Four
The Shade Tree – two days later
Jean Barrett had been enjoying a late morning with nothing to do, and so was still in her narrow bunk when the comm panel in her cabin buzzed in the two-tone note that indicated a call coming from off-ship.
“Damn,” she muttered as she rolled over and stood up, stretching. “If that’s Gomp in the slammer again, I swear…” She stabbed the panel’s contact. “Shade Tree,” she snapped. “Who’s calling?”
“Shade Tree,” a voice came back, distorted by the range; it obviously came from Tarbos’ surface. “This is the Open Arms Hotel in Mountain View. I need to speak to your commander.”
“Open Arms? I’m Captain Barrett,” she replied. “I’m the commander of the Shade Tree. Why are you calling?”
“Captain,” the voice rasped, “Do you have two crew members, Saskia Miroslava and Michiyo Watanabe?”
“I do,” Barrett replied. “They’re not on the ship at the moment; they’re down on the surface on shore leave.”
“They seem to have skipped on their bill, Captain. We haven’t seen them in two days, their room has not been entered, and they don’t answer their personal comm-codes that they listed on check-in.”
“What? Are you sure? That’s not at all like either of them.”
“Sure as can be, Captain.”
“Give me your address,” Barrett said. “I’ll be down this afternoon. I want to talk to you.”
The voice rattled off an address in Mountain View, within a kilometer of the seashore; Barrett recognized the neighborhood. “Very well. I’ll see you inside of four hours.”
She snapped the contact, ending the conversation, and sat thinking very hard for a few moments. Then she reached for the comm panel again, tapping in Hector Gomp’s personal comm code.
“Gomp,” she snapped as soon as the call went through. “Where are you?”
“Mountain View, near the beach, north side,” Gomp’s sleepy voice came back. “Why?”
“We’ve got a problem. Can you meet me at the bottom of the Skyhook in, say, two hours?”
“Just a sec, Cap’n.” Faintly, Barrett heard a rustling of cloth, a female voice raised in inquiry, Gomp’s deeper voice murmuring a reply. Despite herself, Barrett smiled.
After a moment, Gomp’s voice came back. “Yeah, I can be there. What’s going on?”
“We’ve got a problem,” Barrett said. “Sassy and Mickie from Engineering are down there somewhere – their hotel called, claimed they’ve skipped on their bill.”
“Sassy and Mickie? No way,” Gomp said in surprise.
“That’s what I told the hotel. But they’ve gone somewhere, and I want to know where.”
“All right,” Gomp said, “I’ll be there. Two hours.”
“See you then.”
***
The Brookes
None of the girls in the featureless compartment had any idea of how long they had been held there; from the intervals at which food and water were shoved through the door, she judged it to be about three days. Fortunately one of the girls had discovered a panel on the wall that rotated out to reveal a small toilet, which was fortunate since none of them had been allowed clean clothing.
As near as Sassy could figure, it was close to time for another meal, so she wasn’t surprised to hear faint sounds outside the room’s single door; she was surprised when the door crashed open. A tall, pale man with straw-colored hair looked in at them.
“Stand up,” he snapped. “All of you.”
The six girls stood up, slowly, cautiously.
“Relax,” the man said. “Nobody is going to hurt you, as long as you behave and do as you’re told.”
“Who are you?” Sassy asked.
The tall man shrugged. “You can call me Mister D,” he answered.
“Where are you taking us?”
“That, you’ll have to wait and see. All right, in single file, follow me. No funny stuff.” He stepped back from the doorway.
“Come on,” Sassy said to the other girls. She walked into the corridor and turned to follow ‘Mister D’ where he walked away down the dingy, poorly lit passageway. A small, squat, pockmarked man cradled a carbine in his arms beside the door, presumably to guard the rear of the little progression; he leered openly at the upper curves of Sassy’s breasts, revealed by her dirty bathing suit. She shivered at the look.
“In here,” the tall man indicated another doorway. The six girls filed in to find a fat, bored-looking woman behind a counter; shelves and cabinets lined the compartment behind her.
“Give Jane here your sizes,” Mister D ordered, “Undergarments, coveralls, and shoe sizes. Then, go through that door back there – there are static-jet showers and teeth cleaners. Get yourselves cleaned up and dressed, then form back up out here. Got me?”
All six girls nodded.
“Good. Don’t stand there staring at me. Get moving.”
Sassy had always disliked the static-jet showers aboard the small, chronically water-short Shade Tree, but today, the buzzing, tingling feel of the shower was one of the most welcome sensations she had ever known. She emerged from the shower feeling better than she had in days.
The package of clothing she had been handed was disappointing.
Beside her, Mira Toler echoed her sentiments. “These coveralls,” she said, holding up a dull gray garment, “they feel like paper.”
“How about these shoes? I guess you’d call them slippers.” Sassy examined the footwear carefully; they were flexible plastic, designed to fit either left or right foot.
