Josie waited on the yard for her scalawags to appear. The brick block of the Hall
stood behind her. Elaine tried to look grim by her side, but satisfaction of things being
done prevented her from scowling.
The party appeared in a cloud of blue sparks with their varying expressions. Matilda
walked over ahead of everyone else. She handed Josie a piece of paper and stepped
back.
“Jack said to give it to you when we landed,” said Matilda.
Josie unfolded the note. She glanced at the writing. She frowned. She folded the note
and put it away in her messenger bag.
“Did he say why?,” said Josie.
“The test might still be running,” said Matilda in a whisper.
Josie huffed in exasperation. She could see that. They still had to get through their
day.
“All right,” said Josie. “I have to take care of some things. Matilda, take your party
in to find the girls. Sir Harp will want to have some words with his friend. Boim
Russ?”
“Yes,” said the waif.
“Are you staying with us, or do you need separate lodging?,” asked Josie.
“She can hang out with me at the Hangar,” said June. “She doesn’t have anything but
the clothes on her back.”
“No home where Jack picked you up?,” asked Josie.
“No, madam,” said Boim. “I was living on the street.”
“All right,” said Josie. “We have to go by and talk with Jane again. I am sure she will
put you up. I have a building we can use for our project, and I need to work out how
we are going to move and cure everyone involved. I might need to buy up houses
around the new hospital to house people. The plan is fluid at the moment. June,
Matilda, and Aviras, you three are grounded until otherwise. No books, no ice cream,
no wandering around. I have plenty of work to be done, and I expect you to do it
without complaint. Now go ahead. I will have jobs for you the next few days.”
“Who made you the boss?,” said June.
“My seniority, my intelligence, and my fist,” said Josie. “Now go ahead before this
turns into something you know you are going to lose.”
“Come on, Miss Russ,” said Matilda. “Aviras and I will introduce you to the
Ducklings. They are really great, even if Melanie is lazy.”
Matilda made sure Aviras was perched on her head as she walked to the Hall. June
frowned at Josie, before she gestured for Miss Russ to follow their guide. Mister
Warner hung back, frowning at the future, or his meeting with his old friend.
“What was on the note?,” he asked. He nodded at the girls when they looked back to
see what was taking so long.
“X-Files,” said Josie. She matched his scowl with one of her own.
“What does that mean?,” he asked.
“Jack’s way of warning me,” said Josie. “Go talk to your friend. If you want, I will
deal with the goblins after I sort out the medical setup here.”
“Anyone can handle goblins,” said Mister Warner. He strolled to where Matilda was
waiting on him to catch up.
“I don’t understand the reference,” said Elaine. She watched the group disappear
inside the building.
“No one here would,” said Josie. She looked at the building. “Jack thinks something
is wrong with this situation and he didn’t want June to know. I guess he expects me
to run a book of knowledge on Russ to see what is wrong with her since he doesn’t
seem to have any skill with personal divining as his magic user.”
“Really?,” said Elaine.
“The two mottos for the X-Files were ‘I want to believe’ and ‘Trust no one’”, said
Josie.
“So we could have another Todd,” said Elaine. She frowned.
“I will do a reading as soon as I get everything together,” said Josie. “I need to check
on a way to arrange for transportation for Jane and her ladies, or figure out how much
I have to buy up around Endwright’s building for housing. They’re helping me, so I
have to do something to make the job easier.”
“And we have to figure that out so we can arrange for adventurers to help us with the
move,” said Elaine.
“Exactly,” said Josie. “You know, when Jack and I arrived, I never thought there
would be so much logistics involved in helping people. I always thought it would be
one and done.”
“When Jack is done with helping Mister Warner, he will be able to help us with some
of this,” said Elaine. “I imagine he will want to put a stargate from the hospital to the
House. That will take care of transportation needs of staffing.”
“You’re right,” said Josie. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because we are still gathering threads, but we haven’t woven a tapestry yet,” said
Elaine.
“You’re right,” said Josie. “That should be something that we do when we circle back
to Jane’s. We need a chart to make a plan to execute. Once we clear out the tent city,
then we can start on the infected on the Enterprise.”
“You may have to put a spell on Shemmaria to deal with some of the additional
effects from the goblin trees,” said Elaine.
“The Shemmarians fell for the gardener’s line of bull like a rock,” said Josie. She
started walking to the building. “What were they thinking?”
“Possibly they would have a superhuman army to conquer their neighbors and do
what they wanted,” said Elaine. “They forgot the two most important things to
remember in a situation like that: how did they administer their expanded nation, and
what did they do if the new army turned on them.”
