Chapter 25

I said, “I’m guessing you have some concerns or you would have made contact already.”

Alex blushed. “Yes, Sir. These others seem to be small groups, squad size or maybe the size of two squads. We will scare them since they are fixed in their locations and we’re on the move and we are much bigger. I expect some philosophical questions and some doubt. I propose to let Janey make the first contacts.”

I said slowly, “I understand your thinking about their fears and about using Janey for contact. Is anything else bothering you about this?”

“Yes, Sir. The group in Florida sounded larger and might be bent upon conquest. I know I’m reading a lot into having heard them once but that’s the feeling I got.”

“Okay, I understand. We’ll just have to see what we hear. Go ahead, Alex.”

“Thank you, Sir.” He left to join the rest of his team.

Sheila said, “You’re still getting used to being an officer, aren’t you, Dear?”

I grimaced. “I managed to stave off being an officer when in the Marines. Being a sergeant was good enough. I liked being in the action.”

“You’ll get that chance. Let’s go to bed. Tomorrow will be another day.”

We slept quietly and enjoyably through the night. In the morning, we cleaned up and joined Alex’s radio group helping to cook breakfast. Janey said, “Riley, you don’t have to do that.”

Sheila said, “You tell him. I’m a better cook. He just feels that he has to help.” I continued to help cook. We ate together. When we finished, Janey and Alex moved toward the radios. I was going to help clean up but Sheila shooed me over toward them. I watched as they worked and talked.

Alex said, “Janey, Riley wants you to be the contact when we try. The Tennessee group usually gets on at about ten our time. Let’s be ready for them. Since we’re going to try talking, let’s move to the windowed area so we don’t have much feed-line to the antenna.”

They moved some things to the front of the building. They set their station up again. Unreeling some round black wire, they went outside with a slingshot and some rope and more wire. They used the sling shot to get the rope up to a high point. They tied the thick round wire and two small wires to it and together. They started to hoist it up. Alex said, “We need some help. Get someone.”

I said, “I can help if you tell me what to do.”

Alex said, “Get one someone.” Janey quickly came back with a helper from their squad., Alex said, “Each of you grab the end of the thin wire. As I lift the centerpoint, we want to spread these wires out looking for a ‘vee’ shape on your wires. We’ll have to tune it and then we’ll finish it off.”

Alex hoisted the centerpoint as we spread the wires. It became two nice triangles. Alex had Janey hold the rope while he went inside for a couple of minutes. He came out with a measuring tape. He attached a short, light line to my end after measuring and folding back ten inches of the line. He did the same at the other end. He hoisted the entire set of wires a little more and tied the rope off to hold it in place. He came to my end and tied it off as high as he could reach. Then, he went to the other end and did the same thing. He motioned for all of us to come back inside.

He said, “We just made and put up an inverted vee dipole antenna for eighty meters. It’s not fancy but it will work.”

We all went inside. Once inside, Janey turned on the radio and tuned to a certain frequency. I could see the numbers change. She steadied it and we heard a voice. “Anyone, anywhere, this is Spring City, Tennessee, calling for any station. Over.”

Janey said, “Spring City, this is Janey from Riley’s World in Virginia returning. We read you clearly here. Over.”

“Janey, it’s good to hear from you. It’s been lonesome here. There are very few people here since the aliens went through. How is it with you?”

“We’re doing well. We have knocked out two of the alien bases and are looking for a third. When we find it, we will knock it out. Who am I talking to? Over.”

“We’re here in Spring City, Tennessee. We haven’t located any alien bases. I’m not sure what we would do if we did locate one.”

“This is Janey. My mother taught me not to talk to strangers. I am clear and leaving the frequency. Out.” Janey smirked. “Let’s see if we get anything from them.”

We waited but the radio was quiet. Alex said, “There is something wrong. It’s easy to give a first name. That’s all Janey did. If you won’t do that, there is something wrong at that location. Janey, give them a minute and then try another frequency.”

It was thirty seconds into that minute when the same voice said, ‘Janey, why won’t you talk to me? I mean you no harm.”

Alex nodded at Janey. She keyed the mic and said, “I won’t talk to someone who won’t give his name.”

Alex said, “Now, he can either put up or shut us.”

We waited a bit more. I saw Janey shrug. She turned the dial to another frequency. “I heard Florida a few days ago here. I’ll give them a try.” She keyed the mic and spoke, “CQ, CQ, this is Janey calling from Virginia. If anyone hears me, please respond. Over.” She waited but heard nothing. After half a minute, she repeated her call.

Alex said, “Give it two more and move on.”

She nodded. She repeated her call with a long pause two more times. She looked at a sheet of paper and changed frequencies again. She said, “This was where I heard Nebraska.” She called again. Again, nothing was heard. She made two more calls with waits. She said, “It was never this hard before. Someone would always talk to me. I’ll keep trying and then move on.”

Alex smiled. “It can be like that sometimes. Boss, you can do something else. If it gets hot, we’ll let you know right away.”

I nodded and moved on. Sheila went with me and talked as we walked. “I’ll make it a point to stop by during the day while you work on ‘General’ stuff.” She grinned.

I walked over where Joe was just finishing breakfast. “Joe, how’s the new structure working so far? I know it’s early but I’m concerned.”

Joe said, “The early scuttlebutt is that it’s a popular thing to have done, General Sir.” He grinned. He and I both knew I was more comfortable as a non-com.