The day after: An apocalyptic morning (109 page)

              "What about beyond the Sierras?" Bonnie asked. "Have you checked out that area?"

              "Not yet," Paul replied. "We have a finite amount of fuel and we don't want to waste it. Reno is below the snow line but more than likely it's flooded from all the water pouring out of the east side of the mountains. It's also a good bet that Lake Tahoe has more than overflowed its pre-comet shoreline. All of those floodwaters will pour right into the high desert."

              "A lot of people lived in the Reno area," Paula said. "And as far as we know, none of them have worked their way over Donner Summit to us."

              "How about to the south and the north?" Pat asked next. "Amador County and Nevada County?"

              "We haven't done any recon out that way ether," Paul said. "There may be survivors there or there may not. Like I said, we've been using most of our fuel and our flight time for recovery missions instead of for long-range recon. The discovery of you and of Auburn was just incidental to our normal operations."

              "I see," Pat said, nodding thoughtfully.

              They talked of a few incidental things for a few minutes, just getting to know each other. There was an undercurrent of suspicion and mistrust between both groups at first but it started to fade a little as conversation developed. Pat explained how El Dorado Hills happened to live through the comet strike. Though landslides had buried most of the town when the rain started, the portion they were now sitting in had managed to remain on solid ground. As in Garden Hill, most of the survivors were women. Pat shared that the ratio was approximately 4 to 1, although the average age was a little higher than in Garden Hill because the community was older. Also, like in Garden Hill, there was an abundance of pre-school and elementary school age children but virtually no older children or teenagers since the junior high school and high school had been down in nearby Folsom, which was washed away when the dam broke.

              "We had a lot of mothers that went rushing down the hill right after the impact to try and get their kids," Pat explained. "They probably got down there just in time to get killed by the floodwaters. We watched that dam go from up here. It was something that I never care to see again. It's one thing knowing that hundreds of thousands of people are being drowned like rats, it's quite another to have to see it."

              In spite of the age differences in the two towns, the actual history and evolution of their government was remarkably similar. In the first few days after the rains started, El Dorado Hills, like Garden Hill, had been mostly in a state of shock and denial. They could not believe that civilization had really collapsed, that billions of people were really dead, and that they could really not expect any help to come to their stricken community. After this period came the power struggles as several different personality types attempted to put themselves into command of what remained. Organization was difficult at first since everyone wanted to be a chief and no one wanted to be an Indian.

              "It was Pat and Bonnie that finally pulled everyone together," Renee told them. "They basically just took charge and started telling people what to do. It took a few days before they started listening to them, but once it became apparent that everyone was going to starve unless something was done, common sense seemed to kick in. We gathered all of the food in town and stored it, we gathered all of the weapons and ammunition and stored that. Pat took charge of digging defenses and setting up our perimeter. He saw that everyone was trained in how to use their guns."

              "You sound like Skip," Paula said, hearing this part. "Were you in the military?"

              "I was in the army," Pat replied, "but I wasn't a combat soldier. I was a computer nerd in for a standard pre-college stint. My job was to help program software for M1A1 tanks. Still, a lot of that basic training they gave us stuck with me. It's not exactly rocket science constructing defenses, but it does take a little basic knowledge."

              "Yeah," Paul said with good nature, "that's what I found out. We had a pretty harsh lesson about that back in our town."

              "Oh yeah?" Pat asked, interested.

              Paul and Paula took turns describing the history of the Garden Hill township. For the most part, as agreed upon beforehand, they told the truth about the events, leaving out only fine details about their actual ammunition supply, arsenal, and defensive set-up. They described the power struggle that had almost led to the downfall of town under Jessica and Dale. This seemed to hold particular interest among their hosts.

              "We had our own version of Jessica here," Pat told them. "Only ours was a male and we didn't allow him to get as far as you did yours."

              "Really?" Paula asked.

              "Tom Borden," Pat explained. "He was actually our State Legislature representative for this district. He was a going nowhere politician who had pipe dreams of one day being the governor of California but who only managed to hang onto his current office because his name happened to appear first on the ballet. The only reason he was home that day was because he had one of the highest absentee rates in the state. He had many of the same traits of your Jessica and he tried real hard to take command of everyone as we were trying to get things together. He kept claiming that he was now the official governor of California since all of the other politicians were dead down in Sacramento. We followed him for a few days until it became apparent that he just wanted people to wait on him and revere him and that he didn't actually have any idea what he was doing. Eventually we removed him from power and, after the turmoil that we told you about, formed the three person committee we now have to make the important decisions."

              "Did he go quietly?" Paul, thinking of Jessica's departure, wanted to know.

              "He didn't," Renee told him. "He tried to organize an armed rebellion against us and we had to exile him from town. We sent him out and our guards were forced to shoot him after he tried to force his way back inside."

              "That's too bad," Paul said. "It sounds like he and Jessica would've made a good couple."

              The talk of town histories continued. Paul and Paula told about the attack on the town that had finally killed the voting alliance of Dale and Jessica and that had ultimately led to Jessica's own exile. Renee, in particular, seemed fascinated by Paul's heartfelt outpouring about watching Dale disintegrate and die from wounds that were probably not lethal.

              "That must've been hard for you," she said sympathetically.

              "It was very hard," he agreed. "I've never felt so helpless in my life. In my past life, when I was a fireman, I would've just had him flown to the trauma center. My contact with him would've been less than twenty minutes. In this life, I was the doctor and I had to watch him die."

