The Mine, Frank and Edith and Silvio

The Mine Frank and Edith and Silvio

John Crandall

11/24/20

The Mine A Frank and Edith and Silvio Story By: John Crandall

Published By: Crandall Writers 2020

Copyright 2020 by John Crandall, all rights reserved Licensed by Creative Commons: Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-Sa 4.0) See the last page for details.

Front Cover Art: Photo by Devin Kaselnak on Unsplash First Printing 2020 Library of Congress Control Number ISBN: 978-1-716-44755-6 Ordering information: This book may be ordered from the printer Lulu.com or the publisher Crandall Writers, but try your local bookstore first.

Publisher: Crandall Writers 1415 Suite C 47th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95822 john@crandallwriters.com Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, educators, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the above address.

U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers, please contact john@crandallwriters (916)708-9708 Photo by Devin Kaselnak on Unsplash.com This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This is for Denise With thanks, also, to my tribe of writers and artists.

Table of Contents Prologue..................................................................................17 Chapter 1.................................................................................19 Chapter 2.................................................................................53 Chapter 3.................................................................................87 Chapter 4...............................................................................107 Chapter 5...............................................................................131 Chapter 6...............................................................................157 Chapter 7...............................................................................191 Chapter 8...............................................................................221 Chapter 9...............................................................................249 Chapter 10.............................................................................259 Epilogue................................................................................263 Glossary................................................................................267

Acknowledgments I am eternally grateful to, Denise, my wife, and the community of writers and artists that I collaborate with. There are too many to list here, but just know, I am never alone, even if no one is there. Here are some of the writers that stand out for me, at the moment. Len, Nancy, Roxann, Irene and Harold, David, Bert and Marisse, Kathy, and many, many, more.

I am deeply indebted to Jan Haag, whose support and advice and nudges of sanity kept me going. She seems to know just what word or phrase should be changed to turn an average story into an excellent tale.

Thank you, Pat Schneider, and the Amherst Artists and Writers (AWA) for your “Writing Alone And With Others.”

Without your influence, I would never have gotten where I am today.

Thank you, My beta readers, I don’t know what I would have done without you: Denise, Len Silvey, Nancy Schoellkopf, Roxann Phillips, Kathy Smith, and Donna McCowan.

Preface I wrote this book because the characters in some of my shorter pieces kept after me to give them a more meaningful existence. The primary issue, assembling this, a longer work, in my writing groups, is that the listener doesn't get to hear the story linearly. They have to settle for bits and pieces now and then. I used prior shorter pieces that I had been writing as back story and started with a(n) idea or prompt or comment and wrote from there. This story's foundation, as is my approach to facilitating Writing As A Way Of Healing, is in the AWA (Amherst Writers and Artists) method of using prompts, which has become a favorite approach. The prompts are there; I just didn't mark them; they are the subject of upcoming books.

Introduction Trikipedia update: In the 1980s, Social scientists warned that our businesses and our governments, top-down, hierarchical structure were no longer useful. Collectively, in some areas, we have adopted many of their suggestions—often without knowing that the zeitgeist had changed. There was a recession in there and bank bailouts and other spasms of Capitalism's dying paradigm.

Searching for a change, any change, in 2016, the electorate named a failed businessman and reality T.V. host as President.

Then there was the corona-virus, one of the most significant forces for the evolution of society away from Capitalism and its so-called Democracy. The direct effects of the country's response (or not) to the virus and racial injustice became the seed for a different perspective. These and other factors were responsible for the revival of the pioneer spirit that brought people together in a communal effort to survive as they did during their settlement of the west. There was a time that if you needed a barn, a cabin, a well, some fields cleared for crops or cattle, your neighbors came to your aid. This glimmer of the movement was in evidence in the helpful, polite way that people from all walks of life pitched in to deal with the virus and its effects.

In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement shook the tree of denial that racism is real and has had a devastating effect on anyone of color. Historians are still trying to create a reliable picture of the forces behind the riots of the time. Some specialists believed that there were two groups represented at most protests. The protesters were not violent, but using them as cover, were the "thugs," whose job was to create the impression that the protests were violent. The real protesters

were more interested in creating a dialogue that did not include the burning and looting.

One way to identify the anti-black lives matter movement was by their rhetoric. Their choice to discount the medical and scientific communities, which puts them solidly in the pocket of the man who lived in the White House, was another indicator of their politics.

Wearing a mask to stop the spread of the virus became politicized, and the MAGA crowd and their lackeys followed their keepers lead. The idea of self-quarantine and social distancing became an attack (some espoused) on the constitutional right to bear arms and to have freedom of expression. The consequence to these followers of the then President is that most of them died from the virus.

In the second upswing of the pandemic, only young to middleaged people contracted the virus (but they took it home with them). The use of masks to contain the virus became politicized, and many refused to wear them. The MAGA (Make America Great Again) contingent followed the President's lead and ignored the scientists and doctors, creating a different and dangerous situation. By not taking the professionals seriously, he caused the death of many people and has been identified as the author of the bad years of 2020.

Some of the people who died in the pandemic were never identified, so the real body count of the remains unknown.

The Mawas (Make America, White Again), as a group, made their politics known by wearing red hats that had Maga printed on the front. The Black Lives Matter resistance was beginning to make progress. Fighting sagging poll results, the President stepped in. In an obvious ploy of seeming strong on law and order to his voters base, he threw untrained Federal Agents into the fray to save the State Governments from themselves.

Federal Agents were to quell the riots, but they only

exacerbated the problem. The white supremacists had also infiltrated the police departments and were ready to unleash their violence. Local politicians' requests that these unasked for thugs be removed were ignored. Epitomizing the issue behind Black Lives Matter, these federal police's use of force made things worse. The nation's attention turned to the longstanding racial inequities in the country. The Oligarchs manipulated The Magas and their leader. They became known for their blind acceptance of the then President, Donald Trump.

Despite fears that the left would abolish the police, the justice system underwent comprehensive restructuring. In time, though, the police's role became more inclusive, including other professionals to deal with the issues they trained to do, allowing police to focus on issues that needed their expertise.

As the police presence was modified, they began to lose the Magas' support, which incensed the *Oligarchy. When they thought they could no longer use civilian police (and agitators), they decided to form ar private army, referred to in this book as the *PeaceKeepers. They gathered all of the misfit policemen whose personality profiles and violent records kept them from working in the new police force. With these misfits, they formed the *PeaceKeepers.

Democracy for individuals and groups became something more. Eventually, as the belief in Democracy and the American dream declined, a new structure formed around the precepts of the Zeitgeist Movement and the Cooperative Commonwealth movement's efforts.

Though there was room for capitalists, money no longer gave them the power it once did. Surprising to the Oligarchs, there was little motivation to hoard—anything, most notably money.

The capitalists hung on to their old ways as the rest of the country moved on. This movement against them started in 2020 and is still a work in progress and will probably continue

to evolve. Some found these changes challenging. Historians point to the growing pains that cultures go through as they develop. This book reflects one struggle between the *Oligarchy who wanted to keep their wealth and the rest of the country that was tired of their machinations. The working class opted out of the Capitalists' Promise (work hard, and you will get ahead). They created a new zeitgeist that included forming a cooperative commonwealth while keeping and making real a more efficient Democracy.

Prologue The boy sat with his face in his hands, shoulders shaking; he could have been crying or laughing or just crazy. His behavior brought him some privacy; boys and young men don't cry, nor do they exhibit any real emotions in public. He was given a wide berth. Despite the heat of the day, he wore his down jacket zipped up and had the hood covering his face.

There was one person who didn't avoid the absurdity of a crying man/boy. He walked directly to the bench, and like a giraffe lying down, folded his legs beneath him to sit next to the boy. After a moment of silence, the middle-aged man grunted then said, "pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?"

No answer escaped the covering of the hoodie. But the sudden tenseness of the boy's body preparation for flight as a response told the story.

"I know who you are and what you did. It wouldn't do you any good to leave, so don't go, because I will be there, where ever you go."

Finally, he got a response, "You can't arrest me; I didn't do nothing."

"No, son, you did more than you thought. Others might try to arrest you or kidnap you, but that isn't why I am here. Hell, I might even be able to keep you out of their clutches. I don't like Homeland Security and the Peace Keepers, as they are now, any more than you do."

"OK, mister, what do you want?"

"I want to take you over my knee and give you what you need, a sound spanking. But that isn't why I am here. You are smart,

there is no question about that, but you have done some stupid things. You left tracks from here to kingdom come, so it was easy to find you."

"What tracks? I am the best hacker there is; I don't leave traces. My motto is: in and out, and somebody else gets hurt."

"I found you because I was already watching you, but others are looking for you now, especially the mob that calls themselves Homeland Security. Their army, the Peacekeepers, have accomplished hackers and an AI that will sift the entire web looking for you. And they will find you. And they all work for the one-percenters, the Oligarchy who think they own everything. You rubbed their nose in it by outing their plan to reset the country to the days when money was king."

"So?" "So, the jig is up. I am good, but that AI is relentless. It is only a matter of time before you are kidnapped or worse unless you do something unexpected. Besides, right now, I need someone of your talent."

"And?" "And follow me; I can extricate you from this mess and keep you safe, but you will have to find a way to trust me."

"The man unfolded and, without looking back, headed to the entrance of the park."

The Mine Chapter 1 The Oligarchy is at it again. This time, they have a monster machine, and they aim to use it. The once-powerful are engaged in an attempt to reset the country to its bygone days when money was king. They are working on ensuring the destruction of anything electronic in the Rustbelt.

Star crossed agents of the Maquis, Frank, and Edith are brought together again for this mission. They are assigned a third team member, Silvio. A strange addition to any unit, he becomes integral to their efforts. All three operators have embedded AI's that serve as Personal Assistants and more. Can these six entities stop the Oligarchies, or will they take back their "(not so) Free Market Economy," plunging the country into the darkness that began in 2020.

It was between his first and second sleep that they, the minions of the richest of the many groups of the *Oligarchy, scooped him up. They descended on him, just about midnight, exactly when he expected them. Everything was going just the way he had planned it but it was late in coming. He was surprised that it had taken them two days to decide to come for him. He had expected them to investigate his box house days earlier on his arrival. They came for him in what some might call the dorveille, that state between wakefulness and dreaming when you are supposed to be most vulnerable. But he always slept lightly, maintaining enough awareness that he was always ready for whatever came his way while getting the rest he needed. This sleep pattern allowed him to rest without losing the ability to respond quickly and with aplomb. There was not much that he needed to do to prepare for the coming events and he was awake anyway and knew what was afoot.

19

John Crandall This is where the killing might have begun but it was too soon so he just bided his time.

Frank had set up camp inside a cardboard box that once held some kind of household appliance, a big one. It was capable of housing his 6 foot frame in comfort. The container offered a little camouflage, it was just the kind of thing a homeless person would have chosen to live in, until he was told to move on, anyway. The box kept the sun and the dew off of him and was really quite comfortable. “He had a dirty looking pillow and blankets for appearance’s sake to keep the ground ache from his hips.. He had an empty whiskey bottle, which he used to add to the camouflage and for when he had to pee and he couldn’t leave because something important was happening. Otherwise, a nearby Coffee Tea and Company (CT&Co) Cafe offered him a steady stream of coffee and a wifi connection for syncing his *Daemon or Watcher, as Frank named him. This Artificial Intelligence (AI) or *Daemon was state of the art Artificial Intelligence and was no simple codex.

He or it, if you are averse to personifying an AI acted as Frank’s protector, guardian, e-go-fer and internal administrative assistant. His job was to assist and to watch (observe) and report, but neither Frank or his AI, was satisfied with that. They had modified the algorithms that constituted his program, drastically. There were facets of programming though, that they, Frank and Watcher, left intact in case anyone had reason to look. The original algorithms were designed to Watch (observe) and report. Frank thought that it made a good moniker, so he renamed his AI as The Watcher, or simply, Watcher. Periodically, Watcher needed to check-in and to retrieve information garnered by his Filter Feeder Spy-ware (*FFS) that constantly combed the ubiquitous web for him, so a nearby wifi source was imperative.

20

The Mine Watcher, was the specialized computer chip in Frank’s brain, one of the first “hard wired” artificial intelligence implants, and it was unique. Part of Frank’s brain had been genetically altered to grow the wetware required to connect with the AI. There were disadvantages but this arrangement had its benefits. Created as a Synthetic Biological (*SB), which was virtually undetectable to most scanners and metal detectors.

Watcher also gave Frank access to all of the benefits of the internet and supervised his research, even when Frank was preoccupied with other things, as he was today. Watcher was also equipped with a low powered communication device located in a pocket of skin in Frank’s left upper chest that linked him to another transceiver that was normally in his pocket. This inorganic transverter or hotspot, had a limited range, though and often required some other way of connecting to the web.

It hadn't taken Frank long to get the lay of the land and to chronicle the comings and goings of the occupants of the little building that bristled with antennas. It was almost fun for him to also watch from his vantage point of the several nearby surveillance cameras that had become were everywhere now He could have used satellite imaging too, but he would have to have been nearer to either unsecured wifi or Blue tooth, he didn't think it was necessary. Besides, he didn't want the kind of exposure and bandwidth consumption that such a heavyduty video connection would have engendered.

As always, when casing a particularly boring target, and when it was safe, Frank reviewed past missions and what he learned from them. Not one to doubt him self, he found such ruminations helpful. And, in the quiet time, he left Watcher in charge so he could visit the memories hidden away in an area of his consciousness where Watcher would never go. It was in 21

John Crandall this area or room as he thought of it, that Frank kept everything “Edith” that he wanted to keep private. Some of his feelings and attitudes towards Edith would be cause for their handlers to separate them. He had to admit that she was more important to him than would be considered appropriate.

If there was the leisure to do so, Frank would devote part of his attention, to savor their relationship.

Watcher roused Frank when he observed three people exit the building from the back door. The late hour and the behavior of the trio was his first clue that this was not a part of the regular routine – they never used that door. He had chronicled their normal routines and could predict their usual movements.

They stood for a moment in the glare of a sodium vapor light fixture situated over the door. It appeared that his soon to be antagonists were trying to get some night vision – an impossibility with that light over the door. They split up and moved in three directions following their flashlight beams. A woman in high heels and a tight dress moved immediately to her right taking the sidewalk to Frank’s left. A youngish man, slight, well dressed but looking disheveled, took a dirt path that went diagonally across the field to Frank's right. Frank just shook his head when, as the man made his way clumsily through the rubbish-strewn field, and nearly tripped over a huge rock. The idiot had somehow managed not to see the hazard, even though Frank could see it in the dark from where he was watching. The middle-aged man waited a moment letting the pair get into position before picking his way delicately through the weeds, aiming himself and the beam of his light directly at Frank's hovel. Frank noted the frontal approach and increased his vigilance, noting that the man’s confederates were taking a position on either side of his location. Bad form, he thought if there were to be any shooting, the two would end up taking each other out.

22

The Mine Watcher had automatically turned the entire tableau into a diagram with vectors for each actor plotted and drawn on the virtual screen in Frank's mind. Estimates of lethality scrolled upward and downward on the lower right section of Frank’s vision, on the Heads Up Display (*HUD) which is how Frank thought of it. The trio cautiously made their way in his direction. "Look for the five whys before you act." was a mantra that Frank picked up from his mentor and trainer, General Alexander, back in the early days when he first joined the resistance or *“Refus Absurde” and became a modern-day Maquisard. Since the probability of danger from the three of them remained low, just over one, nowhere near the nines; Frank remained where he was and just watched. He had to chuckle though at the “Remember the nines” another bit of advice that the General, would growl anytime they were on a mission and could expect trouble. The thing that made it funny is that there was no list of rules, it was just something the General liked to say.

Then, two legs sheathed in severely creased pants that barely covered just the tops of some very expensive and highly polished shoes, filled the entrance to Frank's hidey-hole. The field was in darkness, with only the light over the door to ease a persons vision. The nearly ambient light fled, eclipsed by the form standing in front of it. "Hey buddy, up and out," said a very gruff voice.

Frank did not react other than to toss his empty whiskey bottle out of the cardboard box. He nearly giggled at the nearly mandatory tinkle the bottle made as it rolled away into the bushes, leaving a stinking trail of urine as it went.

One of the mirror-like shoes nudged the cardboard "I said up and out."

23

John Crandall On his hands and knees now Frank staggered out, no mean feat when on all fours and he looked blearily up at the middleaged man. "What?" was all he said.

"God you stink," said the overdressed man.

Frank smiled inwardly, he had paid a bum well for the clothes stashed beneath the shelter just to provide that stink. While Frank's clothes were clean, they had, like the pillow and blanket had been made to appear dirty. If anyone would have paid attention, this detail would have been obvious. As soon as Frank left the environs of his box, the stench of the dirty old, urine-soaked clothes of a homeless alcoholic dissipated in the wind.

The middle-aged man waved a gun in Frank's direction, then towards the back door of the building. He grabbed Frank's arm and pushed him in the direction he had just indicated. As soon as it was apparent that Frank was not going to offer any trouble, the young man and the woman curved around behind the pair, and caught up with them. They all arrived at the door at the same time, the woman stepped in front of Frank and the middle-aged man to push a series of numbers on a keypad.

Frank didn't think he would need the information but out of habit, he carefully watched her punch in the code. Forefinger, one, then three; middle finger five, then forefinger eight, 1358.

Her moves seemed rote which told Frank that this code had not changed in quite some time and that it might apply to other combination locks inside the building.

Once inside the building, Frank was taken down a short hall to a small room where he was pushed through a door, hinged on his right. They slammed the door with a hollow smack and locked it behind him, the door issuing an almost pathetic click.

24

The Mine The sound of the door told Frank that it was a lightweight standard core-less door with a very cheap lock. The room had a beat-up gray painted metal table and 3 chairs, it also had an obvious one-way mirror, which Frank took to be more window dressing than functional. Since there was no one to tell him otherwise, he took the chair that faced the door, a preferred position for him, and sat while he assessed his situation.

Watcher, his *Daemon, had gained access to, and was busy with a thorough check of their wireless network. Frank, on the other hand, took inventory of the physical space around him.

Cool dry air washed over him from a vent in the ceiling, central air, check, fluorescent lights in a drop ceiling, which was obviously low enough below the roof to offer a crawl space above, check, walls that went up to but not past the ceiling, obviously not firewalls and just as obviously an easy exit, if he wanted it, check. With his first inventory finished, he tipped his chair back and closed his eyes to just listen, to get a feeling of the ebb and flow of the place. There was a noticeable lack of a day to day office noise but there was an odd electrical sound humming in the background.

He was soon rejoined by his captors.

"We caught you red-handed, we know you are up to something," said the prissily dressed man as he sat.

"What, sleeping in a field, being homeless, sure that'll get me a night in the hoosegow but nothing like this. And not in a place like this, why it's not even a police department, and badges, I haven't seen any badges, you guys probably aren't even cops."

25

John Crandall Ignoring that, the middle-aged man spoke again, "What's your name, what were you doing on private property, our private property?"

"Frank," he said, "and I wasn't doin nothin." Frank stayed in character, just because he could, but he couldn’t stop an arrogant half-lit smile from quirking his lips slightly.

Pacing back and forth, watching him out of the corner of her eye, the woman strutted as the middle-aged dandy did most of the talking. Frank could tell that his role was the bad cop, hers was obviously going to be the good cop.

"Frank, you said your name was Frank," said the woman.

Frank knew that gambit too, try to get some agreement to a fact, any fact, no matter how small. "Isn't my name but that is what I said." He drawled, stringing out the last words emphasizing the “I” then turning it into an elongated eIeee, part of the southern drawl his disguise called for. This had the desired effect of throwing her off of her game and more importantly, grating on her nerves.

Frank was growing weary. These people were good; they had obviously received expensive and valuable training in advanced interrogation techniques but this was school kid shit, he had been subjected to worse, much worse. In most cases, and with most people, the techniques they were using might have elicited the information they were looking for but Frank had actually written and taught the curriculum for classes they had obviously taken. He knew as much about their tactics as they did. More importantly, though, he knew more than they did. They did not stand a chance.

26

The Mine "Come clean Frank or whoever you are or you will find yourself in a worse situation than this."

"Oooohhh, I'm scared."

This harangue went on for what Watcher told him was exactly twenty-eight minutes and seventeen seconds, with neither side giving way.

"Unless you cooperate, this is the last place you will see before we Gitmo you," threatened the middle-aged agent.

"That's it," said Frank "I'm saying no more until I get my lawyer."

"Not happening," said the woman gently, "just tell us who you are and what you were doing in the field so we can let you go."

"No lawyer, no more talking," Frank said as he closed his eyes and feigned sleep.

What Frank was really doing was checking up on the specialized search and destroy Trojan Horse (programs) that Watcher, was busy inserting in their systems. Together, he and Watcher had modified, and personalized *Spider Bots to do a little more than they had originally been designed to do. These bits of programming were insidious and would more accurately be referred to as Search and Destroy Weapons (*SDWs). As security-conscious as these people might think they were, they had made several very common mistakes.

Like everyone else, their network was hardened against attacks from outside, but none of them remembered or even thought 27

John Crandall about the programs that controlled things like security and lighting and temperature and elevators and a myriad of other things customarily controlled by an IoT (Internet of Things) system. All of these peripherals were controlled by dedicated Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). PLCs can be standalone or remote but most often they are linked to an organization's network. This was usually for the convenience of management. Anything that is linked to a network is open to hacking from the inside—without detection. And Frank and his AI were experts at surreptitiously hacking systems, especially if a PLC is involved.

The woman watched him for a few minutes, then nodded at the other two, then turned abruptly and walked out the door.

The other two left, one of them slamming the door behind him and leaving Frank alone for a full two hours and ten minutes according to his internal clocks, plenty of time for him to invade their system. He was able to piggyback an email out to his handlers at the Maquis Corps to give them a Situation Report (*Sitrep). The Corps was an outgrowth of the Zeitgeist and Cooperative Commonwealth movements (sustainability advocacy groups) and the Nameless, which was itself an amalgamation of several resistance groups like Incognito, and the Occupy Movements. This self-described hacktivist group, which coalesced in the mid-2000s around the issues of antiinternet censorship, internet activism, internet trolling, and internet vigilantism and just about any activist organization whose manifesto was compatible. Their focus grew and shifted as the Populist Movements were assimilated. While the Maquis Corp continued to broadly represent the concept of any and all of the splinter groups, there were exceptions. An unnamed collective of more active members took on the role of watchdog, protecting the rights of individuals and open source organizations. It is one of those factions that became, 28

The Mine simply, The Cleaners, which was the group Frank chose to work for.

Frank’s expectation was that within an hour of informing Incognito of his situation he would be freed. That was the good news, but one of the things that had Watcher’s attention was that the members of this team, the one that had captured him, were not of any rank and that their overseers were due to arrive in just a little over an hour. Frank recognized the name of one of the soon to arrive supervisors. This person could identify him and he did not want to be there when that person made their appearance. He instructed the bots that Watcher had placed in the odd corners of the buildings the computer systems. These bots, had a single purpose, to send the contents of the memories of as many computers as they could to the home office. Their last act, before erasing everything on every piece of hardware – was to set fire to the building. The goal was to be sure that the place burned to the ground.

Frank had just completed his last instruction and was preparing to put his *Daemon on standby when the door opened and the trio walked back into the room and sat down, just stared at him, then, "Are you ready to talk?" asked the woman that he had identified as the leader of the group.

Frank just looked at her.

The middle-aged man, the lieutenant, reached into the pocket of his expensive suit, which bulged a little too obviously under his right arm, he must be left-handed, Frank thought. The man said, "We just got word that if you don't talk, we get to have the pleasure of disappearing you So. . .," he paused expectantly then as he stood up, he said, "still nothing to say, well since junior over there is a virgin with some of the new 29

John Crandall firearms, that he normally get to see, so he gets to be trigger man."

Frank knew better, they had had no instructions and no one used firearms anymore, not even the disenfranchised, there were better ways of "unfinding" prisoners. None of this changed his decision to remain silent, he just folded his arms and looked at them.

The man sat and leaned back in his chair as the young woman walked behind Frank, a mistake if gun play really was in their future. He could hear a zip tie being readied though and since he wasn't willing to have his arms tied behind his back he began preparing for the very very near future. Watcher had turned the room and its contents into a diagram and with it displayed a statistical analysis with an ever-changing risk assessment on Frank's *HUD. As he did the last time. Frank made his own calculations based on experience, which didn’t need to be displayed on the *HUD. He doubted that the young man had a gun but he was sure that the middle-aged one did but he had replaced it in the holster under his right arm. He was at a disadvantage because he had sprawled back just barely watching and he had a faraway look in his eyes, so his attention was definitely not in the room. He would be the slowest to react and would probably get tangled in his suit coat if he tried to get to his gun in a hurry. The woman, who had made her way behind him, was dressed in such a way that there was no concealing anything under her clothes, so it was more than apparent that she was only armed with a zip tie.

Without seeming too, Frank and Watcher prepared his body to act. Recognizing imminent danger way before Frank's lizard brain could have, his *Daemon had already sent a signal to his hypothalamus, which—when stimulated—initiates the firing 30

The Mine of a sequence of nerve cells which in turn caused a chemical release that prepares the body for running or fighting. Frank’s time sense slowed as he slowly tensed his muscles.

Then Watcher abruptly changed Frank’s mind for him, the extraction team, his rescuers, were at the door, ready for insertion. Instead of jumping up and behind the woman as he had originally planned, Frank threw himself down and to the left, which put him behind and beneath the table. He put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes tightly. His moves obviously confused his captors, because they just stood there with a dumbfounded look on their faces as the door crashed open and a flash-bang rolled across the floor.

There was a flurry of activity. Personnel in thick, PPE (Personnel Protection Equipment) that was stiff and uncomfortable looking, but obviously better than the outdated, Kevlar uniforms that most law enforcement used. Then the soldiers stormed the room according to well rehearsed choreographed of moves. The first insurgent low and to the right, away from the hinge, the second high and to the left, hitting the door with his shoulder before proceeding further into the room. In the space of one adrenaline fed heartbeat, there were four black-clad retraction team members, the three captors, and Frank, which made eight adrenaline jacked people in a small room. Three of the team took down the woman and two men while the fourth went from one to another, zip-tying their hands and feet together.

The dust had almost decided to settle when Edith walked in.

"You sure hang out with some bad people," she said.

Betraying no emotion, despite his excitement at working with her again, he countered. "I think I figured that out, but hang 31

John Crandall out is something we don't have time to do, this place is rife with my *SDWs who are about to burn it down."

"I figured that, but *Homeland Security, and their bad asses, the *PeaceKeeprs, are a mile out in a helicopter. Your work is done here, out the back door, turn right, the third car down is mine, wait for me there. I will mop up,1 and once these people are secure in our vehicles, we will be off."

Frank smiled to himself; Edith, as always, was ready to take charge even knowing that Frank wasn't controllable. He couldn't leave without an acknowledgment of some kind so he saluted and said. "Yes, Ma’am.”

Frank went out the back door, into the early morning sunlight, he looked left carefully taking in the situation, then he looked right, before going to Edith's car. A man he recognized as an agent (obviously drowsing) of the *PeaceKeeprs was in the driver's seat. Frank knew this man and so did Watcher, this was bad news that would complicate things and bring on all sorts of trouble. Keeping his head high and out of sight of the driver, Frank knocked on the window and when the man buzzed it down, Frank told him. "Change in plans, tell Agent Ed, (Edith) that I will catch up with her at home." This was a coded message to Edith to beware.

The man only got the word "What?" out before Frank was hotfooting it around the corner running hard to the front of the building. Quickly turning left, away from the building, he crossed the street and assumed the gate of a man strolling in his own neighborhood. He only wished he had a dog to complete the ruse but in the words the Rolling Stone, "You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometimes you find you get what you need." Frank didn't need a dog right 32

The Mine then so he let it go and let the universe provide what he needed.

In the distance, Frank heard helicopters, then he heard the sound of engines racing and tires screaming as Edith and her crew made their escape. Then there was the whump of what was probably the gas from a backup generator igniting. That fire would grow quickly as if the sprinkler system was defective, which it probably wasn't but it had been bypassed by his *SDWs and would do absolutely nothing to abate a fire.

And as of yet, there were no sirens, which made him smile, the security system had not reported the fire and wouldn't. The fire department would have to wait for a neighbor to notice and then to actually phone them and then they would wait for corroborating calls before they responded: there had been way too many false alarms in that area in the recent past. Frank smirked remembering that it was he who had been making spurious reports of fire. It would be a race now between the helicopters and the fire department and Frank was interested in who would get there first. Frank could think of no better place in the world to watch the spectacle of a burning building than from a coffee shop.

Coffee Tea and Company, his normal caffeine emporium, was near, and while he had spent too much time there already it did have a real good "line of sight" view of the building. On the opposite corner of the field that held the building, he could sit and sip with a front-row seat to the activity he had fomented.

Frank knew their service was fast and they offered free wifi too and he had a nostalgic fondness for the Sacramento-based coffee shop.

Sitting at a sidewalk table with his large dark roast lightened with half and half, and a chocolate chip cookie at hand 33

John Crandall because he deserved a treat, he took a big breath. Then he told Watcher it was safe here, and that he could initiate the wifi connection to the internet. Frank had barely gained a connection when Edith was Skyping at him.

"Where the fuck are you Frank?"

"Coffee break time, my contract calls for regular coffee breaks."

"Funny boy. Really, where are you?"

"Are you alone in the car or do you still have a driver?"

"Why?" "I don't know where the Maquis Corp got him from but he is definitely Not on our side. That is why I named you Ed when I talked to him."

"Shit, he never said anything about that."

"Edith, your best bet is to take him out then disappear until we can figure out what is going on."

"Damn right I will."

"And do it quickly, he is going to have back up very soon, the helicopters should have been here by now so I would guess they have changed their goals and are hot on your trail."

34

The Mine "Off then," she said and there was silence where her voice had been. Frank listened to the silence for a minute before then began to sort the information that he had gathered so far.

Frank checked with Watcher and found that his memory cells were as full as they could get. He would have preferred to use his own hotspot, the one that was almost always held a regular place in his pocket but since he had been undercover and couldn't carry anything that remotely resembled sophisticated electronics, he didn't have it. He did have CT&C.’s wifi and that would have to work, it wasn't necessarily any less secure Franks encryption was pretty thorough, but the connection was slower, and it would leave him sitting with nothing to do but sip his coffee. He did not have a computer or phone as a prop to legitimize an extended stay in a coffee shop. So he did the only thing he could do, just sat there sipping his coffee pretending to be preoccupied.

Frank was able to turn part of his brain to skimming the information that Watcher was sending to his cloud account.

Despite his time spent watching, he was none the wiser and hoped something would pop up to help him understand what had been going on in that little building. He had been there for a week and still knew very little about what had been happening, but slowly the pieces of Watcher’s research were beginning to fall into place. This building was a former covert and clandestine government surveillance center and had probably been sold "as is" to its current owner or taken over by the nefarious *PeaceKeeprs, but who or what were they surveilling?

Frank realized that he had forgotten to put into use one of his recent inventions, what he liked to call his “Invisibility Cloak.” (IC) This piece of programming was a more advanced 35

John Crandall version of the one that the long since deserted Epcot Center had used in their "Planet Earth" to paint the faces of riders onto the animated characters. It was eventually picked up by APP programers and sold generically as Fake Face. This software would essentially switch his face with that of anyone in the world. He had developed and expanded it recently for his own use and had not even had a chance to share it with Edith yet. It had been a grave mistake in judgment, not turning it on as he left the building, because it meant that anyone, the bad guys, the cops, the geek down the street, anyone could follow his moves and know where he was at this very moment.

Damn, he thought. Then he got lucky, the guy next to him got up and headed towards the back of the coffee shop. Frank got up and followed. The restrooms were down a long hallway that was bereft of cameras like he knew it to be. Still in wifi range, Frank and Watcher clicked a series of links that activated the sophisticated facial recognition program, which would then keep track of his location and change the audio and visual output of any remote listening devices to that of the man who serendipitously had to use the john. This essentially erased any and all electronic evidence of his presence. After turning on his cloaking program he continued down the hall and out the back door confident that anyone watching for him from afar would not see or hear him, for a while, they would see a doppelganger instead.

Frank walked out the door, looking left, then right and then he smiled. There, waiting for him, in it's charging bay was one of the ubiquitous Ugly, or G Cars. Frank loved the UGly cars, because when not in use they were kept in covered bays, their roofs being solar collectors to charge the vehicles’ batteries.

He was especially grateful for the covering because anyone watching from the sky would not see the door open and close meaning those cameras weren't a problem and he could handle 36

The Mine the internal sensors. Frank slipped in the back door and lay on the back seat. He sent a signal via wifi that would find its way to the Trojan Horse program that he had embedded in the UGly Dispatch and Traffic Control Center before it had been taken over by the *Oligarchy. It was waiting for his command and once activated, Frank could have this car put into service for a pick up at the entrance to the nearby subway, and then it would be rerouted to another charging bay at the nearby CT&C,2 so that he could get out of the area undetected. These movements might have been observable by someone who knew where to look but Frank usually left very little to chance and had covered his tracks as well as possible, considering the situation.

On the short trip, Frank, like everyone who used them, gave little thought to the UGly car they were using. No one needed their own cars anymore, these modern taxis were everywhere, and they had more than taken the place of Lyft, Uber and the Tessla after these three and more, went belly up. This innovation, a driver-less car, first introduced in 2022, had changed the face of cities, replacing most traditional public and privately owned ways of getting from here to there, especially in populated areas. Only the government and the wealthy could afford the cost of the old fashioned person driven gasoline-powered engines. And they didn't need drivers, they were electric and robotic, and there was very little maintenance required for the new batteries. For the most part, they were charged by the solar panels located on the top of their charging bays. Except in high traffic times, the wait for one was five minutes or less. Traffic jams were almost a thing of the past because the dispatch computer rerouted traffic according to an ever-changing algorithm that adapted to current situations.

37

John Crandall As soon as he was underway, Frank pinged Edith and got an immediate response. On his satellite map, her icon was stationary. "Edith," he began.

"Little busy now Frank, but thanks for the heads up. Those copters were homed right in on our cars. They fucking killed everyone, even their agents, but somehow, the driver got away.

I barely got out of there alive."

"I have turned an invisibility cloak on and you won't look like you in cameras but now we need someone to paint with your picture. As soon as you see someone, send me their personal Key (id) Code and they will become your doppelganger."

"Pretty tough right now," she answered, "I am in the middle of what could be mistaken for a war zone. No one and I mean no one is walking around."

"Are you safe, could you get into an UGly." "Not right now, the copter is still hovering. Too bad for them they created so many fires, they won't be able to see my heat signal but I hear sirens in the distance. Any minute now, it will be thick as peanut butter with the official response, maybe that will scare *Homeland Security off."

Frank double-checked his sat map, "in minutes, I will have UGlies stationed at the quadrants, if you see your way clear, run for it, or if necessary, we can have one scoop you up. But your hand might be forced; it looks like the response is going to be big. I think you need to disappear yourself quick."

38

The Mine "I am at a loss about why, but for some reason, the helicopter is winding up as if to leave. I think I can make a dash, but which way?"

"Looks like most of the official reaction is coming from the South, but I will send all the cars in, you catch what you can, then let me know and they will all run like cockroaches when the lights are turned on. It would probably be the safest if you took the one on the North but right now, anything will do."

"Give me a minute,” Edith said, “I can't get North but I can avoid South, look for me to be on the eastbound UGly." Then radio silence took over and Frank focused on making sure the dispatch and traffic computers were handling things the way he wanted; Edith, after all, was very important to him.

It was after midnight before Frank and Edith were both in the safe house, together. "Tough day today," Frank said.

"That it was Frank, with more than a couple of close calls.

And I am so grateful that you grew up as a geek's geek. I don't know that I would have gotten out of that mess without the UGlies and I still don't understand what it is you did to get me out of there. Your invisibility cloak you said, but you never told me about it before. I really appreciate the ability to walk around and not be recognized by big brother."

Frank laughed, "And to think that the dome heads at the *PeaceKeeprs haven’t thought of it yet themselves, I invented that software before they started using computerized face recognition. And to think I borrowed an idea that was originally developed at Disney, and expanded on it. It makes me giggle every time I think about it. They might have an

39

John Crandall inkling that someone is manipulating what they see but they don't know who or how yet."

"Just don't giggle too loud or too long, people wonder about you already. So what now? " "What now, is that this is as good a time as any for us to stay covert. We are off of everyone's map and the longer we stay that way the better. Besides we have work to do."

Let’s synchronize our data first Frank, we can save the other for later."

Frank grunted in agreement. The best way for them to synch was for them to have skin to skin contact allowing a direct link between their *Daemons "You want to shower first or should I go?"

"I really am bushed,” said Edith,” and I want to get the smell of smoke from my hair. I keep seeing the burning cars and the victims who were in them, and want to start to erase that scene from my memory."

"OK I got my shower in earlier, so you shower and while you are scrubbing, I'll check in to see if my Filter Feeders have found any new information in my cloud and I suppose I ought to find a way to send in some sort of a situation report."

Edith stood up and headed for the shower. "You do that Frank; I just want to get clean for now."

Frank pushed his shoes off, sat on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table then closed his eyes. Setting aside his 40

The Mine daydreams of being with Edith, he checked in with Watcher, who had already found a nearby wifi source but it was slower than Frank wanted, so he picked up the hotspot camouflaged as a vid remote that every Safe House kept on hand and activated its wifi function for faster internet access.

