Chapter 24

The five married couples were temporarily housed in single containers, each, until we could get the rest cleared out for them. Most of the containers were so efficiently packed that they were packed full, and it was not a question of simply moving stuff from one partially filled container to another. Where we could, we stored weather resistant items outside under tarps, and the rest was put into any open space we could find in the hull of the trimaran.

At first, we had thought to put the newcomers into that empty space in the trimaran, but Adel pointed out that doing that might give the newcomers the sense of being outsiders or second class citizens. We wanted to enforce the idea that everybody was equal in our society. Almost everybody was White, but we wanted to squelch the idea that White was better before it had a chance to get started, and we wanted people to realize that they were welcome to the community, no matter when they joined us.

We rushed as fast as we could to integrate the newcomers into our idea of one big family. We wanted to impress on them that we all depended on each other, and we couldn't afford to let somebody fail to become a part of our community. The newcomers were anxious to meld with us once they realized that there was no going home. All of them were reconciled to that fact after a couple of days, though some did have a problem with homesickness for lost family, especially children.

There were a lot of skills available from the latest arrivals, one that we had really hoped for was that Andy and Jennifer Izod were both radio hams. They were immediately assigned the task of getting the radios from the boats to function as base station rigs for LS1 and LS2. Also, we wanted to get at least one of the golf carts equipped with a more powerful radio. The hand sets were fine up to about 5 miles, less than that in thick woods, but we really needed to be able to keep in contact with the roving units no matter where they were.

The Izods were able to determine very quickly that our trouble with the short range of the base stations was the lack of a decent antenna. The problem with those rigs was in the "whip" antenna that each one used. Once an optimized antenna size was figured out, that took only 10 minutes, and installed, that took all day, we had the communication capability for LS1 and LS2 that we wanted. Swift Rat led an expedition to LS2 to install the radio and the proper antenna; Andy Izod went along to supervise the antenna and radio installation, while Jennifer stayed behind at the LS1 station to do any fine tuning that might be required. It worked the first time!

The power for the station at LS2 was supplied by the wonderful batteries from the future. We still didn't know how they were made and weren't all that anxious to learn. The batteries were hermetically sealed within rigid plastic containers and we were afraid to open one, because some materials used in battery manufacture could explode if they were improperly exposed to the atmosphere. In fact, there was such a warning on the case in 11 different languages!

The batteries were so capable that we could recharge a battery at the trimaran and install it at LS2 for two weeks before it was replaced, even though the radio ran full time at that location. Those batteries were truly remarkable! These were the same batteries that powered the golf carts, and they were good for over 100 miles before they needed recharging.

It turned out that the whip antenna worked OK on the golf carts for extended range as long as they were talking to one of the base stations. The improved antenna at only one end of the path was enough to fulfill our needs. That saved us a lot of headaches.

We had enough salvaged radios to equip four golf carts with the more powerful units, so we were in good shape, once the Izods had done their magic. Now that they knew how, they were hoping for more boats to be transported to us so that the Izods could swipe the radios for more golf cart installations.

Harold Walters was another happy addition to our group. Harold was a dentist, and his wife, Joan, was a dental technician, so we were were covered there, too. One of those goodies salvaged from the trimaran was a complete duplicate set of everything necessary for setting up a dental office, including the anesthetics and what not. There was even the materials and tools for making dentures. We had not known what we would do with that windfall, but we sure did now. As soon as the Walters could get their "office" set up, everybody lined up for a cleaning and checkup. Amos, Ezra, Swift Rat, and Beautiful Flower were especially in need of dental work, and they were all ecstatic over their final results. Amos, especially, was suffering from neglected teeth.

JoAnn Cho was welcomed because she was a General Practitioner (she refused to call herself an Internist) and her husband, Kil, was a landscaper. Alice had tried to do that kind of GP work, but it was so far from the kind of things a surgeon normally did that she had been struggling with the effort. Alice was probably more relieved to see JoAnn show up than anybody else.

Angie was so relieved to be able to go to a professional for advice and support that she was excited to see Kil Cho. Though not a specialist in food crops, he did have an excellent general knowledge of plants, so his aid was a great help.

Zack Jakobs was a high school math and science teacher, so we could put him to work right away. The older kids were ready for that sort of instruction, so it was a very opportune time for him to show up. His wife, Sara, was a high school administrator, so we knew that her skills would soon be necessary.

Charlie Johnson was a pro golfer, and his wife, Sophie, was a personal trainer. I didn't know about Charlie's skills, but Sophie turned out to be an excellent teacher of PE for the kids. Charlie was the only one who was especially bitter about being transported, since he was sure that he would have become the next Tiger Woods. Charlie had exceptional hand-eye coordination, so we expected to find that a valuable asset.

The remaining couple were Sam and Harriet O'Brien. Neither one had a skill that we immediately needed, but they were both very nice people, so we were sure that they would find a way to make themselves useful.

One morning about 11:00 AM, a very shaken female voice came over the radio, speaking in what might have been Spanish or Portuguese. Ezra was rousted up from working on the farm, and he rushed to the radio to speak to whoever was at the other end of the circuit. It was a woman who was on the edge of hysteria; her voice trembled so much that Ezra had a very difficult time understanding her. She was speaking a brand of Portuguese that was not familiar to Ezra, so he had to ask her to repeat things several times.

She was hiding with three other women in the container. They had been attacked by pirates just before the storm hit. The women had been hiding below decks on a schooner headed for Bermuda out of Havana, Cuba. Their men had disappeared, the women had no idea where. They had been on a one-month sailing vacation, and they had planned to set sail to return to Brazil after two days in Bermuda. They had five children with them, all under the age of eight. Ezra told the woman that they would send help immediately, but it could take all day to get there. He told her that they would be safe if they stayed buttoned up in the container. He asked if anyone there spoke English. The woman said that all four women spoke some English, so it would be OK if the rescuers only spoke English.

A quick meeting was held, and it was decided that Ezra would stay at the radio until help arrived to act as a comforting voice for the castaways. Meanwhile, arrangements were made for Swift Rat to lead an expedition to LS2. Swift Rat took his usual golf cart with one of his students. He pulled a trailer with two dogs on it. With him went #2 big gun carrier with its normal crew of three. A second golf cart with trailer was also taken in case not all of the women and children could fit on the single trailer that Swift Rat was pulling. They were taking extra food and water to restock the container and to feed the castaways if they needed it.

The rescue crew left at top speed headed for LS2. Three hours later, as Ezra was talking to the woman, he heard Swift Rat shout over the radio, "IT'S A TRAP! SEND HE..." His voice was cut off before he finished the sentence. Ezra thought he heard the sound of a machine gun chattering away just before both radios at LS2 went dead.