Chapter 3: Paying the Piper

(Day 49 — July 10, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska)

The C-17 transport carrying Ernie Hart, Janine Coleman, and the two Indian sisters, and nine others landed at 7:10 that morning. The cargo was unloaded while the people were processed through to learn their skills. Janine was the northwest District Training Manager for a parcel shipping company. Of course the company, although a nationwide entity, was now defunct. One of the men traveling with the group from Seattle to Portland had been another member of the team doing in service training at the Anchorage site. He was killed in the initial ambush on the Interstate heading south to Portland.

The new man placed in charge of the fledgling mail system, was previously a mail carrier in Cantwell, south of Denali Park. Derek Potter was having a time trying to get organized enough to get some resemblance of a mail service underway. Janine was determined to be the person critically needed to straighten it out. Janine was given a car, residence near the Airport by Jewell Lake, and a debit card to buy her food and clothing. She had until 1:00 to report to her new job over the Commonwealth Mail and Parcel Service, at the International Airport.

Ernie Hart had a company that manufactured components for military and personal computers, but most of his supplies came from Taiwan. Of course, that was a moot point after the war and the EMP blasts, which fried almost every computer south of the 50^th parallel. Finding undamaged components was going to be a major problem.

However, Ernie's problem had intensified itself one could say threefold, as Lana and the twins arrived. Lana as one could well imagine, was not in the least pleased about being left behind. Only after she realized that had she been with Ernie, she or the kids would have likely been killed or wounded in the terrorist ambush, did she calm down. As the Minister of Agriculture, Lana lived in Palmer with the girls. While Ernie's skills could be very useful, once the parts were located, for the time being he was assigned to teach electronics to the students at the barding school.

"What became of Paul Kensington and his family?" Ernie inquired.

Lana answered, "Paul and his family live in Galena, up on the Yukon River. You won't believe this, but Paul is a Minister now."

Ernie laughed, "You have got to be kidding me? How did that happen?"

"He prayed, and a young boy who was sick, and his little sister we thought was dead, were well the next morning," Lana explained. "Evidently, since this mess happened, God and Paul Kensington are like on speaking terms. The Governor made him a Minister of Faith for the Commonwealth."

"What's with this Commonwealth BS anyway?" Ernie inquired, "Did you secede from the Union, or what?"

Lana countered, "Who did you meet that was in charge, while you roamed the west in the motor home?"

Ernie thought, "Until we ran into the Air Force in Utah, I didn't know who was. We stayed with some Militia fanatics in Idaho for a few days before I bought our freedom with my Rolex. On the way to Portland, terrorists that controlled the area around Portland and into Washington ambushed us. The woman whose minivan we were going to Portland in was a niece or something to one of the Militia Commanders.

"There was nothing on the radio, and we stayed off the main highways for the most part. Most stores we came to were fairly well looted of all food and soft drinks. That must have happened in the first few days, because we encountered very few people. A motorcycle gang passed us one night while we were parked on a side driveway. I don't know where they were headed, nor did I care to find out."

Lana replied, "It sounds like we had it easy, compared to that. Paul and his son flew us to Galena in a plane that was left in Kobuk. From what we saw, the biochemical agent was sporadic in its effect on that part of the state. There was a big boarding school in Galena that had almost 5,000 students. They are in Anchorage now at the University dormitories. Anyway, to answer your question, much of the surviving US military is now based here. We had an election on July 1, to choose our leaders. We also voted whether or not to form an independent state. It passed overwhelmingly."

Ernie noted, "At least you have a government in place, and not an anarchy. At least it is a democratically elected government. How did you rate a minister's position?"

Lana reminded him, "Because I knew how to get things started growing in a greenhouse, and they needed food. We mostly grow food instead of flowers. They can come later. With the long days and this rich soil, it is a horticulturist's dream. Too bad, come September, everything will have to be grown inside. "

"Aren't there any other survivors in the states?" Ernie wondered.

Lana acknowledged, "There are a few. The northeastern states and eastern Canada have formed the People's Republic of North Amerika, also called the PRNA. Then there are small groups scattered across the north part of Texas. They are under threat of invasion from Mexico."

"Mexico?" Ernie gasped, "I heard it was Red China. How did Mexico get away with this thing? I thought it was world wide?"

"Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia," Lana explained, "they are all in bed with the Chi-comms. Mexico is in it for the southwestern states that it claims are rightfully theirs, under some new nation called Aztlan. The Columbian drug cartels were spared to supply the cocaine and other narcotics to keep the PRNA population happy. The Venezuelans, well, they just didn't like us, and want us conquered so nobody can keep them from ruling the continent of South Amerika with a "K". It is now separated by a fifteen-mile wide strait where the Panama Canal once was. California is being taken over by the Chi-comms, and Portland used to be controlled by the Arabs. That was before one of the Admirals lit it up with nukes. So you can forget about anything being left of Portland. They were flying airliners at the ships like kamikazes."

