Chapter 21
"Okay, so do we have any idea why there were only ninety-six girls? Not that I'm complaining; if there had been more than a hundred, we would have had a problem with accommodations," Ben said smiling. "But I really would like to know where the rest of them are."
"The missing girls are all bodyguard-assassins. According to the school records, a hundred girls were sent to Mexico last week. Of course the official files say they all graduated and moved on with their lives, but we found other, encrypted records that listed the transfer. Those girls were sent to The Fortress," Justine said. Her computer section had been busy twenty-four hours a day since the teams' return to the ranch.
"Is that normal, or is Solms beefing up his forces on-site? Does he suspect we're about to attack him?" Ben asked.
"We did find older records of similar transfers; about once every other year a hundred or so girls are sent away. No other records of them are listed, and we have no idea what happened to them," Justine said.
"How many are we talking about here?" John asked.
Justine typed into her own terminal for the information. "A few thousand, spread over the years. Apparently they've been at this for decades, beginning long before the school existed. The older records are pretty sketchy, but someone took the time to put them in the computer. If the average age of the girls holds true, then the oldest of the missing girls would be in her eighties now — provided they're still alive. One other thing; we don't believe all of them have the combat training. In fact we believe that most of those taken this way had training in other areas."
"Such as?" John asked.
"As I said, a lot of this is little more than guesses because of the lack of documentation." Justine consulted her screen again. "But we think the majority of the girls were trained in the more advanced sciences; mathematics, aerodynamics, theoretical physics, astrophysics, metallurgy... the list is a long one."
"What would Solms need so many trained scientists for? He could simply kidnap a scientist if he needed one. This doesn't really make any sense," John said.
"Solms is insane. Perhaps he's so paranoid that he wouldn't trust a kidnapped scientist, or he is using the kids to double-check other people's work. But the core question is still there, why all the science?" Ben asked.
"Remember what the driving force behind the original rebellion? The rebels wanted to build a ship to return home. That's exactly what Solms has been doing. My question is, how close is he to getting a ship completed?" Amanda asked. "If he's had all this time and all those girls to work on it, he should have been done years ago."
"Well, we're getting off the main topic here. Let's table this discussion for a later time," Ben said. "What other information have we learned from the raid on the school?"
"Not much that we didn't already know. The biggest mystery is what happened to those girls. The rest of it just verifies our existing knowledge," Justine said.
"Did you find a way into the computers at The Fortress?" Ben asked.
"Yes Sir, we know how to get into them, but we don't think it would be a good idea to do so," the woman replied. "The Fortress systems are heavily protected, even against friendly systems. The main problem is the systems at the Fortress have to be the ones to initiate the data transfers. If we send a request, it has to be approved before the data will be sent. Any other type of request will be subject to attack."
Ben frowned slightly. "Well, that isn't unexpected, I guess. What about tourists in that area? Can we get in that way to nose around a bit?"
Tabitha piped up with the answer for that one. "No, they are so remote the only non-native people that show up are the occasional archeologists. They don't get very close either; most of the areas of interest to them are farther south. All the folks down there are under Solms' thumb."
"Can a small team get me close enough to read people in The Fortress?" Ben asked.
Tabitha answered again. "The terrain would support it, but we have to consider that whoever Solms has doing security around there would know that as well, and take measures to counter it. If we could figure out what those are, we might be able to get you close enough. My question is, how close do you need to be?"
"Without the girls for support, I'd need to get within two miles. I can detect things farther away, but only if they are focusing on us. The closer I can get the better, and more accurate, the reads are. A half mile would be the same as touching them skin to skin."
"No way can we get that close without them seeing us. We might be able to pull off the two mile thing though. Would it help if we brought Kathryn with us, as a power booster for you? She could come in handy if we need to fight our way out of there," Tabby said.
"I don't think he meant to have you to believe that at least one of us wouldn't be going along, did you dear?" Kathryn asked far too sweetly. Melissa and Chris both smiled at him as well.
