Chapter 9

Over four-dozen family members milled about the food tables. A gathering of the clan wouldn't be complete without food. The table with the sweet rolls, scrambled eggs and bacon was crowded, as was the table with the coffee, milk and juice. A dozen children ignored their mothers' calls to come eat, cavorting through the grass in a rollicking game of chase.

George Swallow ignored his pain, and looked over his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren with melancholy. It might be the last time he saw them all, since his heart was too weak to pump much longer, after that last heart attack. He was already the oldest member of the tribe and a revered veteran of the Korean War, but he knew he didn't have much longer.

Every member of the Eagle clan had been called together by his Grandson Troy. Great doings were in the wind, but George couldn't find anything of interest, except seeing his offspring. Still, Troy had gotten the whole clan together. Even if it wasn't for George's sake, he was happy.

Then a black shape appeared.

At first, it was but a speck in the distance. As it approached, it loomed larger. All of the children stopped their game to stand pointing skyward. Gradually, as the adults turned to see what the children were pointing at; they, too, stood transfixed. The looming shape swelled into a huge black craft. It settled slowly toward the empty field next to the Community Center. It was easily bigger then the building.

George turned his rheumy eyes towards it last, as he had to twist in his seat to do so. Even he was able to see it, as it landed softly. It actually rebounded a couple feet, before coming to rest.

A wide door/ramp lowered, and Troy walked out, waving to his assembled relatives. The children surged forward, and Troy was mobbed by a happy gaggle of young children. He greeted each by name, with a pat, hug or kiss, but sweeping up both his nephew and niece into a longer embrace. Then, purposefully strode toward the gathering of men near his grandfather, George.

Troy knelt and hugged the frail old man, father of the clan, and his grandfather.

Troy asked, solicitously, "How are you, Grandpa?"

In his still steady, if breathless voice, George said, "Good as can be expected. Never mind me! What the hell is that thing you just flew in here?"

"She's my new ship Grandfather. I brought here before the going before the Tribal Council so that I could bring you all along," Troy answered, with a broad smile.

"Harrumph! Well you best not be doing any loop de loops with us all inside. Still, I understand you sent a shot across Cathy's bow last week, and to watch the fireworks, I'd ride on a mule," grumbled George, unable to prevent the grin spreading across his face.

"Oh, I think we can do much better than that, Grandpa. Here, rather than take your wheelchair, let me give you something better," said Troy. He wrapped a Grav belt around George's midriff, and turned it on full.

George's eyes shot wide, and he started to flail his arms and legs weakly. Concerned, Troy said, "Don't worry Grandpa, you aren't falling, you just don't have weight anymore. Come on, let's all get you on board."

Troy walked back toward the Dutchman and up the ramp with his weightless, and now delighted grandfather in tow. Mother's chivied their children together, then up the ramp, and finally, the men trooped aboard.

Inside, Troy waited for everyone to embark, then, said into an intercom, "Captain, prepare to make way." Turning back to face his assembled relatives, Troy raised his voice and said, "We will be in Black River Falls in ten minutes, but feel free to look around the ship. I am going to take Grandpa to the observation deck, and I recommend it as the best view you will ever see."

The Capitan closed the doors remotely, and the children all gesticulated excitedly towards the door, as it closed, before sneaking off to explore the ship. Takeoff for the flight to the Tribal Government complex ninety miles away, in Black River Falls, was so smooth, not one of the new passengers realized that they were airborne. Thus, when Troy took his Uncles and Grandfather into the observation deck, they were shocked to see the ground speeding by, far below.

Uncle Henry spoke sharply, "Just love trying to scare us out of our pants, don't you? Well it won't work!"

Grandpa had had enough. He snapped back, "Oh shut up, Henry! Just look at this! He built it! He's proud of it, and deservedly so! He didn't load us all up to go see the Tribal Council for kicks! He really needs us there, so that, whatever happens, that bitch Cathy can't claim victory out of the ashes!"

Grandpa George turned and asked Troy more mildly, "What do you think she is going to try?

Troy sighed, shrugged, and replied, "I'm not sure. There's not a lot of wiggle room I made sure of that! Still, she won't give up on trying to discredit me, my ideas, and my company, in that order. At our meeting last week, she was going on about immediate cash dividends to the shareholders and board members, in a blatant attempt to have me buy her off."

Uncle John broke in, saying scathingly, "Yes, that's par for the course for her!"

Uncle Dan chimed in, and asked, "What do you want us to do for you Troy?"

"Mainly witness. Whatever she tries, I will have to balk her, and you know how she is. She will claim victory out of the worst defeat, and her relatives are stupid enough to believe her. I just want you all to see what really happens, so that the truth will get out," answered Troy.

