Cannibal Reign (31 page)

Forty-Seven

F
orrest had given the men the night off, but even he was asleep in Launch Control with his head on his arms when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He sat up and opened his eyes to see Andie, Joann, and Maria two.

“I said you could bring
a
friend,” he remarked with a tired chuckle, noting the tentative look on Andie’s face. “What I am in trouble for now?”

Andie looked at the other two. Then Maria two turned and looked at Joann.

“Okay, I guess it’s me,” Joann said. “So . . . Jack . . . we have a little bit of a problem.”

“What sort of a problem?” he asked, reaching for his cigarettes. “I think Christmas went pretty well, don’t you?”

“It’s got nothing to do with Christmas. It has to do with the fact you cut us off . . . or rather you told Oscar to. We had a perfectly good thing going with him until you butted in. Now we’re climbing the goddamn walls down here, and it’s not fair. It wasn’t any of your business.”

This took Forrest by surprise, and he glanced at Andie, who leaned back against the door.

“Andie’s here because she’s got a separate issue,” Joann said.

“Oh? Why isn’t Renee in here too?”

Joann and Maria two looked at each other, obviously confused by the question.

“So you guys didn’t know about her,” he said, sitting forward and lighting up. “Look, ladies, I wasn’t making a moral judgment, and normally this kind of thing wouldn’t be any of my business, but Oscar was exercising piss-poor judgment. The last thing I need down here is a civil war . . . married women against the single ones. See what I’m saying?”

“And you thought cutting us off was the way to avoid that?”

Now Forrest saw what Vasquez had meant when he had said,
Suppose they don’t agree?
It seemed not even an apocalypse could prevent romantic intrigue. “I’m not exactly sure I know how to respond to that, Joann. Are you saying you have an unalienable right to another woman’s husband just because the world has ended?”

Joann looked at Maria two for help.

Maria two said, “We’re saying we have needs like anybody else, Jack . . . and Maria takes sleeping pills every night, so she sleeps like a log. That’s what we’re saying.”

“Sometimes you have to make concessions,” Joann added, crossing her long arms. “For the sake of keeping the peace.”

“It’s a small thing,” Maria two went on. “We’re very careful and Maria isn’t going to find out.”

“Turns out you’re
not
so careful, actually,” he said testily, unable to believe he was having such a conversation with two women in the midst of such circumstances. “But let’s get past that for a second . . . you’re not ashamed of yourselves at all? You don’t feel . . . bad?”

“A man wouldn’t be ashamed,” Joann persisted. “Would you be a bit surprised by this if we were men? I don’t think so.”

Forrest looked each woman in the eyes. “You’re naive to think nobody will tell Maria . . . and when they do, I’ll have a huge brushfire to put out down here.”

Andie finally spoke up. “Nobody’s going to tell her, Jack. It’s terrible to say, but the wife is always the last to find out when she’s being cheated on . . . none of the other married women will want to risk their own husbands taking Oscar’s place.”

“So you’re telling me,” Forrest said, not quite exasperated, “that you ladies can’t maintain any more self-control than this? With an entire
planet
dying above you, you can’t be satisfied that your children are safe and that you’ve got food to eat.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Joann rejoined, “getting laid four times a week!”

He straightened up in the chair, self-conscious that they knew the exact number.

“You don’t think we pay attention?” Joann went on. “You think everybody’s happy as pigs in shit down here because nobody fights? Nobody fights because we found a balance . . . that is until you came along and fucked it up.”

He sat forward and crushed out the cigarette in the brass cannon shell, exhaling a stream of smoke, feeling disappointed in them. “So what do you want me to do?”

“Lift the embargo,” Joann said. “Turn a blind eye. Let Oscar have some fun before he runs out of insulin . . . trust us.”

Forrest eyed Andie. “And you?”

She shrugged. “You know what I want.”

“So this is an ultimatum,” he said. “Either I acquiesce . . . or you start letting your tempers fly down here. Is that about right?”

“It won’t be out of spite,” Maria two said in earnest. “We’re only human. It may not sound like it, Jack, but we’re asking for your help.”

