I hadn’t realized that hockey involved kissing, but didn’t say that. Now I knew why Doc loved the game so much. I wasn’t sure where the hip-checking fit in though.
# # # # # # # #
Izzy and I were in the middle of an overtime period when she suddenly pulled her lips away from mine. An overtime period is something that the hockey players would have if the game were tied at the end of the regulation three periods. I heard it too. Doc clumping noisily down the hillside, wheezing and coughing the whole way down. “Game called on account of spectator interference," she said. Then, she rushed down to the lake to get some water. Since we didn't have any containers to carry the water back to the camp, I wondered what she was going to use.
I helped Doc haul all the packs down the hill. Apparently, he had made three round trips and had dumped the packs away from the camp because he wanted to practice his hovering skills in tight quarters. I think it was because he wanted to give Izzy and me some time alone but I pretended to believe his excuse as well as the sudden attack of asthma he confessed to having experienced a few minutes ago.
Izzy arrived after we had carried everything down the hill. She was shaking her wet hands in the air and drying them on her shirt. “Oh hi, Doc." Then she asked, "When did you arrive?” which surprised me because she already knew the answer. Doc and Izzy have always teased each other a lot, so I figured it was one of the games they played. I started to ask Doc a question about hockey, but Izzy asked me to stock up on some firewood and so that took me away from camp. By the time I had enough for what we’d need tonight, Doc had finished cooking some of his powdered food and we were ready to eat. Izzy said that she didn’t want a repeat of breakfast – all that male sports talk – so that eliminated everything I had planned to ask him.
Doc told us that he had found a DPS work crew installing cameras inside trees and had stolen one of their cameras out of a partially emptied crate and didn’t expect it to be missed. He had disconnected all the internal wires in case it was already partially activated. I wanted to take it apart right away but Izzy shook her head at me when I looked at her, so I put that thought aside and kept eating and listening to Doc instead.
Doc learned that the DPS had installed motion detection cameras around the lakes and rivers of southwestern Alberta. These cameras were inserted inside trees and that made them virtually undetectable unless you knew what to look for. Doc said that this was an attempt to capture Will but at an enormous cost of money and personnel. Doc learned also that their installation crews were gradually moving north. "By the way, they’ll discover your old campsite in about a week,” he told us.
Well, that prompted a discussion about where we would be able to camp. Izzy said we’d just have to bathe and wash clothes in hillside streams. Doc thought that the lakes and rivers were probably the first stage of the project and both of them looked at me. I said that that’s the way I would do it; the streams would be done next. That made us kind of discouraged. Doc asked if I would be able to deactivate a camera from a distance and I said that I’d need to look at the stolen camera, but it was possible. However, if I were running the project, I would place a trip-wire on the camera to alert me if it was ever deactivated, and Zzyk would do that also. Disabling it would bring the DPS in faster.
For the next hour, we threw a bunch of ideas around on how we could avoid being discovered, but kept only one good one. Doc suggested that having a very strong telescope of some kind inside the sling would be useful when we were approaching a potentially dangerous location. I was sure I could do something like that with the filaments and told them so.
By this time, it was dark and we were just relaxing around the fire. Izzy wanted to talk about what kind of society Alberta should have after we had defeated the DPS and so she opened up that discussion. Both of us expected Doc to tell us about some form of government that always worked, give us a little history lesson about it, and pretty much lay out a plan. We were both surprised when he said that he didn’t know the answer to Izzy's question. He said that the world had changed so much since the chaos of the oil shock that it’s possible that all of the old forms of government would fail. The world now existed as tiny self-supporting communities that had very little interaction with other communities. International trade didn't exist anymore – how could it with no airplanes, trains, trucks, or ships? There was hardly any trade even within Alberta. People around the world were probably living in poverty and scraping the ground for every morsel of food they could produce. Why would they want a big government? How would they pay for it? What would it do? “The one thing I do know,” Doc said. “You can’t suddenly force a form of government on people who are not prepared for it. Not unless you’re willing to be like the IOF."
That was when we heard the first owl. I didn’t recognize the call, but I wasn’t paying attention to the sounds from the surrounding woods. Then, we heard another call – from a different quadrant this time. Izzy whispered into my ear “What is that?” She and I were cuddling together at the time. We were all listening intently when the third call came – again from a different sector of the woods.
“That’s a burrowing owl,” Doc said quietly.
“I’ve never heard of a burrowing owl,” I admitted.
“Not surprising,” Doc whispered. “It’s been extinct for over fifty-years. Besides, its habitat was open prairie, not thick woods. What’s the smallest owl you know that lives in this area, Melissa?”
“Northern Pigmy,” she whispered after thinking about it.
“That’ll do. The two of you know the call?”
We both nodded. “One at a time,” Doc instructed. “Melissa first, Will, then me.”
All three of us made the call of a Northern Pigmy Owl, which is a sort of too-too-too-too-too-too sound lasting about two seconds.
“We are little, non-threatening owls. Don’t make any sudden movements.” Doc stood up slowly, put two pieces of kindling on the fire to build it up, removed his shirt, grabbed a dead coal, spread some charcoal over his chest, and then waited with his arms spread wide in the bright flare of the flames.
