were also interested, what would follow would be strictly survival of the fittest. Two women on the prowl; one unsuspecting man. The trap would be set with Mac telling the quarry that she knew somebody who was interested in him. Women can't help doing this, guys. Just like you can't help staring at whatever is imprinted on the front of women's t-shirts.]_

"She had a reputation on the base of being lethal with a gun and with her hands. Nobody would want to get close to her. Special Ops people are crazy in the head."

"Why'd you ask?"

"Just curious. She seemed normal when she was in the camp with us."

### # # # # # # # #

At 3:45, stadium employees rushed into the stadium and began opening up the concessions.

By 4:00, all of the applicants for citizenship had been processed. Tables, chairs, and other equipment that had been on the grass were stored off to the side and readied for transport. The government staff that had processed the citizenship applicants had relocated into the stands. The people who would be part of the next event began setting up on the soccer field and were immediately recognized by what they were wearing. Communication devices buzzed.... "You gotta get down here." More and more people streamed into the stadium. Meanwhile, one man continued to sleep.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 38

By 6 p.m., the ABBA-4 singing group was winding up its free concert and the stadium was not only full, it was also hyperventilating. ABBA-4 was always the most difficult ticket to get in any of the holiday celebrations. They performed, at most, twice a year. But when Crown Prince Wilhelm's aide asked if they would lift the country out of its sorrow at the passing of Queen Freya and Prince Knut, they responded willingly.

In the first hour they performed their typical concert – a medley of hits from ABBA 1, 2, 3 and, of course, their own. In the second hour, they surprised everybody by doing something they had never done before. It didn't matter that they had had no practice time on these songs at all. Every Scandinavian knew them. All ABBA-4 had to do was play a few bars of the beginning of the song, and the crowd would be once more on its feet. Scandinavian folks songs both past and present can be boisterous. They can also be romantic, sentimental, and passionate. Their last song was, of course, the national anthem and with all of the burgeoning emotions that had been bubbling away for the last hour, it should come as no surprise to my readers that there wasn't a dry eye in the stadium by the end of their anthem – a salute in effect to their royal family.

Well.... no dry eyes except for two. Wilhelm had woken to the sounds of the anthem and was staring out the glass window of the royal box wondering where this crowd had come from. It was time for his performance, but sadly he had nothing prepared. That was all right. The Wilizy had created something for him.

### # # # # # # # #

The last echoes of the anthem were fading away and the crowd was starting to gather up their belongings when Lieutenant Karlsson's voice on the P.A. system announced: "We have one more event. Please take your seats."

As the mass of humanity settled back into their chairs, a bright light exploded out of the big screens at either end of the stadium. I'm not talking about the usual bright light here. I'm talking about the kind of bright light that would cause people to raise a hand to shield their eyes. And, that's what they did. At the same time that the spectators in the stadium were blinded, every communication device in Scandinavia received the same signal from TG in the palace's media center.

A female voice spoke. It was a computerized voice – obvious from the perfect enunciation and grammar. "I am a light that will lead you to the truth."

The light began to pulse, almost as though it were a living heart.

"You will find what I'm going to say difficult to believe. Keep an open mind."

A pause followed. The light continued to beat.

"Many people over many years have wondered if intelligent life exists beyond your solar system. I am here to tell you that it does. Many planets in the universe support such life. Some planets have evolved into what we consider to be _civilized worlds."_

"For us, that term means peaceful worlds that care for their citizens properly Worlds that do not make war on other worlds; worlds that protect and foster growth in other planets and help them reach civilization status. The universe has seen uncivilized worlds that have been a danger to themselves and to others. They attack the weak. We, the civilized worlds, protect the worlds that have not yet reached civilized status. Those attacking worlds are inevitably destroyed. They receive no second chance. Their planet simply disappears."

"You who live on what you call _The Earth_ have reached a point where you are a danger to yourself and to others. If you continue with your madness, the civilized planets will have no choice but to protect others by destroying your planet. Or, you can change your uncivilized behaviour before it's too late. The choice is yours. The judgement of whether or not you meet our standards will be ours. You'll get no say in the decision."

