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Trerhcairec was the first village north of Kauchmaunliw, which showed that Checnecaiel had likely been right when he said that his country's forces would go north to link up with their comrades.
"They got through the town, but some soldiers stayed back to keep the road clear. We heard that there would be more tanks still coming from the south of the town." Those would be the tanks we had seen shot up. "There were still a lot of people in the town square when the Shamari jets came roaring in. They came in very fast, very low, from out there." She pointed vaguely westward.
"How many planes, Sister?" Giles asked.
"Seven MiG 25 Foxbats. There may have been more. Then things happened very quickly. There was a lot of noise---shooting and explosions. Then the sound of bombs exploding, and fires started everywhere. It was so sudden, you see. I took shelter in Mr. Pefuushaiel's butcher shop, but then it started falling to pieces and something must have conked me on the head."
In fact, she had no head wound, and I think she was felled by the concussion blast of a missile. She couldn't have been unconscious long because when I saw the shop next day it was a fire-gutted wreck. She said that she found herself coming to in the street but didn't know how she'd gotten there. She said very little about her own part in the incident after that, but we gathered that eventually she got back to the hospital with a load of patients, her little car having escaped minor damage, to find it already overrun with wailing, bloody war victims
But they were not able to give much help. With a very small staff, some of whom were local and only semi-trained, and limited supplies of bedding, food, and medicines they were soon out of their league and struggling. Adding to their miseries were two major disasters: their water supply and their electricity had both failed. They got their water from a well which ran sweet and plentiful normally, but was itself connected to other wells, and somewhere along the line pipes must have broken, because suddenly the well ran dry except for buckets of sludgy muck. And horrifying, shortly after the town's own power failed, the hospital's little emergency generator also died. Without it they had no supply of hot water, no cooking facilities bar a small backup camping gas arrangement, and worst of all, no refrigeration or facilities for sterilizing. In short, they were thrown back to only the most basic and primitive forms of medication, amounting to little more than practical first aid. It was late afternoon, and they were already floundering when the hospital was visited by Captain Checnecaiel. He spent quite a time in discussion with the doctor and Sisters Anna and Matthew, the leading nuns of the little Western colony, and it was at last decided that one of them should come back with him to the Starduster, to speak to us and find out if our technical skills could be of any use. Sister Anna came as the doctor couldn't be spared and Sister Matthew was too old.
Giles asked why Captain Checnecaiel hadn't personally escorted her to the camp and seen her safe. She was fairly indignant and so was I at this dereliction.
"Ah, he's so busy, that man. I told him to drop me at the military camp and I walked over. There's nothing wrong with me now, and walking's no new thing to us, you know."
"It could have been damned dangerous."
"I didn't think so. There were a score of people wishing to speak to the captain, and no vehicles available. And here I am, safe and sound."
"You are that, Sister. You'll stay here tonight? I'm sure you could use a good night's sleep. Come morning we'll get you back to the hospital and see what we can do to help."
Giles had changed quite a bit in such a short time. While not inhumane, I'm fairly sure that as little as three days ago he would not have been quite so ready to ditch his transportation job at the drop of a hat to go to the rescue of a local mission hospital. But the onset of the war, the sight of the burned-out town with his hapless population, and maybe most of all the injury to one of his own, our pilot, had altered his narrow outlook.
Now he added, "One of our men is badly hurt, Sister. He was in a plane crash and he needs help. Would you check him over tonight?"
"Certainly," she said with ready concern.
Nick Spalding had left the table, and now came back to join us with a stack of six-packs of beer in his arms.
"We're relaxed the rationing for tonight," he said. "Everybody's earned it. Sister, you wouldn't take a second shot of whisky, but will you settle for this instead?" He handed her a can from the pack.
She tightened her fist around the can.
"It's ice cold! How is this possible?"
Spalding smiled. "It just came out of Starduster's refrigeration unit."
"You have a refrigerator? But that's marvelous. We can preserve our drugs then, praise the Lord!"
Giles and Spalding exchanged the briefest of glances, but I could guess what they were thinking. We could not leave any of Starduster's refrigeration units at the hospital, urgent though the need for any of them might be. They were run by the water-batteries that were solidly attached to the rig, and without which nothing could function.