Ben didn't reply, but tried to smile innocently.
Father: "Pasha and I would be of great help in this venture, Ben. Our senses are far better than yours."
Ben: "I had actually considered asking you to come along, but I think we'll have to keep your participation a secret. Once we get there, you'll have to come to us. But I did want to warn you that there are a lot of things in that jungle that would love to have you and Pasha for supper."
Father: "Have no doubt that we are not very aware of that. Snakes would be almost impossible for a normal feline to detect. However, we can detect all wildlife as easily as we can detect humans. It was part of the gift we received since snakes and the like were considered a threat to our original masters."
Ben: "Okay, you and Pasha can come to us once we get in the area. That should greatly reduce the risk of getting spotted."
Father: "Thank you, Great Lord. We've been feeling left out and derelict in our duty to you. We appreciate you including us this time."
Ben: "Sorry about that, Father. I honestly hadn't remembered to consider you in our activities. You really did good work in New Orleans."
Father: "I have a feeling this will be considerably more dangerous than New Orleans was, Great Lord. We shall need to be very careful in our activities."
Ben: "Agreed. How are the new girls doing?"
Father: "Pretty well for the most part. They are all emotional wrecks, but they are working through the problems. The school actually did them a great favor by making sure they were paired with another girl. I think most of them would have committed suicide if not for that. There is a great deal of love between the girls. The counselors Susan got for them are helping greatly, but I think most of them are going to be remaining here in some capacity once the dust settles.
"Your two newest admirers would like to join as soldiers, but only if you or one of your wives is the team leader. They are falling for all of you pretty quickly. Interestingly, that love isn't replacing the love they had; rather the existing love has grown to include all of you."
Ben: "Yeah, I sort of figured that out already. They really are sweet girls. Now, I better get back to this conversation before I have to explain my silence. Talk more later?"
Father: "Any time you wish, I'll always be here."
Ben sent affectionate thoughts to the old cat, who rubbed lovingly against his leg. "I don't think I would be allowed to come back if I didn't have some of the girls with me. We'll probably need extra food as well since we'll be burning up extra energy."
Tabitha nodded and made a note on her pad. "How did the energy bars we use work for you there? They are smaller then the ration packs, and we can carry more of them."
"Those should do just fine, Tabby. I'd like to get this handled as soon as we can, but how soon do you think we can be ready?" Ben asked.
"I'll need to give the people we are taking with us a couple of days to brush up on jungle survival. I think it would do our people some good to see you and the rest of your girls going through some training as well. Most already believe that you are pretty well trained, but everyone here believes in continuous training to keep skills sharp. I'd schedule a couple of sessions with Master Tohie as well as a couple of passes on the firing range, just so they can see you out there," Tabitha suggested.
Ben nodded and smiled at her. "Those are really good suggestions, and thank you for reminding us. It would raise a lot of suspicion if we never practiced, but were consistently the best shot and so forth. I'll recommend that to the ladies and schedule some times for myself," Ben said.
Tabitha chuckled. "You're not the best shot; Cori and Michelle are. They blew your record away. From listening to the range officer they had that day, they shot every single target they were offered regardless of the distance, crosswind, or weapon used. They showed you up, Boss!"
"Uh oh, we can't have that! I have a reputation to maintain after all!" Ben joked.
"It might be a good idea to let their record stand, but you should still be seen trying to break it. That would come across as so normal and reassuring that no one would think twice about it," Tabby said, showing complete faith that her superior could easily outdo the girls' record.
"That's assuming I could outdo them. When it comes to shooting, there is a point were skill must give way to natural ability. It may be that the girls simply have more natural ability than I do," Ben replied.
Tabitha snorted and shook her head. "I'll believe that when I see it!"
"What do you think I should do, Love? Amanda and Diane said that I am the same race as them, though I don't know anything about it. Do you think I should try to find out more?" Paula asked.