"I am a non-humanoid form of life that has been on your planet for two years of your time. I have been instructed to reveal myself to you now so that you will know that your planet is facing judgement. I will continue to observe your behaviour and report back to my superiors. When I observe uncivilized behaviour from individual humans, or human groups, or human countries, I will reveal it to your world so that you will know that this is unacceptable. It will be up to you, as a planet, to change your own behaviour."

"You may question how I am able to collect data that you might think was private. You may have thought that these were secrets between only two or three individuals. I am a light the leads to truth. Wherever there is light, I may be there watching you. My name is _Truth_."

"The images that I am going to reveal to you were taken here in your country recently. What you're going to witness now is unacceptable behaviour for a civilized country."

### # # # # # # # #

The screens dimmed. An image appeared. Crown Prince Wilhelm was speaking to somebody with blonde hair. Her back was to the camera. Wilhelm's face filled the rest of the screen. He described in vivid detail how he had created the program through which gangs, policemen and even a Special Oops platoon could rape Muslim women without fear of being caught. That lead to a description of the chemical sterilization program, how the Muslims in the country were now effectively under house arrest and how anybody that showed the slightest sympathy for Muslims was identified and tagged for possible removal to a prison camp. The Scandinavian husbands of Muslim women were already is such prisons.

The white light returned to the screen. "The ruler of your country has been doing this for the last two years," Truth said.

### # # # # # # # #

Once again, Wilhelm's face appeared on the screens.

"We have an active group of politicians who favour a republic. I imprisoned many of those on trumped up charges after Queen Freya left for North America, but more have taken their place. Sadly, they didn't survive the harsh environment of their prison camp. Tomorrow evening, Special Ops will be capturing all of the republican supporters that we can identify. We'll take them up to a secret prison camp that we've set up on the north for Scandinavians who don't support our country's goals."

"Will they face trial?"

"Don't be silly."

The white light returned to the screen. "The ruler of your country has done this twice," Truth said.

### # # # # # # # #

The blonde lady was speaking again.

"About the queen and that announcement she made about coming outdoors. We didn't understand how the Queen could be in North America while her body was reading the speech in the palace's media room."

"The queen has been dead for a couple of years. A special ops officer was reading the announcement that I wrote."

"She's dead?" This time it was a male voice. "That's not logical. She gave birth to a son recently."

"That's easily explained. I sent Queen Freya to North America so that she wouldn't learn about my programs for keeping Scandinavia white. While she was there, she became a security threat, and as per my orders, a Special Ops agent assassinated her. Prince Samuel helped my agent and then came back to Scandinavia where he's been working for me secretly. Prince Knut is an imaginary baby. Once I have full control of parliament and the republicans and pestilence carriers are under control, I will announce their deaths."

"Wouldn't Princess Freya assume control?"

"Until she's twenty-one, I will continue to serve as the country's ruler. She won't be having any babies, I can assure you of that. We'll be collecting her baby eggs for, shall we say, scientific experiments. Prince Samuel and an old woman geneticist are operating that program from the high security bunker in the palace's basement."

The light returned and Truth explained. "The officer who imitated Queen Freya's voice in the recent announcement was simply following orders. She is not guilty of anything. Your country's ruler did in fact have his niece killed. Queen Freya died in North America on March 11, 2085. Wilhelm promoted the Special Ops agent who assassinated her. Later, Wilhelm gave orders that the assassin herself be killed so that she couldn't reveal what she had done. The woman geneticist who is helping Prince Samuel with his experiments and who will be performing those experiments on Princess Freya lives in the basement bunker in the palace. This is her picture."

### # # # # # # # #

Wilhelm spoke again to the Scandinavian nation.

"Princess Freya will have a fatal accident before she comes of age. Perhaps a copter accident like her grandparents had."

"You killed King Alfred and Queen Sofia?"