“All you need to do is stay out of it,” Joann said, trying to make it all sound so simple.

Andie finally stepped away from the door. “You can’t control every single thing that happens down here, Jack. The tighter you squeeze, the more things will slip through your fingers.”

Forrest understood this concept as one of the primary principles of command, but he had never been in charge of a group of women before, nor had he envisioned what seemed to him such an unlikely scenario. “Fine,” he said at length. “But you girls had better go
out of your way
to make sure Maria never finds out, and you’d damn well better be there for her when Oscar dies. Understood?” He was applying his military bearing now, and he was glad to see that they were responding in the appropriate manner, both of them straightening up under his gaze and nodding their compliance. “And I will expect to hear all of the appropriate mea culpas in the event that you’re caught.”

Both women looked at the floor, nodding once more.

“Very well, ladies. Good night.”

They thanked him quietly and left him alone with Andie.

“Okay,” he said to her, “so what am I supposed to do for you now? Take my pants off?”

Andie’s eyes flooded with tears and she turned for the door.

Forrest got up and caught her arm. “I’m sorry,” he said gently. “That was uncalled for.”

She turned into him and rested her forehead against his chest. “It was cruel.”

“It’s my way of pouting,” he said, lifting her chin. “I’m feeling pretty damn unappreciated at the moment.”

She looked at him, loving the feel of being so close to him in private. “I need something only you can give me, Jack. I’m losing my mind down here.”

“Why not Oscar?” he suggested dryly. “He’s apparently in great demand.”

“I’m not attracted to that disloyal little son of a bitch. I’m attracted to you.”

“Yet, what you’re suggesting would make
me
a disloyal son of a bitch.”

“You’re not married. And I’m lonely enough for that to be a big enough difference.”

They made love carefully and quietly, and when they were finished Andie no longer looked nor felt like she was about to crawl out of her skin. She lay on top of him listening to the beat of his heart.

“Can I ask you a silly question?” she said quietly.

“Sure,” he said, stroking her hair, his mind on fifty other things.

“Do you love her?”

“Yes,” he said. “I love her completely.”

She got up from the cot and began to dress. “Thank you very much, Jack.”

He reached for her hand. “Please don’t thank me. You’re a wonderful woman, and you deserve an awful lot more than
anyone
down here can give you.”

L
ate the next morning, Veronica unexpectedly joined him in the shower, pulling the curtain closed. “So how did it go last night?”

“What’s that mean?” He was not at all surprised that she knew something had occurred. Probably everyone in the complex knew something had occurred, everyone except for Oscar’s wife, of course, which was only because she took pills in order to sleep, the stress of knowing that her husband had less than eighteen months to live having turned her into an insomniac.

“If you’re going to play stupid,” Veronica said, “we’re going to have a fight.”

“Fine. I let Andie seduce me.”

“And how was it?” she asked calmly, reaching for the soap.

“She’s a very lonely person,” he said stiffly, not at all sure what to expect from her.

“Or was,” she said, turning the soap in her hands. “She looks like a whole new woman today.”

“I haven’t seen her.”

She let the soap drop and slipped her arms around him. “Did I make a mistake?”

“What are you talking about?” he said, resting his hands on her shoulders.

“Last night was my idea,” she confessed, trembling slightly. “I knew things were coming to a head . . . and I knew that . . . I knew that concessions had to be made . . . even by me . . . and it all seemed so logical last night with it being Christmas and . . . and now I’m worried I made a huge mistake.”

Forrest remembered his warning to her about being too objective. He held her face in his hands. “A mistake how?”

“There’s a light in Andie’s eyes this morning. So it must have been magical between you. It was, right? You made a connection?”

He couldn’t help smiling. “A
connection
? Honey, if there’s a light in Andie’s eyes today, good for her, but—” He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “Jesus Christ, you’re the only
magic
in this place. Why did you ever send her in there with them?”

“Because it was only a matter of time before something happened between you, and I wanted it to be on my terms, not hers . . . and sure as hell not yours.”

He moved her hair away from her face with his fingers. “I’d like to think you’re wrong about that . . . but who knows? She does flatter me.”