Gary pointed out a small town, built around a reservoir that was growing as they descended and approached. "We're here, let's get ready to go into the meeting. Troy had us cut it close so that Cathy would have the least time to react. But I have another idea. Let's not land in the parking lot as planned, but rather behind the ridge first. That way, just Troy and I can go in looking all fat dumb and happy. Then, when things get rolling, I can give the Captain a ring, and he can land in the parking lot as originally planned and you can all join in," he said, with an evil grin.

Grandpa laughed, and then said, still chuckling, "Do it that way. I always wondered why Troy liked having you around. Now I know. You're an evil bastard, but you're my kind of evil bastard! I can't wait to see the look on her face when we all troop in!"

Troy said, "Ok, that's a plan," and got on the intercom to inform the captain of the change in flight plan.

The big ship settled in a field with a ridgeline between it and the Tribal Government complex. Troy and Gary disembarked, and hiked swiftly to the roadway, then into the main building. Inside, they signed in as guests, checked the time, and realizing they had a few minutes to kill, looked around the atrium for a familiar face. Bill Low saw them and hurried over with a smile. As Executive Director of Administration, Bill was responsible for the operations, maintenance, upkeep and utilities for all the Tribe's far flung properties.

Cheerily, Bill asked, "What brings the most famous man of the new century back to Black River Falls? Slumming?"

Troy and Gary shared a meaningful glance. Obviously, Cathy had kept whatever trap she had planned for today a closely guarded secret. If even Bill, who by virtue of his position, was as tapped into the gossip network as anyone had no clue, then no one did.

Troy, with a dismissive wave said, "Meeting with the Council."

Bill said wryly, "Always fun! You two need some coffee?" Bill probably spent as many hours in front of the Council as anybody, arguing over budgets and the unexpected emergency appropriations that the notoriously frugal council always fought tooth and nail. Show them a windmill to tilt, or other frivolous and unnecessary place to spend money, especially if it could indirectly benefit their relatives, and they were all in.

Leading them back to his cramped office area, Bill effused, "Watching the worldwide coverage from our little backwater has me wondering, just how much money have you made so far? It's not like you've been advertising your sales figures! Just that all the networks now have added a special segment to all their news broadcasts, covering the different ways people are using your invention!"

"One of the neatest I saw was a guy in Boston, I think it was, who built a cargo pod outfitted with a Gravity Nullifier to tow behind his Aircycle, and now he's doing deliveries all over town! Then there was the Air Meet! Did you catch that? Of course you did. They replayed parts of it as a special on all the network morning shows today. It looked like everyone, spectators, competitors and commentators all had a blast!"

"Then they did reviews of all the retrofit kits people are being offered on the Internet for cars and motorcycles. That was crazy! There were three hundred, at last count, and nobody knows which one works the best, or if any of them work at all, come to think of it. So now, all the tech shows are lining up to do comparisons and tests, and they still can't say which one is the best overall. Because they are all using different criteria!"

Gary and Troy listened as Bill talked nonstop while they got their coffee, and shared a rueful grin. Neither had ever seen Bill excited about anything. He was normally staid and calm in any situation. And yet, here he was, not even letting them get a word in edgewise, to answer any of his questions.

A couple minutes before the scheduled start, they refilled their coffee cups, and headed toward the Council's Meeting room. As they neared the room, they could see Cathy leave the Legislative Offices, followed by her entourage. She was talking animatedly with the Tribal Attorney General as both groups approached the door leading to the Council Meeting room from opposite sides.

Seeing Troy, Cathy broke off what she had been saying and gave him a false, sickly sweet smile. "Good morning, Troy. Glad to see you could make it, since when I heard you were still in Kansas City this morning, I thought you had forgotten that you were on the agenda."

Troy flinched a bit upon Cathy's blatant attempt to show her superior sources of information, but took heart in the fact that she obviously didn't know that they'd arrived in the Dutchman. So her sources, weren't as close as she might wish.

"Good morning, Councilwoman," Troy said, determined not to give her any satisfaction.

"Well, we should be getting on with it," said Cathy, with a slight sneer.

Cathy and her group preceded Troy and Gary into the Council chamber. Neither Gary nor Troy had been in this room since the day they'd successfully pitched their business plan to the Tribal Council, gaining the then much needed ten million dollar cash investment. Nothing had changed, there were still six tables arranged in a horseshoe at the front of the room, so that four Council members sat on each side of the horseshoe. The Tribal President, who presided over the meetings, and cast the decisive vote in case of a tie, sat in the center.