Frank quickly drafted a report detailing the day's events and sent it on its way. He had barely begun reviewing the data that the *Spider Bots had garnered from their shadowy sifting of internet traffic when his email service pinged with an immediate "out of office" notification from the Incognito mail server. He carefully read the text of this message, which had been left on the main mailbox: "Hi, this is Gayle Samson, thank you for your text. I will be out of the office until Friday, November 13th. If you need to speak to someone right away, please dial 03 and someone will assist you (Monday and Tuesday) or contact George Cord at 229-939-7667 (Wednesday, Thursday or Friday) or you can leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks! Gayle."

This carefully worded document was full of information, none of it good. The names, dates, phraseology even the phone number – one that would ring through to an automated answering and tracking service – was important. The upshot of the message was that Incognito had gone on lock down because outsiders, probably the *Oligarchy had infiltrated the organization physically and or electronically. Frank wasn't surprised; the driver of Edith's car must not have been the only sleeper and it looked like he got away somehow. What surprised and concerned Frank was the level of the threat; it was the highest he had yet to see. He went immediately to the g-phone number for gaylesamson@gmail.com and entered the password WedThFri304 (from Wednesday Thursday or Friday)

41

John Crandall and extension 03. He quickly uploaded a return message and exited the system.

Edith came from the shower, dressed in only a towel. She was busy scrubbing her hair dry. "So what do we know?" she asked.

Frank sat on the old couch stretched out comfortably with his bare feet still on the coffee table, he was deep in thought.

Edith sat next to Frank who put all of his programs, filter feeders and especially Watcher on hold. He looked up and with an effort, returned to the here and now. We really stirred the hornets' nest today. Your driver wasn't the only sleeper, he is actually from management. It looks like there were a few of them embedded even on the inside of The Corps so everything is locked down, and everyone has gone underground, oh and we officially have a mission.

"Oh goody," Edith said, "what is it."

"Seems that the building we burned down today . . ."

"No ‘we’ to it," interrupted Edith, "this one is all on you."

"OK, the building Watcher and I burned down today was a monitoring station for some kind of tests the bad guys are conducting north of here. Once they get whatever it is calibrated, something, some kind of nefarious shit is due to happen in about two weeks, maybe three."

"Really," Edith said as she began combing her wet hair. "What else do we know?"

42

The Mine "No one has details yet but it has something to do with an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (*EMP) generator hidden in an old copper mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan."

"Okay, Frank, what does a copper mine have to do with anything and can't they give us any better Intel than that?"

"A copper mine is probably the best natural shielding there is, to most sensing technology and it could be a natural amplifyer.

The eyes in the sky can't seem to penetrate it with any of the normal technology they use and they don't want to use groundpenetrating radar because it is more readily recognized and it would be a dead giveaway besides, it probably wouldn’t show anything anyway. " "Won't they know we are onto them based on what happened today?"

"Seems the little fire that the *SDWs started was enough of a diversion that they don't know what really happened today.

The fact that they were suspicious of me, then set the helicopters on you is worrisome though. Let's hope that their source inside knows something about what our suspicions are, but not any details, assuming they were caught and questioned."

"What next then, Frank?"

"Tomorrow morning we take a Sail Car North and make our way to White Pines, Michigan and the copper mine to find out what we can. But first, we need to sync I have a lot more information that you and your *Daemon, Ary, need."

43

John Crandall "Well," she said, "we are on a mission now."

"Yup," Frank said.

"And we need to synch," she said.

"Yup" "You want to be top first or bottom," she asked with a grin.

"Yup," he said.

She threw a leg over and straddling him, sat on his lap facing him. "Looks like I am on top." She said as the towel covering her fell away.

"Yup." As Frank stood, Edith wrapped her long legs around his waist.

"This, he said, is one of the things I love about being on mission with you." He held her close, enjoying the feeling of her firm curves tight against his waist. Frank navigated the narrow hallway carefully, so as not to bang Edith's head or feet on the door jambs and walls.

Laying her on the bed, Frank took his clothes off too, folding them neatly on the back of the chair.

"I sure love my body when it is with your body and you look as good as ever," said Edith as she watched him undress.

"And no new scars, you must be getting soft. It has been far too long since we worked together. There aren't too many who can or will synchronize the way we do and none of them 44

The Mine appeal to me anyway. As much as they say we shouldn't get romantically involved, I have come to enjoy and look forward to this part of our partnerships."

"You just like to synch," laughed Frank as he settled next to Edith to lie on his back looking at the ceiling. The only physical contact they had now was their hands which were intertwined and lie on the bed between them. They both went inward to prepare their *Daemons for the upcoming data transfer. The exchange of information to come happened best when the pair were engaged in sex, which was in their immediate future. The skin to skin contact of their lovemaking enhanced the electronic transfer of information between them but it was their abandonment of higher-level thought processes for more base pursuits that kept their consciousness from interfering with the process. Once the "they" of them was out of the way, the data could flow uninterrupted.

Further enhancing their ability to work together well is the bond that forms when two people have sex. Researchers have long known that this type of bond depends a lot on the physical and emotional chemistry of those involved. Frank and Edith were special, their chemistry was strong and compatible but it was also situational. For a mission, they could work together, create a strong bond and then when it was over, they would go their own way. Early on, they both realized that they had to have time away from each other, the intensity of their pairing was far more than either could or would handle on an ongoing basis.

As Frank and Edith lay there, letting their *Daemons connect, they allowed themselves to sink into remembrance of past encounters, which helped trigger an excitement for the one to 45

John Crandall come. The Electro-Biological messages traveled from skin to skin as the chemistry of sex began to enhance the movement of information from one to the other. As one, they turned on their sides and opened their eyes, still only holding each others hands.

Together, they said, "God I love this." Then they laughed.

"It has been far too long," said Frank.

"I know we can't have each other permanently but I do miss being with you." Edith returned.

Frank, in a husky voice, said, "you took top this time."

"Impatient aren’t you."

Taking her hand lower, maintaining physical and electrical contact, he wrapped it around himself. "If that is what you want to call it, yes I am impatient. And you know for the *Daemons to talk, without leaking signals, that others could pick up, we have to maintain contact, so you can't let go until we touch in some other way."

Squeezing and pulling gently, Edith smiled. "I can think of far better ways for us to keep our connection."

"Oh, really, and what is that?"

Again, Edith threw her top leg over Frank's hips, then she pushed her pelvis towards him and using the resulting momentum, ended up on top of Frank straddling him again.

"This is a start," she said.

46

The Mine "Someone has been following their exercise regimen, which is one of the reasons I like to be with you." Frank said.

"That's really a self-defense move," Edith answered.

"Seems more offensive than defensive."

Edith ground her hips, "is this offensive?" she asked.

"Yes," Frank said, "and you have two hundred years to stop."

The electrical charge, which only a select few could even sense, that had been passing through their hands, had found a new and better route to follow and it did, which heightened the sensation of skin rubbing on skin. Edith threw her head back and groaned. "We shouldn't wait so long to do this."

"We have only been on mission for six hours."

"That may be but I am going to suffer from all kinds of overload if those *Daemons don't get on with it."

"The good news is that they can inhibit the final transfer of information until we are ready, so let's just enjoy it."

Frank, wrapping his hands around the diminutive Edith’s waist, then they both shifted their positions minutely and when Frank lowered her down, he slid deep inside. The pleasure for both of them was exquisite. Each closed their eyes, letting their bodies follow a well rehearsed choreography that was designed to please them both.

47

John Crandall The data transfer began; this synch, the first after an absence would be the most intense. Their bodies communicated electrically and chemically, setting up the synergistic connection that would allow them to later act as one. Some of that connection would remain even after they separated, needing only daily, less intense, reinforcement to maintain.

Frank and Edith's consciousness began to merge and to reshape itself as images and smells, and tastes, and information, and sound, and sensations engaging, their attention in an ever-changing kaleidoscope moving faster and faster as their bodies strove for completion.

Ecstatic, hey floated in darkness, each spasm of their mutual orgasm accompanied by a packet of information that required nothing but surrender. This, the eye of the storm seemed, on a subjective level, to last forever but was quickly replaced by a return to the purely physical sex act that it emulated. The crushing orgasm exhausted the pair and a quivering Edith collapsed onto Frank’s heaving chest. They remained joined as their consciousness became more like that of sleep. This happy state of affairs would last the rest of the night allowing their minds and bodies to assimilate their new level of connection.

As a shaft of sunlight crept past the heavy drapery Frank, forgetting himself said, "God that was extreme, too bad all sex isn't that good."

"Shhh," Edith thought, "not so loud, a girl is trying to sleep here."

"You get an hour, that's all, then we have to get a move on, our *Daemons have both been niggling at me. Seems Incognito

48

The Mine has gone to hell in a hand-basket and they expect us to do something about it."

"Then let me sleep, you can play with that erection in a minute."

Exactly forty-five minutes later, Frank's consciousness returned to the feeling of Edith's movements. "Hey, you said I get to play." He was buried deep inside her and his erection pulsed in reaction as her body flowed around his.

"We’ll catch up then, daylight is burning and this girl is ready."

This time the *Daemons had already finished their data transfer and their bodies were truly in synch so they got to enjoy nice easy lovemaking that brought them even closer together.

Five minutes later, after a crashing orgasm, Edith thought, "I get a head start, in five, you need to be in the shower, so get your endorphin nap while you can." She sat up gave a goodbye squeeze of her pubococcygeal (kegel) muscle, something that she did mainly because Frank liked it so much, then eased herself off of him.

"Bossy" Frank thought, but then he remembered that since they had no contact she couldn't hear him so he said "Bossy."

"Yup." She said.

As she turned to leave, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him so he could snatch one last deep kiss. "Thanks, he thought, I missed that, especially this morning."

49

John Crandall "Yup," she thought back "and now it is to the showers with me."

Frank was pretty well slept out so he lay there savoring the morning. His body was physically and intellectually satisfied in ways that he only experienced with Edith and his partnership with her. He had missed her in more ways than he probably should, considering the episodic nature of their relationship and in a deep dark hidden corner of the recesses of his mind, hidden from the *Daemons and from the Psychs at Incognito, and hopefully hidden from Edith, was the realization that he loved her intensely.

Frank felt Edith's cool hand on his cheek and heard her thoughts, "I heard that, even in the other room. And I love you too sweet boy, but we can't, we just can't, so tuck that thought back where you keep it and remember that the *Daemons record everything so you will have to erase these last few minutes from the record."

"Me," Frank laughed, "meddle with an official document, I am appalled that you would even think such a thing. And you, hearing my thoughts that far away, should I be worried?'

"No, you shouldn't be worried, but I would like that expunged from the record as well."

"Done is done," Frank said.

"Hit the showers then," Edith suggested, "before I ravish you again”. As he showered, Frank asked Watcher to rustle up some covert programs that would rewrite the last hour's dialogue between him Edith. He also had a minute to think about one snippet of information that his *Daemon had 50

The Mine snagged from all of the new information from Edith: during her last Psych Eval. they had recorded her personality and memories. Edith's *Daemon hadn't placed much importance on it but it was something new, something no one in the corps had yet experienced.

51

John Crandall

52

The Mine Chapter 2

Before they left the safe house, Frank made sure that his new bots were up and active. The night before, he and Watcher had left them online and working. He hoped that among other things, that his new program was protecting the pair from surveillance, and ambush, and all the other things that Frank worried about. The UGly Car that Frank had reserved was waiting for them by the entrance. Edith, slow to get started, was standing in the doorway stretching "Edith, let's get a move on, I don't like to push the limits of my doppelganger programs, especially the new invisibility shield that saved us last night. The way is clear now but only for a short time."

As they settled in the taxi, Frank and Edith held each others hands to allow a quick update. There wasn't much since Incognito was in lock-down mode, but Watcher and his *Filter Feeder *Spyware spider-bots had come up with some good information that they would need in this new mission and he needed to get it to Edith fast. Since they couldn't be absolutely sure that the car wasn't being bugged, Frank and Edith held hands and let their AI's communicate directly and discretely.

Besides a lot of corollary information, the message from Incognito was that something big was in the wind. A lot of money and equipment had been spent on an abandoned copper mine in White Pines, Michigan. And there were Radar Sites and an information hub, like the one that Frank had destroyed the day before. The majority of the monitoring stations were located along an east-west line from Oregon, Illinois to Cheat Lake, Pennsylvania. The one they had destroyed in Chicago was some kind of hub that collected the information and forwarded it to the main sight in Michigan's Upper Peninsula 53

John Crandall (U.P.). Maquis Corps leaders were concerned that since the sensor networks were destroyed, the experimental stage of the operation would cease and that whoever was behind the scheme would step up their time-line. The concern was that the final phase of whatever they were up to would be put into operation, soon. Frank and Edith were to get a handle on what was happening and to put an end to it somehow.

The UGly Car let the pair out at the base of the Sail Road Station for the first part of their road trip from Chicago to Northern Michigan. The wind for which Chicago had been named the Windy City also kept it a major hub for Midwest travel, especially in the North-South direction. What was left of the airlines still used Chicago O'Hare as much as ever but fewer and fewer people were willing to use up their carbon allotments on jet fuel when Sail training could get you most places nearly as fast as flying. There was the added benefit that this form of transportation also produced wind energy so riders actually earned carbon credits while traveling.

As they rode the elevator up to the monorail level of the Ray Bradbury Terminal, Edith turned to Frank, "he would have been so proud."

"Who?" asked Frank.

“Ray Bradbury, he often described whole cities, Martian Cities that were all spires and swooping monorails, that would have looked like this place. And he was a great proponent of monorail systems, especially in LA. He could never get anyone to listen back then but now they are here, too bad he had to miss them."

54

The Mine Looking out over the city of Gary, Indiana, below him, felt like standing on the top of a May Pole with monorail tracks swooping and swirling around and up to the embarkation gates. "It certainly is pretty," said Frank. "And the computer controls are pretty impressive but what I really appreciate is the use of gravity to slow the cars down and then speed them on their way."

"But the best part is that it doesn't cost anything to ride since they are Open Source and the *Oligarchy don't have any say or profit to make."

"Can't beat the schedule, 15 people or 15 minutes, whichever comes first, a car arrives and leaves. The Sail Car system is one of the reasons I like to stay in Chicago when I can."

It was early and summer so not many people were waiting, Within 15 minutes, right on time, a car pulled up to be loaded.

Since it was a long-distance runner with no stops before Marquette, Michigan, the seating was a bit more plush and larger.

"First class accommodations," observed Frank whose father had helped design it but hadn't ridden the system in a while.

"Actually there is no class distinction in seating anymore.

Everyone gets the same seating, regardless of their station in life or the size of their bank account," countered Edith.

Since it was still early morning, and the car was relatively empty, they settled on the left side of the car so they could watch the shores of Lake Michigan slide by. The Coastal, as it was called, was one of the favorites trips for tourists who made the north-south journey just to see the sights especially 55

John Crandall when the trees were displaying their autumn colors. The southbound or return runs were the most crowded in the evening, no matter what time of year, because the tourists wanted to watch the sun set over Lake Michigan. It was to accommodate such one-sided seating that the cars on this line had been first equipped with leveler systems so that the wheels on the monorail would not be overtaxed when lookie-loos ran from one side of the train to another to see the sights. It had proved so effective that all sail cars are equipped with the Leveler Innovation. Acting like a keel, they kept the cars erect but did so without adding any more weight.

As they rode north, Frank and Edith cuddled like lovers keeping their faces averted from cameras. To maintain skin to skin contact for their *Daemons they sat holding hands They had just rounded the southern part of Lake Michigan and the car they were riding was just going into its braking and electrical generating phase when there was a huge thump from the undercarriage and the car seemed to suddenly speed up.

No one else seemed to notice but Frank and Edith did and both mentally turned to their *Daemons to see what was up. Their analysis didn't last long and it was quicker than the computer subsystem that was in control of the car.

Out loud, Edith said, "The governor/generator/braking system has failed, but we should be safe if the mechanical clutch engages the emergency braking system."

A second later, Frank answered, "it won't, not before we run into the car in front of us. On remote camera, I can see a cut control cable that will keep it from working correctly." And without any warning, he said, "stand up, quick." He knew that

56

The Mine if they stayed seated, they would be trapped there in their seats.

Both Frank and Edith jumped from their places as the arms of the active restraint system "seat belted" all the other passengers in and a voice from the loudspeaker said, "We are experiencing some minor mechanical difficulties, for your safety please relax and remain seated while the issue is being looked at. As we may experience sudden stops, we stress that you remain seated and belted in place.” Frank and Edith both sat on their "seat belts" hoping to avoid attracting attention to themselves.

Frank looked over at Edith and said, “I'm going back to see about manually operating the sail systems, you try to keep things quiet up here and work on re-engaging the braking system. If you have any questions, have Ary check-in with Watcher and use the pass phrase GoFast, which will get you all the documentation about the workings of Sail Trains you need.”

Frank made his way to the rear maintenance hatch, quietly reassuring the passengers as he went. As he passed by a little gray hair tugged at his sleeve, "what's going on mister, I have never been on one of these contraptions before, is everything OK?" He jokingly replied, "I think they have too much energy in Chicago and want to slow down production so the speed on all the cars along this line is being adjusted. I was just going to see what I can find out, all the sails and most of the mechanicals are in the back."

"Do you work here?" she asked.

57

John Crandall "Better than that," Frank said, "a long time ago, when we were both younger; I watched as my father designed the original computer controls. I might be able to figure something out but I am more curious than worried so I'm going out to see what there is to see."

"Oh, thank heavens," she said. "I was so hoping to like this better than flying."

"Well, I'll be right back," Frank said as he patted her arm and turned to go. He could see the look of relief on the faces of all who were within earshot and there was a definite susurrus of relieved voices as he continued to the exit.

"OK, sir. Thank you." The grandmotherly woman called.

Passing by the restrooms, one on each side of the car, he got a glance through an access port, of the sail area. Frank could see someone who was hammering at one of the linkages of the control wires of the sail wings that pushed the train along.

Carefully and as quietly as he could Frank drew the door open and stepped out into the low roar of the wind rushing by the sky train. He had been expecting noise but was surprised by how loud it really was. Then he took a look at the passing scenery and realized that they were going far faster than he originally thought.

"Hey," he yelled at the top of his lungs.

The man looked up and shook his head, and then he pointed an old Glock 17, an antique really, at Frank while with his free hand he went back, to whatever he was doing when Frank interrupted him.

58

The Mine Frank continued towards him. He yelled "Hey," again.

Frank was watching the man closely and saw the pinching of his forehead and the way his eyebrows arched up and out and his jutting jaw and then the way he brought his other hand up to brace his gun hand abandoning his work. Frank knew that a chunk of lead, or plastic depending on the age of his weapon and its ammunition, would be the next response he would get from the man. So following his instincts, he threw himself flat. He wasn't surprised when he heard the bark of the gun but he was dismayed to hear it thunk into the fiberglass over his head, there were people behind him and he did not want any collateral damage. He mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that the extra walls of the restrooms would slow and stop the projectiles.

Rolling to his left Frank took refuge behind a nearby airconditioner, and then he heard a loud fluttering followed by a large whoosh sound that he couldn't immediately recognize but a quick look showed him that it was a parasail inflating.

Daring to stick his head out from behind the air handling equipment he saw the man rapidly disappearing into the distance. He was flying away suspended from, you guessed, it a parasail.

Edith Skyped him, "what was that?"

Looking over his shoulder at the new hole in the car's skin, he asked. "A gunshot, is everyone alright in there?"

No damage at all, the passengers are starting to get nervous though. I am making a little progress on the computerized end of things but the mechanical backup is definitely out and we are picking up speed.

59

John Crandall Scuttling over to where the intruder had been, Frank said, “the guy that was out here has jumped ship so I won't have to deal with him but he was using a hammer on some of the control linkages and I don't know whether we're out of trouble yet."

"Get to work then, Frank, I'll get back on it too. " "Roger that," said Frank who loved to use the lexicon from days gone by especially from the time when CB radios played a big part of the transportation industry. “Over and Out” "Oh, and Frank, be careful would ya, I would hate to miss our next synch because you fell off this crate."

"Not to worry girl, I get top next time and I definitely won't miss that opportunity."

Frank stood up and got his bearings. Towering over him were two vertical sail wings that caught the wind and pushed the train forward. They were mounted so they could turn independently on an arm that could change their bearing in reference to any wind, in essence, slowing or making it go faster. This arrangement of sail wings was first noticed by the public when the America's Cup was won by a team that used just such a sail in 2010. The sails were canted over at a drastic angle indicating that it was currently configured for maximum speed and electrical generation but with the braking system disabled and not causing resistance, the car continued to accelerate.

It didn't take long before he saw the source of one of the problems. The wing sails had been angled into the wind for maximum thrust and then the controls had been bent so that they couldn't be adjusted. "Edith, how goes it, with the 60

The Mine computerized braking system?" Frank asked using the *Daemon's low powered local wifi system.

"There is a software problem and I can't do much about it. " "What about the mechanical ones?"

"I would guess that they are out too. All of the redundant safety's seem to be out," Edith said, "because we are going way too fast."

"Can you tell what the cars ahead of and behind us are doing?"

"The one ahead of us isn't reacting at all. You need to do something quickly because we will ram them soon."

"What about the one behind us?" Asked Frank.

"They are keeping up with us for some reason."

“Not good Frank said, “there is definitely a bug in the system.

If we stop now the one behind will definitely ram us and at these speeds that would hurt. Keep your baby blues on the one behind, I am going to slow this baby down but if the car behind us doesn't follow suit then we are really in it deep.“ He could feel time ticking away as if he were watching an old fashioned thriller where the hero has to disable a bomb before a timer runs out and he has to choose between the red and blue wire. Frank did the mental equivalent of clicking on a pulldown menu and accessed a schematic of the wing sail controls.

The drawings would not be any help right now, there was just

61

John Crandall too much to assimilate at once so he closed the heads up display.

Leaning against the guardrail, Frank craned his neck to see up the wing sail and found nothing that would help. Everything was right there in front of him, he just had to be able to focus.

"Frank, Frank," Edith Skyped urgently. "The car ahead is slowing for the next stop, Holland. I think I found the bug and was able to reroute control back to the main system. Some kind of bad shit is going on, this was not a part of a systemwide failure. Whatever the *Oligarchy is up to, they must be on to us. They have gone all out in their attempt to get their hand on us, their immediate efforts were aimed at this car.

That means, they knew we were there in Chicago, yesterday and this attack is probably aimed at us and if they could make it appear that there is an issue with the Sail Train, they would kill one two birds with one stone. This would give the whole Sail Train program a black eye."

In the meantime, Frank's decision was made, right or wrong, he was going to do what the brave heroes did and pull both wires – even if they weren't blue or red, Watcher had recognized the quick disconnect, the saboteur who he scared off hadn't been smart enough to disable, "Edith, get in your seat now and strap in, tell everyone else to do the same. We are going to come to a stop really fast."

"OK, ready," said Edith.

Bracing himself on one of the sails. Frank counted three, and then simultaneously pulled the pins of the two disconnects.

He was almost catapulted from the vehicle when the sails freed of their rigging, took themselves out of the wind. Left

62

The Mine with nothing to hold on to, he rolled forward and crashed into the cab as the car began to immediately slow.

"That did it, Frank," said Edith excitedly, "that did it."

"What about the car following?"

"Slowing too, thank god."

"Come out here then, we need to talk." After Frank skyped this to Edith, he disconnected his AI from the web. He left it powered up but he made sure he was running in standalone mode. Then he began to look for the escape ladder that each of the Sail Cars was equipped with.

He had just about un-stowed it when Edith came up behind him and seeing what he was doing, pitched in. "What's up, Dude?" She asked in, for her, a seemingly lighthearted way.

"Got a bad feeling about this."

"I do too. " Edith said. "So what now?"

"Now we need to disappear down a rabbit hole." Said Frank as he threw the ladder over the side, There was a jangly sound as the chain unraveled and straightened out below them.

Looking over the side he shrugged, and said to himself, surprise me, the thing actually reaches the ground. "Listen," he said, "we need to run silent for a bit until we can figure out what is going on, these kinds of failures are not supposed to happen."

63

John Crandall "I wondered about that and have already gone local with Ary." Edith returned. "The bad news is that it looks like a long climb down from this thing and who knows how far they are behind us but what about the other passengers?"

"With luck, they won't follow – I doubt that they can figure out how to get out of their seats. I think our biggest most immediate threat will be evading satellite detection and then the helicopters, they won't be long either." Climbing over the edge, Frank said, "I am heavier, I'll go first and act as an anchor but don't dawdle up here."

Edith had forgotten how hard it was to climb a chain ladder, not that she had done it much but she appreciated Frank's weight below her, it attenuated the sway caused by the wind and the weight they added to it. She kept looking below to make sure she wasn't going to step on his fingers. She quickly realized it wasn't a problem; Frank was making good time below her. When she was still 10 feet from the ground, he stepped off and she got a good taste of how lucky she was to have had Frank below her and then she started to go up again as the train above them began moving again. Quickly letting go, she dropped to the ground and as she had been taught in parachute school, did a tuck and roll.

Frank grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet.

"C’mon quick, something is going on up there, no one else got off and the car is moving again and the ladder is being reeled in. I don't think we have gotten away free yet."

"The first time I heard one ‘a’ those things stop," said a voice from somewhere behind them.

64

The Mine Startled the pair went instantly into combat mode, Frank found a crouch facing the man, it was a man's voice, and Edith began a scuttle around to the side in a flanking maneuver.

"Now don't go getting silly," the voice said as the distinctive chuck chuck of an antique shotgun shell being pumped into the chamber of an old fashioned firearm emphasized the man's words. "Better yet, Y’all freeze." Ignoring the man's order, Frank threw himself to the left as Edith went to the right, both of them ending up behind sizable trees. Then they began to shift back and away from the trees that they kept between them and the man in front of them.

"Listen up,'' the man said, “you've given me no call to shoot at ya yet but my finger is gettin itchy scared, the way yer actin."

Using his loud redneck voice, Frank hollered, "My papa always said, ‘don't aim a gun unless you plan to shoot it.’

Then he would say 'if a man's got a gun cocked and loaded, expect that he'll use it.’ Now I don't have mine aimed but the safety is off so if yer not gonna shoot yers, then let me hear the safety click."

Edith in the meantime had continued around the man's left.

"Fine, I'll put the safety on but I don't expect that you'll hear it."

"But I will," said Edith who quietly had made her way behind the man and had just jabbed a stick into his back. "And I won't put mine on until you do yours."

65

John Crandall "OK lady," the man said laughing as his thumb snicked the safety on the shotgun, and he lowered it. "Just make sure yer little twig back there is on safe too."

"Turn around slowly then," Edith said to the man. "All clear," she called to Frank.

The tall, gangly man turned around slowly, "I've heard of people bringing a knife to a gunfight but a stick, you, my friend, have chutzpah."

Frank walked up and laughed at the sight. Here was this tall thin man who was being faced down by Edith who had a broken-off twig in her hand. "It's a good thing for you she didn't use her index finger – that thing is deadly.

Frank had the man's caliber within a few seconds of laying eyes on him. Older, clean-cut, dressed simply but comfortably and definitely at home in the woods, especially these woods.

Looking the man in the eye, Frank could see a smile that echoed the one on his lips but there was an ineffable something else that evoked trust. He could sense right away that Edith had taken his measure and felt the same way.

"Frank," he said extending his hand.

The man reached out with his own and the two shook hands, neither one of them exerting more than a comfortable pressure.

Then they both nodded simultaneously as if in recognition of a silent understanding they had come to. "Jack," said the stranger.

Edith laughed "You two done sniffen butts yet? Frank, we have got places to be and here isn't one of them, especially not now."

66

The Mine "Jack, your captor over there is Edith and she is right, we need to make tracks. I think the hornet’s nest we stirred up yesterday has caught on to our whereabouts. One of the nasty things was trying to sabotage the Sail Car we were riding in.

We were supposed to be unfindable but obviously, we weren't."

Jack nodded, "Come on, then," he said as he turned and strode off into the woods.

Frank's long legs allowed him to keep up pretty well but Edith had more of a struggle because she was dressed less appropriately and being the shortest of the three, it was a challenge not to fall behind. "Slow down you two," she called as they began to pull away, "we are in a hurry I know but I can't keep up."

Jack slowed and pointed ahead. "Up there is my cabin, once we get there, we will have a few more options. Out here in the open, right now, we don't have many."

There was the high pitched whine of a fast-moving helicopter in the distance. It seemed to be paralleling the path of the Sail Train Track and it wasn't that far away so it gave the three motivation to pick up their pace. Then they heard the sound change to the deep thump thump thump of a slowing helicopter and the three broke into a run.

Frank and Edith didn't see the cabin until they were right on it.

"Inside quick," said Jack as he turned around in the small clearing and took a wide footed aggressive stance facing in the direction of the helicopter that came to a hover just above the trees about a hundred foot from him. Jack shook his shotgun at them and waved them on.

67

John Crandall An amplified voice blared from the machine. "Are you alone?"

In exaggerated gestures, Jack looked around, looked up at the machine and shrugged.

"Have you seen anyone, has anyone run this way?"

Again the exaggerated pantomime of looking around, he shook his head, then he pointed his index finger at the helicopter and jerked his thumb over his shoulder indicating that it should go.

When there was no response, he began to bring the weapon up to the firing position. For a moment nothing happened, then with a roar, the helicopter rose straight up in the air and continued on its way.

Frank and Edith rushed through the cabin door and watched the interaction between Jack and whoever was in the helicopter through the window. As it flew off and silence returned they looked around the small, one room, one man, cabin. Jack entered the ‘one-room’ with an armload of logs and kindling and went immediately to the stove against the back wall. "I need to mask our heat signal, it won't be long before every satellite in the sky will be probing this area and they will certainly be using a heat sensor. I don't know what you did but you certainly did create a stir. That machine that just blew the leaves from the clearing carries the insignia of the *PeaceKeeprs and that means some serious shit is going on. Those guys have only gotten meaner and more ruthless since they were co-opted by the Oligarchs in 2033 when they quit pretending that they were working for the government.

Frank and Edith simply looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"And you didn't turn us in because. . . ?" Edith ventured.

68

The Mine "Because the war of 2011 came and went with no resolution of the Occupy movement. I am not sure who won, if anyone, but because of things that have happened since, I especially don't trust the *PeaceKeeprs," Answered Jack.

"What are we missing?"

"Just like the war of 1812, the war of 2011 actually started long before it was declared and engenders arguments about what it was really about. Then there was that fracas in 2020. I, for one, believe all of them are still going on."

Frank and Edith now shrugged at each other. "And what part did you play in it?"

“At the time, 2011, I was part of the *PeaceKeeprs, but that was when Incognito was said to be mostly a bunch of adolescent brats that ganged up on each other and the world. A good number of these militants were getting themselves arrested for black hat hacking. Despite their dog pack mentality though, they actually managed to do some good.

Then the Occupy movements came and went and were mostly forgotten by a mainstream America that was easily lulled back into complacency. It got so no one could tell who was wearing what color of a hat anymore and to make matters worse, I couldn't figure out what side I was on. I was getting tired of it all."

"So what did you do?" asked Frank.

"Well my father was getting pretty sick so I quit the *DHS, bought up this property, moved us in and have pretty much kept to myself ever since.”

69

John Crandall "What happened to your dad?"

"Jack senior died three years ago, he wasn't my biological father but he might as well have been. He saved my life a number of times and I felt I owed him big."

“What was your specialty in the *PeaceKeeprs,” asked Edith.

"Before the *PeaceKeeprs, I was an RSS (Remote Sensing Soldier), one of the first and even though I am saying it, one of the best. I eventually got trained in information technology and spent most of my time chasing black hats."

Following a hunch, Edith asked. "You aren't Jack Junior are you?"

"In the flesh, Jack Reacher and I spent so much time together I was painted with the junior part even though I am not related to him by blood."

"You still have that silicon chip in your head,” asked Edith.

"Yes, I couldn't function without it."

"We have the next generation of BioBased Intelligent, or Synthetic Biological Interfaces but ours are self-aware and act more as assistants than yours did. The officials that need an acronym call them Intelligent Internal Interfaces (III or 3i or . . .). You, my friend, are part of the history as taught by Anonymous, another of those small groups. To those of us in the field, you are part man and part myth. You left out the part of the story where you went rogue and took down about half

70

The Mine of the *PeaceKeeprs and the *Oligarchy so bad that they haven’t recovered yet."

"Well," Jack said, "I am not too proud of some of the hacks, gray or not, that I did back then and there are others that are still prosecutable under the law, so I usually leave them out of my history.”

"Do tell," said Frank.

"Could but won't, not now anyway, because those guys will be back and for my sake as much as yours, you can't be here when they stop by and I need to be. If you want the rest of the story, you will have to come back here to get it, but later, after all the dust settles."

"OK, OK," said Frank, "but coming back here means leaving.

How do you suggest we manage that?"

"I only have a few options for you," said Jack, “but you need to understand that for now, it is a one-way trip. I have a number of bolt holes but they are all booby-trapped. They are all designed with trips and triggers that need disarming in particular sequences and even if I show you how you will never remember all of the steps required. Bottom line, if you come back, it has to be on the surface out in the open. And we need to get you up to White Pines so you can get on with your mission. I would volunteer to go with you but your best bet is for me to be where they can find me, besides, they can GPS trace me even though my PII, that antique piece of glass in my brain, has been powered off for years. " Jack stoked the fire then picked up the fire poker and pushed the tip into what from a distance looked like a nondescript hole left as a part of the building’s construction. The pile of wood rose an inch 71

John Crandall from the ground and then pivoted on the front left corner, the one closest to the wood stove revealing a narrow set of stairs beneath it. "The shortest journey can never be finished without the first step, so let's get you guys on the road."

Jack lead the way down the stairs, pausing to flick an old fashioned light switch on the wall. The light revealed another room of the same size as the one above but this one was cement on all four sides with no apparent entrance other than the narrow steps from above. "I call this the foyer,” Jack said, “this is the first of the traps I mentioned." The door closed above with a clang. "You are now hermetically sealed in this room. There are ways to escape this trap too, if f you know how, but there is no sense taking the time to teach you all my tricks, not now, we need to get you on your way."

"Why are you trusting us with even this much information?" asked Edith.

Jack just laughed, then said, "No reason not to, I have been following your progress for a good while and I am pretty sure of your intentions, especially since you are a Marquis, which means you work for me. You may think you can become invisible, but not to me. I even know about your doppelgangers, Frank."

Frank and Edith traded glances and shrugs, then, Edith asked, "All I see are blank walls, and I assume that you have other trips and triggers so how do we get out?"

"I do, and I have plans for you. We were hoping that you would have an uneventful trip to White Pines but you haven't.

If you had to be waylaid somewhere though, this is probably the best place possible. First things first, before we go too far, 72

The Mine this place is shielded electronically so for my sake and yours, you need to turn your *Daemons back on and I will do the same."

"You have an old Personal 3i and a *Daemon both, I didn't know that. Why would we power them back up?" Asked Edith Ignoring her comment about his Interfaces, he replied to her question. "Because we need to impart information to you quickly, and my systems need to take an imprint of your *Daemons' signal so their signatures can be re-transmitted elsewhere and that will throw the bad guys off for a while until we can get you gone, at which time you will power down to silent mode again."

"And you say this place is shielded?" Frank asked.

"Pretty effectively, the engineers who built this place were worried about Electro-Magnetic Pulse (*EMP) radiation from an atomic attack, so the cement of the roof and walls have several layers of grounded copper mesh that extend down and around the bottom of the facility."

Frank and Edith looked at each other and traded shrugs again.

Turning their attention inward, they began the process of rebooting, in safety mode, just in case. This took a little longer than usual and as they waited, Jack remained where he was watching, mostly Edith, but keeping an eye on the two of them.

Frank noted Jack’s interest and filed that information away for future reference. He was about to comment on it when he saw 73

John Crandall Edith make eye contact with Jack and smile that smile of hers and decided to wait. He knew that Edith would make her own use of Jack’s interest, besides, he had nothing to prove, especially in that department and definitely not with Edith.

There was a slight shift in Frank's awareness and he knew that his systems were online but that he had no connection with the ubiquitous internet. "Pretty quiet down here, web wise," he said.

"On purpose," answered Jack. "There are several different wireless nets down here, but all of them are shielded and connected to my Darknet."

Once his *Daemon was active, he was happy to note Edith's *Daemon's presence. Edith Skyped Frank, "quite a sniffer this boy, his PII is all over mine, how so, you?"

Frank laughed out loud, then Skyped to Edith, "let's check our encryption, why don't you replay our last sync in your mind and replace me with him."

"No need Jack said out loud, I don't go where I am not invited. I have some pretty sophisticated programs resident on the hardware in here but it is a point of honor with me that I only take what you will give freely and I ask that you follow the same guidelines. I have firewalls up around sensitive information or control areas that are there merely as reminders, you could given time, breach them but I wouldn't suggest it. Feel free to go to any of what I will call the public areas but don't fill your head with too many facts, you will need all the room you can spare for this next download we have scheduled for you."

74

The Mine "So, here we are, all linked and happy, what now?" asked Edith.

"Follow me," said Jack as he turned and walked through the wall.

Edith fell in line behind him, while Frank watched with interest, "I bet the surprises never end, said Edith over her shoulder as she followed Jack.

Frank looked on while Edith, holding one hand in front of her as if groping in the dark, disappeared through the wall too.

Taking one last look at the small cement room, he followed.

Stepping through a door that hadn't been there a moment before he found himself in a tunnel that led horizontally from the room.

Frank, preoccupied with letting loose a number of Trojan horses and *Spider Bots came to an abrupt stop behind Edith who was asking, "where does this take us?"