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 5
From Will's journals: November 6, 2081.
A man stepped out of the gloom and into the firelight, stopping in front of Doc. Like Doc, his hands were open and away from his body to show that he was unarmed. “You’re a long way from home, Uncle.”
The man was clad in a vest, trousers, and moccasins – all made of deerskin. His vest had some markings on it, similar in type to what Doc had put on his chest. One thick black braid of hair hung to his broad shoulders, a mottled feather of some sort intertwined within it. He was Doc’s height, but much younger and more muscular. In the ancient measures that were making their way back into common use, Doc would have been about 6 feet tall – well above my 5’9” and Izzy’s 5’8.” Izzy could masquerade as an IOF boy, but Doc was instantly recognizable as a non-IOF male, one of the reasons he had stayed in the dissidents' main camp most of his life. There was no way he could mingle with IOF citizens because of his height. The man facing him was about forty whereas Doc had to be seventy. I couldn’t see the man’s skin colour in the firelight, but his clothes told me that he was of aboriginal descent.
“Yes, nephew. I am.”
“I recognize the pattern, but not the family name,” he said looking more closely at the pattern on Doc’s chest. “We don’t receive many visitors from Haida Gwaii.”
“My family has been away from the ancestral home for some time now,” Doc said. “When my family departed, we were known as...” and he said something that sounded more like a cough than a word.
The man sort-of coughed back – giving his own name, I assumed. They stared at each other before the man glanced at Izzy and me. “You act as guide for IOF fugitives?”
“Guide and protector. They are family, although as you can tell – not by blood. My daughter and her friend.”
“Young to b
e your daughter.”
“Not for you to say, Nephew.”
“True, Uncle. I meant no disrespect, but your presence on our land is a threat to my family’s safety. Others have entered our land, professing to be something they weren’t. When one lives next to the IOF, one must be careful not to arouse their anger unnecessarily. How long ago did you leave the land of the shiny heads?”
I figured he was referring to the IOF brain-bands that were indeed shiny. Doc must have known what he was talking about because he answered without hesitation. “This is our second day in your territory. I saw no signs announcing your wish for no visitors in your lands.”
“There were ample signs for those who could read them. You can read them, Uncle.”
“We traveled quickly and under some duress. I saw them not. I regret that we have caused you potential harm. We will leave if that is your wish.”
“Your camp tells me that you have been here for two days, yet you say that you entered our territory two days ago. How did you make it to this distant valley from the towers of steel so quickly.”
“Rabbits flee quickly.”
“Yet, our watchers by the fences did not report your escape. How is it that you managed to get through the fences, Uncle?”
“I am not without skill, Nephew.”
“How is it that you trekked so far into our lands without a single one of our watchers seeing your passage, Uncle?”
“As I said, I am not without skill.”
“Please tell me the route that you took so that I can speak with the watchers and inform them that they have neglected their duties. Our lives depend on receiving warning if the IOF spreads its metallic wings – surely you would not deprive us of information that will help us to protect our wives and children from the evil gnome.”
“I am not able to give you that information, Nephew. Ask me something I am free to answer, and I will do so willingly.”
“As a gesture of friendship, Uncle.”
“Doing so would bring danger to my family, Nephew. I cannot break the code of silence that I have sworn.”
“We are not without power.”
Doc crossed his arms over his chest. I guess that meant something like "My end of this conversation is over," because the man turned and looked to the woods. Then, he turned back to Doc.
“I will show you our power so that you will understand the depth of our need to protect ourselves. He coughed again – something different sounding this time, but nothing that I could catch. Our strength is that of the great god Sam. Behold.”
Another figure entered into glare of the fire. I saw a deerskin dress. Not a man, a woman. Young – perhaps a little older than Izzy, but a giant compared to her. Izzy’s head would have only reached to her shoulders – which I noticed supported what appeared to be a big, heavy box. “Behold the power of Sam,” she said in a bored, monotone voice. She lifted the box off her shoulder so that we could see it. I was straining to make out what it was when Izzy breathed into my ear, “SAM – a surface to air missile for shooting down helicopters and airplanes.”
“Do I really have to do this?” the giant asked in a petulant voice to the man who now stood, arms crossed, chin-to-chin with Doc. The man coughed again, but in a commanding tone.
Again, we heard a bored, monotone voice – reciting a prepared speech, I expect. “The power of Sam allows us to destroy the metallic beasts of the evil gnome. He quakes in fear when we show him the great Sam and he retreats behind his shiny towers. And so, should you quake. If you have any firearms or explosives, you should reveal them now. We will do you no harm, but warn you that you must reveal your weapons. Sam knows all.”
Nobody said anything. Doc stared at the man; the man stared back.
The female giant put her SAM box onto the ground carefully. “Dad, this thing weighs a ton. Why do we always have to go through this aboriginal shtick of shiny heads, towers of steel, metallic winged beasts, and Sam the know-it-all god? Why don’t you just tell them that they’re surrounded, we have rapid-fire automatic weapons, and we’ll shoot their asses off if they don’t tell us what we want to know?”