“I didn’t think about that,” said Josie. She opened the door so they could go inside.
“I was more concerned with what happened if a zombie plague expanded out of
control and killed every living thing on the continent.”
“I doubt it would have killed every living thing even if you and Jack had to meet them
on the border and fight them while they kept trying to expand,” said Elaine. “You
have shown yourself ready to do things to save the day that others would not have
considered.”
“A lot of people would have still been killed if we hadn’t thought of something,” said
Josie.
Elaine smiled. They had averted a disaster with her help. That was enough for her.
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Josie checked the board as they passed. A notice of a pending job for her was on it.
She nodded. She had to pay Sally for the note, and then tell her they planned to
change the notice when they were sure about what they were going to do.
Then whomever they could get would help them move the patients out of Jane’s
House to Jane’s Hospital.
She needed to think of better pay for everyone involved until this was settled.
She added the better pay to the list of things she wanted to talk to Jane about.
Elaine paused by the staff counter at the end of the long central hall. Sally came down
to talk to her. Josie finished her walk as they talked about the job, and what Sally
could tell the adventurers.
“We haven’t decided on what we are going to pay yet,” said Elaine. “We are still
trying to figure out what we are going to do now that we have a building.”
“No major threats, just work, basic nursing needs,” said Sally. “It seems simple
enough.”
“Do adventurers have their own housing here in the city?,” asked Josie.
“The locals do,” said Sally. “Pass-throughs have to use inns until they get back on the
road.”
“When we have the details hammered out, we will change the notice to an active job
with what we want,” said Josie. “I am hoping to get some help from local citizens
looking for work so we can keep an eye out until we have all of these people cured.
We don’t know how long the process will take at the moment.”
“I understand,” said Sally. “Thank you for helping us the other day. It would have
been a disaster not to have been able to honor the bounties and necessary
accomplishments.”
“Heard anything about a new manager?,” said Josie.
“We had one named Todd, but he disappeared,” said Sally. “Right now I am the
manager.”
“Good for you,” said Josie. She smiled.
“Not really,” said Sally. “It looks like the old manager was dipping into the funds. I
sent a report in, and then we got Todd, and now I am back to waiting.”
“Everyone likes you, Sally,” said Josie. She glanced at Elaine to see a nod of
agreement. “You are the best manager this place will ever have. If you need help with
the books, I can do something after hours if you want me to.”
“Right now, we are operating at a loss,” said Sally. “If you have any ideas to help the
guild, I will pass it along when I ask to use them.”
“We’ll think of something,” said Josie. “This hospital job will be the biggest thing I
can forsee in the near future.”
The Ducklings appeared. The news that one of their own had handled a quest had sent
some excitement rushing through their veins. Josie smiled as Laura juggled Matilda
around with her flight.
She didn’t see Harp, or Mister Warner with the small crowd.
“How was the practice?,” said Josie. She crossed her arms. Laura put Matilda down
with a small thump.
“Alicia is still the best of us,” said Beatrice. She pushed her hair back with a hand.
“Sir Harp and Mister Warner are still talking about old times.”
“We have to go back by Jane’s before we come home,” said Josie. “Is the Rick giving
you your archery lesson today?”
“Not today,” said Alicia. Her flat voice expressed disapproval over her archery
teacher missing a session.
“He sent a message to let us know he is hunting something for the Duchess,” said
Beatrice.
“All right, then,” said Josie. “We’re going to have this meeting and then come home.
Jack is supposed to help Mister Warner with the goblins, then he will be coming
home. Is there anything else I need to take care of before I get home?”
“We’re short on supplies, missus,” said Angelica.
“Can I trust you to get groceries?,” said Josie. She looked at June.
“I swear you take the car once, and they hold it against you forever,” said June.
“Adults are like that,” said Angelica.
“Beatrice, you are in charge,” said Josie.
“As usual,” said Beatrice.
“You are the most adult of us,” said Melanie.
“Almost the most trustworthy,” said Laura.
“And kind,” said Alicia.
“All right then,” said Josie. “I am glad that is settled. Elaine will give you the money
for the supplies. Bring back the change.”
“I think Jack would like an apple pie for desert,” said Elaine. She dug out her
notebook and a bag of coins. She wrote down the amount of coins and handed them
to Beatrice. She put the notebook back in her jacket pocket. “Be careful.”
“We have June to protect us from bullies,” said Beatrice. “And if we give Alicia a rod
to simulate a sword, she is fairly dangerous in her own right.”
“I will think about that,” said Josie. “Go ahead. I don’t know how long this will take.”
“I’ll show you the Hangar when we get home,” said June. “Jack might be able to
carve you a guest room.”