Ernie sighed, "So much for salvaging anything from home. I knew they were asking for trouble when the local authorities refused to cooperate with Homeland Security a few years back. I knew the area was a hotbed for terrorist activity."

Lana couldn't help laughing, "This coming from the same guy who argued that the next step was rounding everyone up and putting them in internment camps if we even spoke to them?"

"This all wouldn't have happened if they had eavesdropped on a few conversations,"
argued Ernie. "I never should have voted those people in."

"Well here we are Ernie," Lana pointed out, "starting all over from scratch. At least we are still alive, no thanks to your heroism. You come waltzing back into our lives as if nothing happened, and expect us to welcome you with open arms? I don't think so. The girls and I are doing just fine the way we are. Because of what you did, deserting us in an emergency, I have had myself declared as widowed. You are free to find someone else."

"Is there someone else in your life?" asked Ernie.

"I have met some others, yes," Lana replied. "They happened to be men who lost their wives, and stayed with them until the bitter end. If you choose, you can leave and go to Dallas the next time a flight goes there. It could be best if you hooked up with someone in Texas now, and weren't around to hassle me. I wish you well, Ernie, and hope that you find what you are looking for. It's no longer I Ernie, and it never again will be. Bye."

Ernie left, and returned to the departure terminal. As Lana suggested, he signed up for the next Texas bound flight. There, in the other end of the terminal, as he was walking around to pass the time, he ran into none other than Janine Coleman. Janine was on her way to the Mail and Parcel Center to try to get the mess straightened out. Janine was greeted with a warehouse full of backlogged parcels and mail and was looking for someone that could get a server up and running.

"I could build it from scratch for you," offered Ernie, "but I am supposed to be on the flight to Texas at 11:00 tonight."

"It didn't go that hot with the wife, I take it," observed Janine. "I can't blame her, Ernie. You did desert her after all. If you truly think you can get me up and running, and can interface me with the mail, UPS, Fedex, DHL, and the other databases, I will send the request for you right away. Beyond that, I'll just see what you're made of for what you asked me a while back."

"I thought if I stayed, I had to teach," lamented Ernie. "How can you do that?"

Janine replied, "You know the saying, 'Those who can, do. Those who can't teach'? Well right now I need a 'can do' person. The deal is, every server active to the outside when the EMP hit, was disabled, ours included. Now there is a server from an airfreight company that was not online at the time, and still works. We just have to see if the data is retrievable from the others."

Ernie asked, "Have you connected the hard drives from the others to the one that works?"

"Whoa there," cautioned Janine, "I am the trainer when we get the stuff going where I can scan and sort it. The servers are your job. I'll call Commonwealth Placement and have you assigned to me. Come with me and tell the dude that has been playing with this stuff for the last week, what tools you need. I got here last night on the same plane that you did, remember? We both have catching up to do."

Ernie made a quick inventory of servers, and then had his assistant, a hobby tinkerer before the war, disassemble the other units and sort them by part categories. By midnight, when the shift ended, Ernie and Ray had another working unit that they used to test components. Ernie found a sofa in the employee's lounge and curled up to go to sleep.

(Day 50 — July 11, 7:15 a.m., Mail and Parcel Center, Anchorage)

The next morning, the security guard awakened Ernie and asked for ID. Ernie explained what he was doing there and within 35 minutes they had tracked down Janine Coleman. Ernie went to the men's room and washed his face before returning to the pile of parts and by 9:00 had a third server up and interfacing with Fedex, UPS and the mail. By 10:30, he had the scanners operable, and by 11:55, he had the tracking information on every Alaska bound parcel in the combined systems.

In 24 hours, Ernie Hart had gone from deserter, to hero. Janine gave him his assigned residence next door to hers, his Commonwealth debit card, and the keys to one of the vehicles. She had him follow her to his new home and told him to go clean up, buy some clothes, and groceries. He had the rest of the day off. He was given a map supplied to the residents showing the locations of the various stores still in business. With that, he was able to do his shopping.

At 5:30, Ernie sat to watch the local news and catch up on what was going on in the world. Shortly after, there came a knock on his door. There stood Janine with a casserole dish. "I made some chicken casserole if you care to join me?" she invited. Ernie accepted.

It was the first home cooked meal that either one had enjoyed in two months!

(Day 50 — July 11, 4:15 p.m., just south of San Francisco)

Having skirted the greater Los Angeles area, and leaving it to the black and Hispanic gangs for the time, the vanguard of General Chung's forces were about to enter the Presidio at Monterrey. A Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship was dispatched ahead, but failed to return. It had become the victim of Marine Lt Carrie Sword, and Cpl Barbara Deets and their Stinger Surface to Air Missile.