Few team members had much appetite. Those who ate lunch barely tasted their food. Maria wondered if she had accidentally left out all the spices.
The generals and colonels gathered in General Bo-seklin’s office again, but for a long minute, no one knew where to start.
“I am amazed,” Sarah said after a while, just for something to say, “at Heather’s ability to give us a highly-condensed version, without any extraneous detail. She’s like — what’s that new kind of focused light?”
“Laser beam,” George replied.
Lisa nodded. “She’s had twelve years to think about how to tell us.”
The silence returned.
“We are obviously not ready to talk about what we’re going to do,” General Ko-fenral began. “I think we should take a few weeks just to ask questions —
Heather, the scientists, especially the chemist. Please make sure she’s coming on Monday.”
Sarah nodded and made a note.
“There’s a part of me,” George admitted, “that wishes Heather didn’t have such a damn good track record.”
Lisa laughed. “I don’t think she would have told us about this, even if we asked directly, until she had that track record.”
Sam nodded agreement. “Let’s go tell everyone that we’ll be in Learning Mode for a while, and invite them all to bring in questions, answers, articles, suggestions for experts to listen to, and anything else that might help us
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understand this stuff.”
They all rose and headed for the door.
The scientists seemed reluctant to leave, as if they were in a place of safety, and the world outside might eat them alive. Many had articles in their files they planned to bring. Doctor Betty Ko-silma assured Colonel Ma-soran she wouldn’t miss a session.
Eventually the professors made their way downstairs and into the blind transports. Most received gentle reminders about security from Colonel Ka-markla. A few got stern looks from General Ba-kerga, who had somewhat reverted to his old ways, considering the topic now under discussion.
Doctor Bo-kamla sensed her young client might want to spend some time talking that evening, so she stayed.
Once most of the visitors were gone, General Bo-seklin stepped out of his office with Colonel Ma-soran close behind. He saw who was hanging around the meeting room, and heard Maria in the kitchen. “Good. Just the right people. Short meeting, everyone! You too, Maria!”
They all found seats.
“Sarah had an intuition, and I’m going to follow it. The temptation will be great for someone to leak something at this point. Things could happen fast.
You people, who are all based here, and Doctor Bo-kamla, who might as well set up her office in the bomb shelter . . .”
Susan looked embarrassed. Lisa smiled and Ginny chuckled.
“. . . effectively form an Inner Support Team. I’m not sure if you’re primarily supporting Heather, or each other . . .”
“I feel light as a feather!” the twelve-year-old declared. “A great weight was lifted from my shoulders this week . . . or at least . . . you guys get to help me carry it, now.”
Sarah and Maria both looked at the girl like proud mothers.
“Fact remains,” Sam went on, “we don’t know what’s ahead. Although I’m not asking you to take on a greater share of the load concerning the topic, you are here more often than the others. That may force you to make decisions, or take actions, concerning Heather or each other, without perfect information
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or regular leadership.”
After a moment of silence, Susan spoke softly. “Do you have any idea how unusual it is to hear something like that from a military officer?”
Sam took a deep breath. “I think I’ve learned a thing or two from . . .
someone . . . in the last five years.” He smiled at Heather, and she grinned back.
“I can’t define this idea any better right now, but we’ll meet on Fridays when we can. Bring questions and thoughts.”
He looked around at his people, but didn’t sense any concerns that had easy answers. “Everything in good shape for the weekend?”
“Guard schedule is all set,” Lisa reported. “Heather will be out most of tomorrow with Lieutenant Do-forva.”
“Kitchen’s well-stocked,” Maria announced. “I’m finishing a couple of things, but I’ll be out in an hour or two.”
General Bo-seklin nodded and said good-night.
“You said you wanted to counsel refugees,” Heather began after she and her therapist got comfortable in the lowest level of the facility, “so having your office in a bomb shelter sort of makes sense!”
Susan laughed. “That means I’d have to put the address in the telephone book . . .”
“No, never mind, forget I said anything!”
Susan smiled, but her smile quickly faded. “In a sense, we’re both psychologists, right?”
Heather blinked a few times. “In a sense.”
“So you’ll know what I’m talking about when I express my worries about your . . . little matrix.”
“If I don’t, I’ll ask.”
“Good.” She pulled a paper sketch of it out of her purse and unfolded it flat on the table.
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“I know politics is not a strong point for either of us.”
Heather
nodded.
“But I know enough to realize that this is not a problem that can be solved by any normal political process. Our leaders like to make little adjustments to the existing rules and declare problems solved. Anything more drastic is . . .
unthinkable.”
The girl frowned slightly.
“There’s a word for this kind of problem, took me a while to remember.
This is a predicament. I’m sure you know, as well as I, that human beings are not very good at handling predicaments — problems that are unsolvable within the current structure of society.”
“I think . . . I agree.”
“So you and I need to put our heads together, because the rest of the team is NOT going to want to hear this. When we get to talking about what we should do about this . . . climate change and population crash . . . the rest of the team is going to be looking for simple solutions. I’m not saying they shouldn’t try, but someone has to be ready to explain the insanity that’s going to show up everywhere — from the grocery store to the president’s office —
when this gets out.”
Heather stared at the copy of her little matrix with big, round eyes.
“That will have to be you and me.”
Heather nodded slowly as she continued to stare at the sheet of paper.