"About a mile from here," said Jack "is what looks like an electrical substation located near Lake Michigan. On paper, it was to have been decommissioned but in fact, it is still powered up. The transformers have enough electricity flowing through them to dissuade casual snoops from prying too hard but if it were disabled or turned off, it won’t affect us much.

The place is all but forgotten and hasn't been bothered for years."

"A mile," said Frank, "that's a long walk."

75

John Crandall "It is," said Jack "but we have a sort of golf cart to ride in so it won't take 20 minutes to walk. At the other end, once you are off the compound, you will be met by a friend who will take you to the sailboat and fill you in on the rest of your mission, he will also tell you what you need to do next.”

They all climbed onto the odd-looking vehicle in a single file almost as if they were getting on a toboggan. As soon as they were settled but without warning, the cart lurched off. It sped down a square concrete-lined tunnel that had barely enough room for the car and a quarter inch or so of clearance. There were wheels on the top, bottom and sides of the vehicle and it wasn't too long before their purpose was obvious. There was no need to steer the people mover as the side wheels kept it aligned in the center of the tunnel from side to side and the wheels on the top kept the top of the car from scraping the ceiling when the occasional dip caused the drive wheels to leave the ground. And boy could it scoot.

“Pretty fortuitous that we stopped the SailRoad car when we did then.” Frank said over the noise of their passage.

"Not really," Jack said, "we really didn't want you anywhere near this place – we are trying to keep it a secret. Your guide was to meet you in Traverse City but that was Plan A, we are embarking on Plan D now so we are scrambling to get you where you need to be."

"I am not much of a historian," said Frank, "so fill me in on what is this place all about."

"Jack here," said Edith, "is one of the founders, or organizers or something of the *Refus Absurde” the good guys that we work for now. They took what had started out as a bunch of 76

The Mine brat black hackers and fomented a revolution, the war of 2012.

Refining the use, by the hackers, of social engineering and hacking the real hactivists, the white hat hackers, actually put them to good use, taking down the more vulnerable and the worst of the *Oligarchies systems. And we shouldn't forget the influence of the Open Source movement who believed that knowledge should be free and that true effort should be rewarded. Things like the Sail Road and UGly Cars and what I would say is the truly free market economy as it exists today is only one of the results of his and their efforts.

“Oh,” said Frank, impressed, "Edith, you definitely continue to surprise me, I didn't know you were so well informed. I always thought you went on these missions because you figure Maquis wear the white hats. That's why I do what I do; it seems that greed and corruption always pop their head up, and need to be dealt with—and that is what I am good at."

"How long have we worked together," Edith asked, "and you still haven't figured that out."

"Never bothered thinking about it. You are good at what you do and that is all that matters, that and the fact that we work well together." Frank could see Edith's nose in the air twitching. "What do you smell?"

"Ozone," she answered, "we must be near a source of power."

"The power station," said Jack. "Most of what Edith just said is pretty accurate,” Jack said, “but there is a lot more to it than that."

"I know, but that was the short form if this lug decides he wants more, he can and will find it on the web. Frank, I 77

John Crandall suggest you start with the Deep Web, not all of this is public knowledge."

The car slowed down and was at an almost complete stop when a light illuminated the section of the tunnel they were in.

"All out” called Jack as he stepped out of the car."

"Looks like the tunnel goes further," said Frank.

"Yup," said Jack dismissively "but not to anywhere we need to be right now."

"Where?" asked Frank.

"If I told you I would . . ."

"Yeah Yeah," said Frank, "need to know and I don't need to know so . . ."

"Come on, butt sniffers," said Edith, "we have things to do."

"So here’s the thing, up this ladder is a tool room for the power station, where you will find everything you need for your trip stashed in some backpacks. Keep your *Daemons' powered for local wifi only, don't, and I stress this, don't hook up to the Ubiquitous Internet, it is everywhere even out here and you are being looked for by some very clever cyber searchers. Wait for the signal before leaving the shack. Luckily there is a thunderstorm coming and when conditions are just right, you need to hotfoot it out of here. The electrical and atmospheric disturbances and the coolness of the rain will serve to mask you from the satellites, which will be focused back around the Sail Road Track anyway. Keep to the low spots and when you 78

The Mine get to a stream, use it as your path until you come to a groomed trail, head south or left. You will be met on the trail

by Silvio, he is your guide and will get you to White Pines.

We have arranged a sailboat and an old gas-powered vehicle to get you there. Your disguise will include other people who may or may not know who you are but trust Silvio and you will be fine. Just don't be put off by Silvio's appearance, follow his lead and you will be fine."

“His appearance, what about his appearance, who is he?”

Frank asked.

“Don't worry; you will recognize him when you see him. He is one of our most valued assets, one that not many people know about but this is a critical mission and you need all the help you can get.”

Frank and Edith climbed the stairs alone, where with Jack’s information they found the backpacks waiting, as promised. A quick inventory of them confirmed that Jack had given them everything they needed. They were back on track, but now the mission assumed greater importance. A quick read of the information that had been downloaded to their *Daemons gave them enough information to know that a major *Oligarchy installation was secreted in the northern Michigan woods and that it, as well as a good part of the Midwest, was at risk. Once they had changed, they checked each other over, almost as if they had just donned combat gear, checking each others straps and buckles, making sure all the attachments were present and secure. They had done all of this without conversation because the thunderstorm was right above them and it was impossible to hear over the noise of the rain on the metal roof. They had hurried because they wanted to use the rain of the electrical storm to shield them from the view of the satellites overhead.

79

John Crandall With a quick check of their plastic laminated maps, they slipped out of the door and through the open gate, letting go to let it close behind them. The tall metal gate closed with a loud clang, sounding like a prison door slamming shut – there was no turning back. They headed to the narrow roadway, a fire trail really that ran parallel but beneath the power lines that used the transformer enclosure as a nexus. They eschewed the trail, an obvious and easier way and crossed the cleared path, heading downhill according to Jack's advice. Keeping to the temperature shadows provided by the largest trees, they quickly made their way downhill and were well on their way when Jack's final goodbye made itself felt and heard. All of their hairs stood on end at once and then, as if the universe were a bell that had cracked under the force of a monstrous clapper, the sound of thunder accompanied a bolt of lightning that leaped to the sky behind them. There was the smell of ozone as the arc leaped from the tallest lightning rod on the building they just left and shot into the sky.

Frank and Edith smiled at each other and kept on, later they would remember to discuss with each other the glint in Jack’s eyes when at the end of his recitation of the do's and don'ts, he had given his last piece of advice, "don't hang around long, we need a reason to send some trucks in for maintenance on the site, so we will provide a parting shot to help cover your escape in case the satellite lookers are watching.”

Frank and Edth’s *Daemons, on low power mode, felt the side effects of the “parting shot,” but weren’t in a position to comment on it.

With the lightning strike, the rain redoubled but the pair kept on. After 30 hard minutes of slogging through brambles and bushes, they found the creek where promised, swollen with the 80

The Mine rain, it was hard to miss. They began following it and were momentarily grateful for the lack of undergrowth but with the storm flood, they were unable to keep to their feet so they let themselves be washed along. Frank was grateful that previous storms had cleared the creek bed of most of the bigger sticks and stones that could have slowed them down. Their progress was definitely greater than they had planned on, even so, Frank was surprised when he heard her scream and saw Edith fall away in front of him. The map had shown that there was a drastic change in elevation somewhere around here but somehow they hadn't translated that to anything more than a steep hillside. With Watcher on standby, he hadn't had a chance to Google it, and since he was a city boy he hadn't interpreted a steep watershed as a waterfall, which is where he and Edith now found themselves. In less wet times, a person could, with care, navigate the 45-degree grade on foot but the creek was in flood so they got to negotiate it on the seat of their pants. Fortunately, there was more than enough water to cushion their descent and seconds later, they found themselves knee-deep at the downstream end of a seasonal pool of water.

"If I had been ready for that it could have been fun," said Edith "as it is, I bumped hard once."

"If I had been ready for it, I would have tried to avoid it,'' Frank answered. “More to the point, we are now ahead of schedule. I don't know how our guide is going to find us but I guess the best thing to do is to keep moving, at least until the rain stops. Once we make it to the trail, if they haven't made contact yet, we should find a campsite where we can try to dry our stuff out."

"I sure hope these backpacks are as waterproof as they are supposed to be, I don't like the idea of wearing wet clothes for 81

John Crandall any amount of time," Edith said as they had made their way to the side of the river bed to an exposed hillock of somewhat dry land.

Frank said. "let’s do an equipment check real quick and get moving before we start to chill." As he began to run his hands over all the belts, buckles and attachments of Edith's backpack, He had lifted the weight from Edith's shoulders to test the security of the straps and he heard her catch her breath, "What?" he asked.

"That hurt, I didn't notice it before but when you moved my backpack around, I felt something in my ribs."

"We have time to check it, let me take this thing off of you."

Taking all of the weight off of her again, he undid the straps to the front of the pack and eased the weighty bag to the ground and was rewarded with a sigh from Edith, "I guess it does hurt, you'd better check, here on the right side." Gently opening her windbreaker, she pulled her shirt up exposing an impressive scrape and the beginnings of a bruise.

"Take a deep breath," Frank told her and by the grimace that crossed her face, he knew it hurt. "How bad is it?"

"Not too bad, I don't think I broke anything but I'll be sore for a while."

"What about carrying the bag?"

"I'll manage," Edith said, "pulling her shirt down and covering herself with the windbreaker again."

82

The Mine "Let’s say you don't, I'm not too happy about the looks of those ribs. I'll carry it for a bit, you rest, but on your feet, we should keep going." So saying, Frank picked up the extra backpack as if it were a woman's clutch purse and nodded downstream. "You lead the way."

"Ok, but if you want me to lead, how ‘bout we follow that path there?"

As Frank turned in the direction she had pointed he thought he saw some movement on the opposite shore of the little river.

Falling in behind Edith, he said softly, "I think we have company."

"I know," Edith said, "I thought I saw something too, a dog maybe, no people though."

"I don't know,'' said Frank, "but I guess it wouldn't hurt to be prepared, just in case."

Edith nodded but didn't say anything as she began to climb a particularly steep section of hillside. She didn't say anything but Frank could see by the stiff way she carried herself, that she was protecting her bruised ribs. They were halfway up the hill when she stopped suddenly. Frank, whose attention was spread out around them nearly ran into her. "What's up?" He asked, then he saw. Standing on the hillside just above the path, watching their progress, was a very wet and very dirty chocolate DoodleDog. It somehow managed to look completely comfortable despite what was obviously only a temporary descent into dirtiness.

The three just stood there for a minute, looking at each other, before moving on in the direction they had been heading. The 83

John Crandall dog's path, which may have been parallel was now veering in the direction of the path that Frank and Edith were following.

At the top of the hill, Edith was about to pause for a breath when another bolt of lightning found a treetop nearby. The flash and crack were almost instantaneous so it was near, too close for them to be safe on the hilltop. Going up had been laborious but relatively easy because the path was generously graveled and their footing was sure. The path down though was covered with a slick of clay and water from a recent mudslide and Edith was having a hard time maintaining her balance without aggravating her bruised ribs. The dog who had joined them on the path seemed to do better and was walking next to her as if leashed. Another nearby strike spurred them on. They hurried, slipping and sliding down the hill back to the swollen creek bed which had rushed around the ridge to meet them again.

"Enough of that," said Edith as she came to a sliding stop at the edge of the rushing water. My appetite for slip and slide is now officially satiated. I vote for a more horizontally oriented method of travel."

"Me too,” Frank said, "as he came to a stop beside her.

“How's the rib?"

"Let's just say, I am not ready for any bear hugs yet."

"That bad?" asked Frank as he looked at her face. Edith simply nodded.

From the vantage of the top of the hill, Frank had noted the presence of a bridge barely in view, just around the bend to their right. He was tending in that direction when the dog, who was now nowhere to be seen began barking.

84

The Mine "Another country heard from," said Edith who was about follow the trail, which led back into the stream. As she was about to step into the now rushing waters, there was a flash of fur on the other side of the stream and then the DoodleDog was airborne, flying nearly across to land at Edith's feet with a splash. The dog barked twice then nudged her away from the water.

"Seems you aren't supposed to go that way," said Frank as he watched from behind. "Seems he is pointing you in the direction of the bridge."

"What bridge?"

Taking her shoulder and turning her, he pointed in the direction of the crude crossing he had seen from above. "The path is underwater now but if we push through here we won't have to go swimming again."

"Ohhh! Thanks, Frank and you too dog" she said as she turned and took the lead through a thicket of blackberry bushes.

85

John Crandall

86

The Mine Chapter 3 It was only a slight detour, and it was tough getting through the thorns but they were rewarded with a bounty of berries to eat as they went. When the brambles opened up, they found themselves at the foot of a rather substantial bridge that crossed a real river that was swollen and full of roiling brown water.

Raising his voice to be heard over the water, Frank said, "Hate to have had to wade this one, I don't think we would make it."

Their new friend, the DoodleDog, scampered across the footbridge and did a classic lassie bark, which seemed to say "c'mon, hurry up, this is the way." Having no better ideas both Edith and Frank followed.

It's as if the DoodleDog is taking over for our *Daemons,” said Edith. “It is eerie not to have contact with the Ubiquitous Web though. Since it is everywhere, I have grown used to depending on it.

"I know but we dare not expose ourselves. I have Watcher on stealth receive mode but there is someone or something nearby that has a strange signal and I don't know what to make of it.

If I didn't know better, I'd say it was the dog but I can't be too sure."

"I know, I felt something strange when I petted him just now."

87

John Crandall Interested now, Frank asked Edith, "What is it, what did you feel?" "Something akin to but not as intense as, what I feel when we synch."

They had crossed the river and the dog had moved on down the pathway and was pacing up and down the cleared lane.

"Come here boy," he called, then he whistled.

The dog ignored him until he squatted, and called again.

The dog bounded back to Frank stopping just before he would have run into him.

Lowering his voice to sound more authoritative, he said, "come."

The dog relented but kept his distance. Sitting in front of Frank, he just stared watchfully.

Edith walked up to him, and held her hand out, to let the dog get a good sniff, then she passed her hands under the dog's chin and gave him a little scratch. "I felt it again," she said, "when I touched him it was if I were touching you."

"I bet if you look at his name tag it will say, Silvio."

She continued patting the dog on its head and speaking quietly.

While she continued to pet the dog, she got a hold of his tag and took a good look at it. "Right on the nose Frank, this is Silvio, our new guide and I bet there is more here than meets the eye."

88

The Mine Frank stepped up closer to the DoodleDog, joining Edith in petting the dog. "So why do they call him Silvio I wonder?"

"Because that is what his father's name was," said a voice that rose above the susurrus of the background of the flooded stream.

Edith looked at Frank and shrugged," Is that you Jack?” she asked the disembodied voice.

"Yes, I would say in the flesh but really since my voice is coming from Silvio's *Daemon, I guess I should say it is not.

He is connected to a very low powered and very private local Wifi network and is acting like a conduit for me. Silvio has a rudimentary Internal Interface but as smart as he is, he can't talk, I don’t think. But he can allow us to."

"The power for the wifi transmitter is low but we choose the antenna's so that we have complete coverage of the area without having to use enough power to be noticed by the ubiquitous web or the *PeaceKeeprs. It is more secure that way."

"You three will soon be off of my property and we will lose contact. There has been a change in plans or I wouldn't have risked detection by contacting you even now."

Frank asked, "so what is this, Plan Z or something? This caper has gone through the alphabet. It is good that we plan for the worst and are grateful for the best. What is this next one?"

Edith gave him a look as she replied to Jack "Yeah, what's next, boss?"

89

John Crandall "Well,” Jack's voice said, “the sailboat and car plan was discovered and are no longer tenable. Besides, it would be taking the long way around. So even though our hand is being forced, we want to shorten the cycle. We have arranged another mode of transport."

"Oh," said Frank.

"There are lots of people watching for you so I have just instructed Silvio to escort you on an alternate route to the highway where you will meet an UGly Truck that is headed to White Pines, he can identify it for you, just lay low until he finds it. The truck has been modified with a secret compartment, which is where you will ride. You will get off at Settlers Co-op which is just before Ontonagon, after that, you will be on your own, we can’t risk exposing your position by contacting you. You will have to find a way from there to White Pines, which is thirty-some miles to the west then north.

If we can, we will cache a car at the Co-op but I can't promise it, look for a car with a broken antenna and a key on the rear passenger side tire."

"Is that all you have?" Frank asked semi-sarcastically, "Can you give us a *Sitrep?" asked Frank.

"A couple of things," said Jack "activity has picked up in and around the mine, and their rate of consumption of coal has picked up noticeably. From that, we know that they are generating far more electricity than before but without any new customers. But you can glean that from the information that you'll get when you synchronize with Silvio."

"Do what?" asked Edith,

90

The Mine "Synchronize with Silvio."

Frank looked at Edith with a look of incredulity. "What?"

"No not like you two do it, no one but you two does that."

"How did you know about that. Then how?" asked Frank Ignoring Frank’s question Jack said, "If each of you were to take an ear in your hand, you can get the same effect as when you synch with each other."

"I'm signing off now, good luck," said Jack.

"Let’s get comfortable and test the theory," said Edith.

They moved across the path to a fallen log and sat with the dog between them.

Each took a floppy furry ear in their hands and closed their eyes. Frank relaxed into that meditative state that is conducive to data transfer. Jack was right, it was more business-like but it was still an enjoyable state of mind.

So there they sat, on a fallen tree, beside the path that paralleled the flood-swollen river, each with a dog's ear in their hands. They were so still and quiet that an observer would have thought they were a tableau, a statue, like the ones you see cast in bronze sitting in parks and at street corners or in some Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchises. The three of them had entered a state of meditation that allowed their *Daemons to interact. Frank and Edith were quickly up to date with each other and the dog. They pretty much absorbed 91

John Crandall the new information from the dog. The update contained information that was more specific about their next step and fill in the gaps that Jack had left in their new instructions, including the fact that Silvio was to accompany them on the next part of their journey.

Sitting on the bench (log) Frank and Edith each had a hold of the dog, Silvio's, ears in their hands absorbing all that they just learned. "What are you waiting for?" Silvey, Silvio’s *Daemon, asked in a voice that sounded like a child's, "come on."

As soon as Frank let go of the dog’s ear, the voice morphed back into strident barks. "OK, good boy," he said, "we will go.

Lead on."

Edith stood too and reached for her backpack but winced at the pain in her side.

"I'll get it," said Frank "and Silvio, take your time, Edith has been hurt."

Silvio’s only reply is with his Lassie voice as if saying: “Come on Guys times a wastin.”

"You go ahead of me, that way if trouble comes from the front, Silvio can warn us and if it comes behind, I can."

"Dammit Frank, I can handle my own . . ."

"Shut up partner, I need you as well as you can get, so take it easy on yourself."

92

The Mine At the top of one of the hills that overlooked the lake on this part of the shoreline, Silvio stopped and as if he were a bird dog, pointed down the hill.

Edith then Frank came up to the dog that was now shaking his head as if he had a bug in his ear.

"You all right boy?" asked Frank The dog maintained his pointer stance so Frank looked in that direction. Down the hill and about a mile away was a sailboat, tied to a floating dock. He could almost make out a house that was set back a little from the shoreline. "Look there, I wonder if that is the sailboat Jack was telling us about?"

Just as Edith looked in that direction, the sailboat exploded in a giant fireball. The explosion was followed by great gouts of flame, which glinted in the rain. The yellow fire was tipped with black smoke, which began to drift in their direction.

Edith's hand dropped idly to the dog’s head and she began to stroke him, he instantly quit shaking. She immediately felt that small buzzing sensation that went along with synchronizing. "Frank, quick take one of Silvio's ears."

Frank did and instantly felt himself in contact with Edith and Silvio. It wasn't hard to distinguish the difference, he knew Edith's but not Silvio's yet and there was something different about Silvio's "voice" when they synchronized. He was a smart dog but it seemed as if there was an intelligence there that was more than you would expect from even a DoodleDog. Letting his thoughts follow the thread that connected the three of them, he heard Jack’s voice, which was odd.

93

John Crandall "Looks like things are going according to someone else's plan," said Jack, "it's a good thing we had enough Intel that we knew about it in advance. It will be about a week before they can verify whether you were there or not. They shouldn’t be looking for you until then, so it does provide a modicum of safety."

"I'd say," said Edith.

"That was the sailboat you were to use to get you to White Pines, but we got Intel that they knew about it and you were supposed to be on it by now. We were able to convince their sensors that you were there, which is why they blew it up. It looks like the *PeaceKeeprs are onto you, so be careful."

"So what now?" asked Edith.

"On to plan E then."

"So exactly what is plan E and why are you talking to us through the dog, why not directly?"

"Last question first," said Jack, "you won't be able to turn your transmitters on, if they get wind of your wifi signature, then they will know you weren't killed in that sailboat. We have Silvio’s signal disguised as that of a young boy's. Silvey, Silvio's *Daemon, is more up to date and contains some different circuits which allow us to change his electronic signature, which will confuse any bots listening for him. Since you aren’t equipped that way, we talk through Silvey and Silvio."

94

The Mine "OK then, the second answer, please. You talked about us riding in a truck."

"We need to keep this short so I have already downloaded that information to Silvey, so you can get that when we are done.

Edith, are you fit to carry on, it looks like you have a cracked rib."

"Looks like, how can it look like anything to you?"

"When we last synced with Silvio, he relayed some pictures of you taken when Frank was checking your wound. It looks nasty."

"It's OK," said Edith, "I can manage and I don't want to slow the mission. It's too late to bring someone new in."

"Yeah, " Frank said, "and I don't think Synching will be the same without Edith, besides I've noticed that she is moving better. The trip up to White Pine Mines will give her a chance to rest and heal."

"OK, our sensors have detected that they are moving in on this signal so I am signing off, everything you need to know is available from Silvio's *Daemon. Good luck you three."

Jack's presence in the conversation was replaced by Silvey's (Silvio’s *Daemon), and the static buzz of low level synching, which they had already felt when they met him. All of the information that Jack had downloaded was transmitted to Frank and Edith's *Daemon’s.

The synching buzz was replaced by one of alarm.

95

John Crandall "What is it a boy?" asked Frank.

Detection Alert, said the new voice, that of Silvio's *Daemon, Silvey, and then he disconnected.

Frank checked with Watcher then said. "It seems that since Silvio's *Daemon can remain online, he has been in touch with some *FFs and they have caught snippets of coded information that even our *Daemons synchronization signals can be sensed when we are in the open like this. We will have to avoid even synchronizing until we can be shielded."

The dog barked once, which Frank took as being an affirmative.

Edith said, "oh, then we should power down."

The dog barked once again. So Frank and Edith put their *Daemons in stealth mode.

Silvio began his imitation of Lassie, so Frank and Edith fell in line again and they all headed off into the woods. The rain had slackened so they began to make good time. Once they were several hills and valleys away from the site of the sailboat, Silvio seemed more relaxed and slowed his pace. They came to a Y in the path, there was a signpost with the arrow that pointed right saying Lake Camping and the one pointing left saying Park Exit and Highway 31.

They took the left fork and immediately began climbing. As they got nearer the summit, Silvio seemed to pick the pace up again. Looking over their left shoulders, Frank and Edith could make out the smoke of the sloop and now there was a 96

The Mine helicopter hovering in the air above it. They all picked up the pace until they were on the other side of the ridge and out of the direct line of sight of anyone in the whirlybird.

The trio slowed their pace somewhat but kept on until Frank noticed Edith's pace slowing. He whistled Silvio back and caught up with Edith. "Are you OK?" he asked.

"Just a little catch when I try to breathe deeply. Besides that I'm fine."

"You are a little pale,” he said to Edith. Then he asked Silvio,”is it far?" Then he took one of the dog’s ears and let Watcher come out of stealth for a minute to get the dog’s answer before powering it down again.

"Another half mile is all," Frank said, "and we are a bit ahead of the truck, so we are going to slow our pace for a bit. Do you need something for the pain?"

"Not now," said Edith, "if we're close I can make it. I'll have something if and when we are safely stowed away in the truck.

I am not to keen on the idea of being housed in a truck for 700 or more miles. There's a bench here, lets just rest for a minute then I'll be fine."

Silvio seemed impatient but eventually settled down at her feet, his intelligent eyes seemed to be taking in more than a regular DoodleDog. After a minutes rest she had caught her breath and seemed less green about the gills, Edith said, "come on, let’s get this over with."

97

John Crandall "OK," said Frank, "Silvio, take point again."

They were just about to leave a thick copse of second-growth trees when Silvio stopped and cocked his head, then ran back and nudged Edith before heading into the underbrush. About that time, Frank heard the faint whump whump of a helicopter approaching. Watching that Edith followed the dog, he too made for the underbrush. They all sat very still hunkered down, each one praying that the searchers weren't using heat sensors. The helicopter whooshed over their heads, flying low, from the direction they were heading. They all stayed still listening long after the helicopter had disappeared in the distance.

After a time, when Frank figured they wouldn't be back, he stood and trudged back to the path. "We might as well get on with it," he called. About then he saw Silvio gamboling around Edith who was walking gingerly back to the path.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Yeah fine, nothing a good soft bed and eight hours of rest wouldn't cure."

"Well, let’s go then," said Frank, "the sooner we get going, the sooner we can get you bedded down for the night."

Silvio fell back in as lead, Edith took her place in the middle and Frank followed, watching the trail behind them. The hills, ancient sand dunes actually, flattened out and the going got easier. The forest, this time a grove of deciduous trees, closed in around them making the trail a tunnel of coolness.

They had begun to hear the sounds of a highway when they heard more helicopters go by some distance to the south of 98

The Mine them. “We will have to keep our ears open,” said Frank, “I think we are OK for now but that could change in an instant.

If they hover right over us or have their sensor array powered up we are done for.” Suddenly, Silvio came to a stop and sat down in the middle of the path. Edith caught up to him first and remembering what had happened the last time, took one of his ears in her hand.

"Thanks, boy," she said, then to Frank, "according to Silvey, our transport is almost here but there are some *PeaceKeeprs Agents, using the trail head parking lot as an inspection station. There is a long line of cars and trucks waiting to be inspected, which might make it convenient for us to get on but they are watching the traffic pretty closely as it approaches.

We need to stay in the woods and make our way as far as we can away from here so the truck can stop and let us in—after the inspection.

The dog stood and moved off to the north, their left, parallel to the highway. Keeping to the same line-up, first Edith, then Silvio followed by Frank. Edith had fallen into stealth mode, a few steps then at random, stopping for a second then moving on emulating and making less noise than the herd of deer they found themselves in the middle of. They slowly and quietly, imitating the deer who were content ignoring their passage.

Silvio's chocolate-colored fur made him nearly invisible in the failing light. They had passed through the herd of deer when Silvio began acting funny again, running back and forth in the direction they were heading, then he bolted past Frank and Edith, suddenly veering off to his right away from the road and on towards the other side of the herd. Frank looked at Edith who had turned around to watch the dog gallop by and shrugged but kept going. Several seconds later, the herd of deer stampeded by, followed by Silvio who stopped next to 99

John Crandall Edith and nudged her in the direction that the deer had gone then followed the herd himself.

Frank instantly understood Silvio's behavior, he stuck his finger in the air and circled it several times before pointing in the direction the deer and the dog had gone. With all the noise the deer were making the two humans began running after them definitely out of stealth mode now but with all the racket the deer were making, it wouldn't make any difference.

It wasn't long before they heard the sound of a huge truck groaning to a panic stop. As they came tumbling out of the woods onto the green verge of the highway, the deer disappeared into the forest on the other side of the highway.

The smell of burning rubber assaulted their noses but they were grateful for the odor because it was issuing from the tires of a huge refrigerated truck that had come to a complete stop to avoid the deer. Silvio let loose with a series of barks that were very regular and seemed to have a specific cadence to them and the back doors squealed open. Silvio jumped in and barked at Frank and Edith who were following but not very close behind. The truck was beginning to move just as Frank got to it but Edith was still 25 feet away. She was holding her ribs but seemed to have found some reserve of strength because with a sudden burst of speed she caught up to the slowly accelerating truck. Frank held back, so he could help her, grabbed Edith by the belt and nearly threw her into the truck. By now the truck had begun to pull away quickly and it was Frank’s turn to find enough energy to make a final sprint to catch it.

Rolling over onto his back next to Edith who was on the floor taking short quick breaths, Frank gasped for air. Silvio stood over the two of them wagging his tail in approval.

100

The Mine As he began to recover, Frank powered Watcher up and opened the files he had just downloaded from Silvio hoping that the metal of the truck would be enough to shield him from electronic view. A construction diagram overlaid his vision so he was able to see how the truck had been modified to carry passengers without their presence being detected. He leafed through the files until he found the operating instructions for access into a bolt hole that had been built into the front of the truck.

As the big truck began moving faster the big doors groaned and started closing barely missing Franks feet as he jerked them out of the way. For a minute Frank luxuriated in the cool before realizing that they were in a refrigerated truck. As he sat up in alarm he felt his shirt stick to the floor below him, not just a refrigerated truck but one that carried frozen goods, not a good place to lie around he noted. Had they jumped from the frying pan into the fire, he wondered. He sat there trying to let his body rest enough so that he could think but he was in survival mode and laying there thinking wasn't part of the plan. The truck door looked solid and he had heard the latches screech home as the door closed, so he figured that there would be a slim to none chance that it could be opened from the inside. Almost in a panic, he stood quickly and looked around.

It was then that he noticed that he was still carrying Edith's backpack. "You OK?" he asked again as he zipped it open.

Edith's breathing was still shallow and fast but she was able to gasp "yes."

"I don't believe you," Frank said as the dog began licking Edith's face.

101

John Crandall Pulling a flashlight from the backpack, he stood and moved forward towards the front of the truck, looking for the hidden compartment or some way for them to either survive the trip or to escape. The good news was that the UGly Truck had just passed inspection and would probably not be detained again.

He was panning the interior of the truck with his light when he felt Silvio's nudge. He absentmindedly patted him on his head then followed as the dog began heading for the head of the truck as if with a purpose. Frank was about to give up and tackle the prospect of forcing the door when Silvio began barking, stood on his hind legs and scratched the wall of the trailer. There was a loud click and the wall panel Silvio was scratching at moved a fraction of an inch. Frank renewed his search and found the latch. He opened the thick door, and an enjoyable warmth spilled out. Glancing inside, Frank saw a small cell that was five feet deep and ran the width of the truck. The space was cramped but seemed to be outfitted like a boat, and it seemed to have all the comforts of home.

Hurrying to the back of the truck, he found Edith passed out on the floor.

"You OK?" he asked again.

Edith's eyes fluttered open, "Yea,”, she said,” and you? Oh, by the way, please quit asking me, you will be the first to know if I am not."

"I have a better place for you to laze around in," said Frank as he gave her a relieved smile, then helped her up, half carrying her to the front of the truck.

Passing through the door, Edith commented "Oh, it is warm too," as she began shivering.

102

The Mine Frank closed the insulated door and immediately noticed the room temperature rising. He helped Edith settle into the lower of two bunks then began removing her clothes.

Edith opened her eyes a slit and gave out a choking giggle, "Can't a girl get a rest?" she asked. "I won’t be very much fun right now, I need some time to recover." Then, "Oooh, that does hurt," as Frank pulled her shirt over her head "but I don't think anything is broken."

"That's a pretty bad scratch and you could have at least cracked a rib, it is bed rest for you, at least for the next eight hours." Neither of them said much as Frank cleaned Edith's wounds. When he had finished applying a loose bandage on her ribs, Frank helped her lay down and covered her. He caressed her cheek then leaned over to kiss her forehead and whispered, "rest now, sweets, and I will rustle up some grub for us."

As soon as she was beneath the covers and her breath had quieted, Silvio went to an out of the way corner of the small room and lie down. His dog behavior betrayed him a bit as he settled himself, got up turned around several times before finding just the right spot with the right feel—which happened to be the same position that didn't serve well the first two times he tried it. Frank looked at the little refrigerator, like the kind used in sailboats, about the same size as a minibar in a hotel room and wondered if it held anything. He opened the box and found cold drinks, cold cuts, fruit, and even a few containers of yogurt. He realized how hungry he was and as soon as he had a pot of coffee going on the hot plate, he dug in. He was relishing a Dagwood of a sandwich when he heard Edith stirring. Frank quickly opened a package of dehydrated

103

John Crandall soup and put it on the stove too, in anticipation of Edith's needs.

"I smell coffee." she said.

"It's not done yet," Frank said, "how about some soup first?"

"That would be lovely," she said sitting up with a groan.

"How're the ribs?"

"Sore but better I think. I think a couple of hours of sack time will be helpful."

Frank served up a large cup of soup and brought it to her. "It ain't grandma's but it is chicken soup so drink up and I'll get you some of that java."

They both were silent while Edith took the soup in. She reached out handing the empty bowl to Frank.

"More?" He asked.

"Not now, "she said, "I'll take that coffee now though."

Standing, Frank took the cup, put it in the sink which was on the other side of the little room. After filling a mug of coffee he turned to hand it to Edith. "Strong and black as usual." But he was talking to himself, Edith had fallen back and was asleep. Putting her cup down, next to his on the little shelf he had been using as a counter Frank lifted Edith's legs back onto the bunk and covered her again. He smiled a bit as he remembered a time that he had injured himself on a mission 104

The Mine and she had taken care of him. He knew what it was like to have to stay with a mission despite some physical discomfort.

Frank finished his sandwich and both cups of coffee and crawled into the top berth and immediately fell into that halfsleep that was restful but allowed him to remain alert.

Watcher’s GPS had kept track of their travels so he knew that he could get at least four hours of undisturbed rest before they got to the Mackinac Bridge and its checkpoint, a recent addition by the always paranoid *Oligarchy. They had to be awake and ready for action there, though it was a slim possibility but a possibility nonetheless, that their bolt hole would be discovered.

That was then, and now it was time to rest so, after checking on Edith once more and sending a glance at the dog, who also seemed to be alert but resting, Frank relaxed to the sway of the truck as it traveled northward.

When the truck slowed to join the queue that inevitably accompanied any approach to a checkpoint, Frank woke Edith telling her that she needn't get up, but to be ready in case they were discovered. In the meantime, Silvio stood and pawed at the floor beneath him. On closer inspection Frank noted a trap door that obviously opened on the bottom of the truck, offering escape if they needed it. And it sounded like they might need it, the truck took some turns that felt as if it were being shunted to an inspection area. There were loud voices that actually made their way through the insulation of the truck.

The squeal of doors at the rear of the truck opening was accompanied by the hairs on Silvio's back raising giving his DoodlelDog a weird razorback look but he made no noise, not 105

John Crandall even growling. Then there was the sound of footsteps and the movement of large objects in the compartment behind theirs.

Then there was a pounding on the wall, then the hidden door that had opened for them. Frank went into a higher state of alert. He fell into his manual version of the threat assessment that Watcher usually did for him. He began chanting to himself, "Look for the nines." This was the mantra that had kept him from overreacting so many times in his career—it kept him safe this time too. He stood ready to act but didn't even when he knew they had been discovered. His initial evaluation of the situation put it to level 2 when he had heard them moving things in the back but when they began pounding on the walls obviously suspecting the presence of a secret compartment it had risen to 6. Glancing at Silvio, he could tell by the slow wag of his tail, lowered ears, and stiff carriage that the dog was ready for trouble too.

As suddenly as it had started, the noise abated, all but for the thump of footsteps moving away. Something wasn't right though, the searchers had given up way too quickly. It was sometime before the squeal of the back door signified they had given up the hunt. But again it was too easy, Frank glanced at Silvio who still looked ill at ease. Sitting next to Edith, Frank began whispering, "I think they know that this truck is different. I bet they have put someone in the cab to ride along and maybe catch us at our destination. I would take them out but I think we need them there to convince those that be that there really is nothing different about the truck. There is nothing for us to do besides rest and be as ready as we can for when we finally do stop.

106

The Mine Chapter 4 The freeway north ended at the Mackinac bridge so the trip from there to Bruce Crossing was on county roads so there were more stops and turns but it was uneventful. Frank had fed Edith and Silvio and they were both sleeping when the huge truck took a sharp right turn and bounced to a stop. They knew their trip was at an end when they could no longer feel the engine vibrations from the tractor that pulled the trailer.

Checking his inner clock, Frank estimated that it was roughly six in the morning; normally he would have checked with Watcher but he was still in power-down mode. Losing the use of his interface felt like losing both his sight and his hearing, he was not able to do the things he used to. He had gotten to the point that it was a part of his thinking process and without it, he felt at a loss, somehow less than he had been.

Frank glanced at Silvio and was cheered by his presence, the dog had become a valuable part of the team. Motioning Silvio over, Frank bent over and whispered to Edith, "we need to strategize, it's a risk but let’s use Silvio to do a low-level update. I've had time to think about our next moves and I want us all on the same page." It only took a second for the information to flow from Frank to Silvio then Edith, Frank hoped that it wasn't long enough for anyone to sense their whereabouts. As soon as Frank and Edith let the dog’s ears go, they all set about the tasks that Frank had outlined in the all too short briefing.

Frank lifted the hatch that Silvio had been sleeping on. The dog deftly dropped through the door and disappeared into the dark below. Frank then moved to help Edith get up.

107

John Crandall "Leave it, buddy, I am feeling much better after the rest. Oh, and feisty too."

"I hope so because as soon as Silvio is back, we head out of here. You are going to have to let me pamper you for a while more, I want you to save your strength and your stoicism for when they are truly needed. They both sat in the quiet and the dark listening to the chirping of morning birds that drifted up through the open hatch.