“At least there’s clean underwear, and it feels like cloth.”
The bra and panties provided were cheap but clean and comfortable. All six girls dressed quickly and filed back into the outer compartment.
“There,” Mister D said. “I bet you all feel better.” He sniffed the air like a large dog. “You do all smell better.”
“Thanks,” one of the girls muttered.
“You’ll be taken back here for clean coveralls and a shower every other day until we get to where we’re going.”
“Are we going back to that cell now?”
“Yes,” Mister D said evenly, meeting Sassy’s gaze with eyes as gray as gunmetal. “What else?”
“Could we have something to read, at least?”
“Something to read?”
“Yeah, something to read. What could it hurt?”
Mister D looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well,” he said, “I suppose so. Why not?” He turned to the squat man, who still stood in the doorway cradling his carbine. “See to it. Find them a reader and some book chips.”
“Yessir, Boss,” the squat man said slowly.
“All right. Back to your place, girls. Supper will be in a few minutes. Hester, take them back.”
Dotsero watched as the girls filed out under the steady gaze of the guard.
“Not a bad looking bunch,” he commented after the last of them had filed out.
“Better than usual,” Jane commented from behind the counter.
“Tarbos is always good for pretty young girls.”
***
To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.
Links, in case you need them:
https://crimsondragonpublishing.com/anderson-gentry/
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Anderson-Gentry/author/B00CK1AWMI
Oh yeah, it’s Monday.
Cool.
I hope Gomp kicks some ass.
“Mister D”? He’s gonna get it for sure. And by that I mean a beat down.
I imagine the captain will deliver the coup de grace.
Perhaps. The Captain is a tough cookie.
Reminds me of the movie Snatch and a line that I enjoy.
Brick Top:
Do you know what “nemesis” means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an ‘orrible c*nt… me.
Not as much of a riddle as Mister E would be.
Edward Nygma tips his cap.
Tips his cap.
Tips his hat!
Hat tip!
A Hit and Run, he’s going to commit vehicular Manslaughter – quick, we’ve got to head him off.
Holy rusted metal, Batman!
Mister D – for dick? He best enjoy it while he can.
I read the article quickly but the line about bra and panties caught my eye.
Maybe this sci-fi stuff is OK. Read better later.
I have Firsted not just many times this morning, but across multiple universes.
You have not seen what I have seen.
Thanks for another great installment.
Fuck off, slavers!
Just got done with a 5-hour Zoom call. It was an orientation for the substitute teacher job. It was a lot of “garbage goes in garbage can” stuff. I was the only male trainee in a group of 12. I had a longer comment, but I’ll shorten it to merely note that I think public education could be improved by a more even ratio of male and female teachers. Oh well. I can only choose for myself. Public schools should be replaced with charter schools. Homeschooling should be legal and unregulated. I expect these things to happen when pigs fly and hell freezes over.
Equity is the most important thing except not when it means more male teachers.
Ocean’s… what number are we up to now?
The FBI and Los Angeles Police Department are investigating one of the largest cash heists in the city’s history after as much as $30 million was stolen from a San Fernando Valley money storage facility, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN Thursday.
The burglary happened on the night of Easter Sunday at a facility in Sylmar, a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored, the source said.
The FBI are my first suspect.
They need the cash for the US vaults “return” that they already burned through.
Oh, oh, looks like the government has competition. Same as downtown takes on a whole new meaning.
No one launders in LA.
Damn I thought I was right about doing a heist today while everyone was distracted and it was dark. But that was on Easter.
The pope and the white house are now arguing over gender. Another career milestone for the 2nd catholic president.
If you don’t believe in abortion you ain’t Catholic.
Looking out the window and thinking it’s getting cloudy, then realized it’s the eclipse kicking in.
Yes that was pretty cool, forecast looked liked a bust but the clouds started breaking up and we probably had clear skies for about 45 seconds during 3:45 of totality. Even saw Baileys Beads at the exit, very bright red.
Not a cloud in the sky here. We were close to total, just had a sliver of sun left, and got a good view. Without the glasses you couldn’t really tell anything was going on, except it looked like it was cloudy.
Holy crap that was crazy!
Got a couple second glimpse of totality when got a hole in the cloud cover.
I was just outside with my eclipse glasses. Not quite there yet. Though we’re only getting like ~90%.
We ended up staying home, had the best view in DFW. No clouds blocked it. Man, that was cool.
It was quite a sight. Totally worth taking LWOP to stay home and watch it.
People in the neighborhood cheered.
The pictures I took just don’t do it justice.
My back and neck are sore, now. I wish we had beach chairs to lay down on to watch.
Sadly, I forgot to get eclipse glasses (I’m told my ones from 2017 are no good), so I’m watching the light be weird and watching the TV coverage. I’m not in the path (the way I was in 2017), so…
The world gets dim, but not in the same was as with sunset. Just darker.