# # # # # # # #
“Daughters!” the man grimaced.
Doc cracked a quick smile, and unfolded his arms. “Yes, it's a shtick – one I rather like, by the way, but it’s not something they would understand,” and he twitched his head in Izzy’s and my direction. That part was certainly true.
“See, here’s our situation, Uncle. You are obviously fugitives of the IOF. When the DPS finds out that you’re here, they’re going to come into our territory, demanding that we capture you. They know that nobody can pass through our lands without us knowing about it. They’ll think that we are defying them if we don’t turn you over. I don’t mind defying them when there’s a good reason, but I don’t have all that many SAMs and the platoon I have in the woods contains four youngsters. If we’re going to face some DPS copters, I want my under-tens in their hiding places. My older kids can handle themselves. Just tell us where you snuck through the fences so that I can tell the DPS and they can go back and plug the holes. No skin off your nose, no skin off mine."
“Your children are 9, 8, 7 and 6 years old?"
“9, 8, 7 and 5. My wife wanted a year off.”
“I’d like to shake her hand.”
“She’s too tired to lift it. What about it?”
Doc shrugged in helplessness. “I can assure you that the DPS does not know that we are here, but I cannot give you the information you wish.”
“The DPS has cameras the whole length of the border. They know that you are in our territory. If you won’t tell us willingly, we’ll have to learn it in our own way.” He turned back to the giant and said, “You’re up, Yollie.”
The giant girl undid the black hair that she had fastened into some great beehive of a tangle on top of her head. She shook her head and a single braid fell to her waist. Then, she began swinging her arms – loosening up. She massaged her hands, alternately making fists and stretching out her fingers.
“Start with the boy.”
I jumped a bit to the sound of the giant cracking her knuckles and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Izzy pulling at the cuff of her right sleeve.
# # # # # # # #
Izzy and I had taken to storing the sky-sling when it wasn’t in use by wearing it as a sort of invisible cape. It was Izzy’s turn to have the cape tonight. The sling is next to weightless, but it is a pain to carry around loosely since it can snag on twigs and branches. Under the pretext of scratching an itch, I knew that Izzy was sliding the cape so that it was hanging in front of her. It was going to be very awkward to open the sling and get into it from our cross-legged sitting position on the ground. I guessed that Izzy was going to try to open it and throw me into the sling all in one motion. I tried to shake off her hand that was now clutching my sleeve. There was no way we could squeeze three people into the sling.
The giant walked over and stood in front of me. Izzy grabbed my elbow and yanked me up off the ground with her so that we would be standing. The sling would now be hanging in front of Izzy. Still hard to open and get in, but easier than before. I moved away from Izzy. I just didn’t see this giant doing violent things to me in front of four little kids. In a dramatic sweeping gesture, the giant extended both arms chest high and with her palms pointed at me. Then, she collapsed her chin onto her chest and closed her eyes. I studied the design on her dress – it was the same as her father’s. I wondered what the coding was.
Yollie’s father began to talk. “For five generations now, the women of my wife’s clan have shared a special talent – the ability to read people’s inner self. Yollie is now assessing the threat that you pose to us. If she finds you to be no threat, you will be allowed to leave.”
The giant waved her hands around in the air – still with her head down and her eyes closed. I felt like snickering.
“Does Yollie catch many threats?” Doc asked.
; “She can read only people near her own age. My wife handles the adults. And yes, we do catch many threats. Most fugitives come with hidden weapons and the inclination to use them at the first provocation. The three of you have no firearms.”
“Yollie told you that?”
“No – the long range metal detector that my eight-year old pointed at you told us that. The IOF jewelry you wear around your ankles causes us much distress, Uncle. The various knives the three of you have hidden away do not. The purpose of the shtick, as Yollie called it, is to give escaping dissidents the chance to reveal their weapons without consequence. When they don’t, we take extra precautions. What Yollie is doing now is reading character. Knowing about the kind of person you are helps us defend ourselves. We have tried to hide fugitives in the past but it has always ended badly. Even though we tell them the codes of conduct we expect of them, within weeks or even days, they disappoint us. We watch them and allow them to make their mistake.”
“And then?”
“And then, the IOF finds out that we are serious about honouring the agreement.”
“And if your guests’ conduct didn't disappoint?”
“If such a thing ever came to pass, we would hide them or pass them on to other friends. Sadly, we've always been disappointed.”
The giant straightened up and opened her eyes. “He has had his brain-band off for some months now, but is still extremely confused in his emotions. I sense much turmoil, although that has diminished recently. He sees himself as a rabbit, which is probably why his guide described them as such. He is attracted to the girl which confirms what we thought when we saw them sitting so closely together. I sense nothing else from him other than emotional turmoil and confusion. He is a nothing. He is no threat to us. A puny little boy who probably lost his brain-band accidentally and fled into the woods in fear.”
The giant moved to stand in front of Izzy and did another, entirely different sweeping movement with her hands – this time holding her arms in front of her legs, all fingers pointing upward towards Izzy’s head. She dropped her head again and closed her eyes.