"Well, not personally. But I gave the orders. They wanted to welcome pestilence carriers into the country. They wanted to give them full citizenship. I couldn't have that."

### # # # # # # # #

"You have a difficult choice to make," Truth said to the gob-smacked nation. "Do you believe what I have said and what you have seen? I could be an imposter and the prince regent that you've just seen could be an actor with the same appearance and voice as your prince regent. Or, you can believe that I am a non-humanoid form of life like I said and I can see and record private conversations between uncivilized humans."

"To help you reach that decision, you should ask Prince Regent Wilhelm. I'm sure he'll be eager to clear his name."

### # # # # # # # #

The bright light went out to be replaced by the sound of an authoritative voice. "Stay where you are in the stands," Lieutenant Karlsson said. "Prince Regent Wilhelm is on the way down to the stadium floor now. He us under the protection of members of the Scandinavian military."

Indeed Wilhelm was making his way to the stadium floor, although he wasn't taking that trip willingly, or under his own power. He was carried aloft by four burly men. Accompanying the package were all the members of Captain Stephenson's bodyguard contingent. Leading the way was the Captain himself.

"We will allow no mob rule," Lieutenant Karlsson announced. "This Truth creature has shown us images of the crown prince acting in ways that would bring shame and loathing to the Scandinavian people if they were true. If anybody in this stadium has personal experiences that support the disclosures that we saw on the screen, those people may descend to the stadium floor and confront the Prince Regent personally. Form a line. Tell everyone in this stadium and in the country what your experience was. Everybody else should stay in the stands and watch the big screens."

Once again, the big screens came to life. The nation saw Wilhelm being stripped of his clothes and securely fastened to the ground. A line formed behind Captain Stephenson starting with the men of the prince regent's bodyguard. Seven women in military uniforms were next. Following them were many of the citizens who had received their citizenship that afternoon. Most were women wearing scarves. Captain Stephenson retrieved a hand held wireless microphone from his duffle bag. He also emptied his bag of cartons that one might think held grenades and ammunition magazines. They weren't.

The captain stepped towards the regal body staked out on the ground in front of him. He removed his uniform cap to reveal a full set of flowing brown locks. "Wilhelm, when I was thirteen, I was raped by a police captain who afterwards forced me to join the Scandinavian military. I became a lieutenant in Special Ops Division in the Scandinavian military where you used me to kill innocent people. My life was ruined by your orders allowing soldiers, policemen, and other white males to rape Muslim women without consequences. I know that you did this. The men bragged to me about their exploits."

The lieutenant fiddled with her sleeve and pulled out something that shone. She held it up for all to see. "I'm going to use this barber's knife to register my vote on your future. You deserve to die, but I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to make a tiny nick in your body. After that, I will give this knife to the next person in line. That person may chose to make another tiny nick. Or, if that person wishes to say something nice about Prince Regent Wilhelm, there are Band-Aids in these cartons on the ground that can undo any harm that my tiny nick could have caused."

The lieutenant knelt down and made the tiny nick that she had promised.

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# Chapter 39

"Lucas, that copter that we've been watching is still on a direct course to our camp. Take a close look at it, will you?"

"OK, General."

Lucas was in his sling and serving as the Wilizy's first responder this morning. It was Monday August 18. The Wilizy in Scandinavia were wrapping up their operation and would be heading home in the next day or so. Wilhelm was still staked out on the floor of Tele2 Stadium, but the crowds were easing off. The Wilizy men had followed the operation closely and a great sense of relief had swept through the camp when Granny had announced that the Scandinavians would no longer be a threat. This single copter had been the only distraction they had had since taking up a military presence in the skies over the cadet camp that was still very much in the construction stage. Nothing had been done on the plans for the Wilizy to relocate since the start of the war one month ago. Safe Haven would now be their first and only priority. Both Hank and Jock were not entertaining any suggestions for the Wilizy teenagers to return to Toronto until this second threat was over. This single copter was not the threat they were awaiting, at least not in Lucas' estimation.

