Chapter 8: New York Sector

Pru came to rest in the final position of her morning Tai Chi practice, and let her body relax. They had spent the night in Terry's apartment in New York Sector after a concert they had both enjoyed. Pru picked up a towel, wiped away the light film of sweat from her face and breasts and put it under her when she sat on the bed next to Terry.

"You do that every day, don't you? When did you begin?"

"Yes. Every day. It's like coffee — but I like my morning coffee, too. I guess I started when I was about five. We were in China then, and Tai Chi was everywhere, but my mother did her practice every day then, and still does today. So, it was just natural. As I was growing up, I tried some of the other arts, too."

"You said you've been OC a lot too, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Mostly day trips, you know. You must've done those, too. And, camp-outs." Terry nodded.

"Now my parents live OC outside of a CA in North Africa, and I spent a lot of time there as a girl, made a lot of friends. And, I did spend one whole summer OC when I was in college. A bunch of us spent the summer with a community of Voluntaries — it was kind of a spiritual thing for them — in southern Michigan."

"How many were in the bunch?"

"Oh, ten. We were all in school together; you know. Close enough for sex, but none of us were bonded. We were there for almost three months."

"A learning experience?"

"Oh, I'll say. I learned one thing, anyway. Clothes count."

"What do you mean, 'clothes count'"?

"I grew up mostly in Controlled Areas. But, I'll tell you, when you live OC all the time, clothes make a difference. Sit on watch all night; it gets chilly. Go hunting and clothes protect you from the underbrush. Working in the fields... I don't know what all. You can go naked most of the time, but then you find a situation where you need a shirt or some pants to protect you. I'm really happier wearing as little as we do in the CA, but reality bites if you don't watch out."

"So do bugs," Terry observed.

"Well, that summer in Michigan, we ate lots of garlic. That kept most of the bugs off."

"We're glad you're here guys; it's great to have additional help during the busy summer months." The tall, lean woman spoke to the group of college students in front of the log lodge that was the main building in the small village. Surrounded by stands of old-growth hardwood trees, about 40 cabins and outbuildings were grouped around a well. An open-sided shelter stood more or less in the center of the village. Fields and gardens were visible through beyond the edge of the woods,

"We'll be asking you to share your skills with us, especially if any of you know about gardening, or agriculture or hunting. But, I'll be honest with you; one of the biggest ways you can help us is by taking over the watch duties." She beckoned to a muscular man, who came forward.

"This is Jason. He runs the watch. Tell them what it's about, Jase."

Jason was a good two meters tall and obviously strong. 'Not bad looking, either, ' Pru thought.

"Thanks, Laura. Folks, I don't know what mythology you've been taught about the areas that are Outside Control. Yes, a lot of them are agricultural or industrial areas where people live much as you do in the Controlled Areas. But not all. Where we are is typical of those areas that have pretty much gone wild. That's why we're here; because, that's the kind of environment we like. But, there are disadvantages, too, and one of them is that these areas also attract Expellees, people who are not welcome in Controlled Areas. And, I think you can guess that most of them aren't welcome here, either.

"So, we keep a watch. During the day, it's not much, but at night, we have a watch in the village and in the fields as well. When we are fortunate enough to have people like you with us, we use you to release our members from watch duties so they can be productive in the fields, and at other work you haven't learned yet. So, for a while, we'll be asking you to take watch duty — at night especially."

Laura spoke up again. "That's really only to begin with. We'd like you to learn to take part in everything we do, but you'll need training. We'll give that to you as fast as you'd like. But, for the first few days, you're going to be on watch. Is that all right?"

One of the young men spoke up. "Are there a lot of Expellees around here? How do you control them?"

"We try to be good neighbors and hope they are, too," Laura replied, "and if they're not, we deal with them. We let them glean our fields after harvest, and we trade with them for things they want or need. But, we try to keep them out of our fields and our village as much as we can. That's why the watch."

Jason added, "If anyone makes trouble, we deal with it pretty directly, or if we have to, we take them back to a CA and let the authorities handle it. Most of what they try is to steal from our fields. They don't have much luck getting into the village. Any other questions?"

There were one or two grumbles, but none were serious. Jason described what he called the "Rules of Engagement" for people on watch. Basically, that meant using whatever force was appropriate to ensure the safety of the village. Watches would be four hours long, each starting after the evening meal and continuing until the early morning wake-up.