Chapter 14

[Janice in the Middle East]

I gathered everyone in the terminal to talk.

I said, "We have diverted from our plan. It appears that Tehran has suffered from a nuclear blast. We have checked Geiger counters very carefully here and are safe. I suspect that, if there is one nuclear blast, there will be more. Our plan was to fly from Tehran to Baghdad to Jerusalem to Cairo to Tel Aviv and finish at Istanbul or Ankara in Turkey.

"I am worried. I have no illusions about what happens if fighters or rockets show up against our planes. We cannot afford to lose people. I see two courses of action. One is to scout the area with Duck and Mallard to determine what we will find. I am not optimistic. The second is to abandon the Middle East and head to Turkey and get back into Europe. If someone has a third idea, speak now."

Poppa Jack stood. "I would suggest that we adopt the first course and use Duck and Mallard to look around. We have come a long way and should take the opportunity to look around. I am not advocating landing anywhere. I actually think Janice is right. We won't find people and will probably find more evidence of a localized nuclear war. After this many years, I don't think fighter aircraft are a serious worry but just one shooting at one of our planes would ruin us. Thank you for listening."

That seemed to be the sentiment as a few others agreed with Poppa speaking aloud. I said, "We will take the first course. I think we understand there is an element of risk. We will not plan landings at this time though I will consider that possibility if conditions warrant. We will not inspect blast sites. We will fly higher than we have. Poppa, Bess, and Trio will look at our former routing. I want a review of that and a new base picked unless this one has fuel in abundance. Also, consider how to secure planes if we don't take both 130's. Should this flight use both planes or be made using one plane. In any event, Prince will not be used.

"If no one has anything else, then let's get the planes refueled and a new route planned." It was quiet and I started toward Poppa.

"Thank you, Poppa. Please get started. I will join you soon." I left him to gather the assigned victims to prepare the routing. I wanted sentries. I had the feeling that these people had all killed each other off. We had seen no signs of people but I didn't want a surprise.

We found a mountain of fuel. Our sentries found things quiet.

I was talking with my spouses. Robby said, "I had been over here before I left the army. There were some people living in this area who really hated others. My guess, for what it's worth, is that the virus began to strike and Israel was attacked with nuclear bombs. They would retaliate in kind and with more emphasis. I think we will find many craters and few, if any, people. It wasn't an easy place to eek out a living before. It will not have gotten better.

"Mel, do you get any feelings from the area?"

"Very little. It's primarily barbaric thoughts. I don't feel anything close. There is a distance issue in my readings. Some day, I will want to stop and examine this with Charlie. Of course, as I feel for emotions and people more often, I can hear Charlie and SJ more. Some of Charlie's emotions at night can be very arousing. I don't know if SJ can feel them. I think I hope not."

I was a little surprised. Perhaps that explained her ability to speak publicly and act in such a mature manner. I asked, "What about Bobbi, Andy, or Jacob?"

Mel shook her head. "Nothing from them like from Charlie or even SJ.

"What are your plans for this next trip, Jan?"

"I would like to lock up two planes and put us all on one. On the other hand, having two helps if there is a problem. I am inclined to leave Prince here, take Duck and Mallard, and return for Prince for the rest of European trip. My principal worry is that there may be some ability to fight us while we're flying. All our planes are sitting ducks in an attack."

We finally decided to keep, more or less, to the previously planned route. We spent the night in Tabriz and left in the morning. It was an unhappy flight for all of us. Baghdad was gone as were Jerusalem, Cairo, and Tel Aviv. Syria and Jordan had received a few hits. We will probably never know what happened or who started it this time. It looked like the Arabs got it worse than Israelis. A lot of innocent people died. The lands were functionally deserted. We saw what might be a caravan but no signs of any real organization, just a few scattered farms with no modern looks to their operation. It appeared as many of us feared in seeing Tehran. The Middle East had fought the last big war and lost. The old term was mutually assured destruction according to Uncle Herb though was applied to the U.S. and the old U.S.S.R. historically.

We returned to Tabriz tired. After refueling, we would stay the night and leave for Turkey and southern Europe in the morning.

We did and it remained quiet. Our first stop was Erzurum, Turkey, where we found some fuel and topped off Prince's tanks. It was early enough that we flew on to Ankara. Prince was flying at cruising speed. Duck and Mallard flew higher and across Prince's flight path. We saw no one. We landed at Ankara tired. We claimed a terminal and set up our camp for the night. Duck and Mallard had plenty of fuel but I always wanted to top off Prince.

From Ankara, we flew to Istanbul. It remained quiet. We landed and fueled and ate. I suggested that we take our vehicles and explore. I had hopes in the back of my mind that there would be shipping. We hadn't seen anything but it would be worth having a look around. It's not like we would pass this way again! We did that and found no signs of people. No boats were being used. We returned to the airport a little disappointed but not really surprised. Our next stop was Sofia, Bulgaria. My real hopes were coming up, Greece, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula were my hopes. Climates were, I felt from traveling, important as well as an initial level of living.