• Stripping that area around the defensive perimeter of all of its trees gave Wizard the opportunity to build his fleet of wagons and stock them with firewood. They were now floating in the air awaiting Okanagan's fruit growing season. There were far too many logs to process, so the left over logs were stacked into high wooden barriers that were placed across all potential trails into this new Aboriginal Nation preserve. Innocent strangers weren't likely now to blunder into a killing zone. The laser cuts were adjusted to look like the trees had been cut down with axes.
• Hank acquired the furnishings for TG and Yollie's house from second hand stores and started on finding furnishings for Doc and Granny's house, as well as for Will and Izzy's house. The community had two empty houses – it didn't make sense for them to remain empty.
• Hank and the boys renovated the old pioneer house to provide work space and living quarters upstairs for Mac and Stu. They also expanded the former kitchen on the ground floor so that there'd be ample space for cooking and storing food – Yolanda's kitchen having been severely tested by the large number of people now resident in the community. They made the rest of the ground floor into a huge open area that could handle all of the Wilizy's organizational needs –meeting space for example that also served as a communal dining room. Hank had been prepared to haunt the thrift stores but Wizard suggested that since this house would serve as the home of the Wilizy and the WZBN, they should equip it with comfortable furniture purchased with Wilizy money. The women took charge at that point. Gone were all the rickety chairs, although they did keep a store of folding chairs for large meetings. They even added a comfortable living corner for members who wanted only to come in and relax. The focal point for this area was the big old piano that had sat unused in the pioneer home after the original inhabitants had died.
• With the increased numbers of people now in the little village, and with their community hall now functioning as a kitchen and dining room, various domestic duties were shared out to everyone, youngsters included. Yolanda got her home back and the Wilizy became a fighting ship again.
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Chapter 19
The Wilizy Community Hall was formally christened in early December with a full scale planning meeting – the first time that they had had the space to hold such an event properly. Izzy sat alone at a table at the front of the audience and everybody else sat in whatever space they wanted. Granny and Doc continued to have the most comfortable seating off to the side.
At first the plan had been for Winnie to babysit Liset, but she had complained long and loud about being shut out from the meeting because she was the youngest. The problem was solved when Mac volunteered to babysit – saying that she herself was not interested in the Wilizy's activities other than as it touched her own new responsibility as WZBN manager. (Stu had been warned that he'd receive broader responsibilities at this meeting. Mac had already agreed to step into Stu's position.) Mac threw Liset onto her shoulders and galloped out of the compound, making horsey sounds the whole way.
First on the agenda was Wizard.
"Everything that we want to do in Alberta has been blocked by the reality that Alberta does not have any of the resources that we are going to need to stimulate its economy," Wizard started. "We believe from Will and Izzy's trips to Europe, and from the family's recent field trip to Asia, that what we need can be found there. Our first task therefore is to find a way to acquire those necessities and transport them here in secret. We have plenty of money. The WZBN is extending its broadcasts to Montana, Idaho, and Washington. They'll be paying us a lot of hard, cold cash for our programs. We can buy what we need for the Alberta project, but we need two more sailing ships to transport those goods here."
That started quite the buzz, and with Hank sketching out some glimpses of what he and Wizard were planning to do, approval was quickly granted. The Wilizy would buy two 3-masted men-of-war that could sail visibly in the waters off Europe and Asia. These ships had the capacity to store large volumes of cargo in their holds. They would sail visibly from port to port collecting the various resources that Wizard had ordered. Afterwards the contents could be sent home in invisible pallets. When not needed, the Wilizy 2 and Wilizy 3 would be anchored aloft over their respective oceans. The crew would be able to reach either ship via the slings at sub-sonic speeds in about 8 hours.
Both ships would contain the same solar powered sails, sensors, and armaments as the Wilizy 1. As such, anyone trained as crew on one ship could operate the others. The best place to buy two ships was probably in Great Britain which had a naval presence and where language would not be a problem.
Will interjected at this time. He said that he would be installing a monster transmitter onto the top of Mount Assiniboine for the extension of the WZBN to the south. But when he had time, he'd look into shortening the time the crew would need to reach an anchored Wilizy.
Doc asked "How much shorter?"
Will explained how he and Izzy had experimented with their slings on a trip back from New York. The more pinky ring power they added, the faster the sling went. Theory said that the higher the sling was in the atmosphere, the less likely it was for a sonic boom to be heard on Earth.
"How long could it take to sling to an anchored ship safely and with no sonic boom?" Doc pursued.
"I'm guessing here," Will said. "Fly straight up at subsonic speed to the upper atmosphere – call it 5 minutes. Trip to Asia at Mach 10 – call it 15 minutes. Descend at subsonic speed – call it 10 minutes because you want to come down under control. I'd have to test it. A half hour instead of 8 hours?"
There was stunned silence.
"Finding a way to keep oxygen inside the sling might take a while."
"Probably a good idea," Doc understated.
"Might have to consider the health hazards of overly harsh changes in air pressure as you flew up and down too. Maybe aim for a one hour trip instead?"
"An even better idea," Doc said.