“That would be nice, I guess,” said Boim. She didn’t seem convinced.
Josie changed into Zatanna and asked for a book to fill up about their newest guest.
She let the persona go as the group flew away, carried by Laura’s grip.
She glanced through the pages, frowning at her own handwriting. She rubbed her
face. Jack had been right about something being odd about their guest. Was she
planning something nefarious?
What did she want to do about this?
She pressed the button for the Enterprise. She needed to talk to Jack about this. No
wonder he had sent her a message to trust no one.
The com band clicked to let her know her call had connected.
“Enterprise?,” said Josie. “I would like to talk to Jack.”
“I’m here, Jo,” said Jack. “What can I do for you?”
“What do you know about Boim Russ?,” she asked.
“Just what I dug up,” said Jack. “Those other Boims on the map are all different
versions of her. That’s why they all lit up.”
“You dug that up from the Enterprise?,” asked Josie.
“Yep,” said Jack. “Is she around?”
“It’s just Elaine and me,” said Josie.
“All right,” said Jack. “The quick version is the seven Russes are vat kids. They split
up when their creator died. Our Russ was living on the street. The other one I talked
to is living out in the sticks. They are mildly telepathic. I don’t know how much they
can gather in. I am going to say at least some kind of danger sense.”
“But our Russ was taken captive despite that?,” said Josie.
“They might not share the talent,” said Jack. “We do the same thing, but I have
Marvel and you have the distinguished competition.”
“So we let her roam around?,” said Josie.
“I told the other Russ that we would look after her sister under our mandate,” said
Jack. “And it is Junie’s test run. I don’t know how she would have dug any of this up
with her three personas, but there might have been something obvious that she
missed.”
“What is it with your family bringing home monsters?,” asked Josie.
“Hey,” said Jack. She could hear him grinning. “We took you in.”
“Exactly my point,” said Josie. “We’re letting this ride?”
“I can’t see the plan here,” said Jack. “The Society gave Junie until the day after
tomorrow. I think we can hold back at least that long before we have to lay things
out.”
“They like to talk to us in dreams,” said Josie. “We might see a resolution tonight
after lights out.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” said Jack. “There is something going on here that we’re
missing. I think we’ll have to wait until the day after tomorrow before we see how
things lay.”
“All right,” said Josie. “I have the building. I am going to meet with Jane to lay out
a plan. Elaine said you should put a stargate between the new hospital and the House
so we can cut down on transportation and having to buy up the houses around the
warehouse.”
“I don’t have a problem with that,” said Jack. “So we are going to start with moving
the ill at the House?”
“Yes,” said Josie. “Then we pull out the people on the Enterprise and handle them
one at a time. Maybe by then, we’ll have the other deed from the Exchange for the
other building.”
“I have some ideas for things from what Hap said,” said Jack. “I might be able to
put something in that automatically cleans the women so they can get normal care.”
“They have growths on their spines and I think that is keeping them from waking up,”
said Josie. “We are going to need to test your machine against that.”
“Got it,” said Jack. “Whenever you give the word, I am ready to go.”
Mister Warner and Sir Harp came out of the Hall. They were still deep in whatever
conversation they had started.
“Mister Warner is here,” said Josie. “I guess he is ready to go.”
“We’ll handle his goblin problem and I will be home to help with everything else,”
said Jack.
“Be careful, Jack,” said Elaine.
“I don’t plan to leave the bridge,” said Jack. “It’s Mister Warner’s quest. I plan to let
him handle it.”
“All right,” said Josie. “Do you think the Russes are a danger?”
“Everyone is a danger,” said Jack. “Some are more dangerous than others.”
“I just sent her off with the Ducklings and June,” said Josie. “So I need some
assurance I didn’t make an extremely bad mistake there.”
“I think if she is going to make her move it will be after we lower our guard,” said
Jack. “On the other hand, we might just be paranoid, and she might be harmless.”
“Jack could have done a better job on this arm,” said Mister Warner.
“It was my first one,” said Jack. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah,” said Mister Warner. He vanished in a cloud of blue sparks.
Josie cut the connection on her band.
“It’s been years, and he has just grown crustier with the time,” said Harp. He smiled.
“Old people,” said Josie. “Who knew? We have to work out this hospital thing with
Jane. Then we’re going to have to make a move. You’re welcome to sit in on this with
your knowledge of the city and the people.”
“I will have to send a message home to my wife,” said Harp. “She will be
downhearted that she missed Oliver’s visit. She had some things she wanted to say.”
“Ask her if she wants to sit in with us,” said Josie. “We need all the help we can get.”
“All right,” said Harp.