Chapter 9A

"James?"

"Sid."

"We need you in the radio room, right now." There was an urgency to his voice that I'd not heard before. Without waiting for me to reply he set off at a jog back in the direction of the radio room. I jogged after him.

When we reached the room it was crowded. The committee was there as were all of the sergeants.

"What's going on?" I asked the room at large.

"Bart's been on the radio and they have some bad news, or they think it's bad news." Alison told me. "Basically, for the last few months they've been getting more and more people arriving at Heston Manor. These people have been chased out of their communities by a large attacking force. Bart and his committee thought nothing of it until they realised that with the extra people, they are getting low on supplies."

"Damn!" I said, "They're being invaded."

"You got that quickly enough."

"It's an old technique. In the days of castles and sieges in medieval England this sort of thing was common. Drive as many people into the castle as you could before you laid siege to it and the supplies and water would run out that much quicker, to say nothing of the moral."

"Well, they think the same thing is happening there. Tales are coming in from these refugees that this attacking force is intent on unifying all the communities they find under their leadership."

"And I'll bet they're raping and pillaging as they go, right?"

"Have you heard about this before?"

"Well, not Bart's situation, but the Norse did it to my people a thousand or more years ago, so yes, you could sat that I've heard about this before."

"I guess we don't know about this sort of thing so much, American history is less than 300 years old."

"True. Still, what are the Hestons planning to do?"

"They don't know what to do and are asking our help."

"And... ?"

"And we think that you should go with the sergeants and some of our best fighters and take a look at the situation. If Bart's right, once they're over-run, we are probably next."

"If that's the case, we really want to face them on the mainland rather than let them get close to the island. When is the Elsie May next due in?"

"We've contacted Steven already and he's two days out."

"What's Li's forecast for the next two or three days?"

"Light winds, some cloud and a slight sea."

"Will you authorise the use of as many of the fast boats as we need to get the people you've mentioned over to the mainland?

"Yes. Do you have a plan?"

"I thought about it many months ago. Getting to the mainland in a hurry, I mean. We still haven't found where the chopper shed is and we don't have pilots or maintenance crew even if we did. So I gave some thought to this eventuality. What happens is this. Call Elsie May and have her go directly to the Quay. We'll take the fastest boats and plenty of fuel and go directly there as well. The spare troops on the Elsie May can then either go with us or return here as they see fit. The boats can be hauled onto Elsie May for the return trip. How's that?"

"So far so good. What about rations and other provisions?"

"We carry them. The sergeants know more about that than I do, but we each carry a load so that we don't have to rely on the Hestons. There are enough vehicles at the quarry to take down to Heston Manor. What happens after that depends on what we find when we get there."

"Has anyone anything else to add?" Alison asked. "No? Right. James take the sergeants and as many of our best fighters as you think you will need and lead a shore party to determine what the threat is and what we must do to counter it. Stay in regular contact if you can using the encrypted radios. I'll tell the Hestons to ready for immediate evacuation so that if it is needed they will be ready. We'll use the Elsie May to make evacuation trips and we can take them right up to that valley we found last year. That is nearly 1500 miles from Heston Manor and will give them time to regroup. The port is on the way so Elsie May can refuel in both directions. Any comments?"

"The trip north will take Elsie May three days each way. Figure in another day to refuel, half a day each way and yet another day to load and unload, that means each trip will take eight days. How many could Elsie realistically take on a three or four day trip, James?" Asked one of the other committee members.

"Assuming the weather remains the same as it is now, she could probably take around three hundred per trip. If the worst came to the worst that could be stretched to about eight hundred but with no facilities like food or water. If they needed to piss or shit, they'd have to do it where they stood with the attendant loss of morale once they reached their destination. Sorry about the language but it's necessary for you to understand what you would be asking them to do."

The committee member spoke again. "Bart says that they have around 1000 people at the moment and it's increasing. That means they need three weeks to evacuate and if Bart is correct, five weeks is about all the time they have."

"So get them moving now. Don't wait for Elsie May. They have vehicles, we know that. Get them to start organising and they can probably drive fifty people a day up to the port where we found Elsie May. Once we arrive they'll have the vehicles we have stored at the quay to use and they could them move between a hundred and a hundred and fifty people a day, the limits being the amount of fuel available. If they refuel up at the port there should be no limit. That takes a day each way off the trip Elsie May has to make. Heston Manor could be totally deserted by the time the invasion gets there."

"Any other constructive comments anyone?" Alison paused. "No? Okay, let's get this thing organised."

The next twenty-four hours was a blur. The sergeants were ready to go in less than an hour. It seems that they kept their kit in a ready condition. I could have gone in about four hours, but organising the rest is what caused the delay. Everyone wanted to go and those that were told that they couldn't do so were vociferous with their objections. After all, why should we have all the fun?

It took a community meeting and a very impassioned speech by Alison to make them realise that only the very best stood a chance and the rest would be staying behind only until the situation was understood. It was likely that every able bodied fighter would be needed if the worst happened. Them they could rush to their deaths in a suicidal charge as soon as they hit the main land, if that was what they wanted, but if they wanted to live and return to Dolphin's Retreat, they would have to act like disciplined fighters, not a mob of hooligans.

It was a good speech and after that we had little trouble.

Of my wives, apart from the sergeants, that is, only April and May came with me and that was because I knew that they would stow away on one of the boats if I didn't let them come along. As it was, all my wives were happy at who was going and who was not, so I found time to bid Ayesha, Sharon, Julie, Liz, Kate and Li a warrior's farewell before the rest of us left.

I gathered the sergeants together before we left for a brief talk.