Things looked better the next morning, but not much. No smoke wreathed up from the distant town, but I suspected that this was because there was nothing left there to burn. We were greatly cheered when Lonnie Byrd told us that he had located a source of clean water, a well at a nearby village that hadn't been affected by the bombing, and which seemed to have a healthy supply. He intended to fill Starduster's internal water tank, top up drinking containers, and re-energize any batteries that might be running low. When he learned about the water shortage at the hospital, he said that there should be enough for them too, assuming they had some kind of tank in which to store it. Andy Hale joined us for breakfast and met Sister Anna for the first time. She had been to see Sirenko but wanted him taken to the hospital for the doctor to see, and now looked professionally at Hale's gash and bruises and approved of what had been done for them. Hale insisted that he was now perfectly well and was eager to see the town and the hospital for himself. In spite of his heavy financial commitment, he seemed far less anxious about Starduster and Herolutions's future than Giles did. Maybe it was just because he was the younger and more adventurous of the two.
I drove back to the town in the Land Rover with Giles, Hale, Sister Anna, and Spalding. Checnecaiel came over just before we left and said that he'd see us at the hospital a little later. He looked drawn out and bothered. The lack of communication from his superiors and the consequent responsibility was taking its toll, but even so he was bearing up pretty well. Giles and I still had a nagging doubt as to his reliability, but we'd seen nothing to prove the case one way or the other, except that he was still with us, which likely counted for something. As for the shooting down of our plane, nothing whatever had been said about it and I was happy to let the question stay unanswered.
The fires had burnt themselves out and the heavy pall of smoke from yesterday was replaced by a light haze fed by ash and still smoldering embers. Kauchmaunliw had nothing left worth destroying. A few isolated buildings still stood, but most of the center was gone, and it was by no means sure that when we cleared the rubble we would find an intact road surface beneath it.
People wandering about still, but there were very few of them. Many had just melted back into the woods; others had gone to cluster around the hospital or the army encampment, and we'd seen pathetic faces hovering near our own camp during the early hours of the morning. We didn't spend much time in the town, but asked Sister Anna to direct us to the hospital which stood slightly apart and to the east. The road getting there was in appalling condition.
The hospital looked precisely like the casualty station it had become. We threaded our way through the knots of Zarmarians who were already setting up their makeshift homes int he grounds, avoiding the little cooking fires and the sheep and goats that wandered about underfoot, and the small near-naked children. People stared at us but there was none of the crowding around that usually happened in the villages in happier times. Sister Anna, though, was accosted and hailed by name as we left the car and made our way indoors.
We met Sister Matthew, who was elderly and frail, and two younger nuns, all fully occupied. I noticed that none of them seemed shocked to see Sister Anna back with a team of British men, or even particularly relieved at her safe return from what might have been regarded as a dangerous mission; the impression I got was that they all had the most sublime faith in her ability to take care of herself, and to turn up trumps in any eventuality. I could see their point of view.
She led us into an office, asked us to wait and vanished, to return very soon with the surgeon in town.
Giles said, "Nice to meetcha, Doctor...er, what's the name again?"
He was a tall, saturnine Zarmarian with a strong Asian streak, gray-haired and authoritative. He wore warm-weather whites that were smudged and blood-streaked. He put out a hand and took Giles's and smiled a mouthful of very white teeth at all of us.
"Muisenaiel. But here everybody calls me Doctor Mu. It's a pleasure to have you here, especially at this difficult hour."
"Doctor---Dr. Mu, I'm Cliff Giles of Herolutions Ltd. You probably know what we're doing here in Zarmaria. This is my partner, Mr. Hale. Mr. Spalding, our chief mechanic. Mr. Drake is from our associated company, British Aerospace." He ran through the introductions and there were handshakes all around, very formal. Nick hid smile at the man's nickname.
"Gentlemen, I can't offer you any hospitality. I'm truly sorry."
Hale blew this off. "Well, we weren't expecting and, so do worry. There're tons of work to be done here. Let me say that I think we've got your water problem sorted out, thanks to some of my lads, provided you've got tanks and places to store the stuff."