“So what now?” She shifted her weight to one leg, searching his eyes with hers.

“What do you mean, ‘what now’?” he asked, puzzled. “Veronica, as far as I’m concerned it never happened.”

She smiled and her eyes filled with tears. “If that’s true . . . then I made the right choice.”

“I love you.”

She pressed against him and began to cry, relieved that he was still hers alone.

Forty-Eight

I
t was early April now, and with the temperature hovering just below forty degrees on the island of Oahu, it was still too cold to even think about growing any kind of food outdoors. Light meters used to measure the amount of sunlight penetrating the cloud layer were indicating a slight increase, which was a hopeful sign, but at the present rate of improvement it would still be years before there would be much actual sunlight. Local meteorologists and other members of the scientific community were still debating whether the rate of improvement would begin to increase exponentially as time passed.

Ester Thorn stood bundled in a coat on the flight deck of the USS
Abraham Lincoln
anchored in Pearl Harbor. With her were Vice President Hadrian and Admiral Longbottom. The admiral had invited them to review the progress made toward converting the aircraft carrier into a power plant for the city of Honolulu. The pier was now replete with transformers and power lines, hooking the carrier into the previously existing lines running along Hawaiian Highway 1 into the city.

Much of the island population had been moved into the capital, because running power all across the island was not going to be practical for some time yet. Personal homes remained private property, but all other structures had become the property of the state in order to provide housing for those moving into the city. No one had to pay for room or board, but everyone had to do their part, however small.

As it turned out, very few people were unwilling to pitch in around the island. In fact, during the early months there were more volunteers than jobs. So a massive recycling program was begun, sending people to scour the islands for anything that might be useful. Scientists and visionaries alike were teaming up in an effort to create new technologies before the clock ran out.

“It’s coming along,” Ester muttered.

“Yes, ma’am,” Longbottom replied.

“But this doesn’t exactly look permanent to me,” she said.

“No, ma’am. It’s not. This is a temporary setup. If you’ll look west to Ford Island, you’ll see where preparations are being made for the permanent installation of a proper power station. Right now the power is being run directly from the carrier into town, which isn’t as efficient as we need it to be. Once we’re able to run the power through a series of transformers we’ll be able to begin storing some of it.”

“And that power station will be ready to accept power from the tidal generators?” Ester asked.

“Yes, ma’am. The Australian engineer has already selected a nearby location to begin installing the first few turbines. Which brings me to another subject.”

“Oil, Admiral?”

“Yes, ma’am. The Aussies are asking us to bring a second drilling platform online. They’re willing to supply everything needed to get it up and running again if we’re willing to do the actual work. They have no one to spare with the know-how and they’re struggling with a serious power shortage.”

“They need the extra oil to run their mining operations. Yes. I’ve heard.”

“And if they’re going to continue the manufacture of the tidal turbines . . .”

“Yes, yes,” Ester said. “What do you think, Barry? Is it time to restart another drilling platform?”

“I think we should restart it,” Hadrian said. “But then we should show the Aussies how to run it themselves and turn it over to them entirely. Let their navy protect it. Our fleet is already busy enough here in the Islands.”

“And piracy does continue to be an ongoing problem,” Longbottom said. “I’m sure you’ve heard that another settlement was attacked last night on the island of Lanai.”

Ester cast a glance at Hadrian, the two of them having privately discussed the matter already. “Yes, I’ve heard. At some point, Admiral, these settlers are going to have to learn to defend themselves to a certain extent. We can’t keep a ship lying off the coast of every settlement. It spreads your fleet too thinly and burns too much fuel. Perhaps we could garrison a Marine detachment in each of the settlements. That would give your troops something to do, would it not?”

Longbottom stood thinking it over. “We might try it. I’ll speak with the Marine commandant, General Flohr, and see what he thinks.”

“Please do,” she said. “With no more real wars left to fight, Admiral, it’s going to be difficult to keep them busy. And we don’t need a bunch of bored young men with weapons just sitting around.”

“No, ma’am,” the admiral said dryly, noting the veiled smile on Hadrian’s face.