"It is raining again," said Edith.

"Yup." "Think they managed to get a car placed here for us."

"Hope so," said Frank.

Silvio jumped up through the hatch and shook all over, spraying everything in the small compartment, including Frank and Edith, with water. Then he sat down and looked at them with what resembled a smug smile on his face. Frank and Edith each took a hold of one of his ears so his *Daemon could quickly pass on a situation report.

Dropping the ear and severing the connection, Frank said, "It looks like we are on our own as far as vehicles are concerned.

Silvio and I will go out and find a vehicle that can get us to White Pine. Edith, please lay back and take it easy for a change. The more you jostle them the worse those ribs will feel. Before she could object, Frank dropped through the hatch followed by Silvio.

108

The Mine The night was nearly over, the wet world was painted bluish by the meager amount of faint morning sun that filtered through the low clouds overhead. It was not dark or light which made it difficult for Frank to see but also made it hard for the *PeaceKeeper who had ridden in the cab of the truck since the Mackinac bridge. The man had obviously had just woke up, he stood there in the empty parking lot, facing away from the truck and garnering all the modesty he had, which is to say none, was busy emptying his bladder. That if anything would have irritated Frank enough to act but the fact that the man also stood between him and the safe procurement of a car ensured the headache the man would certainly wake up within an hour or two.

With a few simple gestures, agreed on in one or another of his syncs with the dog, Frank communicated that he wanted the dog to walk around in front of the man and distract him. The *PeaceKeepr’s monitor had just started turning around to face Frank’s direction when Silvio walked up to him. The man squatted down and called, "good boy, come." The dog sat down and just looked at him as if wondering who this idiot was and why he should let himself be manhandled. "Come on, nobody is gonna hurt you." He said standing, then he made his first mistake, he stepped over to the placid seeming dog. With a growl, Silvio lunged at him, for all the world, looking as if he was hungry for human flesh.

The man stepped backward awkwardly, nearly falling into Frank’s arms, which were in place and ready to apply a sleeper hold. This choke hold is commonly used in martial arts as a way to render an opponent unconscious in a relatively safe way. Despite the risk, Frank preferred to put his opponents out in this more peaceful manner but was not afraid to apply deadly force if it were more expedient. Once the guy was 109

John Crandall unconscious, Frank lowered him to the ground gently, leaving him in a fetal position. So he would be able to keep breathing, then removed his IdentACard, so it might look like a simple robbery.

After a quick connoiter, Frank told Silvio to go back to get Edith and then went in search of a car to steal.

Frank found a Minivan that looked like it had been sitting a while and might not be worried about for some time. It was a retired UGly car and had been extensively rewired, this pleased Frank, a hot-wired vehicle is untraceable and even more importantly, is easy to steal. A stolen illegal truck would most likely not be reported, at least not right away. He soon had it running and quickly drove it next to the tractor-trailer pulling up just as Edith and Silvio emerged from beneath it.

They jumped in.

Pulling away from the wide spot in the road that they called Bruce Crossing, Frank looked over his shoulder and saw approaching vehicles, with flashing red and blue lights on their roofs. "Police cars never change, they all still have those lights and sirens, it looks like we left in time."

"I wonder if we should stay on the highway, I'm sure they will be looking for us soon."

"You're right Edith, while you were getting your beauty sleep, I found and explored the most recent G-Maps looking for an alternate route, although up here there aren't many choices.

We can only hope that they focus their search on the immediate area around the Co-op and main roads before they start looking elsewhere."

110

The Mine "I think we should go to ground until tonight, then take back roads. If we drive with night vision, we can probably go without lights."

“But not quite yet though," said Frank, "I think I have an alternate plan." With that, he quickly slowed the vehicle and made a right hand turn onto a small paved road.

Norwich Road, Edith read on the sign, as they left the highway, then quickly on a small dirt road on the right labeled Powell, and just as quickly, they passed a house on the left and then a sign that said, "you are leaving Matchwood". “Didn't know we had entered Matchwood,” said Edith.

Norwich Road, which was seldom used since the price of gasoline was too high for the average person, the road had given itself permission to decay. Once flat and relatively smooth, the surface was beginning to crumble creating potholes. There were even areas that had reverted to the native sand that the road had been built on.

The sun just above the horizon lit the area in a beam of intense light, which in turn acted like a strobe on the right side of the car, disorienting all of the passengers. Despite the condition of the road, Frank kept his speed up to around 59 miles an hour, swerving and bouncing, using its entire width. Edith, who never enjoyed speed, and really hated the current strobe effect had lowered her head and closed her eyes. At just under three miles Frank applied the brakes hard, Edith, who had been focusing inward, looked up just as the roadway made a 90 degree turn to the east, facing the brilliant sun head-on and groaned. "I don't know which is worse, an overcast sky, facing the sun directly or having that damnable strobe effect."

111

John Crandall A half a mile later, it turned sharply to the north or left and the strobe effect returned. Well, said Frank, "now that you get to compare. What do you think?"'

"For now," said Edith, "the overcast would be nice." And as if she were making a wish that was immediately granted, the sun faded as it rose above the clouds. Edith began paying attention as a stream whooshed by and they were on a straight away again headed north. A sign on the road said "Ontonagon River," Edith noted it and returned her attention to the woods that flowed by. The road which had been traveling over rolling hills began to trend down a little. Trees and small side roads whooshed by too fast to really see.

A little less than three miles later, the road began to rise and drift left a little bit. It began climbing a little more as the land rose to either side of the gravel path. "Norwich Bluffs," Frank said.

"What?" asked Edith who was focused on the trees that flew past.

"Norwich Bluffs," he repeated. "On the side of these bluffs is a collection of abandoned mines that have been turned into a historical site. We can pull the truck in the parking lot with the few tourists that make it up here and hopefully blend in."

"Then what?" asked Edith, "wait in the car all day?"

"No, we get to be tourists too and explore the area’s abandoned copper mines. Once inside a mine shaft, these abandoned diggings will shield us visually and electronically.

We will be out of sight of the satellites and any other overhead surveillance too. The entrance to Windsor mine shaft #3 is 112

The Mine about an eighth of a mile from the original Norwich mine, which is located by the parking lot and trail head. It looks to be a good place to lie low for a while. It's a good thing Jack provided us with camping gear and hiking boots."

"Oh goody, Edith said semi-sarcastically, I was hoping to see these woods up close but we seem to be entering some pretty hilly country."

"There are some pretty rugged bluffs but most of the mine entrances are dug into the sides of the bluffs and are not very far from a valley that runs east and west from here to the Ontonagon River, which passes about a half a mile to the south of us before turning north. The going is a lot easier between here and the river, in whichever direction. It is pretty flat and anyone walking out there would be pretty exposed. So if there is any trouble the best way out is north up one of the gorges.

There is a smaller valley that runs east and west there too, parallel to the big one. In that valley is a smaller dirt road that travels east and west but tourists don't go there often. We should avoid using that road if we can. The main thing is that we want to get out of sight as soon as we can."

"I was wondering what you were thinking. If we leave the van behind and they find it but not us, won't they start looking around here? That means, we will be shielded and we will have plenty of time to synch and get caught up with each other, which ought to be nice. I saw a blanket in the back, we should remember to bring it."

"I like the way you think," said Frank as he pulled the truck into a parking space amongst several others left by overnight hikers and other early birds. Edith opened the door and was almost knocked over by Silvio who flew from the truck and 113

John Crandall immediately began establishing a perimeter he could patrol.

Frank grabbed the backpacks and the blanket that Edith had seen. She and Silvio who were already making tracks —in the wrong direction. Frank whistled once, pointed in the right direction and started walking the opposite way. Edith was still moving slowly but after retracing her steps she followed Frank and quickly caught up with him. Frank tried to disguise the fact that carrying both backpacks was slowing him down but it was obvious to Edith who took stock of her bruised ribs and decided to put up with his heroics for just a little bit longer.

The two trudged on down the path but Silvio, on the other hand, crashed through the underbrush, nearly knocking Frank down with his arrival.

"Now that you are up and moving, how are the ribs?" Frank asked.

"Not so bad, I might even be able to take a backpack by now."

Edith said with a hint of bravery."

"Might be able to but won't be allowed, at least for now, I want you well-rested."

"Says who?" Edith asked.

"Says me." Frank returned "and Silvio too."

At that Silvio who was in front of them on the trail barked twice. "See," said Frank.

"If we weren't on the lam, I might enjoy this hike," Edith said.

They hadn't hiked very far when they encountered some low hills, "Hope this doesn't get too hilly, I do feel better from the 114

The Mine rest but mountain climbing is not on my personal list of things to do today," said Edith.

Frank nodded, "We have a relatively flat path for now but the climb could get rugged if we have to deviate from the path.

Remember, South is flat and has the Ontonagon river as a boundary, and immediately north are some bluffs and hard times if we have to go that way. To the east of us is where the river joins the bluffs so south and east are directions to avoid if we need to make a run for it. To the west is the highway and to the north is nothing for a couple of miles except a small fire trail in a valley just to the north, over the bluffs. All that being said, I would prefer to spend the day in a cave, waiting for dark."

Not long after that, the trio came to the bluffs that Frank had mentioned and the trail they were on came to an intersection.

There was a signpost with arrows that pointed in all four directions: to the left, it indicated that in the same the MacDonald Mine was to be found in a quarter of a mile.

Windsor mine was to be found to the right in one eighth of a mile and the Norwich Cemetery was one quarter mile. The Norwich mine was straight ahead one tenth of a mile in the direction they were heading. The sign pointed back the way they had come, indicating that the trail head and parking lot lay in that direction. "Looks like we are headed the right way," Frank said.

As the signpost disappeared behind them the trail began a steep climb up what looked like a gully or a wash, which seemed to be the origin of a trickling sound of water flowing.

Bits and pieces of rusted equipment were strewn haphazardly in the underbrush. Piles of stone and rubble underlined the evidence of the presence of the hand of man in this near115

John Crandall wilderness. Coming around a curve in the trail, Frank and Edith found Silvio sitting in apparent satisfaction.

As they got near, the dog began shaking his head indicating he wanted a quick tete a tete. Frank took Silvio's left ear and Edith his right and they got a quick *Sitrep. There were tourists coming down the trail in front of them, who had just left the entrance to the mine, disappointed that it had been locked and barred. No one was close behind either that group or behind Frank and Edith and there was a way into the mine if they were to assume the size and shape of a brown DoodleDog, Silvio had already been inside.

"Great news." Frank said as he released the dog’s ear, "but I don't really want to let anyone know we are here, so we should get off the trail quickly."

"Right," Edith said letting go of the other ear. "Which way Silvio?"

Silvio gave himself a big shake then took off to the right and slightly downhill towards the sound of running water. They had gone about ten feet when they encountered another trail that traveled horizontally and at a slight angle away from the one they had just left. They had come to a large outcropping of rock that formed a sort of a natural cave and was just barely under its cover when the sound of voices drifted down to them. The three of them paused in the lee of the rock and waited as the group passed by uphill from them. As the sound of the hikers dwindled into the distance Silvio stood and led them back in the same direction they had been heading.

"Glad he knows where we are going," said Frank.

116

The Mine "I trust him," said Edith "Me too, but we need to get under cover soon."

About a hundred yards down the trail, Silvio made an abrupt right turn, heading downhill, away from the marked entrance, Frank and Edith thought they were headed for. The way was steep and even Silvio, with his four feet was having a difficult time maintaining his balance, scrabbling downhill, over scree in a not so controlled fall. Their journey ended on a small shelf about a hundred feet above the stream bed below.

“Thanks, Silvio,” Frank said, “that was a hell of a ride, now what?”

Silvio simply turned and walked between some bars that almost blocked an unmapped entrance to the mines.

“Well looky here,” Edith said, “I bet no one knows about this entrance.”

Looking up between the trees to the blue sky above, Frank said. "Probably not, but I bet if they really start looking for us they will find it. It will stand out like a sore thumb to any aircraft or satellite surveillance, especially if we are here when they look, so let's get ourselves inside. Edith you OK after that last uphill jaunt?"

"Fine Fine," Edith said, "but I could use a break."

After a quick, for Frank and Edith, sync session, Edith had gotten comfortable and was asleep. Frank was awake and on watch at the adit or entrance tunnel. From his vantage point, 117

John Crandall at the mouth of the mine, he could see east and south without being visible to overhead surveillance. Silvio was out on patrol, but since they had all gone on electronic lock-down, there was little knowing where he was or what he was doing.

Frank had confidence in him and even trusted him but the dog was still an unknown entity.

There had been quite a bit of activity to the south and east of them, in the direction of Bruce Crossing, where they had left the truck behind. Helicopters came and went, a few planes circled overhead, it was obvious that the search was on. Then the helicopters all landed to the south and west of them while the planes began flying a spiraling search pattern. It was just a matter of time before they would fly overhead so Frank made sure Watcher was completely powered down and stepped a little further into the mine. Frank watched as the planes spiraled closer and closer. About two in the afternoon, one join in, then two, then a third plane joined the overhead surveillance. Frank stepped further back into the cave and woke Edith.

Touching her gently on the shoulder, he said, "shhh, don't get up, I don't think they know we are here but they have airplanes searching overhead. This can only mean that they know we are headed this way and they want to stop us bad."

"Where's Silvio, is he OK?" "I am sure he is, he's a big boy or dog, and he can take care of himself; do you have Ary powered down."

"Yup, but I really wish we could sync again, but this time, not for the trading of information, I want to be close to you, I just dreamed . . ."

118

The Mine "Later, there's plenty of time for that later."

They heard yet another plane fly low overhead, then Silvio's bark echoed to them but from behind them. Confused, Frank quietly asked "Tsup dog? And why are your feet so wet?"

Silvio went over to where Edith was lying on an unrolled sleeping bag and began shaking his head indicating that his *Daemon, Silvey, had something to say. Frank and Edith both quickly powered up their own *Daemons, then took hold of the dog’s ears and did a quick sync. Done they both powered down and let go of the dog’s ears.

"Looks like our friend found us a way out," said Edith.

"Yup," said Frank, "time to bug out. He has been outside for so long I was starting to wonder about him. He has my complete confidence but if he can lead us out of another shaft, he will have certainly earned even more of my trust."

As they packed up, Silvio stood at the entrance watching the path that leads up the gulch to Gleason Falls. When he started a slow whining, Frank and Edith looked up to see him bristling.

"I think we need to hurry," said Edith.

"Me too," said Frank. "As a matter of fact since I am carrying your pack why don't you two get going, and I will catch up."

"Sure," said Edith, then "Come on Silvio, show us the way."

119

John Crandall They hadn't gone far before they ran into some water filling a low spot in the mine shaft. Edith wavered a minute before shrugging and following Silvio into the water. After about a hundred feet, the adit did a slight curve to the right, then left before following the path it had started on. As soon as they were around the corner, and out of sight of the entrance, Silvio came to a quick stop almost tripping Edith. Still standing in water, they listened as voices echoed off of the rough stone of the shaft. None of them sounded like Frank’s so they were somewhat relieved.

It felt like forever before Edith felt Frank's hand close around hers. She knew he took pride in his ability to walk quietly so she wasn't surprised by his touch. He whispered in Edith's ear, "all clear for now, they were too busy talking and too afraid of the dark to come very far into the cave or they might have seen me but we have to be careful, they are coming back, with flashlights and hand held heat sensors and other sensing equipment, so we can't even sync for a time. I am sure glad that Silvio found his way to the mine entrance probably by the caving slope on the other side of the bluff. We can get out there and from what I gleaned from Silvio's synch, I don't think they know about that entrance yet. But we have to move fast and quiet and refrain from aiming the light behind us." He fished around in her backpack then handed her a small LED light and pointed it down the cavern away from the entrance.

Silvio took the lead again lifting his feet high above the water covered floor, Edith followed alternating between shining her light at her feet and in the cave in front of them. There was enough ambient light from Edith's flashlight that Frank didn't need one to see where he was going besides, its light couldn't illuminate the stones beneath the water that covered floor. The water got a little deeper then it sloped up to dry ground again.

120

The Mine Silvio who had gotten a little ahead of them came to a stop and waited for them.

From behind Silvio, all Edith and Frank could see was darkness as the shaft widened. It was almost as if the stone here absorbed any light that might find its way in. Frank pulled out a bigger flashlight and shined it into the darkness.

It illuminated the rough hewn stone, old wooden beams and thick hemp ropes that disappeared down a vertical shaft.

Whispering again he marveled, "Silvio, you came through here in the dark, you are smarter or braver than I thought. I don't think luck would have helped much here."

There were three other horizontal shafts disappearing into the dark. Silvio stood and skirting the black maw of the vertical shaft and led them to the right.

Frank realized that the light he was using to see now was not coming from Edith's flashlight. It was coming from up ahead.

Over Edith's shoulder, he could see that it was brighter and that the rough rock and old wood of an intersection between the adit and a vertical shaft illuminated from above. Silvio sat, just inside the entrance to the chamber, blocking the way.

Frank was about to ask what the matter was when he heard the voices, apparently echoing down from above. He took a quick look upward and saw that above was a grate that covered the hole in the ground that the air shaft made and that there were several men standing on it.

“East side of the bluff, there’s an entrance that is open" blared a radio. “I think this is where they have gone to ground."

121

John Crandall Another voice, probably from above replied, "yeah probably, this place is riddled with shafts and chambers and lots of places to hide.”

"Ah, just got a signal, they are definitely there, said the radio.

"I am glad you brought that analyzer, can you follow them into the cave."

"Yeah, but I need a flashlight, do you have one?”

"In my toolkit, I will bring it right down."

The echoes from above were replaced with some emanating from the adit behind them. Silvio jumped up and squirmed behind Frank and began nudging him in the direction of a cross shaft. It was obvious that he wanted Frank and Edith to go in that direction. They complied and were well into the new shaft before they noticed that Silvio was not with them.

Frank tapped Edith on the shoulder and then headed in the direction of where he had left the dog but he wasn't there. In the entrance shaft, he could hear water splashing followed by a low growl.

“Do you hear that?" echoed down the shaft.

“Yeah, what do you think?

“Don't know and can't see anything in this darkness, where are those guys with those damn flashlights?”

“Oh, here they are.”

122

The Mine “Sid, shine a light in there, I don't see anything but we heard growling.” The sound of footsteps was followed by the splashing of water, then the sound of Silvio barking erased all other noises.

Edith and Frank looked at each other then hurried in the direction Silvio had been nudging them. The sound of Silvio's barking got more intense and menacing. Frank and Edith began hurrying now but the going was rough because the shaft stopped and turned into a crevice that obviously followed the course of a vein. They shimmied down the seam and before long found themselves in another shaft that was illuminated by light from another horizontal adit. The sound of Silvio's encounter had become dimmer but no less menacing until there was the shout of a shot, the yelp of a dog, another shot then all was silent.

After spilling out of the narrow crevice Frank and Edith stood looked at each other then resorted to the age-old form of covert communication—they whispered to each other.

“I sure hope they didn't shoot Silvio,” said Edith.

“Me too,” said Frank, “I wonder if I, no we, should go back”.

“I don't think so, I think if they did shoot him, twice, there won't be anything left to rescue.”

“Let’s get a move on before they figure out where we went.”

The horizontal shaft they were in was lit by the glow of daylight that filtered in from the outside. The source of the light seemed to come from another intersection of shafts to 123

John Crandall their right. They stopped just before a shaft went up to the surface and further down into the bowels of the mine. Still other horizontal shafts, that faded into dimness. A warm breeze still carrying the smells of the out of doors blew in the entrance, indicating a connection to the surface. They stopped for a minute to catch their breath and to listen. The voices of their pursuers echoed down to them loudly and clearly.

“Can't tell which way they went in here,” one of their pursuers said.

“The sensor might have been wrong, I haven't gotten a signal since we shot the dog.” Said a second person.

Frank and Edith looked at the reflections of their own feelings in the faces of the other. Horror, anger, concern, and the need for vengeance. If there was a chance that their friend was ok, they would have acted on their anger, but that would have to wait. As important as he was the dog, Silvio was not part of the mission. They would get even, but not now, it would have to wait. Now they had to get on with their mission and they couldn't go back but they would get revenge, there was no doubt about that.

Then another voice, "this is hopeless, we will never find them in here."

“What do you suggest we do,” asked he first.

We need to get back to the entrance and wait for them there, it will be a simple matter to wait them out. And we can check in with headquarters and let them tell us what to do, that is probably the safest thing to do right now.

124

The Mine Frank and Edith smiled. They would be out of the mine quicker than their pursuers and long before headquarters had a chance to figure out that there was more than one entrance.

They had few choices and one of them was just around the corner.

Edith nodded solemnly then indicated the direction that the breeze was coming from and started off in that direction.

Frank put his hand on her arm to stop her. Stopping she turned and whispered. "That breeze is coming from a lower entrance and is exiting the air shaft above and it is going in the opposite at right angles to the one we came in on. We should be able to find our way out if we keep the wind in our faces.”

Frank shrugged, gave her the thumbs-up sign and fell in behind her again, trusting that, when Edith said something, she was not guessing. One of the things that helped the two of them to work together so well was their complete trust in the judgment of the other. If one of them said duck, there was no hesitation or question. If one said down, they were believed and the other would immediately hit the dirt.

This part of the mine had railroad tracks on it with ties that made silent and quick progress nearly impossible, so they gave up silent for quick, counting on the fact that their pursuers were having as much trouble as they were.

The mine shaft opened up and offshoots, each with their own set of rails, merged to join it. The light had been filtering in on them and after a broad curve to the left, they found themselves looking at another entrance to the mine. An entrance that had what looked like jail bars blocking it. They jogged up to the entrance stopping at the wrought iron gate that was closed and secured, they looked at each other then, in disappointment.

125

John Crandall Frank lifted the chain, looking for any weak spot that he could take advantage of and smiled. "Look," he whispered, "the chain isn't even attached or locked. It looks like someone has been using this entrance and didn't want to advertise it." The door creaked, loudly, as Frank pushed it open.

They stepped out into the sun squinting in the bright light grateful for where they were. "We are on the backside of the bluffs," Edith whispered, "looking north."

Frank nodded. "There is a slight depression that runs east and west here, we can make it to the road in relative security this way if we are careful, at least we will be harder to see. We can figure out our next move from there. If we take the back roads, we will have to drive 30 some miles on roads that are being searched. If we go cross country, it will only be 11 and considering one hour for every 3 miles, at our slowest we would have a 4-hour hike in front of us. Since everyone is looking for us on roads around here, I think we can make it without being seen. The way will be relatively flat once we are out of these bluffs, in about a mile or so, but there are a number of bogs and backed up or beaver-dammed streams.

Are your ribs up to a hike?” he asked.

"Are yours?" she asked poking him in the side.

He laughed then, "I am still going to carry your pack for a while and give them a chance to rest. With that they set out in a northwestern direction, pausing at the road to orient themselves. Crouching in the bushes on the verge, they watched a number of vehicles heading south on Norwich road, kicking up dust as they went. As soon as a particularly fastmoving truck passed they sprinted across the road jumping over the ditch and into the bushes just in time to avoid another 126

The Mine speeding truck. The truck came to a sliding stop a couple of hundred feet down the road. Frank and Edith, sure they had been spotted went into stealth mode and began moving off to the west away from the road. They could hear the driver and a passenger talking.

"Did you see that?” asked the driver as he jumped from the truck."

"Nope, I was looking at the map."

"Saw something running across the road."

"Did it look like people?"

"Well no, it was brown."

"Probably a deer,” the passenger said."

"Didn't have antlers,” said the driver."

"Coulda been a doe, they don't have antlers."

"Well it was brown, maybe it was a deer."

"There, you have seen your first deer, good for you, just don't hit any, they can do quite a bit of damage."

Just then the radio in the truck squawked. "Home to Rover 1 come in. Home to Rover 1, are you there?"

Then the driver responded in an excited voice, "Rover 1 to Home, we are here."

127

John Crandall "Rover 1 where are you?" asked the impatient voice on the radio with an emphasis on Where.

"Home Base, I thought might have been someone, but Sarge said it was probably a deer."

"It must have been," said Home Base, "we have the fugitives cornered in an abandoned mine."

This time the passenger spoke, "This is Sergeant Crawly, Home Base, you say cornered, how could you do that, there are more entrances than you have men there and unless you have found all of them, they could have walked out and found their vehicle and be at White Pine or Ontonagon by now."

"Damn, I didn't know that, this is bad. Where would you guess they are? I'll call the eye in the sky boys and get them started looking."

"I'd concentrate their efforts on the area immediately around the mine and on the roads, they couldn't have gotten far."

"Thank you, sergeant, we'll do that."

"We are about 5 minutes from your location, get started on the satellites. Rover 1 out.” With that, the truck sped off.

Frank and Edith, who had stopped to listen to the conversation looked at each other and again headed west, using a loping stride that was quiet and ate up the ground in a hurry.

They had gone just a tenth of a mile before they came on their first obstacle. The going had been flat and tree-covered but 128

The Mine now they were faced with a not so dry stream bed with a rise on the opposite side.

129

John Crandall

130

The Mine Chapter 5 While the stream bed was not full of water, it was wet and the muck was deep. Frank's experiences as a child, wandering the woods of Michigan’s lower peninsula, had prepared him for places like this. Looking downstream he could see the reason for the swamps presence. Not a hundred feet away, was an obvious attempt at damming up the stream to create a small lake. The person, obviously inexperienced, who had bulldozed the sand into an earthen dam hadn't taken into consideration sands unwillingness to hold water back. The lake, when it had found a place to boil through, had promptly washed away a channel and most of the water had escaped.

Now there were two sand piles which were spanned by a primitive bridge that would barely stand the weight of pedestrians let alone the trucks that had obviously used it as a river crossing.

Frank helped Edith to dry ground, she had been in the lead and hadn't known how quickly a bog, like this, could mire a person down.

After pulling her to safety, he smiled gently and said, “that was a mistake," then "make sure you have your shoes, that mud is famous for claiming them."

"Got em but I could feel them being sucked at, if they weren't so tall or laced up so well, they could have slipped off. At least I am walking out of here alive."

"Come on this way, there is a better place to cross."

131

John Crandall Edith looked to where Frank was pointing, “damn,” she said, “I should have seen that.”

“No spilled milk here, let’s just make this as easy for ourselves as we can. And we shouldn't linger out in the open too long, otherwise, we might be seen.”

They quickly made their way across the rickety construct of a bridge and into the forest beyond. Their way led them up a small rise then down into a small hollow. “Let’s rest here a minute,”, Frank said.

They both sat on one of the dead falls that lie conveniently beneath a massive oak tree and looked back the way they had come.

"Look, Frank, the helicopters are circling the mines now, we got out just in time."

"Tough part is that they will be broadening their search radius soon and that means we will be even more vulnerable."

"Wonder what happened to Silvio." Frank mused, "I was really getting to like that dog."

"I fear for the worst," said Edith. "After that second shot, it got very quiet."

"We can't dwell on it but I do expect to exact some vengeance, sometime soon. Well girl, are you ready to move on yet?"

132

The Mine Edith nodded, then grimaced as she made an obvious attempt to hide the pain from Frank when she began to stand. "As ready as I'll ever be," she said.

Frank was bent over picking Edith's backpack up off of the ground when there was the report of a gun then the whizz thump as the bullet passed nearby, only stoping when it hit a tree. The two hit the dirt.

Edith, sotto voce said, “Leave the backpacks here, they might be mistaken for us and we can circle around to sneak up on them from behind.” Another shot rang out as they hugged the ground and made their way in opposite directions. Edith was wounded, and Frank wanted to give her a better chance, so he took the left flank. A right-hander only had to lift his arm to point and shoot whereas if he had to shoot to the left, he had to stop and turn before firing, this might provide Edith precious time if she were spotted.

Staying low and moving quickly from tree to tree, Frank and Edith made their way around and behind the two men. From above the paths they took would have looked like a valentines heart, the apex being their backpack and the lobes of the heart behind and to either side of and behind the men.

The pursuers, there were two of them, had their attention focused on a low, slow-moving brown object. They would stop every few steps and take aim, only occasionally pulling the trigger to send another bullet in the direction of what looked like Silvio. Frank caught sight of Edith who was behind and to the side of the man now on her right. Edith shrugged her shoulders and put her hands out as if to say, "Ready" and Frank nodded his assent then put one finger up and drew a circle in the air then pointed at the men.

133

John Crandall Everything in his body said charge but he held his hand palm down indicating that they should stay low and go slow.

Moving when the men did and stopping when they did, in an attempt to disguise the noise of their approach, Frank and Edith made good time. When they were about ten feet from them, the men had stopped and both of them had raised their guns in readiness to fire at whatever they were after. Neither had to think or talk, they just acted, in unison as they had in so many times past but one of them in their haste must have made some noise, or they somehow had sensed the ambush because the men swung around and were bringing their guns to bear when Frank and Edith caught up with them.

Edith struck first using the edge of her right hand to hit the man on the neck as her left snaked around to grab the gun.

The man went down to his knees as Edith snagged the gun and trained it on him. Unlike in the movies, a blow to the neck doesn't always knock a person out but it can distract them from the task at hand as it did this time which is all she wanted anyway.

Frank immediately stepped in close and wrapped his right arm around the second man’s outstretched gun arm, this brought Frank up behind and to the side of him. He only had to exert a little upward pressure on the man's elbow to convince him to drop the gun, then he wrapped his left arm around his adversary’s neck and applied a sleeper hold. Frank was considering a quick snap of the neck to take him out and to revenge Silvio but besides his personal code about not killing unless it is entirely necessary, he heard Edith's cry of joy.

“Look, look, it's Silvio.”

134

The Mine Frank held on to the rapidly wilting man until he was sure that the guy would remain asleep, then he let him slide slowly to the ground. "Hey boy, " he called, "you're OK, great."

Look, Frank, he's limping. Edith, still covering the man with the gun she had taken from him, said, "On your knees, now."

Frank stepped up to the kneeling man and looked at Edith, "should I?" he asked.

“Yea, I could do it but my ribs are still sore. Besides, you were always better at hugging people from behind.”

“Careful, he said, you could be next but it won't be a sleeper hold I put on you.” Frank stepped up close behind the second assailant and applied the same hold and soon the man was lying unconscious with the other one. "These guys didn't put up much of a fight, he said."

"Bullies are like that," Edith said, “tough until faced with someone who will stand up to them. Shooting at a helpless dog, why, they should be ashamed.”

“And what would they say about you,” Frank asked, then, "we should get these guys secured somewhere out of sight then we should get a move on. This territory makes it hard for the cameras overhead to spot us but not if we sit out here in plain sight.

Just then the radio one of the pursuers had been carrying started hissing and a garbled voice said. "Rover 3, this is base, did you get him."

135

John Crandall Frank picked up the phone and emulated a bad connection, answered that they hadn't and that he thought he had seen the dog but that it was a deer. He suggested that Base send searchers in a different direction.

Silvio, since he wasn't being shot at any more was cutting his way through the weeds towards them. He must have figured out that it was Frank and Edith because he barked once and ran up to them. Frank gave him a quick tousle before saying, "Edith, see to him, alright, I need to hide these guys." He picked up one of the unconscious men and carried him back to the rickety bridge he and Edith had used to cross the trickle of a stream that ran through the breached earthen dam.

Fortunately Frank was big and the man was slight because the going was a little rough. Once he had laid the man out of sight beneath the bridge and trussed him up, using his own shoelaces and belt, he fetched the other miscreant and tied him up too. Then he threw their radio in the water, effectively removing it from all forms of detection and guaranteeing that the men would remain undiscovered for quite some time, probably nightfall when their heat signatures would act as a homing beacon to the eyes in the sky.

Frank caught up with Edith and Silvio as they entered the forest where Frank and Edith had been when the shooting started. Breathing a little heavily from his recent exertions, Frank asked, "so where was he hit?"

"I really checked him over and there isn't a trace of a wound on him."

"I wonder what the yelp was about, and those guys said they shot him."

136

The Mine Edith smiled, "I considered linking with him to find out, but I figured that wouldn't be wise until we are undercover and out of all sensor range. I sure am grateful to him, he gave us just enough time to get away."

Me too said Frank, "I don't know how we would have managed without him, and I sure am interested in seeing what he was up to, but it can wait until our next sync. Do you need to rest before we go on?"

"No Frank, I don't need to rest but you are more than welcome to carry my backpack if you want."

"Since you said that, I am not so sure you need the help anymore."

"Well it is mighty chivalrous of you to keep carrying it and I really feel better but it might not hurt to take it easy for a bit longer."

"Well come on then," Frank said as he put his own pack on and slung Edith’s over one shoulder. "And you Silvio, come on but I take the lead, I know where we are going."

Frank had no sooner said this than Silvio ran off into the woods. "Well, he said, I guess we know who is not in charge here. Come on Edith."

The rest of the journey out of the Trap hills was relatively unremarkable, almost a stroll through a moderately young regrowth forest growing on low rolling hills. On a direct, as the crow flies, line from the Norwich Mines to the White Pine Mine they would have had one last smallish summit to climb 137

John Crandall but it would have made the trip a little more arduous and would have done little to shorten their journey so they detoured around it on the north or flatter side. Another consideration that made the slight detour a better choice, was that higher ground was always more visible to satellites and other overhead surveillance. There were a number of dry and almost dry creek-beds for them to cross and a pond formed by a beaver dam to skirt but for the most part, the going was easy.

At one point Frank and Edith stopped to harvest some of the wild blueberries that proliferated in the area. A little smaller than the farm-raised varieties these were a great deal sweeter and had a real flavor to them. Silvio who had been ranging around them probably surveying the ever-moving perimeter they offered, came back and sat under a tree watching as the pair enjoyed the snack nature had provided.

They had crossed several small streams and three relatively main gravel trails, which they chose not to use. When they came to a berm of large gravel or ballast of an abandoned railway line, they decided it was safe enough to use. The track had been removed and the raised roadway was now used by locals as a fire trail. The ridge, a bump in the landscape really, paralleled a larger stream that promised to be a more formidable obstacle so they chose to use the raised fire trail.

The locals used this two-track as a back door from the uninhabited Trap Hills. Since it was largely overgrown and offered little exposure to the sky above, they decided it would be a safe and fast route north. Eventually, the trail curved away from the seasonal creek and meandered through the forest in a direction that was more easterly than Frank was comfortable with. They had been following it for a little over an hour and Frank was beginning to become concerned when they finally heard the highway. He guessed or at least hoped 138

The Mine that it was LP Walsh Road. There was a little more car and truck traffic than Frank expected so he was leery about staying on the two-track any longer.

"Looks like it is back into the woods for us," Frank said.

"Probably so," Frank said. "Can't say I haven't enjoyed the flat going through. What were your thoughts about tonight, I'm getting a little tired and hungry?"

"Me too,” Edith said, "and I would imagine that Sylvio is too, I don't know what he is doing, but he has probably been walking three times as far as we have."

"I think he is guarding if not herding us." Said Edith, "He seems to know where we are going anyway." Then she asked, "Is that a road I hear?"

"It is, and here comes Silvio, he sure is wet. He has probably been slogging through some of the bigger streams that we have been paralleling. Let's go on until we can see the road and decide what to do then. I think we need the rest but we should probably get some cover, then maybe head out tonight when they have hopefully quit looking for us so hard."

"Good," said Edith who had gone ahead while Frank tied a lace that had come loose. Then pointing, she asked," but what about that house over there, it looks like it isn't in immediate use."

Frank jogged up to where Edith was just as Silvio joined her.

He sat down in front of them and shook his head the way he did when he had something to synch about.

139

John Crandall The two humans each took a hold of one of the dog’s ears and held tight. In real-time, a short message told them that a packet of information was coming that they would be able to read later. The most important fact was that the house was deserted and would be a good place to hole up for a time and that there was a vehicle that they could borrow too.

Despite the fact that it had been prepared for an extended absence, like most vacation homes in this area, it was easy enough to get into and it had all the comforts of home, including propane for heat, electricity and a functioning water pump. There were no outbuildings but an old pick up truck was parked in the front yard where several others would sit when the owners were in residence. The refrigerator and freezers were empty but there were plenty of canned goods, even some Alpo for the dog.

An hour later, they had all had a quick meal and were relaxing around the gas stove, with full bellies and a pot of coffee staying warm on the space heater. There was no landline or cellular phone service, which was just as well because the temptation to go online just to see what was happening in the real world was pretty great. Instead, one by one they began to drop into a doze. Frank stood and shook himself. "I'm going to see if that truck runs, if it does, I'll come in and join you, if not, we get to hoof it some more, which would mean we should leave again right away. Both of you get as much rest as you can."

Edith tossed something jangly at him and said. "I bet it will start easier if you use these keys."

140

The Mine “Probably so,” said Frank as he snatched them from the air.

“Looks like we all get to rest. I'll probably be back in a minute.”

He wasn't gone long before Edith heard the Truck start up.

She began a thorough search of the house, not looking for valuables but surveying for any kind of tool that might help in a pinch. She found what she was looking for in a locked cabinet in the bedroom closet. Looking inside she smiled and went to check to see that the water heater was offering hot water yet. It was. So she slipped out of her hiking clothes and into the shower. It was very hot and very relaxing. She still had a bit of a hitch in her ribs if she moved wrong, but she felt better immediately.

Edith was coming out of the bathroom as Frank came back in.

"Your turn," she said.

Nah he said, I didn't even break a sweat today.

"How long will we be here?" Edith asked.

"Well, the truck started so we have wheels so we won't need to go anywhere until sun up."

"Then take your clothes off, they have a washer and dryer here so we can at least have clean clothes. And if you are planning on sleeping with me, you will take a shower, you know what I think about stinky dirty old men."