Getting close to our maximum coverage here…
We hit peak eclipse about 20 minutes ago.
Ready for the cleansing here. Dark, dark, dark. Either that or we’re about to get a wicked T-storm.
The world’s been getting dimer for the last 15 years or so. And I don’t mean my cataracts.
Another interview this Friday, my 14th in the past year or so. It’s at a charter school, which means less bureaucracy. Yay me.
Good luck!
Here is an instructional video on how to handle job interviews:
https://youtu.be/ifhYuK3Yvdg?si=oMcn2u91iclzAd-6
Awesome. I had to get through this pesky total eclipse. then I was able to read this chapter.
Amanda Marcotte never fails to unimpress. Yeah, they are all Trump supporters.
Men punching random women in NYC: A desperate last gasp of the male rage fueling MAGA
TW Salon.
Without a doubt, that is the most contrived article of 2024. WTF?
I guess she’s trolling us or something. It can’t be a serious take of any kind.
LOL
Thus completing the erasure of any actual “meaning” from the term, beyond “stuff white liberals don’t like”.
Michelle Malkin does dramatic readings of Amanda Marcotte columns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcNbv-7sNLw
Amanda Marcotte
@AmandaMarcotte
Man, I knew this article was super true when I wrote it, but the hateful emails MAGA men are sending doubly prove it.
Hit dogs, as they say, holler.
You hear that? It’s super true. S U P E R. T R U E.
I think I missed it. I didn’t even notice a change in the brightness outside, and it’s not cloudy. It wasn’t total here.
The house got cold, not it is not so cold.
I saw this in ’17 when we were in the TOTALITY!!!!!!1!!!!!!111
Without a doubt, that is the most contrived article of 2024. WTF?
Don’t be so sure. The newsies are pushing some “study” PROVING Biden’s border policy is causing the American economy to BOOM. A flood of low skill refugees is juicing productivity and GDP. No mention why, if this is such an economic benefit, the deficit is skyrocketing.
The bullshit just gets more and more blatant.
Ok, that total eclipse was awesome! Much more spectacular than the ring of fire eclipse we saw last October. Being able to look at it without glasses was incredible.
***
The Battle of the Eclipse[1] (or Battle of Halys[2]) was fought in the early 6th century BC in Anatolia (present-day Turkey) between the Medes and the Lydians. According to ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the battle was interrupted by “day turning into night” – presumably a solar eclipse – and the result was a draw which led to both parties negotiating a peace treaty and ending a six-year war.
…
In the course of it the Medes gained many victories over the Lydians, and the Lydians also gained many victories over the Medes. Among their other battles there was one night engagement. As, however, the balance had not inclined in favour of either nation, another combat took place in the sixth year, in the course of which, just as the battle was growing warm, day was on a sudden changed into night. This event had been foretold by Thales, the Milesian, who forewarned the Ionians of it, fixing for it the very year in which it actually took place. The Medes and Lydians, when they observed the change, ceased fighting, and were alike anxious to have terms of peace agreed on.[4]
***
I get the feeling Thales foretold many things which have been lost to history.
Antifa Battered In Coolock, Their Phones Seized By Nationalists Apparently Revealing Seedy Links Between Media, NGOs, and Far Left,
Earlier today, locals protesting against a refugee centre in Coolock, Dublin were confronted by leftist journalists and other antifa types. Here are the facts as we understand them from local first-hand sources in Coolock. We will be updating this article as more details are established:
A small group of men arrived in the afternoon of Saturday April 6th to the old Crown Paints Factory in Coolock which is being picketed by locals opposing the plantation of up to 1000 asylum seekers there. They arrived to counterprotest and take footage. According to video and our sources, the men were told to leave as they allegedly posed a risk to the women and children at the protest. When they wouldn’t move on, they were apprehended by the locals, had their flags seized, and forced to vacate the area. Some of the protestors dropped their mobile phones, unlocked, at the scene, along with other belongings such as driver’s licenses and UK identification.
https://www.theburkean.ie/uncategorized/2024/04/06/antifa-battered-in-coolock-their-phones-seized-by-nationalists-apparently-revealing-seedy-links-between-media-ngos-and-far-left
Delish.
OK, seeing totality on TV was neat. But people choking up and crying? I was more moved by Old Faithful’s eruption or totally unexpected things in nature like watching a herd of bison ford a river or seeing a hawk swoop into my backyard and take a squirrel. Then there are man-made experiences that are far more moving: taps at Arlington, being there for a no hitter, hearing Hillary supporters weeping.
“choking up and crying”
Performative people gonna performative-makes a great Instagram post.
Eclipse Coolness
Meh, I cry easily. Something about the vastness of the universe and our microscopic little existences is philosophically profound and warrants tears from those whocan shed them.
I noticed it got dark out briefly. I went back to work.