The longstanding rivalry between the branches of power in the tribe had long ago come down in favor of the Council. They controlled the budgets, including that of the Office of the President and the Courts, and since the President didn't even have veto powers, they did what they wished. Not surprising, since their predecessors had written the Tribal Constitution.

Six rows of chairs constituted the gallery. As usual, whoever had been designated to speak to the Council on each of their agenda items, was already seated in the gallery. Troy looked over the dozen or so tribal employees sitting in the gallery, made his decision, and moved to sit next to Tara.

Tara was a large woman, not fat, but over six feet tall, and well over two hundred pounds. Gary had selected her, because she was more tapped into the inner workings of the Council than any, since her father had been on the council for the last sixteen years, and Vice President for the last six.

"Good morning, Tara," Troy said warmly.

Tara bit off acerbically, "Is it?"

Troy wasn't put off, he'd known Tara all his life, and she was known for her bluntness. She was loyal, warm, and industrious, but also quick to judge, hot of temper, and had a slashing wit. So he didn't rise to her bait.

He simply smiled at her, and said confidently, "Yes, it is, Tara."

Troy watched as the rest of the Legislature of the Hu-Chunk Nation filed in. There was Tara's father, who sat next to the President, Sam Bigbear; he gave Troy a considering look. Then, came Sharon Whitedeer, Cathy's sister; her wild tangled mass of frizzy, graying hair framed her face, and gave her piercing light blue eyes a fanatical light. Troy watched as Sharon gave him a loaded glance, then smiled snidely and leaned over to her sister, Cathy, and began whispering. Don Hughes, a hugely fat man waddled in, huffing and puffing, he dropped bonelessly into his seat; without the energy to spare for consideration towards anyone.

Gary leaned in and asked Troy, "So, besides Sharon and Cathy, who are the other new members since we were last here?"

Troy whispered back, "Frank Whitetail, Tom Redhawk, and Myrna Tomson. We lost two supporters when Cyndi and Sam lost their seats to Cathy and Sharon. I'm not sure how the other new members are leaning."

Tara, overhearing his last statement, said smugly in reply, "Cathy has the votes, she's intimidated Frank, and bamboozled Tom."

Giving Tara a frank look, Troy said, "Just watch Tara. Listen to what happens here today. I'm not sure what you've heard, but whatever happens here, Cathy can't win."

Just before the meeting was scheduled to start, the Tribal President, George Wood, and his Executive Assistant, Mary Brown swept into the room. George, had a spare, lean body and dark complexion, with his hair in a long warrior braid. He caught the eyes of several council members on his way to his seat, at the head of the table. As soon as George had taken his seat, the Legislative Secretary, Lynn Smith, rose and distributed agendas to the President, his staff, and all members of the Legislature and to all members of the gallery.

Troy read his copy, and blurted, "Jesus!"

Gary, unfamiliar with the format, hadn't seen what had set him off, so he asked, "What's wrong Troy?"

Stabbing his finger at the last line of the Agenda, Troy whispered back angrily, "This! It's petty! They put us last on the Agenda! We'll be sitting here for hours! Not only are we the most important thing on the agenda for today, but also probably the most important thing since the last time we were here! But by setting us as the last item, they've made it seem that, to them, a $4000 budget modification is actually more important."

George rose to call the meeting to order. He intoned in his deep, but halting voice, "This session of the Hu-Chunk Legislature is called to order. Vice President Bigbear, will you take the roll?"

Troy and Gary sat, and watched the Hu-Chunk Legislature for the next four hours. Each time Cathy or Sharon was granted the floor, they filibustered for as long as they could, speaking for twenty minutes or more on such fascinating and important subjects as: an emergency budget modification to make up for the over budget snow removal; eliminating the job title of someone they wanted fired; and agreeing to fund a traveling troop of twenty five Hu-Chunk youth, for a "cultural exchange" trip to Hawaii ... in the middle of winter, of course. No one had commented on who the troops membership was, or how membership might be selected. Everybody already knew that the Legislators would pick and choose from amongst their relatives.

Finally, after a lunch break that went thirty minutes over the time allotted, George said, wearily, "The last item on the Agenda, is 'GI2 Business Report.'" Cathy immediately raised her hand to be recognized by the President, who chaired the meeting, more or less following Robert's Rules of Parliamentary Procedure.

George looked to Cathy, and said, morosely, "The Chair recognizes the Honorable Cathy Whitedeer."

Flashing a triumphant grin, Cathy spoke, "I have here, a copy of the sales figures of our business, GI2. The Legislative Secretary will now distribute them." She waved to the Lynn, who began passing out a thick, loose-leaf, portfolio to everyone in the room.

Gary was livid and fearful, and he whispered anxiously to Troy, "Where did she get that report? Why is she presenting those numbers, rather than asking for mine?"