### # # # # # # # #

"It's a personal copter with two seats and one man inside," Lucas described. "The copter is a standard copter – no weapons observable. No insignia of any kind on the outside. The man is perhaps in his thirties, he is white and is wearing a business suit. There's a briefcase on the empty seat next to him."

"A little unusual to see a business suit in this area," Hank observed.

"Salesman," Wizard suggested?"

"Coming to see you?" Jock asked.

"No. I'm not expecting anybody."

"Follow him in, Lucas. We'll find out soon enough what he wants. I'll have the camp commandant greet him in civvies."

"Will do, General."

The copter will still a long ways out, so Lucas had plenty of time to kill. He re-read the message that Lylah had sent him. He didn't need to re-read it. By now, he had it memorized, but he re-read it again anyway. Looking for a reason why he should refuse her request.

_Lucas. I know that both of us have secrets dealing with our family that neither of us wants to reveal. I understand that. But surely, we can find something about our families that we can share. Do we not have some information so innocuous that there would be no reason to hold it back? I don't want to continue the way we have been this summer. I'll start. My father's name is Dr. Thomas Richardson. I expect you know that. But you may not know about my mother. Her name is Paula. It's your turn now. What are your parents' first names?_

Lucas thought again and decided to reply. _Hank and Yolanda,_ he sent. What possible harm could there be in telling Lylah his parents' names?

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# Chapter 40: Epilogue

After the first few hours of his trial, Wilhelm stopped struggling. He had already given up claiming that Captain Jane T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise was responsible. While the family never knew for sure, Wilhelm was probably not there after those first few hours. Marie was not one for torture, nor were any of the other Wilizy.

The Wilizy thought that Wilhelm's trial would take several days. He was covered in blankets that first night and during that time, the bleeding stopped. Guards were posted at every gate to ensure that nobody could enter the stadium. The next morning, when they took off the blankets, the guards found Wilhelm dead from a huge gash in his throat. Bloody teeth marks on the neck and paw prints next to the body suggested that a large canine animal had somehow found its way into a guarded secure arena.

Although some distant cousins of Queen Freya could have been installed on the throne, Scandinavians decided through many years of constitutional negotiations that they wanted to retain a royal family. But the royalty was not there to exercise dictatorial power. They opted to elect ordinary citizens who could step in as a "figure head" for the crown for a three year term. These people fulfilled the public relations duties of the former royalty but had no power. The idea that absolute power could be passed on from one royal generation to the next had come up against genetic fallibilities. Few people would want to take that on. Few people could do it properly. In time, the people were elected to the position because they were outstanding contributors to the country in their professional lives. In 2106, the first Muslim was elected to the post. In 2112, the first woman won the honour.

Wilhelm's secret war against the Finns ended soon after his death and relations between Scandinavia and Finland improved. Finland became part of the Scandinavian nation in 2096. The first elected Finn to the monarchy was in 2112.

Prince Samuel and Ingrid were watching Wilhelm's descent to the stadium floor when TG and Stu blasted their way into their underground bunker intending to destroy it, but only after allowing the geneticists to escape. They fled immediately by copter. TG and his mother exchanged a glance on her way out of the lab but no words were said. The two escapees managed to avoid capture for a couple of days, but with no safe place to hide, and with the need for food becoming pressing, they took a chance on entering a small store. The prince was identified immediately and the two of them fled eastward in their copter. They soon found themselves pursued by at least a dozen other copters. They didn't realize that they had entered Finnish air space until bullets started ripping their copter apart. Finnish air control had assumed that they were facing a full-scale attack and responded with an attacking force of their own. The copter exploded in the air and crashed to the ground in flames. Marie's curse on Prince Wilhelm that he would die from an explosion and a fire was fulfilled, but then you knew that it would. Right?