Dr. Mu's eyes lit up. "Sa'mhoarra'im Asrroac! (Thank God!) Water is a pressing need. Yes, we have a storage tank, but it's almost empty; I've been trying to take nothing from it until we know about replacement, but naturally everyone is in need of it"
"We'll get Starduster up here as soon as we can. We expect Captain Checnecaiel to join us soon; he's the officer of the military detachment here. When he comes, I'll get him to send a message to our camp," Hale said. He and Dr. Mu were on the same wavelength almost right away, both men of decision and determination. Cliff Giles's tendency to surrender to irritation and his stubborn inability to keep his plans flexible would be easily overridden by these two.
"Now what about the electricity? We can't make our generator work. We've got bottled gas, but not much. What can you do to help us there?" Dr. Mu asked. He had another attribute, the calm assurance that every other man was willing to put himself and his possessions completely at the service of the hospital at any time. Without that self-confidence no man would have been capable of even beginning to run such a project, for the obstacles Muisenaiel must have had to overcome in his time would have been huge.
"Spalding and I will take a look at your generator. We've got some experience in this kind of thing. I can't make any promises, but we'll do our best." Hale said.
Sister Anna butted in. "What about your refrigerator?" she asked.
Dr. Mu's head came up alertly. "What refrigerator?"
Hale hadn't known about last evening's conversation and Giles, for whatever motives I didn't quite like to think about, hadn't referred to it.
Sister Anna said firmly, "Dr. Mu, they have a sophisticated food preservation system on this---Starduster, did you call it? We should send all the drugs that must be kept cold and as much food as possible down there immediately. We can save a lot of it."
His face beamed. "Ah, how wonderful!"
Sister Anna went on inexorably, "And their Starduster can provide electricity. Lights, cooking, even a deepfreeze. I saw all this last night. Isn't that so, gentlemen?"
"Yes, we do," Hale concurred. "We're going to do what we can to use Starduster's power supply to reboot yours. We'll have to get our vehicle up here, though, and that's not going to be at all easy."
Giles looked troubled. "Andy, I've been studying the road up here. What with the refugees and the condition of the road itself, I'd say it's going to be damn near impossible!"
The nun interrupted; her jaw set at its firmest. "But all we want is your power units. We don't need that huge thing of yours. We could do with your deepfreeze, too; and with the power units our own refrigerator will run. You gentlemen can manage without cold beer, but we need your devices."
The Herolutions team exchanged despairing looks.
"Ma'am, Dr. Mu, we simply can't do that," Spalding said at last.
"Why can't you?" the surgeon demanded.
Sister Anna showed that she'd picked up a bit of politics during her evening at our camp. "Mr. Drake," she said, "you represent a very wealthy company. Please explain to your colleagues that it is important that we have this facility! I'm sure your board of directors will approve. It's of the highest importance."
I was dumbfounded and I showed it. "Sister, all that is beside the point. British Aerospace would give you anything you asked for if they were here, but they're not. And the reason you can't have any of Starduster's power units isn't economic, it's technical. Nick?"
Spalding took up a pad of paper lying on the desk, and his pen began to fly over the paper as he sketched at the speed of light.
"Look here, ma'am. You too, Doctor."
They bent over the sheet of paper, and I peered over Nick's shoulder. He had produced a lightning and very competent sketch of Starduster from cab to launcher. He pointed to various parts as he spoke, and it must have been obvious to his whole audience that he was telling the truth.
"'Here's what our power units look like. Starduster is a heavily computerized vehicle, which means all its operating systems are interconnected. The water-batteries are part of the engine, and that's here. All power generation units operated as part of the engine, not autonomously. If you look at it, just here, you'll see that the engine casting and the power cell casting are indivisible; it's an integral unit.
"Then we must have the engine and the power cells, too," said Sister Anna practically.
Giles choked.
Spalding shook his head. "No can do. The engine/power cell mix mas much more to than just make electricity. Sure, it provided the power to fridge and deep-freeze, and light the camp at night and stuff like that, but that's only a bonus."
He pointed to the schematic of the transformer/semiconductor array.
"Starduster's official weight at this time is 330 tons, because of the load we're carrying. To carry that much weight requires a whole lot of power, which comes from the engine. And when we're in motion we have to have power for the hydraulic brakes which are computer controlled. Without this engine we're immobile."
"Then you must...."
Spalding anticipated the nun's next demand.