Lois looked thoughtful. "I don't know, Sweetheart. They did seem to imply there was a lot to learn, and you do look a lot younger than you did before, though since you were sick, it would be hard to judge."
"Why don't we go ask Diane if we can get more information? Since she married us in the garden, I feel closer to her than I do to the rest of them," Paula suggested.
Smiling, Lois nodded and took her lover's hand as they left to find the pretty young woman.
They found her outside Master Tohie's house, in the rock garden he maintained. She had apparently just been relaxing there.
"We're sorry to interrupt, Diane, but we were wondering if we could ask you some more questions?" Paula asked.
Diane smiled up at the pair. "Of course; please join me, and I'll try to answer as many as I can."
"Could you tell me more about who... or is it what, I am?" Paula asked.
"Well, Amanda is a few centuries older than I am, and has a lot more lore, but here goes. We are members of a race of beings that are human, but different than the humans of Earth. We come from a star system one-hundred and seventy light-years away, called Rukbat by the people of Earth. An author by the name of Anne McCaffrey wrote a series of stories that were based on our home planet, but they had no similarity to the actual planet, which she called Pern. In our language, the planet is called Felth." Diane told the two women the history of the expedition to Earth, and the situation they now found themselves in. "We don't know who your parents are, so getting the memories that are your legacy is not possible at this time, but Amanda and I can teach you the rest. We already know you mind is capable of them."
Paula looked thoughtful for a few minutes. "What about Lois? Would it be possible to restore her youth as well?"
"Yes; our family has abilities others of our people don't have. We can regress her to match your age, if she so chooses. We have already done so for one full human with no difficulty. We would simply need the time to do it," Diane answered.
"So, she's going to live forever?" Lois asked.
"Well, for as long as she wants to live, yes. All those of our race have the ability to heal our own bodies, change our appearance, and regress our physical age. Though it is much slower than what my family does, it takes less energy and therefore less food," Diane replied. "However, we have to legally 'die' every few years, or the government would be all over us. We usually regress and change our appearance at the same time. Then it's just a matter of getting new IDs and producing a death certificate for our old 'body'."
"So this guy down south that they are going after, he's the leader of people that overthrew the colony Governor?" Paula asked, changing the subject.
"Yes; he's the bastard that's trying to kill us and take over the planet, among other things."
"So if you succeed in getting him, what then? Will you guys take over the planet instead?" Paula asked.
"No, sweetheart. Once we get rid of Solms and all the groups he has messing with the various governments, we can let the human race get back to making its own destiny. We'll just find a quiet corner someplace out of the way, and wait for Earth to catch up to us," Diane said. "The whole point was for us not to interact and alter how the planet was developing. But since that's already happened, all we can do is try to correct or minimize the damage, and make sure most of the people don't even know we exist."
"I have a few questions that have been nagging at me," Lois said. "Please don't think I'm being skeptical, but the story of Atlantis and the rebellion just doesn't seem to match what we know of the events of that time. Our history says that Atlantis was destroyed hundreds of years before the events you have described. How do you explain that?"
"Your histories don't really know for sure what happened to Atlantis, or even where it was located for sure. However, they've recently stumbled across the original location on the floor of the Mediterranean. It's too deep for divers and most submarines to get too, but they have finally found where it was. The area was flooded when a land bridge near where Gibraltar now stands broke in an earthquake. The base shield was still operational, and it held back the water for hundreds of years. Explosions during the rebellion destroyed the shield generator and flooded the city. By that time, most of the residents had already fled and gone into hiding," Diane explained.
Paula smiled. "I want you to know, Diane, that we appreciate your willingness to answer these questions."
"Think nothing of it," Diane answered, smiling back.
"I was wondering if I can, uh, regress myself. Is there any way Lois could..." Paula hesitated, not knowing for sure how to proceed with her question. "I mean, I know it sounds childish, but I'm not so sure I really want to be immortal if I can't have the person I love with me."