"Well, I can fix the first one but the second and third are beyond my control."

141

John Crandall "To the showers dirty old man and fix what you can."

Picking up his clothes she winced and called. "You must have hugged a skunk, these clothes are awful."

The only reply she got was the sound of the shower. But she knew how to get even. Throwing the clothes into the washer with some detergent, she put the setting on hot, which should, she hoped would give him a quick dose of cold water. Then taking pity on him, she put it on warm so he could have at least warm water for the rest of his shower.

The house had begun to warm up so when a billow of steam followed Frank from the bathroom, he found Edith lying on top of the blankets fast asleep. The shower had never warmed up after the initial burst of cold, someone had used up all the hot water so he crawled under the blankets next to her and lay there shivering. He was exhausted and soon fell asleep.

Even in his sleep, Frank was surprised at how real this dream felt. Someone was doing something that felt good, almost too good not to be happening. The sensations persisted long enough that Frank drifted back to a consciousness that included someone, Edith most likely, doing something nice to his now rigid erection. "Mmmm-nice, he said sleepily."

"Yes,” Edith said, “real nice.” Do you think we could, should, synch?"

"I do," said Frank, "but not because of any new information, I just like being inside you. But if I did need a reason, there is the information that Silvio passed on to us earlier, we could review that. And, I don't think it is likely that anyone is near enough to sense a skin to skin transmission."

142

The Mine "I am going to give you a rain check on top position, Frank, my ribs are still sore and you are such a brute, you could hurt them."

"Now I'm hurt, ‘The Brute,’ is that what you think of me?"

"Pushing him on his back, she straddled him. Well, not a brute but strong and powerful."

"Flattery will get you anywhere you want to be,” he said.

Then he moaned as she positioned herself and began to guide him inside her. Now, this is syncing, no floppy ear synch for me."

Because of her sore ribs, Frank didn't lift Edith by her hips as he might have normally but they both shifted their positions minutely and when she lowered herself down, he slid deep inside. The pleasure for both of them was exquisite. Each closed their eyes, letting their bodies follow the well-rehearsed choreography that was designed to please them both.

And the Data Docking began. Their bodies and their implants communicated, electrically and chemically, setting up the synergistic connection that would allow them to act as one as their *Daemons passed information back and forth. Frank and Edith's consciousness began to merge and to reshape itself as images and smells, and information and sound, and sensations engaged their attention in an ever-changing kaleidoscope, which moved faster and faster as their bodies surged striving for completion.

And then they floated in darkness, each spasm of their mutual orgasm was accompanied by a packet of information that required nothing from them but surrender. This, the eye of the 143

John Crandall storm, seemed, on a subjective level, to last forever but was quickly replaced by a return to the purely physical sex act that it had emulated. The crushing orgasm had exhausted the pair and a quivering Edith collapsed onto Frank’s heaving chest.

They remained joined as their consciousness became more like that of sleep. This happy state of affairs would last the rest of the night allowing their minds and bodies to assimilate any new information and to plan their next moves.

Just before sunlight, Silvio's cold wet nose against the sole of Frank's right foot brought him awake. "Humph, what is it a boy?" then he heard the sound of a vehicle. Rolling over, he lowered Edith to the bed gently then stood to look out the window.

"What is it?"

“Company,” Frank said, “I'll check it out.”

He came back a few minutes later. "*PeaceKeeprs, local, it looks like. If they are like the pair yesterday, I might be able to bluff them."

"I'll get dressed anyway," Edith said. "There’s a gun cabinet in the closet, I opened it last night. " They both heard pounding at the door.

Silvio immediately began barking his loud menacing bark.

Edith quickly grabbed a gun from the cabinet, her choice was an old Remington 870 Express shotgun, taking quick note of the barrel, she picked up the box of 5 gauge cartridges and slid four, as many as this gun in this configuration would hold, into 144

The Mine the magazine. She threw it to Frank who had his boxers on by now.

The pounding at the door was getting louder and Silvio was sounding even fiercer.

"What the fuck," Frank called.

"Open up, it's *PeaceKeeprs," called one of them.

"Who?" Frank called knowing perfectly well who they were. "*PeaceKeepers, open this door immediately."

"Is Sheriff Dillon with you?"

"No, but he knows we are here, we just left his office."

Frank almost giggled out loud, a fictional character from the old west days and this moron had talked to him, this morning.

"Who the fuck are you really?"

"Open this door now or we break it down."

"OK OK, stand back or this Rottweiler here will eat your asses for breakfast." Watching through a sidelight, Frank saw the men withdraw back towards their vehicle. Opening the door and slipping out, he called back inside, "Good dog Bruno," he said, then "Stay."

Once out the door, he raised the shotgun so it was pointed generally towards the two men in uniform. "Who are ya and what do you want here at this godforsaken hour."

145

John Crandall "We’re here looking for some fugitives, dangerous types, have you seen or heard anything unusual in the last 24 hours."

Frank knew he wasn't talking to any locals so he told them.

"Nothing unusual, just the occasional car on the highway and one or two kids traveling up the road looking to harvest some pot and drink some beer."

"How do you know they are just kids?"

"Because I followed them once, and they were doing just what I said, then I rousted them on general principle. Except for this one time, there was a couple and they were busy rocking the pickup. Bein the sentimental type, I let them be, didn't want to interrupt true love and all."

"Who is with you in there?"

"Me and the dog is all."

"Mind if we look."

Frank raised the shotgun slightly. "Yup I mind and no you won't. I've had enough truck with you fellas, it's time for you to leave, I got work to do. It's me and the dog and that's all you need to know.

"Where does this road go?"

"If it'll get you out of my hair quicker so I can get some breakfast, I'll tell yah. About a tenth of a mile in the road does a curve to the east, that’s left to you boys, if there are cars there it's hikers gone up into the trap hills, if there’s no car 146

The Mine there, keep a going about a half a mile to a clearing with a burnt down house, just to the south of that, on your right, is a path what goes to their MaryJane plot. You find them kids, you tell em to find some other way to get to their pot, cause I'll shoot the next one comes thru. Now, You get on your way."

One of the men saluted and the other grunted "thanks" but they both turned around and walked to their car. Frank stood there watching to make sure they were headed down the fire trail, then went inside. As soon as the door opened, he could smell corned beef, god he liked canned corn beef, even without the poached eggs. When he went into the kitchen he was met with a plate of hot food and a raised eye. Silvio had retired to a corner and was attacking a dish of canned dog food.

"Bad guys?" Edith asked.

"Yeah, and not locals either. Think I got em convinced to go chase their shadow down that fire trail for a while, which isn't to say that they won't be back or radio in, to whatever they call headquarters for backup or something."

"Well eat up then," Edith said, "we need to get a move on."

"Yeah considering the Intel that Silvio gave us yesterday, they are hot after our tails. It's a good thing they don't have locals helping them. And it looks like we are here at the right time.

Did you hear that bit off of Silvio's Silvey about them triggering the event at noon on the 21st " "Yes I did," Edith said, "that gives us three days to get into the mine, figure out what they are planning and ending it. It's good Intel and I trust it but I just wished I knew where that dog and his *Daemon, Silvey, get all of their information."

147

John Crandall Frank got dressed while he ate the proffered breakfast, then he went to explore the contents of the closet. The only thing he found that he liked was a Ruger Redhawk Double-Action Revolver, whoever owned this place had a fetish for oversized weapons, and for balance, he took a Smith & Wesson Model 36. 38 special caliber. He loaded both and pocketed a box of ammo for each.

Edith was waiting for him by the front door when he came out.

By the door were their backpacks and a duffel bag. "More loot?" he asked.

"No just some canned food for Silvio and some for us. We got lucky, the owners of this place must have a dog. Who knows where this thing is going to take us next."

"Right," said Frank, "so we will go find out but first we need to let Silvio out, based on his behavior yesterday I am sure he will run a perimeter or two and I would rather that we know about any surprises before they become so."

As soon as Frank opened the door, Silvio bolted out and immediately put his nose down and sniffed where the two men had been standing, then immediately followed their trail to where their car had been standing. He looked up once gave a short bark then began a spiral pattern that took him around the house in bigger and bigger circles. Silvio followed this pattern until he was about a hundred yards from the house then he disappeared.

"Let’s get this stuff into the truck while he sees if those guys are really gone."

"Right," said Edith, "I sure needed last night though."

148

The Mine "Me too, it has been far too long since we worked together. I can't get enough of synching with you."

"That's all you think about anymore is syncing syncing syncing, can't a girl get a good toss in the hay anymore?"

Laughing, Frank grabbed the backpacks in one hand and the rucksack full of food in the other. "Better be careful or we will have to delay our departure for a quickie. I could stand that, I really could."

Edith picked up a gun case Frank hadn't noticed and followed him out to the truck. "Sorta like that gun,” she said, “we might find some use for it later."

Frank climbed into the truck and fired it up, letting it warm up slowly, while Edith stood by the passenger door waiting for Silvio. "Be right back,” she said, “we need to leave some money to cover our tab here."

"Don't worry about it, I left a handful of old fashioned cash in the gun cabinet. Hopefully, they can find a way to use it, it is getting harder and harder to use anything but the new style of plastic debit card as money to pay people."

Silvio ran up then and jumped into the back of the truck, clearing the tailgate in one leap. He promptly lay down and appeared to fall asleep.

"I guess we don't need to make room for him up here," Edith said as she climbed into the cab of the truck. "Silvio sure looks happy back there."

149

John Crandall "He has become an important part of the team," Frank said. "I don't usually like dogs all that much but he doesn't act or feel like any dog I have known."

The trip down the rutted two-track to Walsh Road was short and they soon bumped up onto the two-lane blacktop road.

Looking right, Frank saw that the road began an immediate curve to the left. "I think if we go this way for a short bit, we can check on one of the mine shafts that gives access to the southern end of the mine. It might be nice to know what the surface looks like before we go down there, we may need a way out that is different from the way in."

"I think it is safe to access our *Daemons on local now,” said Edith, “it would help to have at least a static copy of Google earth to look at."

"You go ahead," said Frank, "I am enjoying the quiet. I will turn mine on soon though. So what do you see?"

"I see your memory is pretty good. We go just past a power line going into the forest which is where Walsh Road curves north for a little bit. Just before the end of the curve, we will pass Bay Road on the right, then just beyond that on the left will be a driveway that leads to the buildings at the head of the mine shaft you were talking about. Then just beyond that is a service road that will take us just a bit north and west so we can get a good look at it from afar."

Edith had no sooner said this then Bay Road peeled off to the right, then the driveway, unmarked, then another two-track running off to the left.

"Here," Edith said, "turn in here."

150

The Mine Bouncing down now off the tarmac onto another rutted road, Frank noticed that it was the property line of a largish, for that area, expanse of lawn, in the middle of which, sat one of the ubiquitous ranch houses so popular in the area. Frank glanced over his shoulder. Silvio was standing now with his front feet on the cab of the truck. "Look at that," he said as he pointed over his shoulder, "Silvio on duty."

The road they were on was uncharacteristically straight for that part of the woods but there was a turn off to the right that terminated under a tree where they could park and be shielded from overhead surveillance. Frank turned in and shut the truck down. Silvio immediately jumped from the truck and tore off into the woods.

"Wonder if he saw something," Frank said, "or if he is just on patrol."

"Don't know," Edith said, "but if it is important, I am sure he will find a way of letting us know."

That's when they heard Silvio barking and he didn't sound happy, the sound of it actually raised the hairs on the back of Frank's neck. Frank and Edith did what they normally do when faced with a potential foe, the went into stealth mode moving silently and quickly, Edith around to the right of the target and Frank went into distraction mode, making as much noise as possible to present what the average person would misinterpret as a credible target. Many had made that mistake and had actually fired at where Frank was just before they pulled the trigger on the gun, by which time Edith would have come up behind them ready to neutralize them.

151

John Crandall With Silvio acting as a distraction, Frank didn't really have a job to do so he simply walked in the direction of the barking, still making as much noise as possible. The sound was coming from the direction of the house that Frank had noticed as they drove down the two-track. Breaking out from the thicket that surrounded it and into a small clearing, Frank stopped and Laughed. Edith who had been coming up behind the reason for Silvio's barking had also stopped and was bent over with laughter. By now the dog had quit making noise and was standing there with a deer rifle in his mouth, for all the world as if he were holding a stick and wanted to play fetch. In front of him stood an older heavyset man wearing the red flannel shirt that was redolent of hunting garb and actually performed as the uniform of the locals. He was stupidly reaching for the gun, obviously trying to get it back.

Summoning a loud serious voice, Frank said. "don't do it, if Silvio doesn't have that gun to latch on to, in his mouth, he will be free to hold on to one of your body parts and you don't want that."

"OK, OK," stammered the man, "just call him off."

Making it up as she went along, Edith who was coming up behind him said, "can't do it, he is in charge right now and he won't let go until he senses you aren't a threat anymore, then he will put it down and let you have it back. Nothing I can do to make him do anything. Don't make any sudden moves and don't look back, I have a gun trained between your shoulders."

“So what do you want, what are you doing on my property?”

"Looking for a good place to go deer hunting, when the season opens," said Frank.

152

The Mine "Listen, my property butts up on the mine and I don't allow any strangers on my land."

"Our mistake," said Frank, "we respect other people’s property but that two-track didn't have a gate so we thought we were on public property. I won't go through a locked anything without permission or a good reason. We will be on our way in a minute, so what is the mine is all about."

"It's an underground copper mine that ends somewhere under your feet, about 1800 feet below us now."

"Is it operational?" asked Edith as she walked up next to the man. "It’s OK, she said to Silvio, you can put the gun down now. That’s Silvio, she said pointing to the dog, and Frank over there, I am Edith and you are?"

Silvio gently dropped the gun to the ground and then sat next to it, staring intently at the man. Edith took that as a cue that Silvio felt relatively comfortable with the situation so she pocketed the 38 that Frank had given her.

He reached a hand to her but pulled it back when Silvio gave a low growl. "Looks like he ain't that comfortable yet."

"You will know when he is," said Frank as he strolled up to the trio. "You are safe enough for now though."

"Well, my names Bob Builder, no don't, I have heard all the Bob the Builder jokes there are and none of them are funny to me. And if you bring the B.B. King joke up I will know I can't trust you. I used to be plant manager for the mine but ore extraction and production have been terminated for a long long 153

John Crandall time now. The facilities have been taken over by some kind of Scientific team and some hydroponic growers most likely pot but I don't really know and am not interested in finding out.

Don't ask me how those two are related, I just know I am out of a job but the coal-fired generators are running full time.

Something is going on down there and none of us from around here are sure what, I just know it that interferes with my TV, and radio and computer and we have had weird power outages lately."

"Why weird” asked Edith, “what can be weird about power outages."

"Well, occasionally transformers, mostly to the south of the mine explode, one started a fire in the woods and right about that time, there were surges of electricity coming to the house.

Blew up two TVs and a freezer before I installed a special surge protector, we all have one now, all of us that live anywhere near the mine that is. Besides all that, my AngelMed ALERT heart monitor has been acting up. The Doctors in Ontonagon General don't know what is causing it. They keep asking if I am welding or if I am around some kind of Radio Frequency Interference, (RFI) as if I knew what the heck that means. The damn thing keeps saying I am having a heart attack."

"Any idea of what that is all about?"

"No,” said the man, “but since they closed the mine, all sorts of odd crates and shipping containers have gone down into the mine and very little has come out. And Nancy, my wife works over at the Black Bear Inn, she says there is a lot more traffic through the place. Most are people headed to White Pine who

154

The Mine arrive too late for curfew, looking for a place to spend the night."

"What is that about?" Frank asked.

"They lock the place down at 10:00 every night and won't let a soul in or out until 6 in the morning and it is during that time that most of the static and power surges appear. And some nights, during that time, we can feel explosions but they are different from what we felt when the mine was active."

"Has Nancy heard anything that might explain it?"

"No, there is no scuttlebutt to speak of, most of the people who stay there are pretty tight-lipped and standoffish, worse than most of the down below-ers that wander through. " "Hmmph, from all of that, it does seem that something is going on," Frank said.

"Don't know about all that, but last week, they began installing all sorts of electronic sensors or something around this end of the mine. I don't think they are operational yet but there has been a lot of activity."

At these words, Frank and Edith looked at each other both and quickly powered their *Daemons down. If their cover was blown, that was one thing and they would deal with it later but, there was no sense advertising their presence.

"Interesting, but I don't think that any of this has any meaning to us."

155

John Crandall "It doesn't if you are the deer hunters you say you are but be careful where you go, public lands or not, there are some rough-looking guys wandering the woods lately."

156

The Mine Chapter 6 "So, what is that over there, Bob?" Frank asked, looking over his shoulder at piles of earth and logs and abandoned equipment.

"That is the abandoned Southeast mine shaft, I am afraid the areas around them got to looking like a dump, but that is the nature of the beast."

"Doesn't it bother you, all that mess?" asked Edith.

"No, mother earth will reclaim it soon. Ten years after we humans have abandoned it, this place will be covered with shrubbery and well on its way to becoming the forest it was.

As a matter of fact, I got this piece cheap because management at the mine didn't understand that. They were happy to sell me this acreage for a song when they started closing the mining operation."

"Did it look as bad as all that?"

"Worse actually, but I had it bulldozed flat and introduced some pine trees. It only took a couple of years for this area to start to recover. The deer have already begun to come back, so everyone in the family gets to fill their tag, every year."

"Great, but you don't allow outsiders to use your land. We might be willing to pay."

157

John Crandall "Thanks, but no. I can tell you that on the other side of the road to the south, there are quite a few deer, and it isn't hunted very hard.”

"Off of L. P. Walsh Road.?

"Yeah, just head south, and after it bends around to head west again, look to the south of the road. That will keep you off of my property. There's a couple of homes there. Mostly they belong to flatlanders, city folks, from the lower peninsula, who rarely come up in the summer. Except for the guy that owns that truck you all are driving, his mother died, and he went to Detroit for the week, but he will be back next Friday."

"Oops, we have been busted," said Edith as she met Frank's eyes and prepared for the conversation to turn nasty.

"So what's up?" asked Bob, "You two don't look like the kind to go around stealing trucks."

"You're right, but how did you know."

"I was looking out the kitchen window when you drove up and saw the truck. Then I saw the dog, and Henry's dog is a little bitty ankle-biter, a Chihuahua, I think, that wouldn't make a mouthful to your Silvey. I could never understand why a man like that would keep such a thing for a pet, and he would certainly not be traipsing around these woods with a woman in the truck; he is like that, you know. If he had a wife or partner, she would belong in the kitchen. Anyway, I knew something was up. You will have to be careful; everyone around here knows Henry and his truck. So, again, what are you up to?"

158

The Mine After another knowing look between Frank and Edith, Frank made eye contact with Bob. They stood for what felt like an hour, staring into the eyes of the other, each evaluating the other. Their silent communication came to an end when Silvio, who had approached quietly, dropped the gun at their feet and licked Bob's hand. Edith let a snort escape as the two men relaxed into friendly laughter.

"That is enough of that, but sniffers. If Silvio approves, then so do I. Catching his breath, Frank pointed to the ground and said, "Well, I think you are a safe one to tell; we are here to figure out what is happening down there in the mine."

"That's something I would like to know too. I went over the other day to see if I could find out what they are doing and if it has something to do with the crazy things going on around here. Well, they caught me snooping. You would have thought I was a Russian spy. For a minute, I thought I would have to fight my way out of there. Anyway, I skedaddled, did what they asked, but I didn't like the way I was treated."

"Sounds like it has been bothering you," said Frank.

"Yeah, been stewing on it all week."

"Seeing as how you know the mine and the area, it sure would help to know the lay of the land before we go tripping on something we don't or shouldn't have to.

"Pretty easy," said Bob as he picked up a stick and swept the detritus off a stretch of flat sand. He began drawing, as he 159

John Crandall explained. "This here is L.P Walsh Road. Down here south of it is Henry's house, where you found the truck. That," he said, pointing behind them is the No. 3 shaft. Starting here and running parallel to L. P. Walsh is what they call the perimeter road. It is on mine property, but the mine extends quite a way further underground to the south. First, on the right is a twotrack that leads to the South East shaft. Then a little past this big curve in the perimeter road is the Schacht shaft. The first driveway on the left just past the bend is access to another vent. If you wait until you see it, then it is too late; at that point, you can turn around, it is quicker, or you can go on to the next driveway. Don't try to go cross country. You probably won't see the ditch full of water, and you'll get stuck for sure.

After that, west of where LP Walsh Road tees into Highway 64 is the South West shaft, the newest of them. There are two entrance roads: a little north and another a little south, but there is a power line with a two-track that continues where LP Walsh ends. The two Mine workshops may come in handy.

One is near area thirty-four (to the north and east of it) and another next to the Southwest Shaft. Now, up here on the west is the town, if you want to call it that, of White Pine, and a little north on the east side is the main mine entrance, the power plant, equipment storage, and the administrative offices.

From there to just about the lake is mine property. It is where the settling ponds are. There is nothing over there that you care about."

"If you want to stay out of sight of most of the locals, you can take the perimeter road; it starts just over there. Just be careful; there's them hooligans who are patrolling. The other day I was out here on my own property, and they tried to run me off.

That's why I started carrying a gun even when there's no season."

160

The Mine "What is the best way to get down inside the mine without being noticed."

"Not too easy," said Bob. "I know a few ways, but I would have to take you. I wouldn't mind, but I couldn't do it until later, and I don't want to be down there when they do what they do, especially if it will interfere with my implant."

"You said that they stop around six in the morning? That's a little late for my comfort. Still, if that is when they allow access, then I imagine they will be paying attention to the front gate and won't be worried about some of the other ways in."

"That's true; everybody has this feeling that the only way in and out is through the Portal, the main tunnel; they tend to forget the air shafts and access tunnels. The trouble is that the shafts, the ones they know about since they have elevators, are considered a threat and are heavily guarded."

"Sounds like it is sewn up tight. What do you suggest."

"Well, there is a small shaft that drops down into what we called area 34. It was abandoned when they figured out that the copper laden ore petered out in this direction. That's when they opened up the Southwest shaft; it was considered more convenient to the direction the mine was taking."

"Oh, really, where is it?"

"It's about halfway between here and the Schacht shaft."

"Is it easy to find?"

161

John Crandall "Nope, neither up here nor down there. Which is why they haven't found it yet."

"How hidden is it?"

"In the mine, the entrance is hard to find because it is behind an almost labyrinthine series of passages. You can't pick out from the rest of the rock wall unless you are right on them.

And you have to be looking for it – so far they have had no reason to look.

"And up here, why haven't they found it here?"

"The entrance is covered by a building that looks like a house.

And that is what they think it is. And on the maps, it is under the symbol designating area 34."

"Do we have to climb down?"

"Almost, there is a small counterbalanced elevator, but it is hand-operated. There will be some work to go down and even more coming back up. With the three of us and the dog, if you choose to take him, we will be overloading it, but that just makes going down easier."

"That sounds doable, so when should we go."

"I'd say we should be safe going in about 6:00 am."

"That should give us enough time to check the other entrances."

162

The Mine "Tell you what Bob," said, "why don't the three of you go twotracking and see the sights, then come to my house in the late afternoon, we can fill our bellies and take a look at some of my old maps before we can snatch a good sleep."

"That sounds good," said Edith, "can we stop somewhere to pick something up to bring with us?"

"No," said Bob, "there isn't anywhere for you to go, and besides, I have enough venison to last an army through a rough winter."

Their day was uneventful. Frank and Edith, with Silvio, saw the sights and very few people. They were on the perimeter road, though, when they encountered some guards. Frank had no problem convincing them that he and Edith and Silvio were locals and belonged there. The goons asserted that things had changed and that no one was welcome on the mine's property, including the roads.

By three, they were back at Bob's house. They were greeted by a magnificent border collie who instantly took a liking to Silvio. It wasn't long before the two of them were off running in the woods. The side door opened, and the man they had met that morning and a slender woman of indeterminate age stepped into the yard.

Bob introduced Frank and Edith to his wife, Nancy. "Just call me Nan," she said.

"I smell coffee," said Frank

163

John Crandall "Just put a pot on," said Nancy, "come on in and have some."

Frank sat at the kitchen table and slurped some of the hot liquid, then sighed. "There is always hope in the world if you can get wrapped around a good cup of coffee now and again."

Bob stepped up and unrolled a sheet of paper using salt and pepper shakers and the sugar bowl to hold it open. "This," he said, "is a map of the mine. Its twenty-five square miles is situated 1800 foot, give or take, below the surface. We are over the east side of it about halfway down, right about here.

The Portal or main entrance is over by the town of White Pine.

These, he said, tapping three symbols, are the three mine shafts I told you about earlier. And right over here is where the forgotten shaft is located. It is not shown on the official maps, but there are also false walls between it and the main chamber.

You have to know it is there to find it."

"You said all the electrical and electronic problems happen to the south of the mine."

"Yes," said Edith, "and as you might be guessing, that puts this shaft out of the way of whatever is causing the problems."

"Talk about how it affects your pacemaker."

"It is not really a pacemaker; it's a monitor, one of the first approved ones, manufactured by Angel-Med. Installed in 2013, it warns me if I am going to have a heart attack.

Unlike the first of its kind, it can actually predict by a couple of hours that a heart attack is imminent. That gives me time to get to the hospital in Ontonagon. If I had one of those *Daemons, I read about, invented by the same company, that people talk about, it would warn me even sooner. The thing is, this one is still susceptible to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). I need to avoid contact with any high strength electronic or magnetic signals and fields."

164

The Mine "I can think of a hundred reasons why I wouldn't want you down there on this caper, but this is probably the most important one. I think we will have to do without you as a guide," said Frank as he looked at Edith and then asked; "what do you think would happen to one of our *Daemons if they were in the line of fire, so to speak?"

"None of us around here has noticed any adverse physical symptoms, but the effect on the electronics seems to increase in intensity the closer you are to the southwest corner. About a mile out, where there is little more than white-tailed deer. We are a little north of this corner of the mine, right here, so we seem to be behind whatever is generating the interference if the rumors are true."

"What rumors?" asked Edith.

"Old coot that lives in Gwinn, near K.I. Sawyer, the old Air Force Base, has property over here. He claims that whenever they do what they do in the mine, he has all sorts of computer problems and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). He lives about 140 road miles away. He has a theory that whoever is in that mine is trying to do something to the Extra Low Frequency (ELF) antennas. It runs ostensibly from KI Sawyer to the southeast and Clam Lake, Wisconsin, to the southwest, both of which were supposedly decommissioned in 2004. He claims that some research company bought them and put them back in service."

"So, what do you think is going on?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, their timetable seems to be accelerating. We only experienced trouble once a month, then

165

John Crandall once a week, it is now almost every day. And the intensity of the fields they generate seems to be increasing too."

"But, there is that window of no activity."

'Yes, there is, and I would guess that the hidden shaft is in a null spot in the transmissions, but I would be careful; those radio waves may be the least of your troubles."

"Here's the thing, Bob," said Frank, "I think it would be best for you and Sue and the dog to take a run to Ontonagon. I don't know what will happen when we get down there, but it might be safer for you if you weren't home when they do."

"Sounds reasonable, but what about you two."

"We will be fine," said Edith, "we are trained and prepared for things like this, we will make out alright, and if you don't hear from us in a week or so and nothing else has transpired, I recommend you call the police."

"I don't know."

"I do," said Frank, "we know enough to get us started, and the rest we will have to make up as we go along. I would feel better if you were out of harm's way."

"I guess you two are the professionals, so I won't argue, but I don't like it."

"I'd say if you left in the next hour, that would give you time to get to town and find a room at a hotel before it gets dark."

166

The Mine "Won't need a hotel," said Bob as he wrote on a piece of paper torn from a tablet, Nancie's mom still lives there. Here are her phone, address, and email if you need them. We will stay there for the week, then come back looking for you. Please feel free to use the place if you need to."

"OK then," Edith stood, "let's eat that chili I smell cooking, and then we will rest while you two get packed."

"After dinner, Nan let the dogs in, then took the pair to the guest room, and left them to their own devices while she and Bob concentrated on packing for a week's stay at her mothers.

Frank and Edith sat down on the bed for quick three-way sync with Silvio, who sat on the floor between them.

Silvey treated them to a dog's eye view of a reconnaissance of the surrounding area. There was a schedule of observed mine vehicles on the perimeter road that seemed to be on a regular timetable. Then there were almost uninterpretable impressions that seemed to be secondhand memories of the dog's, concerning the area around the house that hid the mine shaft. It was all valuable information that each stored for future use.

With little discussion as if the three were merged into one personality, it was decided that the truck would be returned to the house where they found it and that they would walk to the head of the shaft. " Decision made, the three rose and headed for the kitchen. Bob and Nancy were done packing and were filing thermoses of coffee for both groups and sandwiches for Frank and Edith.

The dogs weren't forgotten; there were two heaping bowls of canned food put out in front of the dog bed in the corner. Hugs all around, then the six-headed to their respective vehicles, and drove in opposite directions. Bob and Nan and their dog 167

John Crandall headed for Ontonagon. Frank, Edith, and Silvio went back to the cabin where they had spent the night.

Frank unloaded the bed of the pickup while Edith went back inside to put the truck keys where she found them. The trio had just shouldered their packs and set off towards the nearby shaft house when they heard the sound of vehicles approaching. They quickly made for the woods and had just hunkered down when a trio of official-looking mine vehicles swept into the clearing the house sat in. A crowd of armed men piled out of the trucks and surrounded the house.

Frank and Edith traded looks then withdrew further into the forest.

"That was close," said Edith, "when they were out of sight, it looks like we might as well get underground. It appears they are hot on our trail."

Frank nodded and put his hand out, palm down, and motioned that they all get low and go slow. Just ahead of them was L.P. Walsh Road and the overgrown driveway to the mine shaft.

Frank waved Silvio up to him and took hold of his ear, performing a quick sync with him. The dog's *Daemon, Silvey, instructing them to "go on out to check the road, if it is clear, keep going if not, just sit by the road to watch until it is clear."

The dog entered the grass margin to the side of the road, looking both ways. He promptly sat down and watched as a dump truck barreled down the road in front of them. Still, Silvio sat; then, a pickup truck passed by. Silvio began to rise but quickly sat back down again as a blue sedan state police 168

The Mine cruiser screamed by, its sirens blaring. As the police car and its siren disappeared, Silvio stood and ran across the road. Frank and Edith took that as their cue and jogged across right behind Silvio. "Good boy," said Frank as they all slipped back into the woods. Staying in the forested area with the driveway to the right, they approached the house from the east. It was dark and deserted looking, which was as Bob said it would be. Frank motioned Silvio and Edith to watch the front and the two sides, then slipped quietly to the back, keeping low to avoid leaving a silhouette at the windows he passed. The key to the back door was right where Bob had said, hiding under a cute little frog figure that sat on a Lily pad in the middle of an abandoned water fountain. Frank crouched low and to the side of the door with weapon drawn before inserting the key and listening hard. After a count of 5, usually, people count to three and then considered it safe. Everyone knew that, so Frank waited the extra two seconds to be sure before turning the key and pushing the door open. When nothing happened, he lay with his cheek on the ground and slowly peered around the corner. He saw a largish industrial workshop, which was incongruent with all outside appearances. The building was hollow with the A-frame of a large industrial elevator taking center stage. Sunlight bored its way into the gloom illuminating a thick layer of dust covering every horizontal surface. Despite the near darkness, it was evident that no one had entered the building in some time. He checked most of the nooks and crannies, looking for anyone who might have a different way in. In the process, he kicked up some dust and began sneezing.

So much for stealth, he thought as he yelled "clear." He met Edith and Silvio at the door. "Come on, Edith, we have work to do. And you, my friend, please set up a perimeter."

169

John Crandall "Talking to the dog now as if you were in charge," said Edith.

"Only in charge of now, this is my specialty. Come on," he said.

The house was good camouflage for the mine shaft that yawned before them. The inside of the two-story building was hollowed out to accommodate the A-frame that supported the manually operated elevator. It was just a cage on a cable suspended over the vertical shaft that yawned below it. There was a hand crank that moved the car up and down the shaft. A sign informed them that the optimum weight for the vehicle was a thousand pounds.

"Thousand pounds," said Frank, "that is about the weight of 4 good-sized men. I imagine that that is about what the counterweight weighs. Probably a lot of work for us to overcome that dead weight, unless we add some."

"Look over there," said Edith, "bags of cement or something."

Frank stood one up and looked at it, "Ah," he said, "One hundred pounds of Urea Fertilizer and look there, barrels of fuel oil. Nope not cement, just the makings of explosives, and I bet some blasting caps are around here too."

"I don't know what we can do with explosives but, it might come in handy," Edith said, "as well as provide some extra weight, so we don't have to work so hard going down."

"Right, but I haven't forgotten your ribs, so you get to look for the blasting caps."

Edith made her way around the room's perimeter, looking for the caps in an aluminum box. They were inside a cabinet that bore the symbol for explosives. "Lookie look," she said as 170

The Mine picked a few up and let them sift through her fingers. Just what the doctor ordered."

"Good," said Frank, "I have about eight bags of fertilizer and two five-gallon jerry cans of diesel. I think this stuff could come in handy, too. Why don't you get Silvio, and I will figure out how this contraption works."

Looking through the diamonds of the expanded metal sides, Frank ascertained how the thing functioned. It was simple, but it could be hard work. There was a modified Xit Manual Winch with an automatic brake used to raise or lower the whole contraption. It was all simple but could be hard work for the uninitiated.

Frank hoped that the weight of the fertilizer and the oil would be enough to make the next part of their journey more comfortable.

Silvio bounded in, followed by Edith, who pulled the creaking the door closed behind them. "Going down," Edith said.

"Leaving ground floor, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the nonstop elevator to the basement."

Silvio gave a small bark as Frank began turning the crank to start their downward process. The car was small, even if it could handle 4 full-grown men. They would have to have been at least friendly with each other to fit. The rock walls showed the marks of the giant cutting machine that had made its way through bedrock down through the different strata of rock to the bottom. Edith watched the dim light of the surface fade into darkness. The elevator swayed as it sunk into the dark shaft looking for the bottom 2500 feet below the surface.

Before the trio was enveloped in complete darkness, Frank 171

John Crandall applied the brake, and the car came to a screeching, bumping halt. Rustling around in his backpack, he found a flashlight.

"Sure am glad that Jack Jr. had the foresight to include flashlights." He flicked it on, glad to see that it was one of the new ones that purported to have lifelong batteries. Frank released the brake, and their descent continued. The air grew damper and colder as they rode the cage downward. There were numbers crudely painted on the wall every 100 feet.

First, the numbers were painted on cement, which probably supported the overburden, mostly sand, of the first hundred feet or so. The cement gave way to a rough sandstone, which seemed to go on forever.

"Freda Sandstone," said Frank, pointing, "goes to about 750 feet."

Edith looked at him and shrugged.

Some unknowable time later, they noticed a change in the atmosphere as they passed into a different kind of rock. The air got danker, and there were water seeps where the two prominent strata of rock met. "Nonesuch Shale," Frank said.

"What?" asked Edith.

"We are close to the bottom," Frank said, "and that rock is called Nonesuch Shale. The ore horizon is below that, and below that is Copper Harbor Conglomerate, a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks and below that is the lava flows, or the Lake Shore Traps, but we won't be going that deep."

Silvio barked twice impatiently. Edith, who had been absentmindedly stroking the dog's head, took an ear into her hand. "Frank, Silvio here knows all of this, and I do too; you can stop the tour guide act for a while anyway.

172

The Mine Abashed, Frank quieted and dropped the play by play.

As they went deeper, the air got slightly cooler than the surface, then became warmer and thicker. It smelled musty and dirty and damp. Their passage was less than quiet, but their noise was more than overwhelmed by the sounds that wandered up the shaft to them. There was an awful lot of industry occurring deep underground, a lot more than one might expect from a mine that had been closed some 40 years before. After what seemed like a lifetime, long after the daylight had disappeared above, a dim watery illumination seeped up the shaft. and quit winching them down when they had almost reached the floor of the shaft. He used two fingers pointed at his eyes, then he pointed at Edith, then at the floor of the elevator car. Edith dropped to her knees and put her head as low as she could and motioned for Frank to continue lowering them slowly. As the bottom of the cage cleared the top of the shaft entrance, Edith signaled Frank to stop. He did locking the winch before lying down next to her on the floor.

Silvio lay down between the two humans and joined them in looking out into the mine. They maintained this pose, looking and listening for any indication that their presence had been noted. When they were all as sure as they could be that the coast was clear, they each looked at each other and shrugged.

Frank stood and began lowering them again. As soon as they had come to rest, Edith pushed the door of the cage open and stepped out, going immediately to the right, hugging the wall in case there was an ambush. The last place anyone needed to be in a surprise attack was bunched up in an elevator. Edith's movement to the right was a long-practiced step in a choreographed technique for entering any new space when there might be resistance.

First, Edith would go in low on the side of the doorknob or right if there was none.

173

John Crandall Second, Frank would stay high and go in on the side of the hinges or left if there weren't any.

Third, the two would then work their way around the room, taking out any resistance they encountered.

Each knew what the other would do in that or any other situation.

They always kept track of the other's position and knew where they would be if a firefight broke out.

Frank and Edith eschewed the use of guns and ammunition powered by solid propellants and depended on other of their skills, which, too, demanded the same dance of stealth.

For all of their attempts at a stealthy entry, their reception was almost a disappointment. Their approach to any situation was to plan for the worst – way they were never disappointed.