# # # # # # # #
Wizard went on to his second item on the agenda. "If the WZBN is going to provide the funding for a lot of different projects, we need to create ways to hire outsiders to manage these projects. Stu and I can't manage them all; we have too much to do already. We'll want to hire local people to take charge of various projects, and those people can't be Wilizy members since they'll have to operate in public. Stu suggests that we create a Wilizy Foundation to handle all of the money that comes in from WZBN revenues and later, from other projects. The Wilizy Foundation will hire and provide funds as necessary for individual projects, such as Hank's trader network, which is operating at a loss right now. We're spending money to acquire the goods, but we're not bringing in any money in return when we barter the goods away. Later that might change. Stu should be the head of that foundation as he has the legal skills necessary to run it. He has already agreed to the idea."
The necessary motions were made and passed.
"The first separate business that I'd like to suggest for the Wilizy Foundation to create is the Wilizy Cloth and Dye Company," Wizard continued. "We're going to enjoy a tremendous demand for both of these products, and it would make sense that our foundation provide these to the peddler network rather than letting some other dye company or cloth producer profit from Albertan demand. Having an adequate amount of both cloth and dye available in the five major cities is going to be necessary if Hank's ideas for volunteer labour are going to work. I'd like to explore some options and be able to create this company if it's feasible."
Again the necessary motions were made and passed. Listening to Wizard was beginning to be like listening to Will. People grasped the general concept they'd be talking about, but got lost if either went into the details.
# # # # # # # #
The extended Wilizy family was relaxing around a blazing fire pit. As is common in such situations, the men were on one side of the fire talking about something male and the women were checking out th
e newest member of the group on the other side. Izzy had already asked all three of the Yolandas, "Are you sure that Mac is safe? Now that she has her own sling, she can fly to Zzyk and donate it to him."
Each of them had ample opportunity to loiter behind Mac and all three found nothing worth mentioning. "Only some anger from something in the past but no impact on character," Yollie had said and since she was the closest in age, her assessment was taken as the official satisfactory clearance.
Izzy had reservations about Mac because of Rick's warning that one of Zzyk's white sleeper agents in B.C. had been assigned to get close to the Wilizy. Rick said that the sleeper was in B.C. at the time. That description fit Mac so Izzy pushed the Y-women to learn more about her background.
Yolanda began the interrogation softly with a question about Mac's Scottish background and genealogy became the topic of the night. When it was Mac's turn to talk about the oldest ancestor that she knew about, Izzy asked whether her great-great something or other really was an author.
"Far as I can tell, yes," Mac replied. "But, that's only the family's oral history. My great-great-grandfather lived in B.C. He loved coaching girls' basketball and wrote youth science fiction novels when he was retired. But I found no official record of his life."
"Not even the name of one of his novels?" Izzy asked, thinking that a book title would be a good place to start a search.
"No. I don't remember any titles, but I know one book was about pirates."
"Pirates?" Lucas asked as he waited for his turn to jump over the flames of the fire pit, and looked at Mac. "What's this about pirates?"
"Only that one of my ancestors might have written about them," she replied.
"Cool," Lucas said and shouted Pirates to the line of waiting fire jumpers who immediately took off into the woods to find suitable swords. Yolanda had to leave the fire pit to set some ground rules – the prospects of flaming swords being too likely at this time of night – and that ended the interrogation.
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Chapter 20
From Izzy's journals: Friday, December 30.
Essentially Will and I were now a married couple. We were living in a real house; we were dressing and undressing in the same bedroom without attempting to cover up if the other came in unexpectedly; we were even sleeping in the same bed. Nice and soft! And flat too. Better than being folded into the shape of a capital U. If either of us felt romantic, each of us would roll up inside some bedding and nothing could happen. One time, I started to unwind my sheet, but Will stopped me cold. "This is hard enough for me. Don't make it worse, please."
I am now the laundress for the community. Neither Will nor I can cook, so we couldn't help in the kitchen. Will set up some slings so that they had an automatic wash, rinse, and dry cycle just like the ancients had and I take everything to a lake.
Will's job for the community is to help the youngsters with their hunting. Winnie and Patella find the game and drive it towards Mathias and Sammy who make the kill with their sling weaponry. The three humans carve up the carcass with their light sabres locked into low power mode. Will transports the usable portions into freezers and Patella takes care of whatever is left on the ground.
Will seems to enjoy being with the kids. He had seen how Mac had made Liset laugh so Will was trying the same thing with Winnie. Patella almost had a seizure the first time Will hoisted Winnie into the air and put her on his shoulders, but now she trots contentedly behind Will and his passenger.
Our hockey games had become painful for us, so Will and I stopped having them. Now we trade kisses at the breakfast table, tell each other what our plans are for the day, and go our separate ways. A similar exchange happens at night, and we crawl into bed hungry, but not for food. I always wake up when Will rolls over in his sleep and finds me with his hand. I press it against me until I fall back asleep. Like I said, a married couple, but with no sex.