              "You did everything you could for him," Renee told him. "And the treatment you gave this other woman, this..."

              "Sherrie," he said.

              "Sherrie," she said. "Right. The treatment you gave Sherrie was outstanding considering your lack of higher medical training and supplies. You did everything right with her."

              Paul looked at her carefully. "You seem rather knowledgeable on this subject," he told her.

              "She should be," Pat said. "She's a doctor."

              "A doctor?" Paula said excitedly. "You mean a real doctor, with a medical degree and everything?"

              Renee laughed a little. "With a medical degree and everything," she agreed. "I was a family practitioner before the comet. I graduated from the UC Davis School of Medicine in 1985. My practice was the only one in this town. I had somewhat of a monopoly. Still do in fact. That's how I ended up as a part of the governing group after the impact. I was a somewhat respected member of the town."

              "You have a doctor," Paula said slowly, speaking to no one in particular. "Your town is truly blessed."

              "And your town has a helicopter," Pat said. "You are blessed as well. Maybe if we can foment this relationship a little, our respective blessings can work together."

              "That was why we made contact with you," Paul put in. "We have a lot of pregnant women in town and very few medical supplies."

              "And I'm sure that we could find uses for a community with a helicopter," Bonnie said.

              "But the problem," Paul said, articulating what everyone was thinking, "is one of trust now, isn't it? We're sitting over here wondering if you are conspiring to steal our helicopter and our pilot. You are probably sitting over there wondering if we're conspiring to steal your doctor or other assets you might have."

              "Trust," Pat agreed. "That is indeed where it all falls apart. We all know what human nature is like, don't we?"

              "We do," Paula said. "The instinct of us humans is to try to take what we need if it benefits us. We will lie, cheat, and steal to get it without much of a second thought. How do we convince each other that we are not embarking upon this path?"

              "Trust has to be earned and demonstrated," Bonnie said. "On both sides of the equation. We're working towards that now just by talking. We haven't got there yet, but maybe we will. So let's keep talking, shall we?"

              "Why don't we?" Paul said.

              And they continued talking. The discussion would go strong right up until the time that it was time for the visitors to be returned to the landing zone.

              Skip was very cautious as he approached El Dorado Hills for the scheduled pick-up. With Jack in the observer's seat, he flew well to the south of Highway 50 from Cameron Park before turning to the west, adding more than fifty nautical miles to the trip. Once he was over the brown water of the Sacramento Valley/Sea, he turned to the right, following the shoreline until he reached the highway. Only then did he turn back to the east and, from as high an altitude as he could climb without risking icing problems, approach the town.

              The flight, which had taken nearly forty minutes, had been almost completely without conversation. Jack, without the years of life experience as his mentor, remained very optimistic of the meeting that was taking place. After all, he figured, why wouldn't El Dorado Hills cooperate with them? It only made sense. He kept quiet however, knowing that Skip, who had a much more cynical and realistic view of what human beings were capable of, worried about what he would do if Paula and Paul failed to materialize at the pickup spot.

              "We're coming up on it," Skip said softly as the hills guarding El Dorado Hills' western flank came into view. "Start looking."

              "Bringing the FLIR on line," Jack dutifully replied, activating the system. As Skip slowed up the airspeed, he looked in the viewer, panning left and right, finally spotting four figures standing in the middle of the westbound lanes. "I've got four people ahead," he said. "Looks like two males and two females. I can't tell if two of them are our people or not."

              "Any of them armed?" Skip asked.

              "Not as far as I can tell," he replied. "There might be a handgun down there but there aren't any rifles."

              Skip, knowing that Jack was probably looking at Paula and Paul in the company of two of the El Dorado Hillians, was not quite comforted just yet. Why were the other two people there? "Anything off on the flanks?" he asked.

              "Nothing at all," Jack said after a complete scan was done. "They're alone."

              "Okay," Skip said, pulling them into a hover. "Let's see if we can make contact."

              "You're live," Jack replied after a check to make sure the radio was tuned to the right frequency.

              Skip thanked his companion and then keyed the headset up. "El Dorado Hills landing party," he said calmly, his voice monotone, "this is the Garden Hill helicopter. Anyone down there?"

              "One of the males is raising his hand to his face," Jack, still watching carefully through the FLIR, announced. "It looks like he has the radio."

              This was confirmed a moment later. "Skip, this is Paul," sounded in their headsets. "We have a visual on you. Everything is okay down here. I have two of the El Dorado Hills leadership with me but they are unarmed."

              "We have a visual on you as well," Skip answered. He paused for an instant, keeping the radio link open, and then asked: "Do you have a code word for me?"

              "I do," Paul answered. "The word is corporate."

              Skip sighed in relief as he heard the correct word. True, it was technically possible that they had tortured one or both of their visitors to get that word, but it was very unlikely. "I copy the correct word," Skip said. "We'll be landing for the pick-up in about two minutes."

              "I copy two minutes," Paul answered back.

              Jack continued to watch the surrounding terrain through the FLIR as Skip made a cautious descent to the highway surface. There continued to be no signs of mammalian life within a one-mile radius of the four people. Satisfied that there would at least be no overwhelming attack by El Dorado Hills soldiers, Skip touched down on the asphalt about thirty yards away from the waiting group. He idled the engine once the skids were safely in contact and waited, his hands nervous on the controls, as Paul, Paula, and the other two trotted over.