Edith had gone right as expected, staying low and covering the room that the elevator opened on. Contrary to their plans, Silvio followed Edith out and walked straight into the room, nearly knocking Frank over in the process. Then Frank entered, hugging the left wall. According to the plan, he worked his way around the small rock-walled anteroom until he came to a smaller horizontal passage that exited opposite the elevator.

Still the contrarian, Silvio walked straight across the 20×20 foot room as if he had information that it was clear. His back to the wall to the side of the horizontal shaft, Frank ducked his head in and out, trying to see if anyone was there. It was empty except for Silvio, who sat on the rough stone floor and looked at him as if he wondered what was wrong with these humans. Shrugging, he looked to Edith, who had figured out 174

The Mine that their strategy wasn't required, at the moment, and had joined him and was staring at Silvio.

"Psst, psst," Frank said to Silvio, motioning him back to where he and Edith were standing.

They all retreated to the far corner of the ante-room and went into a synch huddle, each of the humans taking gentle firm holds on the dog's ears. They all activated their *Daemons in stealth mode. A lengthy conversation was made short by the speed of communication that their A.I.'s. It helped all three understand Frank's idea of their roles when entering a room or hall that might contain bad guys. Silvey promised to help him maintain protocol in the future.

Before entering any room, Silvio was to sniff the place then wag his tail if he didn't smell anyone present. Frank and Edith would then enter the room with caution but with less of a sense of alert.

If he did sense someone there, Silvio would simply sit on the floor, alerting Frank and Edith to the possible danger beyond.

When the two joined him, Silvio could quickly and quietly pass on a *Sitrep about the room to be entered by syncing again.

If there were a paramount danger, Silvio would quickly lie down and roll towards the side he thought the bad guys were on. Or he would simply lie in the middle if there were more than one person, and they were scattered around the room.

Silvio leading, All three entered the rock-bound hallway.

Silvio's nose stayed in the air as if to satisfy his human partners that he was indeed on the job. The rock tunnel was 175

John Crandall almost high enough for Frank to walk in but not quite. The intermittent bare light bulbs, some broken that provided low light, were definitely a hazard to his head. The walls and ceilings gradually receded until, after about a hundred feet, Frank could stand straight.

Silvio came to a turn in the shaft and stopped. He didn't sit or lay down, he just put his nose in the air as if sampling the breeze that passed them. Frank and Edith stopped behind him, watching his every move. Then Silvio put his nose near the ground sniffing back and forth from one rock wall to the other, then he did the same with his nose in the air. Finally satisfied, he went to the center of the room and stood with his tail down flat behind him.

This was not a sign that they had all agreed on. Looking over his shoulder, Silvio seemed to shrug then took it upon himself to simply walk out of sight around the corner.

Quietly but quickly, Frank and Edith followed. They sped around the corner and nearly tripped over Silvio, who was standing looking back at them. This was another signal they had not agreed on. Beyond Silvio was another larger room that was more dimly lit than the passageway they had been following.

As Frank and Edith approached, Silvio shook his head, signaling that they needed a quick sync. Still wary, they stopped at either side of him, each took a furry ear in their hand and allowed their *Daemons to communicate. As quick as if they were wearing an Ocular Heads Up, their *HUDs displayed a red-line map of the immediate area. The plan included the room and shaft they had been traveling down, highlighted, or filled in with a deeper shade of red. The room beyond was enormous. Hiding their position in the tunnel was 176

The Mine a large mass of stone, probably a pillar of sorts that the miners had left to support the rock ceiling.

The amount of noise made it evident that there were people in the mine. But they were quite a ways away beyond the pillar and further out in the mine proper.

Letting go of Silvio's ears, Frank and Edith looked at each other and shrugged. Then the trio crept out into the large room beyond.

The ceiling was quite a bit taller, but it was evident that in the mine proper, it was even higher. The noise was even louder, the sound echoing off of the walls, reverberating, making any attempt at verbal communication impossible. This was good because the noise would mask their progress, but it would also make it harder for them to detect anyone sneaking up on them.

Hopefully, Silvio and his nose would help with that.

From their tunnel, Frank could see a relatively well-traveled path. It was lit by a line of old fashioned, low-pressure sodium overhead lights, which crossed their paths going from left to light.

Parallel to this track was a giant conveyor belt designed to carry copper ore to the surface. Tall, it was still and sat empty as if eager to resume it's designated purpose. The area beneath the structure was rubble-strewn and dark. To Frank, whose internal compass was always at work and accurate, it was apparent that they were facing north towards the old mining area. To their right, they could see a tool crib or workshop area. It, too, looked abandoned or at least currently uninhabited. The origin of the sound they were hearing was to their left towards the mine's newer sections. Frank was about to step out onto the roadway when Silvio growled and ran deeper into the shaft they had just left. Figuring something was 177

John Crandall up, Frank and Edith followed. It wasn't very long before a jeep, carrying four men, ground its way past them towards the tool crib.

"Looks like Silvio is good for more than just his nose. I didn't hear a thing."

"Me neither," Frank. "I just don't want to depend on his vigilance. If we do, we may be confronted with something he can't sense that we should have. So I, for one, am not going to get complacent."

"I agree, but we do need to move on, and I think the major action is to our left. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, and let's go." They set off on the track heading in the direction that the jeep had come from, the seeming source of the noise they heard. It wasn't long before Frank heard the sound of the jeep returning. "Quick," he said, "under the conveyor, the jeep is coming back."

The trio had just hunkered down when the jeep came rushing past them again. There were only three men in the jeep this time, and all of them carried sidearms. They didn't have the vigilant look they might have carried if they knew of intruders, which was a relief to Frank. The longer it was before their presence was even suspected, the better. A firefight in a mine was not his idea of fun. They watched as the jeeps taillights receded in the dark and then suddenly disappeared to the left or south. When the way was clear, the trio picked their way out from under the conveyor and resumed their journey, jogging this time. They had just about reached the corner that the jeep had disappeared around when they heard a siren followed by almost immediate quiet and absolute darkness. It

178

The Mine was as if every electrical circuit in the mine had been disconnected.

Wonder what that is about, Frank muttered, then, "come here, Silvio, we need to sync again, the three of us." Moving off to the side of the roadway, the two humans took hold of the dog's ears. They began a dialogue that included an interpretation of what they had seen so far.

Silvio's impressions were translated by his *Daemon taking into account the dog's heightened sense of smell and hearing.

All in all, they were in agreement with each other. They had begun considering their next moves when there was another sound-making itself known. It had started as a small, lowfrequency hum. The noise was building in volume and frequency becoming uncomfortable for the dog and irritating to the humans. Frank and Edith each put a hand over one of Silvio's ears to protect him from the worst of the sound, but it was quickly becoming too much for them. Just as the sound was about to become unbearable to the humans, they heard a loud mechanical clatter, and all sound quit. The sound of a loudspeaker quickly followed the silence. It was issuing garbled instructions and the return of the lights and the hum of motors.

"Something didn't go right," said Frank "Seems not, from the sound of it, a generator or something did not make it to full power before there was a failure of some kind."

"Whatever happened, I think they are close to completing whatever it is. I just hope that it sets them back long enough 179

John Crandall for us to find out what they are up to and put a stop to it."

"I agree, think we need to figure it out quick," said Edith, "that sounded big, is all I know."

Silvio let loose with a low growl and slinked over to the conveyor, and hunkered down in the darkness.

Looking in the direction of the noise, Frank said, "looks like company and they have searchlights going - they must have figured out that we are here."

"Probably so, which means we have to hide better than before.

What about up on the conveyors? If we are above them, we probably won't be spotted. But we better climb up the other side, c'mon quick before they get here."

"Unless you can fly too, Silvio, you need to make like a rock."

From their vantage on top of the conveyor, they watched as the jeep passed below. The guards must have known something was up because they slowed to drop a man off about 500 yards from where Frank and Edith, and Silvio were hiding. This guard made his way under the conveyor belt that hid the trio and walked along it, aimed a high powered flashlight into the darkness that hid Silvio. He must have seen or sensed something because he came to a stop and spent time scanning the area. Silvio bolted from his hiding place, heading south into the darkness, raising clouds of dust as he went.

There was the report of the gun, and an eruption of dust as the bullets whined past Silvio. This only served to spur him on to a faster pace. It wasn't long before the dog disappeared from sight.

180

The Mine A radio crackled, and a voice asked. "What the hell was that?

What are you shooting at?"

The searcher below said," it is a dog, only a fucking dog. We are out here looking for intruders, and it is just a freaking dog."

"Come on back in. Dogs won't be any trouble for us. We just have to tell the alarm monitors we have a dog. Then they can go back to sleep or playing poker or whatever else they were doing. There's nothing down here but a dog."

"Wonder how he got in?"

"Don't worry about it; he just did. So come on back."

Frank and Edith watched as the light below them followed the man, then faded, then disappeared in the direction of the jeep.

Looking around, Frank noticed that the conveyor belt was empty, almost clean. Pointing at the belt, he nodded his head in the direction they were going and shrugged. Looking at Edith, he whispered, "this is probably as good a way as any. I bet Silvio will get there before us."

Edith nodded and, keeping her voice low as well, said, "I am sure thankful that they mistook the three of us for him. They must have some kind of sensors. Let's hope Silvio keeps them confused."

Frank and Edith stayed on the eight-foot-wide rubberized belt of the conveyer and headed west again. It was only ten feet off the ground, but it gave them a better perspective while it helped hide them from view. The first time they met, Frank 181

John Crandall remembered learning from Edith that getting above the average person's line of sight made you invisible. He hoped it would work out that way in this circumstance. They had just started working as a team when they walked down a dark alley an idiot mugger tried to hold them up. Since he was in front, Frank was the man's primary target. When the thief was dealt with, Frank looked around for Edith, and she was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, Damn," Frank mumbled. "I didn't think she would run at the first sign of trouble." He was activating his wrist phone to report in. He would be embarrassed, but he had to acknowledge that he had lost his partner when he heard a large object drop to the ground and instantly on guard again. He turned, ready for the next opponent. It was only Edith, laughing now at his consternation.

Seems Edith was letting him deal with his mugger and was helping him by staying out of his way. "Besides," she said, "you didn't seem to need my help.

"But why up there?" Frank had asked.

"I was close in case you got in over your head and Iwas invisible to the average person. I was out of the line of sight of any confederates that guy might have had. You didn't think I had run, did you?"

Frank could only laugh.

The mine was a room and pillar affair, where large areas are dug into the earth, leaving massive columns

182

The Mine to hold the roof up. The conveyor ran straight through the mine, piercing the walls periodically so that they could run straight. The road that mostly paralleled the conveyor would veer off just before these walls to return on the other side. The roads were only illuminated when they were near the conveyor, except in the transition tunnels. The lighting was minimal there. As they got closer to the source of the noise, the number of people using the roads increased. Each time they saw a vehicle approach, Frank and Edith would lie flat on their bellies and wait for them to pass. Their way was eased because the conveyor belt went straight through the mine and was empty, providing them an easier path than if they had simply followed the road.

Frank and Edith made good time and had just about exited a tunnel when in front of them, they found Silvio, who lay flat on the conveyor belt. The hackles on his back were raised, and he was staring intently into the room. As they got nearer, Frank and Edith lowered themselves to their knees and crept closer. Silvio was emitting his "don't fuck with me" growl, which made them even more cautious. Then they heard the crackle of a radio.

"Damn dog is in one of the transition tunnels said a voice on the ground."

"The voice on the radio said. There might be a pack of them, more than one at least. We're getting signals that there may be others."

"Well, we only chased one into the tunnel can't believe the way he climbed the access ladder, faster than most men can."

183

John Crandall "Can't tell shit with you guys stomping around. Anyway, get your asses back here, said the radio; we need you topside for security. We think someone was nosing around Shaft Number Three. You had better check it out."

Frank and Edith looked at each other and breathed deeply as they heard the sound of a vehicle retreating in the distance.

"That was close," Frank whispered, then to Silvio, "come here, boy and show us what you saw."

Frank and Edith took up the now-familiar stance, each one holding an ear, to synch with the dog. This was short synch because Silvio's *Daemon, Silvey, only had to pass on the dog's observations for the last ten or fifteen minutes.

"Seems he led them a merry chase, doesn't it," Edith said quietly.

"He sure did, but there isn't much that we can use. I am impressed at the acuity of his sight and hearing, but the things he can smell. I don't know if I am envious or glad that I can't smell as well as he can."

"I know," said Edith, "We better hurry, though; it won't be long before they realize it is more than just dogs running around down here. We have enough on our plate; we don't need to be pursued as we do it."

Once they were sure the coast was clear, the pair started off again, with Silvio taking point. He would slow as the belt pierced another column or wall as if he knew that the humans couldn't see well in the dark, then he would stop just as the belt exited the shaft into one of the rooms. When Frank and 184

The Mine Edith had caught up and agreed the coast was clear, Silvio would press on.

They were making good time when they came to a junction.

Another belt entered a larger room from the left, or south, and about four feet above the one they were on. The chute that guided the rock that fell from this new line was twisted and bent from use. This conveyor was still like the one they were on and would provide them with the cover and ease of travel they had been enjoying. It angled to the right several times before heading west again. They knew they were on track when it took a sudden turn to the left of south (west). They were getting close; soon, the belt-line would sprout a branch that would head west again.

They didn't want to go in that direction. It would lead right into the middle of the area that best fit the conditions for their target, the installation of a large *EMP device.

In that general direction would also be the South West Shaft, which was the one that provided access to this area. All of these things meant people, which meant that their ability to move stealthily would be compromised. They were in one of the transition tunnels and approached the exit. They could see that the conveyor would make another sharp right turn when Silvio went into a low crouch and quit moving. Frank and Edith crept cautiously to where the dog now lay.

"Unit number 95," said Frank quietly. The room ahead of them was well lit and comparatively clean and dry. About the size of a football field, with ceilings that appeared to be thirty to forty foot high. The air was less damp somehow, and the tang of ozone replaced the moist, heavy smell, characteristic of the rest of the mine. In the center of the larger space, which was 185

John Crandall otherwise filled by a huge transformer, was another room. It was enclosed in a cage that looked to be made of copper mesh.

Inside this caged space, several technicians were focusing their attention on a bank of computers. The humming that had pervaded the area began to change in pitch and volume again, getting lower and quieter as it did. The two men stood almost in unison and turned to walk out of the enclosure.

"Shh," said Edith, "they are coming this way." The three of them, Frank, Edith, and Silvio, drew back so they wouldn't be seen but could hear the interchange.

Two men walked in their direction; both of them carried computer tablets and were leaning over them. They poked and prodded at the screens as if they could change what they saw just by pointing hard and long enough. It was sort of like what people do to an elevator button poking and prodding and poking, and still, the damn thing comes in its own good time.

"Talk to me said one of them."

"I just don't like what I see, the assumptions that we have been following are proving wrong, and that is what caused this last failure."

I don't see it," said the other.

"It just won't work. I think the whole damn thing could blow up in our faces."

"That's the worst that could happen, remember, we will be on the surface when this thing goes off, why we will be miles away. Safe and sound. I have already moved my payment to a different account in a Swiss bank. No matter what happens, I 186

The Mine got mine. I can do without the performance bonus they promised. I never believed we would get it anyway."

"True, but don't you care about what we are doing here? Don't you want to stop what is happening in this society? Don't you hate, the way that, The Maqui, or Le Rufus Absurde, group or whatever is taking over and subverting our way of life."

"Bob, that won't wash. I know that you are in this for the money as much as I am. Since when have you started thinking this way. Tell me."

"No, really, my family lost a whole lot when they forced the tramways public. Our entire fortune has been taken from us.

To start with, I was in this for the money, but now, I am in it for the cause."

"Tell me, Bob, who is changing your mind, talk to me."

"Well, it will all go up in smoke if what I think is true.

Anything wrong with the power grid, or any imbalance at all, that *EMP generator will end up a massive pile of copper at the bottom of a crater."

"Another reason to be long gone when this thing goes off."

"Stanley, you aren't listening; you are as bad as the rest, even Old Man Stokes won't listen."

"You, my friend, are lucky to still be here. The last time I heard of anyone disagreeing with the old man, they got disappeared real quick. They were gone so fast, they didn't even take their personal gear with them. I am going to pass on to you the official opinion. And here I am quoting all of our 187

John Crandall bosses. 'Make it work. You brought us the plan, you said you could do it, so do it.' So rather than looking at your projections, which you admit could be wrong. Make sure this first test goes right. You asked for it, and I got us another day, 24 hours, to make sure everything is as it should be. That time is about up. 24 hours is past, you get your last test, this is it.

Get to work and start on that power grid; if anything can fuck this up, it will be the power grid."

"But what about the controls?"

"I'll take care of the algorithms, I will run the test protocol on them again, but you have got to make sure the power will be there when we need it. You know, if the explosions are not contained by the magnetic fields, they will be just that; they won't collapse the wavefront in the direction we want it to. So get on it. There were some anomalies in the last run-up. You need to find them and fix them." They turned to go when a third man emerged from what looked like a vault inset in the wall across the room. As the door swung open, the pervasive hum grew louder, and a violet-blue light pierced the bright white of the fluorescent lighting. The man closed the giant door and took off a pair of goggles, which he hung on a hook next to the door and proceeded across the floor to join Bob and Stanley."

"Well, did you find it, Jenkins?"

"No, Sir, I didn't, but I needed to take a break. That room wears at a man. I'm starting to think I picked the wrong career.

Being near the high voltage and those magnetic fields and then there is the ozone, none of that can be good for you."

188

The Mine "I don't think that will help Stanley, but I will go over the whole thing again for you. I really do want this to work more than you do, but first, I gotta eat.

Before you do, I want to go over those figures with you again; maybe we can see a way for me to quickly find the problem.

Come on then, Jenkins, take a break. We are going over the data from today's failure. We don't have much time, and we need to get right on it. When I asked for more time, they gave it to me with the provision that we can set this thing off tomorrow morning, the start of business."

The three men walked off down a different tunnel, which was well lit, and the walls had been plastered then painted. The whole effect of painted walls and ceiling and the tiled floor gave it an institutional feeling entirely at odds with the part of the mine that Frank and Edith had just come from.

189

John Crandall

190

The Mine Chapter 7 "Looks pretty quiet over there now," Edith said "as the trio disappeared down the corridor. What do you think."

"Well, before, I had a hunch, but now we know that they have created an Electro-Magnetic-Pulse (*EMP). Also that they will probably try to use it ahead of schedule tomorrow. It's a one time thing though, when they use it, they will essentially be destroying it, so it has to work the first time. For now, they have only simulated the explosive part, but that will change soon. I bet they actually fired some small-scale prototypes, and that is what the monitoring stations in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were all about."

"I am sure they did. That's what has been causing the *EMP anomalies that Bob's friend talked about. We need to do something. Do you have any ideas?"

"Because I was interested, I have done some research on this type of thing, and there are several ways it can be disabled.

One way, the safest, is to interfere with the control mechanism.

If the explosions don't go off precisely the right time, that is all it will be, un-sequenced explosions. Second, we can mess with the equipment that handles the switching of the high voltage, which has to be exactly right to work too. The third is that if the explosives are disabled, a magnetic field will form. It will just sit there, and before anyone even realizes what's going on, it will melt. Depending on the type of explosives they are using, the meltdown may cause them to explode as well."

191

John Crandall "We should split up now," Edith said. "Those are the controls over there. I will see what I can do; why don't you check out that room Jenkins just came from."

"Be careful though," Frank said, "the last thing we want to do is get caught, but if one of us does, we should just go along with it. No-fuss, no bother, we may learn a thing or two from the inside. Whoever stays free can rescue the other later.

Guards like to talk, well brag, if they think they have the upper hand. Why don't you take Silvio, you will be more exposed out there, and he can watch your back. I will circle around and see what Jenkins was about."

Keeping to the perimeter, Frank made his way around the big room to the door on the other side. He encountered no one, but as he got nearer to the door, he could feel the pent up power they were accumulating in the next room.

Then he heard it, "Warning," the voice in his head said, "electromagnetic flux approaching dangerous levels." Watcher, who had been powered down to avoid announcing his presence, had sensed the electrical charge being stored in gigantic capacitors in the next room and was worried. Frank stopped and considered his options, then resumed his journey.

One step, two, three... "warning, excessive levels of flux noted if you continue on this path they, will damage this *Daemon."

Frank stopped about 15 feet from the door and just stood there looking at it. He thought, better not go there. I would hate to lose Watcher to magnetic fluxes at this juncture. That is the most hazardous part of this mission. Neither they nor their *Daemons were protected from electromagnetic fields. The critical thing to remember is that Edith, Silvio, and he, need to be out of the area before they executed the planned firing of the *EMP generator.

192

The Mine From his new vantage, Frank saw another tunnel open up just past the door to the power room.

Massive cables were leading in and out of this new passage, which to Frank's somewhat knowing eye, indicated that the generator's main structure with the electromagnetics and explosives were housed there.

"Watcher," I need to get past that door. Can we do so safely?"

"Judging by the build-up of the lines of magnetic force being generated in that room, I recommend keeping a clearance of at least 10 meters from that entry, provided it stays closed. You are presently 8 meters from it, well within the danger zone."

"Damn, he thought, if he had taken the last upgrade, he wouldn't be in this fix. They were doing a better job of shielding the newer models against this kind of problem.

Frank hadn't wanted to lose his *Daemon, who he had come to consider as a friend. Even if the algorithms and memories were similar, it would be different. Maybe better, perhaps, but different, and Frank didn't want or like that kind of change, so he refused. Edith had agreed, so she was in a better position when it came to the risk associated with bringing conductors into the presence of the forces and fields generated in a place like this one. But she would be at risk in the face of the kind of power that would be discharged here. And she was unaware of this particular risk. He had to warn her soon that this place was even more dangerous to them personally than they had thought.

There was nothing for it but to avoid the door, so Frank set out on at a dead run in a semicircular. His course kept him well clear of the source of the electromagnetic forces emanating

193

John Crandall from the room. He could only hope that no one came along to see his mad dash across the room.

As he ran, Frank could see that Edith had made it to the copper-clad control room. She was hard at work, disconnecting a wire that probably grounded the insulated room to a big copper pole buried in the ground nearby. Later, he thought, he would find out that while she wasn't sure if it would do anything or not, Ary had suggested it. She wouldn't have wanted to waste time asking why so she just complied with the * Daemon's instructions. Then she made her way into the caged room and sat down at one of the two computer panels located there. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Frank pass his original target and was moving steadily around the room in a counter-clockwise direction. Frank seemed headed for some kind of tunnel that neither of them had been able to see before. She wondered what it was. Edith and Ary got busy trying to infiltrate the computer programs and were actually making progress when she heard Silvio make a low growling sound. Then she heard the vague echoes of men talking that got progressively louder. Without thinking twice, Edith slid quickly to the floor, and the dog slunk quietly around the cage, out of sight of the three men who were returning from their break.

"Well, I guess you were right. The numbers bear it out," said Bob as they emerged from the tunnel. "And it is fixable, but I would like to run a test on the prototype, it wouldn't take much time, but if it proves out, they can't help but put things off until we can make the changes you suggest."

"I agree. A delay of an hour that is all it would take to test your theory; it could save the whole project."

194

The Mine "I'll start on the controls while you two get started on the hardware. We can use the mockup in Area 23, it is the most up to date version, and the control algorithms won't need to be changed. Grab your gear. We can use the golf cart. It will get us there faster."

In the control room, a phone began ringing.

"Wonder what that is about?"

Edith heard footsteps as someone went to answer the phone.

Then she heard one side of a conversation that left her blood running cold. "Jenkins here. What? In here? I don't see anything. OK, we will keep our eyes open, and it will be on your head if we fail the test.

Silvio, crouched next to Edith, jumped up and began barking, then headed off into the mine proper.

"It's a damned dog said, Jenkins. No, he is alone . . . well if you are so damned worried, send security. We are leaving for Area 23. We will be running some last-minute tests and don't have time to mess with a runaway dog or wait for your security boys. I don't care what your sensors tell you. We are alone here."

Frank, who had been following the conversation from across the chamber, watched Silvio disappear into the dark, grateful to have him as part of the team. They would have to be careful, he thought. They seem to have the place wired and could sense motion and who knows what other things. It's a good thing that radios don't work very well here, he thought, or they would have had a more extensive sensor array than they obviously did. Frank's heart leaped to his throat. He saw 195

John Crandall two men, one uniformed and another in a suit, emerge from the dark mine. They were coming from a direction that Edith wasn't looking for.

The man pulled a gun from his holster and yelled. "Freeze."

Edith did.

The other men didn't; they turned to face the approaching guard.

"What the hell?" one of them, Stanley maybe, asked.

"Yeah," said the one called Jenkins, who stood there with the phone in his hand.

"You three shut up," the man ordered with a quavering voice, "and you," he bellowed at Edith, "on your stomach, hands extended in front of you."

Edith complied, moving slowly and carefully, knowing that a gun and a nervous man were dangerous combinations. "Who's on the phone," he asked the other guy.

"Your boss, that's who," said Jenkins.

"First, he, like you, works for me. Tell him I got the intruder, it's a woman, and I recognize her. Tell him that she is the one that helped take down our monitoring station in Chicago. The one they said had an implant."

Jenkins spoke into the phone then told the guard. "They want you to cuff her and take her to Area 23. Lock her in the tool crib there until someone can deal with her." The man in the

196

The Mine suit smiled and nodded at the guard who took Edith into custody.

Unasked, Watcher put a map of the mine on Franks *HUD that he used to provide visual information. Frank watched as Edith was cuffed then roughly pulled up to her feet. "You, my friend," said the suit, "are in trouble. This is a secure military zone, and you are where you shouldn't be. In the vernacular of those historical novels, you could be Gitmoed for this, so you should just come quietly." Silvio started his deep woofing from the dark of the mine, which seemed to make the man in the suit and the guard even more nervous. It was not enough of a distraction, though, for her captors to let their guard down.

Edith knew better than to struggle, and Frank knew better than to challenge an armed man on his own turf, especially from 30 yards away, so he stayed put. Besides, he knew Edith could take care of herself. She had come out on top in worse situations. This way, they would think they had everyone and let their guard down, or they might think any alarms he set off would be the dog and not Frank.

Frank, at risk of having the signal intercepted, shot Edith a short info packet. His message included questions about her welfare and any success she may have had with the control system. Frank was relieved to learn that she was OK and that she was just going along with the men to find out what they would be doing in Area 23 and that Silvio was nearby keeping watch over her. She was not successful at cracking the controls, but she did disconnect the Ovonic Threshold Device from the ground wire coming from the wire cage. They were using a modified version of the solid-state switch that opens a path to the ground when a massive surge of *EMP is encountered by a circuit. She wasn't sure what that was or why she should do it, but her Ary whispered in her ear and said to 197

John Crandall do it, and since it didn't take much to remove the wing nut from the grounding strap, she saw no reason to contradict it.

Watcher posited that Edith might have done all there was to do because, with the ground disconnected, the electrical shielding it provided would be minimal. The controls would fail when they were most needed. Franks wasn't satisfied, though. Plan for the worst, he thought, time for a couple more projects.

Frank watched as the three men in lab coats, the man in the suit, the guard, and Edith all loaded up and got into the wheeled people mover. With a whine and a squeal of tires, they left speeding down the lit tunnel. Frank watched until they were out of sight around a curve to the right. It was silent, except for the sound of high voltage stored in the room Jenkins had come from. Frank resumed his progress around the chamber.

The tunnel that branched off the main room was aimed south, according to Franks reckoning. He carried an innate sense of north and south. From there, he could deduce east and west very easily. Besides that, Watcher had a facsimile of an excellent gyroscopic direction finder, which kept track of the twists and turns of their progress through the cave. This tunnel had been lined with cement, but that ended about a hundred feet in. At the far end of the tunnel was a big red sign that said emergency exit and pointed upward. It seemed there might be a ladder there; Frank would have to remember that. The map provided by Watcher confirmed it to be showing an air shaft. It was located at the terminus of this tunnel; Frank would keep that in mind.

Frank's exploration of the tunnel confirmed his suspicions. He knew immediately that he was facing a large scale, Explosive Non-Nuclear *Emp Generator. There was a central tube, about three feet in diameter and a hundred-foot long, which had 198

The Mine clusters of giant coils spaced equidistantly down its length.

What must have been shaped charges, a whole lot of explosives, in fact, were on the north side of each coil. All in all, it had the earmarks of a device capable of taking out the Midwest's electrical and electronic resources. In a fan shape that would include at least Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, the grid would fail. The energy wave that this doomsday device could generate would at least disrupt if not destroy anything electrical all the way between it and the Gulf of Mexico. The *Oligarchy had long threatened to take out the meddling Maquis and their Cooperative Commonwealth. They were slowly invading the Rust Belt. It appeared that this bomb was their way to reclaim the Midwest and run those fakers out. The impending *EMP wave, the real one, would ensure that the Midwest's evolving culture and the economy would fail. It would also leave them in a position of power that they hadn't enjoyed since the backlash to the 2020 elections and the dark years that followed.

This was no little test of nuclear chain reactions under the bleachers of a Chicago university; this assemblage of technology was equivalent to the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese in World War II. There would be no explosion, but it would wreak far more havoc. This technology was definitely in the wrong hands if there were a good set of hands to control it. There was no other purpose that it could be put to besides destruction. And he had to stop it. Without access to the internet, he had to rely on his own memory. Watcher had to rely on the information stored in his wetware. The bomb, and that is what it was, was pretty straightforward in its construction but disabling it without the sabotage being recognized for what it was would be more difficult.

199

John Crandall Opening a control panel, Frank took a minute to get his bearings and look for ways to disable the machine. He could loosen some of the electrical connections but knew that most self-diagnostic algorithms would detect the failure. But, yes, there it is, the serial communication cabling. A bundle of highly shielded cable came into the junction box; one passed on through. Here they were, the infamous red and green wires.

Slipping his Leatherman (multi-tool) from his pocket, he loosened the wire from its terminal. Then Frank cut through all but one of the cable strands, ensuring that it maintained the self-diagnostic system's circuit. It was too thin, though, to carry the load that it was meant to transmit. Frank smiled and said to the air, "there was still the Ovonic Threshold Device that Edith dismantled, that might be enough, but still, you never knew."

Frank closed that panel and was about to open another when he felt an internal alarm go off. He sensed that there was another person, no two, nearby. Dropping down and making himself as small as possible, he waited and listened. All he could hear was the electrical hum that came from the room next door and the vague echoing of activity far away in another part of the mine. Air flowed from the mine to the shaft at the end of the tunnel he was now hiding in. The air had collected a variety of odors, which became a backdrop to Franks's awareness. Suddenly it was tinged by the smell of a man's cologne, not even a good one. It was probably a cheap one meant to disguise the nicotine's smell of his clothes, which was just as strong. He was amazed that despite all of the information suggesting that it was terrible for you today and age, people still smoked cigarettes.

Still, he was grateful too because whoever was wearing it thought they were well hidden and invisible.

200

The Mine Falling to his belly, Frank looked over, under, and around the machinery that hid him. He counted one, over there another, two and yet another. There were three pairs of feet between him, and escape back into the mine. Frank made a judicious backward advance down the tunnel, working hard at maintaining invisibility.

Settling on the area beneath the *EMP generator as the safest place to be, Frank scuttled backward towards the air shaft at the end of the tunnel. He had to hide behind one of the control panels several times as one or another of the guards would stop, bend over, and glance under the giant tube looking for intruders. Barely keeping ahead, he could hear them calling back to each other, reinforcing Frank's decision not to start taking them out one at a time.

Frank's retreat was stopped suddenly, almost rudely, when first the back of his head, his shoulders banged into a cement structure, support. It was similar to what he could see in the distance, holding up the other end of the mechanism he was under.

Damn, he thought. He was close to the air shaft, but he dared not use it with these guards this close. Looking around, he saw nowhere to go, then Watcher whispered in his ear, "look up Frank, there should be an access panel above you somewhere near." He looked up, and sure enough, there was an access panel, clearly labeled, Danger, High Voltage. In smaller letters, it said, enter only during shut down. As always, appropriate safety clothing will be worn. Make certain all interlocks are and remain disengaged.

201

John Crandall Frank mentally nudged his guardian with his elbow. "What do you make of that?"

"The schematics show the entrance there and a major coupling for the high voltage, which should be safe unless they power this thing up for some reason or another," said Watcher.

"Safe enough for now, then, thank you," Frank said as he reached up to open the hatch above him. Gratefully, he found no latches, and the thin metal moved smoothly and quietly, upwards. He eased the door almost closed, ready to ease it closed if any of the guards decided to actually get on his hands and knees to check.

"Isn't down here," said a voice.

"Look underneath, get on your hands and knees and look underneath," said another, "Fuck it all, if I wanted you to just stoop over, I'd a done it myself. Crawl under there and look."

As he lowered the hatch and sat on it, Frank could hear the scuffling of shoes on the floor beneath him.

"Nobody here said a muffled voice beneath him. There is a hatch through, but it has all sorts of Danger Warnings on it."

Can you open it?

There was a loud bang beneath him, then "damn, bumped my head."

Tersely now, the voice of the man obviously in charge, "can you open the hatch or not."

202

The Mine "No," said the voice below him, who muttered something that Frank knew was not a friendly assessment of the supervisor's heritage.

"Did you try?"

"Yes, I tried," the man lied.

"Well, get out of there. I'll call it in."

Then Frank heard one side of a telephone conversation.

"This is Jessup; we're in the tube."

"No, not a sign of him; if she has an accomplice, he ain't here."

"OK then, leave a man at the entrance and continue the search."

There was the clack of an old fashioned phone being hung up, then, "c'mon you two, we may be done in the tube here, but we aren't finished until we find the guy or the office says we can stop looking. Jameson, you get to stand guard at the entrance."

Frank noticed a faint breeze washing over him as he sat there, listening to the searchers' retreating footsteps. The Zephyr was blowing in the direction he had been heading. About the time he noticed this, Watcher broke the silence again.

"The tube ends in the air shaft behind you."

"Yep said Frank, and since there is nothing else I can do here, now, I might as well make tracks. You think that shaft is there as a way to release the gasses from the explosions."

203

John Crandall "Yep," said Watcher, mimicking Frank, "and probably a way out."

"Do you have contact with Edith's *Damian?"

"No, and I haven't had any since we entered this tunnel."

"I guess we go out this way and come back down another way."

"Yep," said the guardian, "it would seem so."

"Stop that," Franks said.

"What?"

"Being a smart ass, fuck it, never mind. And if you laugh, I'll get even; I don't know how but I will."

"Yep. Over and out for now."

Frank turned and crawled in the direction of the wind, and it wasn't long before he bumped his head on the lowest rung of a ladder. And just past that, the door on a cage was obviously a freight elevator, a smaller one obviously designed to carry several individuals. This one looked like the one that he and Edith and Silvio had come down in, a counterbalanced, handoperated affair. Frank considered the long trip that the ladder represented and decided to take the elevator, hoping that it would be as quiet as the other. It was. And it was weighted to make it easy for a single person to crank upwards, if there were more passengers, it would have been more work, but that wasn't a concern right now. For the moment, he was focused on escaping so he could go back and rescue Edith and the dog.

204

The Mine As he cranked himself towards the surface, he watched the rock strata go by and reviewed what would have been a *Sitrep if he were to actually have someone to tell it to. This seemingly pointless habit, from his training, was his way of organizing his thoughts. He did this occasionally to ensure that he hadn't forgotten any of the details that could come back to haunt him later. The mission was basically accomplished. If the machine were actually triggered, the explosion timing would not be in sync with the generated magnetic fields. All that would happen is that there would be a massive underground explosion that would probably collapse the mine but would otherwise cause little damage. All they had to do now was get away with it or at least getaway.

Then from out of nowhere, his Watcher said, "Yep. But there is a problem."

"Oh," said Frank, "do tell."

"There are armed men above us, and I think they are expecting you. Yes, on the surface, they can use radios, and I can tap into the local signals. This means that for now, I will have to retreat to radio silence. If I can hear them, there is a chance they can hear me."

"OK, but warn me if they do anything unusual."Yep," Watcher said.

Despite himself, Frank gave a short snort and demanded: "Cut the attitude!"

"Yep."

205

John Crandall Frank continued to crank his way to the surface, stopping now and then, hoping that the guards above would interpret this as more than one person taking turns at cranking. Frank released the brackets holding the counterweights slipped over the cable that ran through a pipe in the center of the elevator. One by one, he took the heavy lozenges and placed them on their edges at the elevator door, ready to roll out. The number 10 slid by, and Frank stopped cranking.

"We know you are up there," Frank called. He believed that if you have to face an enemy with a larger number, it was always best that they think that there are more of you than there really is.

"And we know you are down there," said a voice from above.

"Just put down your weapons and come up slowly; no one needs to get hurt."

"What do you think we should do?" Frank asked congenially.

"I am sure you are armed, and so are we."

"Like I said," the voice repeated, "just put down your weapons and come up slowly; there is no reason that anyone needs to get hurt."

"A couple of reasons, one I don't believe you and two, I just don't do things that way. I am sure you can understand."

"Better make your mind up soon, we have access to the emergency brake, and it wouldn't take much to make your return trip back down to the mine a lot quicker and less pleasant than the one that got you up here. And don't try to take yourself back down. We have engaged the one-way ratchet, so the elevator won't go down. If you did somehow 206

The Mine manage it, we have a team waiting below. So don't get any wise ideas."