"We can't ditch our load. It took two heavy-duty cranes just to get it in place, and it'd need the same to shift it off its base. Starduster isn't a rig that has the ability to tip sideways, so we can't spill it off. And any attempt to do so will likely wreck the whole works"
It was a stalemate. Giles tried to conceal his sigh of relief.
Into the disappointed silence Hale spoke. "Don't be too downhearted. We can refrigerate your drugs and a lot of your food too, if you think it's safe to do so, at least while we're here. And we can likely get Starduster up here so that we can couple up with your lighting and sterilizing units.
Sister Anna did look thoroughly downcast.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ322StDxoLo
Muisenaiel said gently, "Never mind, Sister. It was a good idea, but we will have others."195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqngdN1N2Rn
"But they're going to be leaving soon. What'll we do then?"195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0gXkARmDj
Spalding said, "We won't be going anywhere for a bit, not until we know a little more about the general situation and have a decent plan of action. Let's take this one step at a time, shall we? I think we should go back to our camp now. Would you like to make a pack of all your drugs that need to go into the refrigerator, Sister? We'll take them with us. If you need any in the meantime, we can arrange for the captain to put a motorcyclist at your service. What do you suggest we do for our wounded pilot?"195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyowCnL90N
"I will come with you. I think I should examine him. They must spare me here for a little while," the doctor said. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbX3ic1MeC
After a fast conference, Sister Anna went off to supervise the packing of drugs and other items that needed to be refrigerated, while Dr Mu collected his ubiquitous little black bag and said that he was ready to go.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJZANelzMv
We found a soldier standing guard over the Land Rover and parked nearby was Checnecaiel's staff car. The captain was speaking to a knot of Zarmarian men, presumably the city fathers of Kauchmaunliw, but left them to join us.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEURu25LE6
"Good morning, sir. You are feeling better now, yes?" Checnecaiel's addressed this to Hale, who nodded cheerfully. "I would like to know what your plans are, sir. There's lots to do here, but do you intend to continue upcountry?" 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81NBVl8NCo
"We're not going anywhere right now," Hale said. I noticed how easily he took over command from Giles, and how easily Giles allowed him to do so. Giles was wholly content to walk in his senior partner's shadow on all matters except, maybe, for the true handling of the rig itself. I wasn't sorry. Andy Hale could make decisions and was flexible enough to see alternative possibilities as he went along. He was a man after my own heart.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpxx7LbH2dK
Now he went on: "I'd like to discuss plans with you, Captain, but we've got to sort ourselves out first. We're going to try and give the doctor some help here, but first we're going back to Starduster. Can you join me there in two hours, please?"195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBjgRnn27T
At this moment Checnecaiel's sergeant called him over to the staff car, holding out earphones. Checnecaiel listened and then turned dials around until a thin voice, overlaid with static, floated out to us as we crowded round the car. "Radio Zarmaria is on the air," Checnecaiel said.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERLNnwuBoV
It was a news broadcast apparently, in Zarmarian, which after a while switched to English. The voice was flat and careful, and the words showed signs that the local media had fallen under the heavy hand of wartime censorship. Apparently Dunin and several other cities had now fallen under occupation by Shamari forces, the Zarmarian army having been utterly blown away by Shamari Air Force bombings. Hundreds of Zarmarian soldiers had been massacred while still in barracks and the Zarmarians' small air force had been bombed out of existence before a single plane could take off. President Joaroariyoa had been placed under house arrest and would soon be taken to Shamajar to stand trial for "war crimes." Shamari Army General Rauhomizov, who had been appointed "temporary administrator" of Dunin, assured residents of that city there was no need for civil unease. No names or places were given. There was no mention of Kauchmaunliw. And there was no other news. The voice disappeared into a mush of twangy guitar music.
I smiled sourly as I listened to this fandango. Next week, even if what remained of the Zarmarian army survived, they no longer had a country to defend. The news broadcasts would never announce the true winner of the war for Mochi-Jojeji, nor give more than the most shadowy version of the truth. Of course, all that depended on whether the broadcast station remained in Shamari hands. If the Zarmarians retook it there would be an entirely different version of the so-called truth.
None of us made any comment on what we'd heard, all recognizing it for the bullshit it was. We piled into the Land Rover with Dr. Mu and drove back in silence to the Starduster camp.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBmBtf4Nc2
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