With her little nick, Bean received closure on what had happened to her in her childhood. She was able to move on and never again engaged in her former hobby. Nobody in the Wilizy knew what Bean was intending to do when she took Wilhelm to the stadium floor. She had merely asked Yolanda if she could conduct a trial and the directors had gone along with the request thinking that Wilhelm would be imprisoned and a full court trial would reach the decision on Wilhelm's future. Nobody in the Wilizy objected to how justice was delivered. Yollie named the battle that won the war _Trial by Nick._

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# Books in the Wilizy series

As of November, 2019, there were sixteen novels in the Wilizy series. Check below to see if you've missed any.

**Book #1: I Got'cha**

If you think being a teenager in today's world is tough, try being one in 2081. In Alberta's It's Only Fair society, your brain-band will zap you just for chewing with your mouth open. One boy pried his brain-band off to see what living with emotions would be like. Being chased by the entire Alberta army was bad enough. It became worse when another 15 year old kid offered to help him escape.

**Book #2: The Get-Even Bird**

Will and Izzy are forced to flee from Zzyk's army. After months away from Alberta, they fly their sailing ship into B.C. thinking that they would be safe there. Bad mistake! Izzy is captured. All Will has to do to save her life is turn himself in for a free brain-band fitting appointment. That's what happens when you wear a Zorro costume to a dance.

**Book #3: Assassination Day**

A DPS technician offers to defect if the Wilizy will rescue his daughter from _The Citadel_ – some super smart military people who are friends with Zzyk. Izzy thinks that their new recruit is an assassin, but Yollie insists that he's a decent man. Can assassins be decent men? It will take a hair-raising experience to find out.

**Book #4: Hoist the Jolly Lucas**

It's bad enough that Zzyk pins the blame for two assassinations on Izzy and launches a full out assault on their home compound. But then, another enemy takes advantage of a security lapse to get revenge for a war that happened 20 years ago. The Wilizy are left reeling with two key members kidnapped and stashed where they can't be found, let alone rescued. For the family to survive, everybody must enter the battle. The story is as much about the past as it is about the present.

**Book #5: Teenage Mutant Ninja Torpedoes** (Yes, this is a Wilizy book.)

Mac disappears and doesn't want to be found. Will and Wolf use time-travel to search for her and discover secrets she wouldn't want them to know. The Alaskans attack when Will is finding out what happens to a submarine's air when it is lying helpless on the ocean floor. Between the Alaskans' impenetrable fortress and their bubblegum weapons, life is going to get a little sticky for the Wilizy.

**Book #6: Bob, the Invisible Dragon**

Raging hormones as well as Raging Gardeners play key roles when young Wilizy warriors are attacked and the Wilizy's scientific marvels offer no protection. The youngsters' future will rely on a different kind of warrior protecting them. Warning: events at the end of the story will move quickly. They certainly won't _drag on_.

**Book #7: Nary, Nary, Quite Contrary**

Theo and Lucas move to Toronto to live on their own. Both meet girls but neither is brave enough to introduce his new friend to the family. They wouldn't have the time anyway, what with villains trying to assassinate them and Voodoo royalty greeting them as though they were Voodoo gods. At the end of the story, Lucas receives a surprise Boxing Day gift that leaves him speechless.

**Book #8: Maddy's a Baddy**

Maddy had escaped from Big Momma only to find herself all alone in the cold and begging for food in Eastern Canada. While she's trying to return to her home in Seattle, the Wilizy have their own problems. Everybody in the family is intent on bringing the judge to justice for what he did to Lucas. It would have been so easy for them to rescue Maddy, but they didn't know anything about her.

**Book #9: Bite Me!**

Spurred on by Marie's desire to eat a meal with her former slave masters, the Wilizy plan to put Safe Haven ranches out of business. In the process, they encounter two foreign assassins intent on abducting Maddy. Theo and Nary become closer but a red-eyed chaperone does not approve. The Wilizy's war with Safe Haven starts with a bang but ends with a whimper.