Frank could guess their next move, remove the brake and send him to the bottom, or at least let the thing free-fall long enough that he would break something when they reapplied the brakes. Then he saw what he had hoped he would see, and it was right there next to the number of the 8-foot mark. He had noticed that periodically there were coffin-sized cutouts or refuge alcoves like they had in subways. These safety alcoves on the sides of the shaft were just big enough for a man to squeeze in and leave clearance for the elevator to go by. He gave up on dropping the ballast and began cranking again.

"Alright, I give. I will be up in a minute."

"You will be up," called the guy, "you singular, not plural."

Frank cleared his throat, dammit he thought, now the cat is out of the bag. "Ah yeah, "he said, I will be up in a minute." Then he heard someone above say, "stand down, boys, it is only one guy."

"Awe now, I am insulted," called Frank. "Just one guy, now I won't give up; you will just have to take me," he taunted. "And you will have to crank me the rest of the way up. I'm tired now." Frank knew he would not have to really press them too hard to get them to just pull the plug and let him fall to certain injury if not death, so he didn't push it. He was just trying to buy more time and maybe get some more information.

"Or maybe I'll jump," he said, hoping that they would have forgotten about the safety alcoves built into the sides of the shaft. As he said this, he stepped into the one he had just arrived at. He would have sent a fusillade of bullets up the 207

John Crandall shaft to make them wary, but he didn't think it wise to be shooting in such a confined area, so he held off on that idea.

Besides, he didn't like guns, and more to the point, he didn't have one with him. "Do you think the guys below are in the tunnel looking up?" he asked antagonistically. "If I had a bladder full, I'd piss on em, but I don't think it would make it that far."

"Damned right, it wouldn't, but the fact that you thought of it is enough to earn you an ass-whooping."

"Maybe they would like something more solid then, Frank called as he pulled one of the counterweights into the air between himself and the alcove, then dropped it. There were occasional clattering sounds as the iron weight bounced from wall to wall, then a large bang as the weight hit the ground a mile below them. There was the sound then, very faintly, of a man howling, then gunshots, then the whizz of bullets passing by. Then the resounding thunk as those bullets found some metal or rock to flatten themselves on. Frank could hear the man above him order the men below to ceasefire. Then he heard the radio crackle and a voice saying, "Sumbitch damn near killed me – broke Jimmy's arm. We want a piece of him when you get him."

"OK, OK "was his answer, “But for now, stop shooting. Hey, you in the shaft."

"Who me?" asked Frank.

"Last chance, before we let you follow that shit, you just dropped on jimmy."

208

The Mine Frank pulled another counterweight to the edge and dropped it down the shaft.

He heard the words, "fucker take this then," and the elevator cage that was just in front of him fell from view. He started counting, and when the car had fallen for nine seconds, he heard the screeching of the brakes above him. Then some god awful crashes below him as the elevator car became the clapper in the narrow air shaft it occupied. Half a mile, he thought to himself after doing the math, I guess they were serious. The next thing he heard was the order from above to "bring it up, and we will see how surly he is now." Then the sound of the massive winch starting out drowned out the rest of the conversation. This was followed by a loud twang as the cable that held the car snapped tight, and with a loud scraping crash, the car screeched to a halt, jammed in the shaft.

The near-silence that remained was broken by the squawk of a radio. "Dammit Jim, what the hell was that?"

"I think the asshole finally found out what you get when you live on the edge. He won't be bothering us anymore. We dropped that elevator half a mile or more then stopped it, with him in it. I think we broke something though, so I can't be sure, but that long a fall can't be easy to recover from, he's as good as dead."

"Shut her down then and secure the place. We have better things to do."

Frank listened as the guards talked about him. He was glad he had chosen to jump to a safety alcove. He was pleased that they obviously didn't know about them. And he was delighted that he was still there to do something about it. There were 209

John Crandall some clunks as the big switches on electrical panels were pushed to the off position. A slam of the doo brought quiet.

Other than the susurrus of fans drawing air from the mine, there was no sound. Time to get a move on, he thought.

It didn't take long for Frank to climb up out of the air shaft and into the elevator head. The door was locked from the outside, intended to be a deterrent to anyone wanting in. But it did nothing to stand in the way of someone trying to leave. He was about to leave when Watcher buzzed him looking for his attention.

"I've been passively monitoring the radio chatter, and I think we have trouble."

"What is it?"

"They are about to run a test on their smaller mockup, which means that this whole area will be saturated with *EMP waves. Up here, we should be OK, but anyone in the mine with an implant is in trouble. If the mockup works, they will immediately switch the big bugger on for discharge as soon as possible. We have 4 to 8 hours at the most. Here is what I would suggest," said Watcher, "get out of here safely, find a shielded place where you can weather the *EMP storm."

"Edith and Silvio, are they in trouble right now? Can you warn her, or Silvio?"

"No, my RF signal isn't strong enough to make it without a repeater, and theirs is on a different frequency anyway."

"When is it going to happen?"

"The test will be In about two hours, with the main event in four to six hours."

210

The Mine "Are we safe up here?"

"Safer than down there."

"I am more worried about Edith and Sylvio than I am about us.

If all we can do is to plan for the worst and hope for the best, let's get to it and do the planning part first." As Frank said this, there was the sound of a helicopter flying low and fast. It was headed in the direction of the main entrance of the mine.

"Big wigs come to look at tonight's pre-test run on the mockup," said Watcher. "It seems the real thing was to happen tomorrow. However, the timetable has been modified. The real thing will be fired up in an hour."

"I suppose the main entrance is our only way back in?"

"And the safest, it and the power station are behind the EMP Generator. If all goes according to their plans, there shouldn't be any danger for us. If we were actually in the mine when they touch the thing off, there not be any safer."

"Looks like we have to get back down there, and since we don't think this is the way to do it, we need to head to the main entrance, and that is at least three miles away."

"Just under three," said Watcher, "and since your average weekend jogger runs at a pace of five to six miles per hour, a slow and out-of-shape runner, like you, should be able to run three miles in 36 or more minutes. It will probably take longer if we factor in the terrain. Head straight out the door and run due east. That'll get you going in the right general direction. I

211

John Crandall have no current data to offer; this area seems to have been blacked out somehow."

Frank burst through the door at a dead run, figuring that if anyone were there, he would surprise them, and if not, at least he would be well on his way before they could react. As he ran, he kept up his mental conversation with Watcher, who said. "I'm turning the sat phone on so we can send a *Sitrep to anyone who is listening, even if it is just the Google dropbox.

We may need some support here."

Right, and while you are at it, see if you can tap into a satellite that's looking down here. It would be nice to have a current aerial view."

Directly out of the door was a small parking yard at the terminus of a small gravel road that lead directly north away from the shaft head. Frank ran at full tilt into the northern Michigan tundra. From their nests beneath jack pine trees, Kirkland Warblers cried at his invasion. As he tromped by, they resumed their song as the threat he represented moved on.

The roadbed was relatively flat and easy running except for places where the gravel was deeper, which slowed frank down a bit. "This is going to take more than 30 minutes," Frank "sub-vocalized."

"Ahead on the left is an office and some kind of equipment shed, just after that will be the main road, turn left, then you will only have a mile and a half to go. And don't think to use the highway, there is too much traffic, and it will take you to the housing area, again too many people. Go across the highway and the rail tracks. The road will veer north again."

212

The Mine Frank followed Watcher's directions as he pounded across a cement bridge and around a corner. He began passing the mechanical detritus of a mine. On either side of the road were abandoned trucks and huge trailers and bins that could only have been used to haul ore. Finally, he came to what must have been a yard office and beyond that the promised highway. The flat hard surface attracted Frank, but from experience knew what a bad idea that was. He was actually glad he wouldn't have to risk shin splints running on it. The gravel road lost some of its authority after it crossed the highway and rose up a slight incline, then disappeared into the woods.

Frank's heavy boots made a steady clomp clomp clomping as he trudged across the highway over the train tracks' roadbed to the frontage road beyond. He found himself wishing his footwear was a little lighter. "What about the *Sitrep, and maybe help, did you raise anyone?"

All he got from Watcher was "working on it."

Frank was making steady, if not quick, progress. Finally, one mile passed beneath his feet. Here the going wasn't as fast as the highway or even the rail would have been, but it was straight, which was great as far as a running man was concerned. Straight and flat, and there were no trees or ditches to slow him down, what more could he ask for. This was the last mile, and it seemed to go on forever, the sun climbing higher in the sky, reminding Frank that time was of the essence.

"At the next gravel road, make a left. That will bring you into the mine yard from the east." Frank thanked Watcher silently and kept plodding along. He soon came out of the trees into what looked like a deserted factory, which it really was. He 213

John Crandall passed support structures for the mine. As he ran, he passed The buildings that housed the power plants, the settling tanks, abandoned buildings, and the machinery required to extract copper from the ore.

Watcher directed him on a path that would keep him out of sight of anyone just casually driving by.

Frank was about to emerge from between two buildings but came to an immediate halt when Watcher ordered: "Stop." It wasn't often that his companion gave orders, but when he did, Frank listened. Melting into the shadows, Frank watched as a fleet of vehicles came roaring out of the main mine shaft, which was at a small angle across the road from him. Seen from the air, the sight would almost be comical, little ants running from an anthill then in a line scampering to a newer building and parking, as if it were choreographed. Like watching tea dolls, trucks, and sedans and tractors all disgorged their little figures, men who ran for the building.

"Hey Frank," came the voice in his head, "We got trouble.

Silvio just barely made it out." Watcher was definitely out of stealth mode. "apparently, he was channeling someone in the organization."

"Is this Junior?"

"Yes, and you need to get as far away from this mine entrance as you can. Silvio says they are doing the final tests on the mockup *EMP Generator, and there will be stray magnetic fluxes all over that place in about ten minutes."

"What about Edith? What about Silvio?"

214

The Mine "No time for Edith; you will have to find her after all of this is over. Silvio will be with you shortly. For now, we need to keep you safe. The best place for you to be when it all goes down is on the other side of the building that everyone just went to.

Get to it now."

Frank weighed the situation for just a second, afraid of what could, no would happen. When the loose energy that would fill the mine contacted the outdated wiring and computers in Edith's brain, it would burn out even if they weren't actually wires. Frantic, he turned to run down into the mine to save Edith, but Watcher, in his stern voice, said again, "Stop," then "that won't help, you can't do anything now, you will just have to wait until it is all over."

Frank knew that Watcher was right even if he didn't like it; nothing would be served if he ran off half-cocked into the mine. So in mid-stride, he turned and ran in the direction that the vehicles had gone. As he ran, Frank continued his communication with Reacher through Silvio.

"Where have you been?"

"Right here, but they have a lid on the area that we just broke through, on a frequency, you don't have yet. And all we have is audio, no sound, no radar, no infrared, nothing."

"Yes, and you will too, soon, but not soon enough, so he is your conduit for now."

Since they had deviated from the others' route, Frank was comfortable that they wouldn't be seen. He also knew the central control building would be grounded and heavily shielded. So behind it, in its electrical shadow, was the second215

John Crandall best place to be. He was also sure that no one would be looking at security cameras; all of their attention would be on their tests.

His feet were numb from running so far. He should have listened to Edith the night before when she tried to get him to put on lighter shoes. When he had entered the mine compound, he noticed the streets were deserted. He wondered where everyone was, where they had all gone. Now he knew.

Adhering to Watcher's directions, he followed the train tracks further into the yard. He then made a left on an access road between two larger buildings. Frank had run about the length of a football field when Watcher spoke up again and directed him between two buildings on the left. The passageway was narrow but paved and seemed to serve as a walkway of some sort.

The mine entrance is directly across from where this walkway leaves the buildings, you might . . . Stop, get invisible" Watcher, ordered again. Frank had never questioned when Watcher barked an order, and he never regretted immediate compliance either. Frank stopped quickly then faded into the shadow of the buildings. Frank got the answer to his question because a string of vehicles came screaming out of the mine head, heading off to Frank's left. All manner of cars streamed by occupied by drivers, only, no passengers. Frank forgot that he was sub-vocalizing to Watcher, who retorted, "It looks like they want to get their rolling stock to safety. I would imagine anything else unshielded will be destroyed by whatever test they are going to be running in exactly 5 minutes." As the last pick up steamed past, an object flew from the bed, rolled several times, and ended on its feet. It was Silvio.

"Hey boy," Frank said, "howzit?"

216

The Mine "Bad, Silvey signaled to him. They have Edith, and we don't have time to rescue her before the test. She said she will protect herself, but I don't think she can."

"We have to go then. We have to save her."

Both Silvey and Frank's Watcher chimed almost in stereo.

"No, we have to get safe until they have set the damned thing off; it can fry all of our brains, then none of us will be able to save her. She knows what to do. What we have to do is get safe and quick."

"Wherever they were going is bound to be safe," Frank said, setting out in the direction the vehicles had gone. "Can one of you at least pull up an old map of this place? I would prefer an up to date satellite picture, but I will take what I can get?"

Watcher said, "take the next right; that road runs to the power station. They have probably hardened it. They would have aimed their devices away from them. It is north of their machinery down in the cave, which is aimed south."

Throwing caution to the wind, Frank and Silvio ran towards the power station's smokestacks, then veered off around it to the left. They rounded the building to find all of the vehicles that had paraded by, empty and parked in nearly orderly rows.

Silvio headed for a trash container and jumped inside. Frank, unsure of the dog's or his * Daemon's reasoning, decided not to debate the whys and simply followed the dog into the metal container.

The squawk of the PA system had become background noise, but now it's imperative message broke through. "Ignition in three, two, one, zero," followed by a deep rumbling, more sensed than heard. Then there was an eerie silence. Frank was 217

John Crandall alone in his head. Silvio's tail dropped just a fraction of a moment before he suddenly flattened to the ground. Frank, dizzy and disoriented, slumped down next to him. It felt like he had been over-medicated with pain pills. Reaching down, he touched Silvio's head but didn't get the information crackle he usually got when he petted the dog. The dog whined and licked Frank's hand. They were both alone in their heads.

There was no backup, no one to look ahead or to monitor radio traffic. It was just Frank and Silvio with whatever strengths and weaknesses each brought to the fray. Somehow, they hadn't been safe, even in the metal trash container, which, in combination with the shielded building between them and the mine, should have protected them from the EM Pulse.

Frank withdrew from the world before him, searching for the presence of Watcher. Everywhere he looked for Watcher, all he could find was a blackness that was dark and deep. Obviously, on the same journey, Silvio, looking for his own *Daemon, whined and lowered his head. Idly petting the dog's head, Frank took stock of the situation. He was physically unhurt, and Silvio seemed unharmed as well, then Edith's name came up on his checklist. "This is bad," he thought, "if it took out our *Daemons up here, what could have happened to Edith, who was so much closer to the source." About to jump up, Frank lowered down when the helicopter he had seen earlier settled to the ground behind the parked vehicles.

Frank could see through the dust that it was one he had flown before. A single figure jumped out and ran full tilt towards the building. Another person ran from the building and the two.

Speaking loudly to be heard over the helicopter had a conversation, one that Frank could hear. The intel that this overheard discussion was important and one that Frank was grateful for. "Go back out to the helicopter," the man said, 218

The Mine "make sure that pilot keeps it fired up and keep him here on the ground, at gunpoint if you have to. I will be leaving in about two hours, and I will be in a hurry. I don't trust these engineers. The readings I got from that mockup indicate that we are dealing with more than they had anticipated. This place is going to be in the center of a crater."

"Will it work, though, will it take out the power centers of the time zone?"

"Yes, that part is going to work, but the backlash of power is going to be tremendous. It will be especially powerful, located in a copper mine. None of them has ever worked with high powered radio waves. The copper in the ground will turn the mine into a resonant cavity, which will amplify any Radio Frequency (RF) signal that they are generating. I don't really want to be here when they do fire that thing up."

"I never heard them talking about that. I know that they plan on having the mine act as a shield so that there is no overspray of the pulse."

"I know, I have been worried about this for a while, and the test this morning confirms my fears. We will need to be gone before they set the thing off in three hours. I want to have a lot of airspace between them and us before they flip the switch.

I'll be back in two and a half hours; make sure this thing doesn't go anywhere."

Frank watched the man run to the helicopter and climb in; the first guy went to the building and entered through the stillopen door.

219

John Crandall Frank, out of habit, started to subvocalize a question to Watcher. Then remembered it, no, he was gone. He patted Silvio on the head, then said to the dog, "I think I have a plan."

The dog, as if he understood, wagged his tail and stood up.

"Come on," he said.

The two jumped from the trash bin and skulked their way through the parked vehicles in the direction of the still-running helicopter.

220

The Mine Chapter 8 As he approached, he could see the pilot of the still running helicopter, slumped in his seat, obviously napping.

The man who had been tasked with keeping the aircraft on the ground stood next to it. He was intent on the screen of a hand held device. Turning to Silvio, Frank put a finger in front of his lips and motioned towards the helicopter.

When they had gotten as close to the helicopter as they could without being noticed, Frank, using hand signals, bade Silvio sit, watch and wait. Leaving the dog, Frank quickly made his way around the helicopter to approach from the rear. Using another hand signal, Frank had Silvio move up and distract the man. As most people do, the man moved to pet the 'nice doggy,' which Silvey was willing to allow, for the moment.

Frank quietly got behind the man, then applied his favorite tactical move, a sleeper hold, while he dragged him out of sight of the pilot. The man went limp about the same time that Frank had him out of view of the pilot. Laying the unconscious man quietly on the ground, he again signaled to Silvey to watch; then, he made his way to the idling craft.

Easing into the helicopter through the passenger door behind the pilot, Frank would have liked to put this guy to sleep too, but the man's seat got in the way. Frank looked around the cabin, hoping to see a weapon of some kind, and was about to give up on that idea when he spotted a powderless projectile weapon on the co-pilot's seat. Quietly, Frank picked the gun up then, whispering that the man should keep still, he held the barrel to the man's neck. When he knew he had the man's attention, he motioned towards the door. The pilot began to 221

John Crandall comply. When he had the door open, Frank struck him on the side of his neck, which can be quite useful, but doesn't usually result in a "knockout."

As the man lost his motor control, he slid out to the ground and lay there disoriented. Frank took the flight book from the "glove box" and saw that there was a cutout that would disable the electronics as he hoped. He had the information that he needed—and that the most effective way to temporarily disable the craft was to pull the fuse for that circuit, which he did. Jumping to the ground, Frank motioned to Silvio that he should follow and bring his prisoner. Picking the disabled pilot up, Frank ran to a nearby people mover, basically a pickup with no top or doors, and tossed the pilot in the back. Running back, he gathered the unconscious man that Silvio had been guarding, then threw him into the bed of the truck with the pilot. Getting in the driver's seat, he beckoned the man in and had him slide to the center. Silvio jumped in behind the man drooling on him. Frank nearly giggled at the man's expression and wondered where Silvio learned that trick. Pushing as fast as he could, Frank steered in the direction of the mine entrance. Glancing in the back of the truck, saw that the pilot was regaining his faculties. Stopping at the narrow passage between the buildings, Frank got out, grabbed the pilot, and dragging him quickly behind the building. There, Frank put him down for a nap, then scouted around for some way to tether the guy. Finding some baling wire, Frank trussed the pilot, then left him on his side so that he wouldn't drown in his own fluids. Frank ran back to the truck, grabbed his other prisoner, and took him to where the pilot lay and tied him up back to back with the pilot. With the prisoners out of the way, Frank ran back to the truck and jumped in the driver's seat. He hollered at Silvio to "come on."

222

The Mine The dog, of course, didn't answer, only jumped into the front seat, landing on the passenger side of the pickup, letting Frank take position behind the wheel.

“I know,” Frank said to the dog, “that you have higher intelligence even without your *Daemon, if you understand, bark once.”

Silvio, barked once, loud.

"Shhh, inside voice, please," said Frank as he started the engine and headed towards the Mine.

Silvio whined "So here is the language, yes is one bark, no is two, left is three, and right if four. Can you handle that"?

Frank heard a quieter bark.

"If you want my attention, just growl."

They were heading as fast as they could toward the Quonset hut that housed the mine entrance. Suddenly Silvio growled, then whoof, whoof, whoof, whoof.

Frank saw the intersection, to turn, he steered to the right, right and slammed on his brakes, causing the truck to go into a slide. The back of the slewed with the backend of the truck coming around the left.

When he was lined up with the now obvious path between some buildings, Frank pulled his foot from the brake and 223

John Crandall floored the accelerator. The vehicle shot forward and passed through into the shelter of the warehouses; just a series of thumps were followed by the report of a high powered gun, an antique firearm that used a chemical explosion to propel a lead or plastic projectile. "Good timing," Frank said to the dog, "I didn't even see them."

Silvio made a noise that could have been laughing if he were human.

Frank glanced over, and the dog actually seemed to be smiling.

Just before they were to emerge from between the metal sheds, Silvio barked three times. He could see that the way was cleared, so Frank turned left.

They made good time, eventually doubling back to the entrance of the Mine, leaving behind whoever it was that was shooting at them. Frank's internal clock told him that 15 minutes had passed and, without thinking about it, pushed harder on the accelerator.

Silvio barked four times, warning Frank that he needed to take a right turn soon, but Frank couldn't see where he could go until he saw the smoke. There was a trickle of thick black tendrils coming from Mine's head. "That's a bad sign," he sub verbalized before remembering that Watcher was out of commission.

"I guess she is still in the mine," he said to Silvio, who barked once. Frank petted his head, thankful to have the dog as part of the team. Making another turning maneuver like the one that had saved them from the gunfire a few minutes ago, Frank swerved quickly steered left, then stamped on the brakes while turning hard to the right. The tail end of the old pickup tried to 224

The Mine come up on their right until Frank pushed the accelerator to the floor again. The wheels bit into the gravel, and they literally flew into the mine opening. "Wah hoo," he yelled, "hold on to your hats, boys and girls, we're a goin in." Glancing to his right, he saw Silvio sitting on his side of the seat, leaning forward, wearing that dog smile he had shown the last time.

"You, my mutt friend," Frank said, "have 'a need for speed,' don't you?"

Silvio barked once.

Frank kept up a constant patter even though there was no one or nothing to hear it. Not expecting an answer, he said. "Looks like they knocked out the electrical system and ventilators with their little toy. It might get close in there."

Silvio barked once.

It got dark quick as they left the entrance behind, and the smoke grew so thick that Frank had a hard time seeing his way. Fortunately, the tunnel was straight and went in one direction only, down. It wasn't long before the smoke was so thick that both Frank and Silvio had a hard time breathing, and Frank was wondering what he could or should do about it when the dog growled again to get his attention. Frank came to a stop and looked around. The first thing he saw was the figure of a man emerging from the smoke. To Frank, The man looked almost alien until he realized that all the tubing and plastic was from a re-breathing apparatus. The man came to a stop in the center of the tunnel and began waving his arms wildly. His gun, a rifle like the ones the guys above had, was hanging loose, aimed towards the ground, so Frank felt comfortable getting out to the truck to talk to him.

225

John Crandall "Hurry it up, man, what is it?”

In a muffled, echoey voice from the re-breather on his face, the man said, "turn around, get out of here; there isn't an unshielded wire left that isn't smoking or burning. This last test was a doozy. They probably felt it in Tampa. I don't know what is going to happen when they do the big one."

"Do you think they will?"

"Oh, I know they will. Those guys are crazy. Anyway, it is set to go off automatically in two hours, no wait, an hour and a half now, and we need to be gone when they do. The place where they have the main event prepared is shielded with an independent power source so it won't have had the same damage to it. And we left it on automatic."

"What are you doing here? I thought everyone left."

"They left me to guard that woman, just in case someone, oh, you." The man raised his gun as if just realizing that he was supposed to be guarding Edith against a rescue by Frank.

Before the man could get his gun up into the firing position, Silvio came flying from the man's left, knocking the gun away from Frank. A single shot echoed loudly in the confined space as a bullet pinged off of the dust to his left. But Frank didn't notice that. He was on his way to subdue the man. Frank's assistance was not required, though, because by the time he got there, Silvio had the man down, and his arm was firmly in Silvio's mouth. The dog was forcing the man onto his stomach as he drew the arm in his mouth behind him.

"Get this damn dog off of me."

226

The Mine Frank leaned over and removed the man's handcuffs from the leather holster on his belt in the back. Snapping the cuff on the free wrist, he relieved Silvio of the man's other, which he fastened with the other cuff. Grabbing the man by the middle back of his shirt, Frank lifted him bodily from the ground.

"First things first, where did you get that re-breather."

Silvio had begun sniffing at the man's leg, prodding it here and there with his nose.

The belligerence that crossed the man's face was proof, to Frank, that he still had some resistance. He swatted the plastic mask open, "first, you get to breathe the same air we do."

"Don't care, it's bad enough I left my post. If the bosses knew I helped you, they would have my balls."

Silvio, whose nose was now inches from the man's crotch, nudging at his leg, growled ominously.

Frank smiled at the submission that replaced the resistance on the man's face.

"Down the way a bit, on the right, in a safe room."

"And Edith, the woman you called her, where is she?"

"Workroom number 23, that's where they keep the brig. The dog has been there; I saw him nosing around when the guards first brought the female in."

"Well, you can lead us there."

227

John Crandall "Fuck no, man, I just came from there, it's a disaster, I am not going back, I am not going to show you anything."

Frank closed the face shield, the man inside allowed relief to replace the resistance as if he had bested Frank and was safe now. That is when Frank walloped him, right in the face shield, which did three things, it turned the plastic of the guard into a spiderweb of cracks but didn't break it. It hurt Frank's hand, but most of all, Frank knew he had the man's complete attention. He could have sworn he heard that dog laugh, but when he looked, Silvio was just looking at him.

Catching the now limp man, he threw him over his shoulder and headed for the truck.

"I heard you," he said to the dog, "that was not polite."

Silvio barked once then jumped into the back of the truck as Frank dumped the now unconscious man onto the metal cargo area with a thump.

It was quick work for Frank to stop at the workroom and find the clearly labeled re-breathers. As he ran back to the vehicle, re-breathers in hand when he felt something change. Stopping, he listened for a moment to a rumbling that started slow and low but gradually grew in pitch and volume until it was a high wine that went inaudible. Then he felt a wash of air coming from the direction of the mine entrance. The smoke that was clouding the air was pulled unwillingly into the air ducts on the ceiling. "Looks like we won't need re-breathers after all," he said to Silvio, throwing them into the back with the man.

Silvio barked once then jumped back into the truck.

228

The Mine Frank jumped behind the wheel, goosing the accelerator as if he were flooring the gas pedal on one of those old gas hogs that came equipped with all the power a guy might need. That was one of the few things Frank missed about the good old days, gas-guzzling boats, that had so much power, no driver could drive without squealing the tires. Grateful that the smoke in the air was cleaning, Frank pushed ever deeper into the mines.

"Boy, that thing sure made a mess of anything electrical. I sure hope Edith is OK," Frank said to the dog.

Silvio could only whine at that.

The walls of the man-made cavern flew by, showing the strata of the geology. This view into geology probably wouldn't have interested Edith even if she was there to see it. But she wasn't, and Frank was worried. Soon the tunnel sides disappeared, and Frank was faced with an expanse of smokey blackness that seemed capable of absorbing the sun's light energy. Frank came to a screeching halt and tried to get his bearings. Tracks lead off to the left, right, and straight ahead; not sure what to do, he reviewed what he could remember of the maps that Watcher had shown him earlier. He knew that the mine shaft entered the Mine from the west, so he was headed east. He knew that the workshop where Edith was being held was on the east side of the Mine. He pushed the pedal to the metal.

He followed the tracks made from countless trips that vehicles had made and out of the Mine had made. Taking his foot off the accelerator, Frank let his wheels drift forward a little and was rewarded with a quick high pitched yelp from Silvio.

Testing his theory that Silvio knew the way, Frank made as if to turn left, and Silvio gave him two short yelps. OK boy, Frank said, straight ahead it is.

229

John Crandall Frank sped into the night, hoping that he wasn't driving faster than prudent, considering the dimness of his headlights. Pillars of rock alternating with vast expanses of nothing sped by.

After bouncing and banging for over a mile and a half of Mine's uneven terrain, Frank got a surprise. The road seemed to disappear into a wall.

Frank slammed on the breaks and struggled to keep the old truck upright. He finally brought it to a stop with a bump, which might have been worse; it could have been a crash if he hadn't been paying attention. Damn these people, don't they believe in warning signs. When the dust settled, Frank could see the intersection. The road came up to and ran parallel a massive pillar. These unmined sections kept the ceiling off the floor, but they were near invisible in the murky light.

Frank's memory of the map showed a rift down the center of the Mine. The miners had left it undisturbed lest they collapsed the whole thing on to themselves. And he knew that of his choices, left or right, one led back to the entrance, and the other took him where he wanted to go. He wasn't sure which way to go, so Frank, whenever faced with such a decision, always turned right, invariably chose right. However, when he started to turn in that direction, Silvio chimed in, whoof whoof.

Frank looked at the dog and shrugged, not that way then.

Silvio barked once.

"Yes, that is the wrong way, or yes, I should go right. Now I am confused, left, or right?"

Silvio barked three times.

230

The Mine At that, Frank turned the vehicle left and sped off into the darkness, clutching the wheel as hard as he could, he peered into the blackness of the Mine.

The road's hills and furrows began to increase in size and frequency as the road followed the rock wall in a gentle curve to the right. Abruptly the wall was gone, and the truck seen from afar would have looked like a lightning bug flitting across the night sky. Frank figured that he had gone maybe three and a half miles when he came to the conveyor belts that he and Edith had used earlier in the day. With no watch to check and no Watcher to ask, Frank couldn't tell how long it had been. At one time, he would have known precisely what the time was and how long they had been in the Mine. That was one of the trade-offs of having a computer in your brain; you begin to get lazy. They say if you don't use it, you lose it, and he had. So all he was left with was the hope that he would be able to get in and get out before they set off their big bang.

That would be the end of it, for him, and Edith and Silvio. It would also cut short the nascent culture growing out of the depressed economy of the Rustbelt. He knew he was on the right track now and would have pushed the vehicle harder. But there was no more push available, so he just hung on and steered the best he could.

Frank, always thinking, was going over the last few hours' events. He realized that the scientists would usually gain access to their equipment from the shaft he had just escaped. "I guess," he said aloud, "they will have to use the main entrance like we did. Let's just hope we don't encounter them."

As if he thought Frank needed some kind of reassurance, Silvio growled.

231

John Crandall The tool crib came up on Frank quicker than he hoped. There was still smoke oozing from the room, a side effect of all the metal and electrical wiring that once converged in this place.

The crib became a nexus of induced power when they did the test blast. Frank threw on the emergency brake and was out running before it came to a stop. He was headed for the office when he nearly tripped over Silvio, who was trying to herd him to the left. Once it was evident that Frank got the idea, Silvio ran ahead to a smaller door in an alcove set back from the wall and nearly invisible. All of the lighting was knocked out. When he got there, he saw that it looked just like a jail door, but the worst part is that it was locked with a padlock. It was silent inside the chamber. Remembering the man in the back of the truck, the one who had been left to guard Edith, he wondered if the man had the key or knew where they were to be found.

Frank ran to the back of the truck where the security guard was struggling, in vain, to free himself. As Frank began to search the man's pockets, he put up a struggle.

"Listen," Frank said, "I only want your keys, you can either let me get them, or I will turn you upside down and drop you on your head looking for them."

The guard got quiet and then quickly confessed to Frank that they were on his belt. "That's better," Frank said.

"So here's the thing, we are here to get Edith and get out before your bosses set off the big one."

"You guys are barking up the wrong tree, though. They had me move her; she is in a different tool crib near the one that held the test machine. Ezra, the engineer, talked about her being 232

The Mine some kind of guinea pig and wanting to see what it would do to someone like her."

"What was he talking about?"

"Well, I don't know, he said something about her having some wires in her head and all and how the *EMP might fry them like the electrical system."

"You know the way to this other tool crib?"

"I do, but you gotta get me out of here. I don't want to be down here when the egg-heads set the next one-off. I don't trust them."

Frank grabbed the man by his lapels, pulled him bodily from the truck bed, and set him on the ground. Then he whistled, calling Silvio back. "You, he told the security man, are going to sit upfront in the driver's compartment and direct us. If you even look like you are lying or giving us the wrong information, Silvio here, who will be sitting between your legs, will gnaw at those parts that will hurt the worst. Then we will throw you from the truck so you can suffer alone, bleeding out in the dark, until this place comes down around your ears. If you play nice, we will take you with us."

"At least take my handcuffs off," the man whined.

Frank laughed, "Not a chance. Not until we are all safely topside."

With his passenger in the truck, Frank had Silvio sit on the floor. Just for effect, he told his canine friend, "if he even 233

John Crandall breathes wrong, bite him where it hurts. Have yourself some of your favorite Rocky Mountain Oysters."

Silvio responded by staring the frightened man in the eye, then gave out with a deep, menacing growl.

Frank sped off into the smoky gloom, the air still thick enough to bite at the back of his throat. He would have given anything to know how much time had passed. Without his internal companion Watcher, he hadn't a clue about how much was left, so he did the only thing he could, he pressed on. By now, he was sure that he had used up at least half the time he had to get to Edith, free her and get her out; the trouble is, he didn't know what or who he would run in to next. If they wanted to see what would happen to Edith, that meant that someone would at least check on her or maybe move her above ground. The only thing he knew for sure was that he had to hurry.

The security guard proved an adequate guide, only trying to steer Frank wrong on one occasion. He soon gave up when he understood that Silvio knew where they were going and how to get there. The dogs snapping canines and growls that accompanied any misdirection on his part were obviously the only thing he needed to convince him to behave. The distance between the two work cribs was a little more than a half-mile, but it was impossible to drive in a straight line.

Support columns, conveyor belts, and broken machinery got in the way. While the road had been graveled and graded, big trucks had driven on them, creating myriad and sundry hills and valleys—the slalom course he had to use slowed Frank's progress. The air gradually cleared, allowing a greater field of view, but where his truck's lights didn't touch, all was blackness.

234

The Mine Frank was barreling along a straightaway when Silvio gave out three loud barks.

Taking his foot off the gas, Frank saw it, after a sharp left turn, the road crossed a crevasse on a narrow metal bridge.

The vehicle made a swish tail in the gravel as Frank stomped on the brakes and spun the wheel, putting it into a long sliding turn.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the guard tense and grab at the dashboard, then he saw Silvio grab the man's arm. It wasn't clear if he was trying to hold on to the guard or to just hold on as the truck swayed, seemingly out of control. When it looked like he had waited too long and they were at risk of sliding sideways off of the road, when anyone else would have acted, he waited.

Frank waited a second longer then pushed the accelerator to the floor again, hard. The rear wheels spun wildly, throwing gravel behind them. They caught, and the truck launched itself across the crevasse, barely touching the bridge.

Fank's job wasn't over yet, because as soon as the road crossed the bridge, it made a hard right. Next, he had to perform the same bat-turn, but this time in the other direction, and while he had no bridge to cross, he made the maneuver with the same precision as the first one.

Once they were on their way again, the guard squeaked, "that was close."

Silvio growled in response. And Frank just laughed.

235

John Crandall "Wouldn't have been that close if you had been paying attention. If the dog hadn't warned us, we would' a bought the farm on that one. Thanks, Silvio." he said, "any other obstacles out there we should watch out for?"

"No, sir, and we are getting close. See, there is light up ahead; they must be down here already checking things over. The next chance you get, turn right. That way, you can come in around them and get to your friend easier."

"Why should we trust you?" Frank wondered.

Silvio simply growled.

"That dog scares the shit out of me. I don't want to be on his or your bad side. By now, they will have figured out that I deserted my post, so I don't want to have any truck with the powers that be or anyone else looking for me."

The turn came up quick, so Frank had to resort to another, as he thought of them, bat turn. Before he had time to respond, he realized that he had turned into the entrance of a tunnel just barely wide enough for their vehicle to pass. The tunnel was less than straight, swerving up and down and right and left and sometimes in all directions at once, but Frank never wavered, never let up on the gas. As they progressed, Frank sensed that they were tending towards the left, towards where he last saw the lit-up area of the Mine. It seemed as if they were traveling in that shaft for hours. However, this tunnel was only a quarter of a mile long. Soon, they were in one of the larger rooms of the Mine. Not very far away, off to the left, was a vehicle sitting with its lights on, pointed down another tunnel.

"Time to walk," Frank said to Silvio, "and you," he told the

236

The Mine guard, get to wait for us here. You had better hope we come back safely. Now, then, where exactly is Edith being held."

"Do you remember where the control room is?"

"Yes." "And the capacitance vault?"

"Yes." "And the main element, the one in the shaft you escaped from?"

"Yes." "She is in the next room."

"OK, what about other people?"

"Well, they will mostly be in the control room and working on the main element. I don't know who will be with your friend.

Can't you take me with you?"

"Nope, I need a guarantee that you are telling us the truth. If we don't make it back, you won't make it out. Do I need to know anything else?"

"Well yeah, just hug the right wall of the tunnel, and about halfway down, you will see a door into the wall. It gives access to a service shaft that will take you through that pillar and into the back of the room where they are holding your friend. Most people don't know about that way in, just a few of

237

John Crandall us old-timers, so they won't know you are there until you tell them. It should give you the jump on them."

Frank nodded then, and looking at Silvio, said: "Now then."

He turned and dissolved into the darkness. Giving the lit up tunnel, a wide berth Frank and Silvio crab-walked around the vehicle parked there, watching for any security personnel. Just when he thought he was home free, he saw six guards walk up to the one that was stationed by the vehicle. Frank kept moving but more slowly, wanting to get an ear on what they had to say to each other.

"See anything yet?" asked a big man to the one who was behind the driver's seat.

"No, Sarge, not yet."

"Do you expect to see something looking into a lit tunnel"?