"I may be nominally in charge of this group, but I remember well that it was the sergeants that ran the armed services and any commissioned officer who knew what he was doing, listened to his sergeants. I plan to do the same. You are the experts, I've said it many times. Advise me when I need to know and stop me when I'm about to do something wrong. Okay, that's it. Let's get the show on the road."

We took just ten of the fighters with us. Those most qualified with modern weapons as well as the bows and in lacrosse. What they didn't have, apart from experience, was night fighting and wood craft abilities. Until now, no-one thought that it would be necessary. I had some abilities but only because of hunting for vermin at night with my catapult and yes, I did have it with me.

Chang had five boats organised, four carrying passengers and provisions and one carrying fuel. There was little or no talking from our families as we got into the boats, just a wave or two as we cast off and headed for the channel. Once outside the throttles were opened to 80% and we flew. In case you're wondering why 80% and not 100%, well, that last 20% just drinks fuel and does little to increase the speed, and we had a long way to go.

I was very glad to get out of the boat over 12 hours later when we reached our quay. Even with the slight sea it had been a very bumpy ride. We unpacked our provisions and then had a hot meal. It was getting dark and I wanted everyone to have a good nights sleep before we set off for Heston Manor.

The next morning, as dawn broke, we set off for Heston Manor. Chang and his crew were already in radio contact with the approaching Elsie May, so we left and let the crew decided what they wished to do once they reached the quay.

Normally, it was a two day trip from the quarry to Heston Manor, but we'd never had an urgent reason to get there before. Previously, we would drive along steadily keeping an eye our for supplies or people. We would stop frequently for rests and something to drink. This time we made serious tracks, changing drivers every two hours, otherwise not stopping. We arrived at Heston Manor in less than 18 hours and we were tired. The roads were in a shocking condition and our average speed was down to around 30 kph. Several times we had to stop and remove small landslides that had blocked the road and once we had to find an alternative route.

As we arrived we could see that some serious activity was going on. They had taken Alison's words to heart and were working on getting everything out of Heston Manor. The four trucks we had were quickly driven over to a loading area once we got our things out. We left the rest of the vehicles where they stood as we went in search of Bart and the rest of the committee. No doubt they would be utilised.

We found the committee in the library, or what was left of it. Like us, they had decided to preserve knowledge and although not as extensive as ours, their collection of books was very good. Now, it was all gone.

I walked up to the tables where the committee was organising things.

"I'm not sure I like the new decor, but I can't fault the time it's taken to do it."

"James!" Bart sprang to his feet and came around to shake my hand. "We didn't expect you for another ten hours. You must be shattered."

He interrupted two of his wives. "Drop that, it can wait. Get some food and hot drinks for James and his crew." They took one look at us and then hurried off in the direction of the kitchens.

"So, how's the evacuation?"

"We decided to strip the place. We're only leaving behind the building and dust. In effect we are going to do to them what they are trying to do to us. When they get here there will be nothing. No food, no water, no furniture and no people. With any luck we are going to try and cover our tracks so that they don't know where we've gone."

"How on earth are you going to do that?"

"By going every way. The tracks leading out of here are going to go in every direction of the compass."

"Good idea providing that they don't have anyone watching you."

"They don't. Two of our people were trackers, you know the people that went out looking for folks who had gotten themselves lost in the forests or mountains. They've been out for the last two days and have found no sign of anyone."

"Have you been looking in the skies for planes or helicopters?"

"Yes, the children have take over that task. In one sense it's good since it give them something to do, in other ways it's a pain. None of the kids will do anything now as they are on 'airplane watch'."

"So what do we know about these invaders?"

One of the committee members stood up.

"If you come over here I've a map that show what we know about where they come from and where they are, approximately, right now."

We gathered around the map.

"As far as we can tell from talking to the people that have reached us, first contact was here." he pointed to a position a thousand miles away. "Before that we don't know where they came from. This is just the first contact with people that are no here. The red marks on the map mark the places that our new arrivals came from. You can quite clearly see that they run along curves like this." He pointed to a series of pencilled lines that someone had drawn in a free hand curve through the various marks on the map. "The curves have been drawn according to time as far as we can gather."

This was serious. The curves quite clearly indicated that the invasion was targeted at Heston Manor.

"James?"

"Yes Tricky."

"We may want to re-think our strategy in light of this."

"Go on."

"Has anyone got a pencil?" He was handed one. "Thanks. Okay, if you complete these curves so that they intersect the coast line you can see that there should have been people coming from this area here. But there are no red dots. The best assumption we can make from this is that there are no people in this area which is why there are no red dots. The worst assumption is that we are doing exactly what they want and fleeing in the direction they want us to." He handed the pencil back to the person who had given it to him.

"Amanda?"

"Yes."

"Call the Elsie May and tell Steven not to put into the quay. Get Chang and the others to rendezvous with them at sea. Get hold of Chang and tell him to leave right now. Disable the vehicles we left there and get out."

"Yes, Sir."

I turned back to the map. "Where is the nearest loading dock to Heston Manor that draws enough water for Elsie May to get in at any state of tide?"

We looked at the map, but like all land maps it showed little of the sea information that we needed. However, there was another quay on the coast a little to the south.

"What's this here?" I asked

"I don't know, I'm not from here, but Old Harry is, he might know."

The word was put out for Old Harry who arrived a few minutes later. Contrary to his name he was only about 30 years old.

"Old Harry?" I asked with a puzzled voice.

He sighed. "It's a long story."

"Okay, it can wait till later. Can you tell us what this is here?" I pointed to the map.

"In my father's time it was a fishing village but it was abandoned many years ago. The did try to start up a canning factory there, canning fish but it never really amounted to anything. As far as I know now, it's just an abandoned wharf."