**Book #10: Wheelchair Moccasins!**

A 13 year old girl pretends to turn to prostitution to gain her freedom from her crime boss father. In Wilizy family news, Winnie agrees not to meddle in Mathias' love life. No, the world isn't ending, so long as you don't have a green vegetable for your name. Best advice ever? If somebody wearing moccasins and sitting in a wheelchair offers to sing you to sleep... run!

**Book #11: Trial by Nick**

After the Scandinavians attack their home base, Winnie develops an idea for defeating Crown Prince Wilhelm that is a dramatic departure from their normal military battles. In their personal lives, the Toronto teenagers have to become schnobs to keep their basketball futures alive, Lucas and Lylah begin dating, and two of EmmaGee's personalities leave her body.

**Book #12. Tickled Pink**

A man uses his unlimited wealth and power to assault women without fear of legal consequences. If they object, he'll humiliate them publicly and ruin their lives. If they don't stand up to him, their lives as they knew them will be over. But how do you fight a man who is above the law? Here's how. The Raging Gardeners help the women while Winnie attacks him where he isn't looking.

**Book #13: Second Base**

Granny and Doc enjoy a spirited life in their new Australian house while Bean has to adjust to her mother joining her in the Wilizy cadet camp. She meets a charming man with country pumpkin witticisms whose entire life is dedicated to becoming a cold blooded killer. Meanwhile, Safe Haven's impenetrable offices aren't as safe as they thought they were.

**Book #14: Old Stone Face**

Bean moves to Toronto with her sheriff who takes a job as a private detective. Before long, he's trying to bring a mad scientist to justice - the same man that Winnie is after. With both the Wilizy and a countrified sheriff after the same man, you'd think he'd be easy to catch. Too bad there are no laws about a mad scientist killing twenty-one babies.

**Book #15: Remember the Halocracy**

Reese finds Annika - his first, and only, girl friend. For reasons that nobody fully understands, he sort of kidnaps her but she willingly accompanies him to the far side of globe. Reese figures out later that she could be trying to seduce him when in fact, she's actually going to try to kill him.

**Book #16: Coffee Can Kill Ya!**

Convincing Paula's brother to give her a proper share of her parents' estate had seemed so easy. Turned out that it wasn't so easy after all. In the Wilizy's defense, murdering extra-terrestrials that tried to kidnap a corpse created unique challenges. To their credit, the Wilizy dealt with those. But, how do you deal with something that you can't see and don't even know exists?

**Book #17: Nice Birthday Party, Governor.**

Plot twists abound as the Wilizy take on the Colorado government and the NORAD military simultaneously. Maddy quits the cadet corp to run a secret operation that ends in a one-on-one battle. Melissa breaks Reese out of jail and Cowboy shows his dramatic talents, which do not include stripping. Winnie directs two dramatic productions but only one of these involves wearing respectable clothes.

**Book #18: The Tale of the Scorpion's Tail**

The Wilizy have to neutralize NORAD's nuclear missiles while defeating their air force without causing any casualties. A special weapon (guided bird poop) will be needed. Meanwhile, Heaven's guardian angels are under attack from within. The key to success? Rescuing a gerbil imprisoned in an escape-proof cage. "Molly Moonblossom" and "Nympho Maniac" play key roles. One of these actors is Winnie.

**Book #19: Brunhilda, the Steamroller.**

Billy Bump resurfaces and plans Maddy's death. Winnie accepts a secret mission but runs afoul of Yolanda, who is sure that she has a boyfriend. Yolanda's vision that Winnie will be attacked comes true. Demonic infiltrators into Heaven escape detection when the steamroller named Brunhilda prosecutes Arthur and finds him guilty. This time, he won't be going back to guardian angel school.

**Book #20: Lock Up Your Corn Starch!**

While Paula, Winnie and Arthur are on a perilous mission for Heaven, the Wilizy family is trying to rescue Charlie and Sheila from prison. Wilizy forces battle demented escaped convicts intent on slaughtering innocent victims to help a brown supremacist politician win an election. If you're intent on going to Hell when you die, be sure to read this book for a preview of what's waiting for you.

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# About the Author

David J. Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil.

Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.

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