The family had a nice Christmas. We agreed to exchange only one gift each and that was from an anonymous person, who usually didn't remain anonymous for long. Reese gave me a pair of moccasins that he had been working on in secret for a month. It had an attractive design of a W and Y on the top and a single white pearl that Granny had given him in the middle of the letters. He said that he had trouble fitting in a Z, so decided to do the first and last initials of the Wilizy instead. Wizard gave Will a book about humour that he had been hiding since the week after Assassination Day. Will's robot act had convinced Wizard that he'd enjoy it. I'm not sure that the family is ready for this.
Will gave Winnie a stripped out pinky-ring computer that would fit onto Patella's paw. He was a little concerned that she might try to chew it off. Winnie said that Patella liked the gift and wouldn't chew it. I guess she's part of the Wilizy family now. Sling, pinky ring. Are weapons next? I gave Stu a collection of exotic cooking spices that I had found in Surrey. Stu is one of the Wilizy's cooks and I teased him about bachelors and their inability to boil water. Stu quipped that he hadn't always been a bachelor and that caused my nosiness meter to go ping, ping, ping. I'm going to have a little chat with Mac after I get to know her better. See what I can dredge up.
Speaking of Mac, she's playing the piano in the evenings and people are coming by to listen, and even join in on some singing. It's a lot of fun and Will and I go down regularly and caterwaul to the best of our ability. Wolf made this possible. He saw Mac fingering the keys and asked if she could play. Mac said that the piano was hopelessly out of tune. Wolf traded anonymous Santa duties with Lucas (who charged him one chocolate bar) and tuned it for her. He went to Kelowna for lessons on how to do that from an expert. Turns out that Wolf has perfect pitch – a handy skill to have when tuning a piano in the wilderness. Nobody knew that about him. Not even Wolf. He didn't get it from his dad. Hank can't carry a tune to save his life, but he constructed a very basic drum which he's become quite good at. Uses a pastry brush to keep the beat quietly. Granny has a good voice. Mac has the best voice of all, but for some reason, she doesn't join in very often. Seems happy to play the piano. Hank made an emergency run to a thrift store when Mac said that she would be able to play more songs if she had some sheet music. He came back with a box full of song books that had both music and words. Winnie sits on the bench next to Mac and is totally into it. She wants to learn how to play but is too tiny still.
Will's off right now, along with TG, Hank, Wolf, Lucas and Theo. They're installing a transmitter tower on Mount Assiniboine. Wizard wanted it to be a monster – big enough to send signals over half the continent. The governments next to us are buying our content and interest is bound to spread further. We couldn't send out the signal in the clear from now on. It would have to be locked in some way; otherwise, everybody would tap into our broadcasts for free. TG is helping Will set up a scrambling system. The other men will ferry the surplus iron and steel from Mount Robson and then they'll help Will put it all together. They'll be gone about three days.
The season being a religious one, I started to think about what I was doing to myself and to Will. Why was it important to me that I be married before we had sex? I mean, if it's wrong to have sex before marriage, and then someone says a few words, why did that make it OK to have sex? Mind you, what the dissidents considered to be a marriage ceremony might be different from everyone else's, but still: why was it wrong before some words, but OK after? What was so special about a few words?
And why was I the only one concerned about a formal wedding? Yollie and TG were living like a married couple and actually having sex now, as Yollie would inform me daily through the quick wink or the frown she'd give me each morning when we passed each other. But they weren't married. And nobody in the family seemed to care. Yolanda was especially loving to them; Granny, who I knew from Doc was a religious person, didn't seem to mind at all that they weren't married.
So why was I putting off what was looking to be an inevitable ending? Will and I will get married. I am in love wi
th him. I think. Perhaps I'm in lust with him. How can you tell?
I believe that Will is in love with me but he can't actually say the words. Or perhaps he doesn't know that he's supposed to. I believe that he loves me because of how he has been so quick to protect me whenever I've been in the slightest danger. I realized finally that was how he showed his feelings. By what he did for me. So if both of us are in love, why was I doing this to us?
Will and I are both 16 years old. By B.C. law, we're not old enough to marry. But, for years, I've been old enough to make babies; so has Will. Will was old enough to invent a defense that killed soldiers trying to annihilate us. I was old enough to be tortured by Zzyk. But, we are both too young to have a simple marriage ceremony?
I waited for things to settle down after Christmas and went to see Granny when I knew Doc wouldn't be around. I opened up the conversation by asking, "How can I tell if what I feel for Will is true love or if it's just lust?"
Granny said, "Ack!" and then choked on her hot chocolate.
I guess I should have eased it into the conversation more gradually.
# # # # # # # #
Granny and I talked for hours. About love and lust; about religions; about marriage conventions; but, she rarely came out with a straight answer to my questions.
Telling the difference between love and lust? She didn't know. What did I think? I said that you'd know it was true love when you stopped having sex but still wanted to be with the man. She said true love was when your partner's bad habits don't bother you any more. I said true love meant never having to say you're sorry – and we both laughed at that. Silly line from an old flic. Then, we started making up some stupid, True love is sayings. Granny's best was True love is sterilizing the knife before stabbing your husband through his throat in the middle of one of his snores. I didn't have anything that came close to that.