"Normally, no, there wouldn't be anything that could be done for her. However, as I said, my family are not 'normal' Atlantians. It's a bit slower for full humans, but we can regress her age to match yours if she wants," Diane said.
"I don't know much about the Atlantian or Felthian cultures, but I just don't see how they can consider any of you to be monsters. You are some of the nicest folks I've ever met," Lois said. "I'd very much like to regress so I can have a life with Paula; whenever it would be convenient for one of you, please."
"I'll ask the rest of my mates, but I think we might have to wait until the Mexican operation is over. That's taking all our energies at the moment," Diane replied.
"Well, thanks for all the information, and for your help, Diane. We've got to get over to the girl's dorm; we've been helping with trying to get them settled. They sure are a sweet bunch of kids; there doesn't seem to be a brat in the bunch of them," Lois said.
"When we were younger, Lois and I saw a few spoiled rich kids that had run away from home. Luckily for them, their parents had enough money that the cops actually looked for them. One way or another, they didn't last very long on the streets," Paula said. "I hope we can keep these girls from having to go through that on top of everything else they've been through."
"I'm pretty sure none of them will have to worry about that. As I understand it, John and Ben have told them they are free to stick around as long as they want to. No one is forcing them to stay, but it is being strongly encouraged," Diane said. "Thanks for helping them. I think they're going to need all the friends they can get."
The three women exchanged hugs as they parted, Diane for the main house, and the couple for the girls' dorms.
"Okay folks, here's the plan; Alpha and Beta teams are on alert for this mission. If this recon goes to hell, it'll go fast with a high body count. Ben, Kathryn, Diane, Michelle, and Chris will be accompanied by five members of Alpha team, first platoon. Ben will have tactical command.
"The terrain near The Fortress is too rough and overgrown for air insertion. For this mission Alpha team will set down here..." John pointed at a place on the map at least fifteen miles from The Fortress. "... and proceed to the target on foot. The rest of Alpha will gear up but remain with the assault craft in a yellow status for the duration of the mission. The recon team will be on red status for up to three days. If the recon team is discovered, or ambushed, Alpha team will go red and extract them. Beta team will deploy from Mexico City where they will be on green status pending word from Alpha team.
"This entire op is black. If the whole thing takes a dump, lose the gear and scatter. Tell your people to try to stick to the towns along the coast; we'll have a couple of yachts in the area to give a lift to those who need it. The nearest larger village is Salina Cruz, but I don't know how long our rescue boats can be in the area since The Fortress all but over looks it.
"Unless discovered, the recon team will be on radio as well as telepathic silence. There may be someone at The Fortress that will be able to detect it. Once Ben starts his scanning, we should know pretty quickly if someone can sense him. Questions?" he finished.
Tabitha raised her hand. "Sir, having Ben scan the place is all well and good, but I don't see how that will be much of a benefit to the rest of us. We'll need images of the place in order to plan an assault. The way I understand it, they won't be getting that close."
John nodded. "Ben will share what he sees with his wives on location. Once they get back here, Amanda will do her magic with the computers again and download it for us to plan our assault."
"What if this is a trap to capture or kill Ben and Kathryn? Should both of them be on the same team?" Jenna asked.
John looked thoughtful for a second before he answered. "That's a good question Jenna, and there isn't a very good way to answer it, but I would like you to consider something; Ben and Kathryn are the strongest of all of us. Even if you had all the resources of this company at your disposal, I doubt very much you could do more than seriously piss them off.
"We know that Solms has exotic weapons, and we really don't know anything else. But the bottom line is, if the recon team is to have the maximum chance of surviving if this is a trap, they need to be together."
"What's the launch time for this op?" Michael Tollman asked.
"Twenty-two-thirty tonight. I put Alpha and Beta teams on alert just
before this meeting. You should check with your people to see who knows
how to handle a yacht, Michael," John said grinning. "If there are no
more questions, we need to get back to work."