"Ah, well, ah, no, I guess not."

"I know not. Get your ass out of the truck and around back and look out into the Mine. We know they came down before us but not where they went." Pointing at four of the men, he said, "I want you guys to fan out and walk in that direction until you come to one of the side entrances of this chamber, then station yourself there. And put the damn cigarettes out. You will give yourselves away, and you will blind yourselves in the process.

Smoking can be bad for your health." "You," he said to the man not already dispatched, will stay with junior here and make sure he stays alert."

While all of this was going on, Frank kept moving until he was within a stone's throw of the seven men blocking the mouth of the tunnel. The good news was that he was already well hidden 238

The Mine behind where the patrol would start looking, and he would be able to slip in behind the two stationary sentries. The bad news was that the Sergeant turned around and headed back into the tunnel.

Frank was a little worried that his captive and his truck would be found. He was about to tell Silvio to distract the guards from him when he heard the dog barking from an entirely different part of the chamber. Instantly everyone headed in that direction, including the Sergeant who pounded past Frank, who hid in a hollow that was full of shadow. As soon as the burly non-com ran past, Frank leaped to his feet. He raced down the tunnel, looking desperately for the door on his right.

And he nearly missed it, set back into an alcove almost hidden by the shadows cast from the light at the end of the corridor.

He could still hear Silvio barking in the distance as he slipped through the door into a rough-hewn hallway. As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, it got darker than any night he ever knew.

Dammit, he thought, no flashlight. Again he missed Watcher, with his ability to enhance his sight, which allowed him to see his way in the dark. With Watcher's assistance, Frank could take in things that human eyes weren't originally designed to see. Frank held out his left hand, brushing his fingers on that wall, and then held a hand up and found he could touch the ceiling. Guess that will have to do, he thought as he started feeling his way along. The wall and the ceiling were unfinished and rough, which quickly filed the skin off his fingers. Occasionally, he would hit something that could have been light globes, but in the dark, he couldn't tell, so he just pressed on, hoping the tunnel wouldn't be too long. Then both the wall and ceiling fell away. The silence changed, and the air pressure was different. Even without his sight, he could sense 239

John Crandall that he was just entering a room of some kind. Later Frank would wonder, without success, where the knowledge came from. Somehow he was able to know, to sense, that all he had to do was to walk across this room in three straight forward strides and come to a stop, and he would be right in front of a door. He did, and he was. Reaching out as if he had done so a million times, he grasped the doorknob, twisted it slowly and quietly, then drew the door open just enough to peer through it.

The dim light from the other room nearly blinded him, so he paused and let his eyes adjust. Almost painful, even this lowlevel illumination was a distraction.

Frank could hear the conversation between two men, obviously, a doctor and a middle manager who sounded very much like the man from the helicopter. "So, what's the verdict?"

"She is breathing and has a heartbeat, albeit a low one. Her blood pressure is shallow. Her pupils do not respond, and most of her automatic reflexes are slow or absent."

"Bottom line it doc, what's the prognosis."

"Based on what I know, not much, about her and the implant in her head and the effect that an *EMP has on wiring, I would say she is alive but brain dead."

Hearing that prognosis, Frank nearly burst through the door.

He was held back by the knowledge that even if she were brain dead now, there were imprints of the personality and memories. He had heard that the technology to repair such damage was available. It was new, and eventually, all of the Maquisards would have to undergo these Personality Scans during their yearly physicals. He had faith in their ability to 240

The Mine use technology that was far ahead of anything the military or public sectors were aware of.

Frank didn't have to wait long. They finished their task and suddenly found a reason to be in a hurry to get out of there.

"Pack your bags then Doc, I need to get us, meaning me and if you chose to accompany me, you, up and out of this mine before they set the next one off on schedule, and they will whether you and I are out of here or not."

"What about her?"

"She is not your concern now; you need to think about yourself. The guards have instructions to pick her up."

"Will they?"

"I don't care. I just know I am leaving now; I have reservations on a helicopter that will be far away from here when this thing is triggered, and you can join me if we leave now."

"As long as you say they will bring her, I'm all for getting out of harm's way. Besides, I don't think there is anything anyone can do for her now."

The closing of a door, obviously the other exit from the room, was all Frank needed. He pushed through, nearly tripped over Edith's prostrate form. She looked as if she were sleeping, but Frank knew differently. Obviously, Ary, her *Daimon, had been able to shut her down and put her in hibernation mode before being destroyed. He would have lingered and done more, but he knew he wasn't equipped to handle whatever had happened to her. Based on the conversation he had just 241

John Crandall overheard, he needed to get on the move and right away.

Scooping the unresponsive Edith into his arms, Frank turned to head back down the tunnel he had just come in from when he noticed an explosion-proof switch to the side of the door.

Laying Edith back down on the cot, he reached over and flipped the switch. Somehow the emergency lighting in this area was still intact, which gave him some hope that Edith was in better shape than she could have been. "Would you look at that," he said to Edith, not expecting an answer; the tunnel has lights. Soon he was retracing his steps down a finished hallway to a small room that was outfitted as a break area.

Beyond that was the unfinished tunnel that had taken the skin from his fingers. Except for the awkwardness of having to fit himself and Edith through the narrow confines, going back was quicker than coming in, as it usually seems to be. He was soon at the door to the main tunnel, and there, by the door, was another light switch.

Shaking his head at his own oversight, Frank turned the lights off and stood there listening for a minute. Light from the vehicle at the end of the tunnel still crept under the door. He heard an electric vehicle momentarily interrupting the flow of glow as it went past. The sound of another vehicle moving by, again, heralded the disappearance of the illumination. Soon all was dark and quiet, and Frank knew time was running out.

Putting Edith to his shoulder, he opened the door. He began running down the wide tunnel, hoping to minimize his exposure and get the heck out of there as fast as he could.

He had just broken free of the tunnel when he heard a sound that took him back years. The kerchunk ka-chunk of an oldfashioned shotgun shell being loaded into a gun stopped him, and he was suddenly blinded by a high power flashlight.

"Freeze," growled the owner of the shotgun. "Put the girl down, now."

242

The Mine Frank started to lower her gently.

"I said put her down now, and fast, she's as good as dead anyway, and so are you."

Frank ignored the instructions and laid Edith down, then stood up, slowly assessing the man and the situation. Pretty hard to outrun a shotgun, he thought. But the man is close enough that the shot, if that is what he used, wouldn't have time to spread out, so the guy would have to be more accurate than if he were farther away. Frank needed to be closer, and he needed to move so that he wouldn't shoot Edith by accident if he fired. The guy was right-handed; at least, his stance indicated, so he would have the most trouble aiming to his right. He would have to turn or lean over and extend his upper body.

"I think you are as close to death as I am," Frank said, moving to his left and forward.

"Stand still, or I will nail ya. Might as well put you out and move on before the bigwigs do whatever it is they are gonna do."

To Frank's left was an old rusty piece of equipment that might give him some momentary cover; he said, "they are gonna bury you here if you don't get outta here quick."

When the man started to answer, Frank dove behind the rustred and yellow caterpillar bucket. As he hit the dirt, he felt a burning in his right leg, and a deafening roar as the shotgun emptied the first shell. The first blast was followed by two more in quick succession, both of which rattled off Frank's cover. The cacophony of shotgun fire and the rattle of little 243

John Crandall steel pellets bouncing off of inch thick metal was followed by a sound that was music to his ears. First, there was the sound of Silvio barking. Then an "oof" as something big, Silvio probably, hitting the guard, followed by a "Sonofabitch" to confirm it and a growling accompanied by the guard telling him to call off the dog. Frank raised himself up to see Silvio straddling the man's chest with his muzzle an inch from his nose. The flashlight was still in the man's hand. The gun had been thrown ten feet in Franks direction, so he simply scooped it up, then stood with it pointed at the man's head before telling Silvio he could relax and that he could "leave it."

"You get up slowly, then follow the dog, I will be behind you with the gun, and if either of us suspects that you are up to anything, it will be the end. If you behave yourself, I may let you ride out with us. Now run, none of us has much time."

The trio ran through the dark Mine as if chasing the bouncing beam of light. The pain in Frank's leg wasn't too bad, a glancing blow with only a few pellets, but he didn't want to stop to look until he could do something about it. It didn't take them long to get to their hidden vehicle, with the first guard still handcuffed to the passenger door. He laid Edith's limp form on the hood of the truck and went to release his captive whose wrists were bloody, and the metal of the door handle was scratched and bent.

"Looks like you were trying to escape. Didn't you trust me to come back?" Frank threw him the key and said, "put these on your friend, then the two of you get in the back. I want Edith up in front with me. You are welcome to walk or get a move on. Silvio will join you to make sure you don't get too overcome with a need to do something stupid." Gingerly lifting and carrying Edith, Frank slid her onto the passenger 244

The Mine seat, then he lay her half on and half off the bench seat so her body was on the seat and her feet were on the floor. Then as he ran around the vehicle and jumped in the driver's seat, he yelled, "hold on to your noses, girls were going in." Jumping behind the wheel, Frank sped out of the side tunnel joining the main route. It headed away from where he was, which was obviously the way out. He glanced in his mirror once and saw that his first prisoner, almost into the back of the truck, had nearly fallen out as Frank sped off. Speed limit signs were posted periodically, but Frank was so busy navigating the bumpy road that he couldn't see them.

He did see the sign indicating a T intersection and began to slow when Silvio barked three times. He continued to slow enough to make the turn without losing Edith, turned left, and sped up again. As he drove, Frank rested his hand on Edith's neck, feeling for a pulse, knowing that it would be slow but somehow that made him worry all the more. Not prone to selftalk or prayer, Frank did both, but he didn't cajole or bargain.

He threatened. Frank threatened god and planned, but only as far enough into the future as it would take get himself and Edith and Silvio out safely. Anything else would have to wait.

Edith's voice echoed in his head, "if you have a mission, you complete that mission to the exclusion of all else." His answer to the Edith that he carried with him was, "you are the only mission I have right now, and if I fail on this one, if I lose you . . . "Here, Frank choked up and couldn't think anymore.

Quieting his inner turmoil, Frank concentrated on the next step. First and foremost, he needed to get out of here before the bad guys tried to trigger their *EMP bomb. He could only guess about what lay between him and the completion of that mission.

245

John Crandall Frank didn't have long to wait. He could see the exit tunnel in front of him when his peripheral vision caught movement to the side. A vehicle that had been hidden behind some equipment pulled in behind him. At the same time, Silvio started barking; Frank heard a bullet crash through the window behind him, breaking it into a million pieces. "Dammit," he thought, "that's all we need," as he vainly tried to urge the truck to more speed, knowing that he had all he would get.

Swerving back and forth, Frank ignored the sound of gunfire as he concentrated on the road. He wondered for a minute why they had chosen to follow him instead of just blocking his way when he saw a huge truck stopped in the middle of the road, at a narrowing of the tunnel. "That is a piece of bad news, Silvio," he said. They had parked a truck across the entrance to the Mine. Some of the bullets that missed him ricocheted off of the stone walls and ceiling, leaving puffs of dust when they hit the tailgate of the dump truck blocking their way.

There was a scream behind him. Obviously, one of the men in the bed of the truck had been hit. Then he felt almost as much as heard a bullet thunk into the truck right behind him. The sound was followed by sparks and smoke from the engine compartment, and the vehicle immediately lost power. Turning around in his seat to check, he saw the handcuffed guard lying on his side, blood leaking from a wound in his chest, the screamer he thought. Silvio was crouching down next to the wounded man using him for a shield. The first guard stood, holding his right arm, waving with his left, gesticulating, his hand up in a signal a stop motion. Then he caught one of the antique bullets and joined his friend in the truck bed. Frank's vehicle had come to a stop. Instead of jumping out into the line of fire, he played possum, readying himself to stick the shotgun out of the broken back window. On some mission of 246

The Mine his own, Silvio jumped from the truck and ran away towards the tipper truck's front. Then he disappeared. The driver and the gunman from the pursuing vehicle ran up to Frank's disabled truck, demonstrating a severe lack of training and signing their own death warrants. Frank waited until they were in range and aimed between them, firing the shotgun and watching them go down and laughed to himself, two birds with one stone.

Silvio ran by then, hot on the tail of the blocking truck's driver.

Frank didn't need any explanation. He jumped from his vehicle, nearly falling as his wounded leg reminded him that there was buckshot embedded in his leg.

With his determination and the amount of adrenaline coursing through his veins, he could still scoop Edith up and run to the other truck, which blocked the passage. As gently as he could, Frank hoisted Edith up and into the passenger seat and climbed in after her. He didn't worry about Silvio. That dog seemed to have more lives than a cat. He was glad that vintage vehicles, even one as old as this, had straightforward controls that even Frank could manage. Push the D for drive button, mash down on the accelerator, it goes forward, standard brakes and steering. But the damned thing was slow going. It was geared for heavy loads and steep inclines, not for speed. The transmission in this truck was heavy enough to need one. He had shifted from the second to the third gear of 15 when Frank saw Silvio running up beside them, barking his head off.

Opening his door and leaning out of the way, Frank let the panting dog crawl up and over him to sit on the floor at Edith's feet.

Frank could hear a klaxon in the distance and guessed that their time was even shorter than he thought. He hoped this 247

John Crandall was only a preliminary warning that they were about to set the thing off. The big truck bounced out of the mine shaft and into daylight, pushing aside some more small trucks blocking the way. It appeared that they were abandoned, though, because there was no one around, and no one tried to stop them. Frank knew the way and sped as fast as he could towards the general administration building, hoping that the helicopter was still there. As he rounded the back of the building, a siren, louder now, sounded another long mournful howl.

248

The Mine Chapter 9 Pulling the big truck to a stop, just shy of the helicopter's slowly turning rotors, he sighed in relief. "Almost there," he said to Silvio. Jumping from the truck, Frank was reminded of his wounded leg. He simply wasn't prepared to deal with it yet, not as long as Edith was still hurt and not as long as there was a chance that these fools would set the bomb off before he could escape. Gently transferring Edith to the passenger compartment, Frank was interrupted by a man with a gun, strapped into one of the plush seats.

"You the pilot?" The man asked.

"No, but I am all you have for now," said Frank, "I have flown others like this—nothing I can't handle here."

"Who is that?" the man asked, waving his gun towards the comatose Edith.

"Don't worry about it, just put that gun away, and we can get going. I assume you want to come along."

"I do; here, let me get her strapped in. But let's get gone quick.

Shit is about to happen."

Frank slammed the door shut, then climbed into the front of the copter and wished he had Watcher to fall back on. Now he had to figure out how to fly the machine on his own.

Fortunately, Frank had spent a summer learning to fly one

249

John Crandall when he was younger. Now all he had to do was remember how.

Looking at the dashboard, he found the hows and wheres of helicopter flight training coming back. Just like riding a bike, he said to himself. First, he replaced the fuse he had taken, then proceeded to follow an abbreviated preflight checklist in his mind. Then he abbreviated it some more and started to flip switches. Even though he was in a hurry, he still performed them in the proper sequence.

Frank performed the last of the preflight checklist as the siren began crying again. This time it didn't warble or vary. It was a steady screaming warning.

As the helicopter got light, it began to skitter across the ground laterally. This might not have been a problem except that it was not up and out. I and it was sliding inexorably towards the dump truck. Tilting the stick, Frank got the feel of the controls. He applied full power and rotation heading up and north, mostly north. He wanted to put as much distance and earth between him and the disaster that White Pines Mine would soon become.

Frank glanced down towards the building; he saw the original passenger running towards the rising helicopter, waving his arms as if he thought he could stop its escape. They were about 300 feet in the air when the whole earth beneath them shuddered, then rose, and finally collapsed into a crater. A nearly invisible shock wave left the epicenter traveling in an ever-widening circle. When the turbulence hit the helicopter, it's motor hiccuped and paused, the rotors automatically went into auto-rotation as the machine began to drop to the ground.

Damn Frank thought, we did our best but somehow, despite 250

The Mine everything we did to it, that infernal *EMP bomb did what it was designed to do. But then the motor came back online and began turning, fighting gravity. To Frank, it felt like he was riding a roller coaster, something he never enjoyed. He was relieved that they were under power again. As the machine thump thumped higher and higher, Frank peered out the window, watching as the ground beneath him collapsed on itself. He smiled to see the administration and outbuildings get sucked into the ever-widening hole. Pulling his attention away from the ground, he steered the copter south and east, heading, not into the sunset but away from it. Frank keyed the radio, happy to hear that it still worked. He was glad to talk to air control at the Gwinn airport, once KI Sawyer Air Force (USAF) base, and get permission to land.

Having received clearance and directions, Frank concentrated on his next task, one made more difficult without Watcher's aid, but he played a hunch. Frank switched channels to one he knew was monitored by the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). This organization had served as an auxiliary of the old United States Air Force (USAF) and was still performing emergency services, search and rescue, and disaster relief operations.

They were still loosely connected to the AF so he was careful about how he couched his request. After 911, the CAP was often tasked with *Homeland Security missions, and he certainly didn't need to catch their eye.

Eventually, though, he was routed to an old friend. “Hey General, do you remember 2015?” then, “Good, I have an enormous favor to ask . . .”

Frank was glad he had arranged the next phase of his plan while he was still in the air. He landed next to a cargo plane 251

John Crandall painted with black and olive camouflage, the one with the big red cross on it. He recognized it immediately as an old converted tanker that served as the medivac for this northern Michigan outpost. Two medics ran out and collected Edith's limp form while Frank slid to the ground and saluted his friend from the past. The General had to catch Frank, who had forgotten that he had been shot. Waving another two medics over, he grabbed Frank's shoulder, and half carried him into the Air Ambulance. A couple of Military Policemen approached, and Frank pointed over his shoulder to the man climbing from the passenger compartment of the helicopter.

They immediately cuffed him and retrieved the gun from his pocket. He obviously knew better than to resist. Then Silvio jumped out, tail wagging. The happy reunion didn't last long.

Two minutes later, except for the General, everyone on the ground, including the prisoner, had been taken on board. The lumbering old plane took off to the south.

Glancing out his window, Frank got a last long-distance glimpse of the crater that had once been the town of White Pines. His satisfaction was tainted with worry as he watched the medics tending to his Edith. Alone with his thoughts, since Watcher had been silenced by the explosion that put Edith down, Frank absentmindedly scratched Silvio's ears. The dog whined, and it seemed he was trying to say something, but he too had lost the unique facilities that augmentation with an AI offered. The two tired companions drifted off to sleep soothed by the steady drone of the ancient airplane. When the plane began its initial ascent, the change in vibration woke the evervigilant Frank. Knowing that he wouldn't see much of Edith very soon, he limped over to where she was sleeping under the watchful eye of a Medic. The woman looked up and whispered, she is stable and doing fine; we just need to get her

252

The Mine to Area 51. They will know what to do for her. She's not the first, you know.

Confused, Frank looked at her, "there have been others, who, how, why?"

"That is above my pay grade," she said, "I don't even know exactly where we are going, and it is not Area 51 even if that is the name we use for it. I've been there before but, well, look at the windows; they are opaque now. I just know that it is an underground city, in a desert. We land, taxi into a building, and an elevator takes us down like in the old aircraft carriers. After more jockeying, finally, the plane comes to a stop. The rear door opens so the passengers can deplane. None of us goes outside, but you can't disguise the desert air. I grew up in Bishop California, so I recognize badlands, even when I am under them, it is a smell I can't forget."

The droning of the engines changed again. Frank figured they were near the end of their trip. He glanced at the noncom and nodded in Edith's direction, "may I?" he asked.

"Go ahead," she said, "but Edith won't remember any of it.

They do marvelous things at the place but reversing what she went through is nearly impossible. They do crisis intervention where we are going. We can only hope that her last scan was detailed enough to restore her to the person she was before the incident." Offhandedly, she asked, "she did have one, didn't she."

The more answers this woman gave, the more questions she raised in Frank's mind. He knew that these would be the last few minutes he would have with this woman who meant more than the world to him, so he stuffed the questions and bent 253

John Crandall down and whispered," Our *Daemons are fried. There is no one listening, so I can say this – Edith, I love you and will forever. Survive, no matter what, and know that I am there for you any time anywhere." He caressed her cheek with the back of his left hand while his right knuckled a tear from his eyes.

When he had lowered his hand, Silvio nudged it with his nose, then licked it and gave out with a single bark, as if to say that he felt the same way. Frank turned to Silvio and said, shhh, don't tell; no one is to know."

Silvio wagged his tail and gave that same single bark, yes, that told Frank that he agreed. *Daemons or not, these two were beginning to communicate on a new and different level.

Then the PA system crackled with the Captain's voice announcing that they would be landing in about 5 minutes and that all equipment must be stowed and all passengers secured.

Frank and Silvio returned to their seats. Frank buckled Silvio in the best he could, given his canine anatomy.

The landing was unremarkable, and it was like the Sergeant had said. They taxied into a hanger, you could hear the quality of the sound change, then were lowered some distance down.

There was more bumping and maneuvering before they came to a stop. Even before the wheels had hit the ground, the medical team began preparing Edith for egress. Frank released Silvio's belt and his own and stood up. The whine of a motor was accompanied by various creaks and bangs as the rear door lowered. Edith was rushed out, trailing the medical team who was caring for her.

The MPs escorted the prisoner out, leaving Frank and Silvio alone on the airplane. Glancing up, Frank saw a familiar figure.

254

The Mine Jack Junior strode up the gantry and took Frank's hand. "Good job man, I am sorry that Edith got caught in the crossfire, but be assured, she will recover. There will be some memory loss, but she will recover. I am afraid your job isn't done though, as soon as they get this airbus refueled, you and I need to move on. Reaching down, he scratched Silvio's head, then said, we have been growing new AIs for the both of you, but they aren't here, so we move on to get you fixed up. But, there are some problems that we need your particular abilities for, so you and Silvio need to heal fast."

Frank sat, then lowered his head, "but what about Edith."

"Jack laid a hand on Frank's shoulder and said, I am told you said your goodbyes already. She probably won't remember much of anything that has happened since her last scan, and she will be in isolation as her new brain grows. Until then, she will be in a medically induced coma until they can restore her personality. This is not a quick process. She is in the good hands of Doctor Isham."

Frank, taking a deep breath stood, he looked Jack Junior in the eye and said, "make sure would you, keep an eye on her."

"You know I will, and this is the place for her."

"What now, Jack?"

"Sit. We will be taking off again in a few minutes. I will explain it all once we are underway."

The whine of the motors and the other sounds accompanying the gantry's return to its up and locked position was joined by 255

John Crandall the other noises that signified an airplane's readiness to take off.

Frank looked over at Jack Junior and saw that he had leaned his head back in repose. His face displayed the exhaustion that Frank felt. The eye nearest him seemed to glitter as if a tear were hanging and about to run down the man's face. Frank, tired still, leaned back and fell asleep. An onlooker might see the similarities between the two and wonder if they weren't brothers.

Once the airplane had reached cruising altitude, Frank lifted his head and looked around. Sun was streaming in through scratches in the window's blackout paint. Silvio lay curled at his feet, but they were alone. Frank was about to stand up when Jack appeared with a steaming mug of coffee in each hand and a dog bone in his shirt pocket. Sitting down, he said, "you can ask questions when I am done, but for now, just listen."

Frank, didn't say anything. He just sat there looking at his shoes. He was grieving, he had saved Edith, well her body, but she had born the brunt of the *EMP. She would probably be brain dead or worse. He felt like a child with wings that had forgotten how to fly and fell to the earth. He was bereft of Edith, and her Damion, and his and Silvio's. Left alone, with an internal quiet that he hadn't felt in a long while, he didn't know where to turn.

Jack continued, "you and Edith are heroes, but the bad guys are still there. You have removed only one of the heads of the hydra. Don't worry about Edith. You need to get out of the way and let the doctors do their work. They can't do magic, but they can put her back together. As you might guess, the trauma 256

The Mine to her brain probably destroyed it." Putting a hand on Frank's arm, he said. "They have a replacement already growing on a 3D template to be transplanted to her. We still have her latest scan, so she will be able to move back in soon. The only loss of memory will be what has happened to her since that scan.

Frank took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, "go on," he said.

We need to get you fixed up. We have a new AI waiting for you, and you will have a short time for recovery, but we need to get you back in the field again. No, wait, just listen, then ask. "As I was saying . . . .

Not Quite -The End

257

John Crandall

258

The Mine Chapter 10

Edith In the dark, the air was a soft cool caress that held a promise different from the one that the garish light overhead offered.

Edith had been in that dark for so long, she had forgotten what light was. Edith stood in the middle of an echoing, near darkness, and was grateful that the light had been extinguished. Squatting, she listened and drew in the smell of coolness that seemed as if it originated from some subterranean chamber. Her spirit dampened, interest was the only emotion that could color her perceptions. She was nosy, just plain curious, that much of her remained and she desperately wanted to know where she was, why she was there and . . and . . . more. She had toed the line, she thought but couldn't remember. Was she being gaslighted? She didn't know. Was this a way a part of some kind of interrogation. She had an immense sense of failure, but what did it look like? She didn't know. Had she failed, had someone or something failed her? She didn't know.

She wasn't sure, but she thought she was prepared for this, whatever it was, to be over. She actually welcomed whatever would come next. Turning slowly, dancing with her eyes closed, she tasted the air and absorbed vibrations like a bat.

A flash of what had to be lightning followed immediately by the crash of thunder. Then the ozone of electrified air prepared her for the torrents of rain that would drum on her skull. It never came, but that first sample of atmospheric electricity

259

John Crandall was followed by a series of strikes that all seemed to be competing to sunder her reality.

The hairs on Edith's arms stood on end, and then her shortcropped hair turned into a crackling corona that strained to touch the now energized but invisible horizons. Sparks formed on the tips of her hair then began flying off in every direction.

The roaring sound of maelstrom became overwhelming, and she sank slowly to the ground. Menacing black clouds seeped in from nowhere to swirl around Edith, cloaking her in even more opaque darkness. The sparks that jumped from her huddled body turned to arcs that sought the unfamiliar walls and ceiling around her.

Silence, then. Darkness. Nothing. Looking up or out or away from herself, she saw and felt and heard only the black nothingness that had been her world for what seemed to be a long, long time. Straightening, she couldn't tell if she were standing or lying down. It was as if the world had disappeared as if it had never been more than just a memory. But even her dim memories of the world as it was had been begun to fade.

She was left with only the awareness of being a blank tableau.

For what seemed to be another long time, she floated, waiting for something to change, then even the waiting dimmed, and there was nothing, not even awareness.

Slowly a sense of self slipped in and began to creep back. She was unclear if it had indeed gone or if it was just hidden or hiding. Thinking about exploring these new phenomena that intruded the stasis of her being, she tried to turn. What an odd thought, she mused as she tried again to turn in the direction of the change.

260

The Mine "Shhhh, it's OK, you are OK. You have been hurt and are being prepared to reintegrate with your body."

"We call that the eye of the storm," another voice whispered.

"It's new, but it is supposed to ease the transition."

Sensation crept back into her awareness. Mmmm, she thought, something. Somehow this situation was familiar, but it was different too.

"No, don't move. Give yourself time, ease back in."

She did just that, allowing the tendrils of her consciousness drift from the deep darkness that she had been. Memory eluded her, but the sweet taste of sound was there, and now she notices a different kind of coolness to the air that drifted across her skin. The other had promised, and she could sense, another type of peace, the peace of dissolution. But that was another perception, and now she felt, well, she felt heavy now and wet somehow.

"We are going to remove the eye masks now, don't be surprised if the light hurts, it is as dark and as red as we can make it, but some find it too bright. Just leave your eyes closed for a while. Sleep if you can."A dull red glow formed in the distance, growing until it had completely displaced the darkness that she was no longer floating in.

"Time to wake up," the voice whispered. "You need to start inhabiting your body."

The red that had been her vision had become almost white.

She marveled at the color when she realized her eyes were open. She was looking at the ceiling, which was less brightly lit than her previous surroundings. "Mmm, she thought."

261

John Crandall Her hand, yes, now she knew she had a hand, but it wasn't cooperating; it only flopped. "No, don't sit up, just wake up.

You still don't have complete control of your faculties."

She couldn't speak yet, but the biggest question in her mind, her existence really was "Whaaaat?"

"Shhh, don't try to talk yet. I have been there so I can guess what you are thinking. You are trying to work out the W's.

What where when why who."

"The thought question "what." was replaced with "yessss, yess, tell me."

"Like I said yesterday, that was the eye of the storm. It is a program, a construct designed to overwhelm your senses and distract you from the reality of having experienced traumatic deconstruction and then restoration. You will remain here in the birthing clinic, in your case, the re-birthing clinic for a week or so until you can completely occupy and control this form. You will understand or remember soon, but you are again in the world of the living. Welcome Back, Edith.

262

The Mine Epilogue When the ceremony was over, the wedding party walked out into the late afternoon sun. Edith Thibodaux, now Isham, kissed the bride and groom and then kissed her own husband, John, for good measure. John Isham, Frank shook his head, the best Neurologist in the world and to Edith, her savior, he didn’t stand a chance.

Frank, standing across the street in the copse of trees that had grown up in the cemetery, watched Edith and smiled wryly. He reached down and gave Silvio's head a rub, sensing the intelligence which was far greater than that provided by the artificial intelligence that rode alongside his natural personality. Edith had been a matchless partner, but now she was married and had obligations, and she deserved to be happy. Her sister's marriage to sealed the deal, Edith had a family now, and she had no business being in the field.

As he watched the almost middle-aged Edith flitting from person to person like the butterfly she had become, Frank's memory painted a different picture. It was the staid, focused Edith who kept Frank's bacon out of the fire more times than he cared to think of. Edith was a whiz at using her enhancements on the fly, knowing just when and where to look for trouble, and trouble was the business they were in. Alone or as a partner or team member, she was always the one that was there with the answer, the right answer. He missed that kind of collaboration. As a single operative, if you didn't count Silvio, and his *Daemon, Watcher, the buck stopped with him. He didn't have the leisure of depending on someone else, like Edith.

263

John Crandall The ever-vigilant Edith noticed Frank standing there in the cemetery. She left the wedding party behind and ran across the street to him. "Watcha doing mister? The funeral was days ago".

"Just making sure you Isham’s brother David (Isham) does right by your sister. I don't have a clue about how they got together but, with a baby coming, I am glad they have you to watch over them."

"Oh, they'll be fine," Edith said, "why didn't you come to the wedding? You aren't holding on to that bad luck thing, are you? Hell, you came to my wedding with John, and we are still happily married."

"You are unique, Edith, special enough that I couldn't get in the way of your happiness. I can see that the two of you are in love. John is an excellent partner for anyone, especially you.

Also, he knows that if he fucks up, you will hurt him bad and that when you are done, I will be standing there in line for next.

I know there was no way I could jinx your wedding, but if you think about it, you will remember that I almost did."

Edith smiled, "I sure miss you, Frank. Why don't you come to the reception, it's at my house?

"I would, just to see you smile again, but my left ear is itchy, so I better find out what the office wants. What about you? Do you miss it yet, Edith?" Frank asked.

264

The Mine "I miss you, she said, and I miss the excitement, but most of all, I miss being connected with you. But then that *EMP burst burnt out my hardware, basically frying my brain. They said they could try to fix it, Ary, but you know all of that. And you know that I was getting stale. Then I met Mr. right, Dr. John Isham, brain surgeon par excellence, and his team of copier technicians. It's amazing what they can do with 3D printers now. I only wish I could remember what happened that night, hell that whole month. It's a hole that I can't fill no matter what I do," she looked down," I don't even remember this new friend of yours, no ours, Silvio. John has tried to help, but the personality and memory algorithms can only give you back what you had when they are downloaded. Anything after that is lost for good. Some of the things John is doing amazes me, and I am probably one of his more significant accomplishments. He is really beyond belief. Now though, he needs help, so besides a new relationship, I have a new job.

Frank smiled at her, "and I bet he is pretty good in bed too."

Edith didn't even blush. She just hauled off and slugged him one in the stomach. "That was for nothing, soldier, now do something."

"Temper temper," Eddy, he said, "Silvio and I are gonna ghost outta here, but I will check in now and then. You know how to get me, no us if you want.

Sure do, cowboy, but it won't be your ear itching if I want you.

Turning, Edith walked out into the sunshine and across the street to the wedding party. They were just starting to throw the birdseed and had not even noticed her absence. He watched for a minute as she strode back to the church. I will be missing her, he thought, in more than just one way, but

265

John Crandall those feelings and memories would have to stay shelved in the virtual room that he had labeled “Edith.”

"See you in my dreams," Frank called out as she left, then more quietly as if to himself, "I do, I see you in my dreams."

Turning to Silvio, he said, "come on, partner," and they walked toward a stretch limousine with black tinted windows that was parked, waiting on the other side of the cemetery.

266

The Mine Glossary I have included a glossary at the request of my beta readers.

They suggested that I include a glossary for the most used acronyms, which I do here. All of the asterisked words should be on this list. If you find one that is missing or would like me to include, please drop me a line. If all goes well, I will post this glossary on my web page, let me know if you would find value if it were accessible there.

-John john@crandallwriters.com Daemon:- a divinity or supernatural gods and humans - an inner or attendant spirit or inspiring force. All three main characters have been augmented with synthetic biologicals (see below). Frank was teamed up with Watcher, Edith with Ary, and Silvio with Silvey.

FFS, Feeder SpyWare, SDW. Most spyware can be divided into five categories (Infostealers, Password Stealers, Keyloggers, Banker Trojans, Modem Hackers. The FFS that Frank and Watcher developed is capable of accomplishing what other spyware do, and more. SpiderBots, also called Web Crawlers, systematically browse the World Wide Web, indexing information and updating contents. The one that Frank and Watcher created does all of that but in a unique way.

Rather than working from a computer, their SpiderBots (another form of AI) create depositories (and backups) in vulnerable or forgotten computers and allow instant access to information. They are virtual hardware programs that live on the web. SDW, Search and Destroy Weapons are another type of software that Frank and Watcher developed, definitely NSFW (not safe for work)

267

John Crandall SB, Synthetic Biological Synthetic biology is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems or to redesign systems that are already found in nature.

HUD, Heads Up Display A HUD used to mean any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The name's origin stems from a pilot being able to view information with the head positioned "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments. A HUD also has the advantage that the pilot's eyes do not need to refocus to view the outside after looking at the optically nearer instruments. In the case of Frank and his Watcher, there is no transparent screen; it only appears so. Information appears to float in the air in front of them.

Refus Absurde The French Resistance, when it first began in the summer of 1940, was based upon what the writer Jean Cassou called refus absurde ("absurd refusal") of refusing to accept that the Reich would win and even if it did, it was better to resist. Many résistants often spoke of some "climax" when they saw some intolerable act of injustice, after which they could no longer remain passive.

PeaceKeepers, Oligarchy, Department of Homeland security. The Oligarchy refers to what was called the 1 Percent, which maintained control of the remainder (as of this story) of the collapsing Capitalist system. The developing Cooperative Commonwealth was gradually supplanting the (not so) Free Market Economy, which threatened the Oligarchies' power. The Peace Keepers, which had been a part of the World Health Organization, had been co-opted by the Oligarchs to be their private army as a last-ditch effort to 268

The Mine maintain their power. They did not keep the Peace but fomented violence to further the aims of those invested in the (not so) Free Market Economy. The DHS formerly worked for the US government but was also co-opted by the Oligarchy.

EMP Electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse, also called a transient electromagnetic disturbance, is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse's origin may be a natural occurrence or man-made. It can occur as a radiated, electric, or magnetic field or a conducted electric current, depending on the source. EMP interference is generally disruptive or damaging to electronic equipment. At higher energy levels, a powerful EMP event such as a lightning strike can damage physical objects such as buildings and aircraft structures. The management of EMP effects is an important branch of electromagnetic compatibility engineering. Weapons have been developed to deliver the damaging effects of highenergy EMP.

269

John Crandall

270

The Mine John Crandall was born on July 2, 1953, in Clovis, New Mexico.

As an Air Force brat, he lived in New Mexico, South Carolina, Northern and Southern Michigan, Oregon, and Japan.

He has been an active member of the Sacramento writing community since 2003. Trained in the Amherst Writers and Artists methods (AWA), he became a group facilitator. Then, branching out on his own, he focused on Writing As A Way of Healing. He has also edited and assisted others in self-publishing their books. John has published numerous articles and collected autobiographical narratives and poetry, "Poet Healed." His experience as a Domestic Violence Counselor is the subject of an upcoming book - "Dad's And Other Perpetrators" (working title).

John's writing reflects his interests and his penchant for research. As well as informing his written work, John's checkered past also reflects his diverse interests: surgical nurse, fire systems engineer, mason, electronics technician in the Air Force, refrigeration engineer, teacher, and executive director of a non-profit counseling agency that he founded. His education includes a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology and Doctorate-level Psychology courses. He has also attended additional classes and workshops in art, pottery (at the Pewabic Pottery, in Detroit), blacksmithing, foundry techniques, domestic violence, fire suppression, and writing.

Semi-retired, John is focusing on artistic endeavors. His penchant for research and art is reflected in his almost organized shop, which echoes his interests. He is most happy when writing or combining different media in his sculpture or 271

John Crandall learning new techniques. John continues adding to his repertoire through constant experimentation and selfeducation.

John currently lives and plays in Sacramento with his wife Denise and their cantankerous ankle-biting Chihuahua. You can connect with him at John@crandallwriters.com. You can also visit his web page: www.Crandallwriters.com to sign up for emails about his Writing As Healing groups.

272

The Mine Licensee Information You are free to:  Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format  Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material  The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices:  You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.  No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.

273