She got to the fresher and was a little surprised to see all the other lasses there, with their children, mostly all in their undersuits, all freshening.
“Are you coming too?” one of the lasses asked her, startling her. Didn’t Article II forbid… but then the sub-sim information integrated with what her husband had said, and realized that the undersuit did NOT count as being ‘naked’ per Article II.
“Yes,” Ill said, stripping off her outersuit and joining the lasses and children in the fresher. There was plenty of room, dozens of freshers.
“Why so many freshers?” she asked.
“This is the emergency med bay. For when we get wounded. Our barracks is right behind the front, so when things get bad in our area they evac the wounded here. The shuttle bay is right on top, here, and there’s an emerency invac point right there,” she said, pointing at the wall, where there was a red outline of a door.
“There are lots of cots and things in the walls, there, and there, and there,” a young lad nodded.
“Ohhh,” Ill said. “Has that every happened?”
“Happens all the time!” the lad said. “I’m an orderly!”
“What? They let you in the hospital?”
“Everyone works in the hospital!” the lass said, amazed.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m new.”
“Article 17?” the lad asked.
“Yes, yes, just a few months ago.”
“First assignment?”
“Yes, yes, this is my first assignment.”
“We’re going on a march tonight! That’s why were freshing. Mama says it is important. I wonder who our new aide will be?”
I don’t know,” Ill admitted. She supposed someone else was working that out and it wasn’t part of the ‘order of battle’.
They gathered by squads again in the briefing, room, but no one said much. They did the whole saluting thing, and then Tom said, “Move out,” and the middys led their squads, one at a time, out a side door.
Tom, Ill, and the ‘headquarters’ squad moved out after the whole first company was out. No one said anything, but her wrist band vibrated and the two lads that were carrying ‘her’ stuff in addition to their own looked at her pleadingly, and she trotted with them. Tom had gone ahead, deep in conversation with one of the rankers, but the rest of the ‘squad’ followed her. Each of the other wives were with their respective husbands, and the children were nearby, the smallest ones bundled into packs on the rankers backs.
The rankers, who weren’t that big, seemed well loaded down underneath their packs. As they walked up the seemingly interminable stairs she noticed that about every other ranker had a different something ‘extra’ in their packs. Some had children and little else. Some, like her two, were carrying someone else’s extra pack. Some just had an odd shaped bundle.
She gave up staring at the rankers when she finally reached the top of the stairs and they ran out into the night. Or twilight There was still enough dim light to see the trees.
And they were worth seeing. She had been on three planets in her life before this one, and she had never, ever, seen anything like it. First of all, they were huge. Like easily 100 meters. They were fairly straight up but the weirdest thing was that they were all over covered with needlelike leaves. Like, all over, not just on the small branches. From the ground up, leaves.
The underbrush was thick, but they were following a path, a path that was only one person wide where it passed through the underbrush. “How far are we walking tonight?” she asked the ranker in front of her.
“Until the Ld. says we should stop,” he said.
“Oh. He didn’t tell you?”
“No, Ma’am. Not sure he even knows himself. Wants to check us out, see how we do.”
“I don’t see how he could see anything in this!”
“Oh, ma’am, he has his comp. He can see each of us, live like.”
“But… how long are these exercises normally?”
“I couldn’t say, Ma’am. I’m new myself.”
“So you are, that was silly of me.”
Two hours later she was definitely hoping they were stopping soon! She wasn’t tired, or sore… she had had way too many sims for this little walk to bother her. But it was getting late. And they had been going in the same direction the whole time, she thought, so they would have to go back before she could go to bed. Suddenly, the ranker glanced at his wrist, and stopped, looking around. “Over here, Ma’am” he said, and she and the other rankers followed him to the base of a tree. The ranker looked at his wrist again, flushed, and then said, “Jonathon, you go first.”
Ill looked curiously at the lad chosen, who rifled through his pack and pulled out a strange looking gun. Sighting up into the tree he fired. The gun let out a strange pop-whoosh sound, and Ill watched, fascinated, as a line zipped out of the gun and up into the branches. The line stopped eventually and the lad tested it, pulling the line down until it grew taught, then yanking several times. A branch far above them shook a bit, but the line barely budged.
“Ok,” the ‘lead’ ranker said, “Clamp it down.”
Another lad had come forward with a pinion and he held it while a third lad pounded it into the ground. Then the first lad, the one who had fired the gun, came forward. He hooked the gun to his belt, and then to the line, somehow. “Ten pounds,” the lead ranker said, and the lad at the line adjusted something on the gun and nodded. “Go ahead,” the lead lad said, and the lad with the gun started to climb, hand over hand, up the line. Ill gasped.
“Don’t worry, it’s easier than it looks,” a voice said from behind her, and Ill turned to see Tom. “We’ll have you up in a few minutes, never fear. Just don’t look down.”
“Me!?”
“Yup. All of us. Each of us in different trees. We’ve scartered all up and down the trail.”
“But… why?” she asked, staring up into the branches.
“Practice.”
“But… the children! Surely one of them will fall out!”
He laughed. “We have ways of making them safe, never fear.”
Article 17
Article 17 is a military science fiction story with aliens and romance. It is set in a future reminiscent of Napoleon era Britain. The war was going very poorly until the military installed a dictator. This story follows one of the dictator’s great men: Cladin Tomirosh, Leader, and thrice decorated hero.
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Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.
Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid: A Christian historical fiction chapter book about four orphans who go to live with their aunt on a dairy farm.
The Bobtails and the Cousins: The sequel to Preacher’s Kid. The aunt has married, and the cousins come to visit. Meaning town kids dealing with chores and manure and…
The Bobtails go to France: The sequel to cousins. The Bobtails, and Preacher’s Kid, get to take a trip to New York, London, Paris, and a small town in France. To get some cheese.
and
No Ordinary School: A brilliant but socially clueless boy gets recruited for a special school. Where he makes a lot of money, gets a girl, and solves a mystery.
As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.
Arthur also has a substack, and a website. On the substack you can listen to some of his published books. Free.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Other Stories
Article 17 is not my only story on Substack. I have another light dystopia, or cultural sci-fi. And a Sci-Fantasy, with elves and dwarves. And a Morality Play, ala Aesop’s Fables.
Contract Marriage Intro
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11 SEPTEMBER 2023
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
The Oracle at Toko-Ri
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1 MAY 2023
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Prologue IP0
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11 AUGUST 2023
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.