The Feminist Queendom Charlie’s War 25 © Copyright Beverly Taff

List of Characters.

Charlie Sage Maths and electronics genius.
Shirley Sage Charlies elderly mother
Chloe Charlie’s one time early school friend.
Josephine Flint Surgeon and associate of Chloe’s.
Mrs Jane Anston Director of Anston Aerospace.
Ronnie Garage mechanic at top of lane
Pauline Garage owner, Ronnie’s sister.
Briony Pauline’s teenaged daughter.
Billy Pauline’s middle son.
Abigail (Abby) Pauline’s youngest daughter.
‘Poppy’ Charlie’s little micro-runabout.
‘Doris’ The armoured mobile home.
‘Lady’ Chloe’s Sports Car.
Dawn Charlie’s armoured space ship.
Colonel Wilson Vindictive misanthropist doctor.

Chapter 25.

“So where do I even start looking?” Colonel Wilson asked Lady Jane Anston.

The owner of Anston Aerospace shrugged her shoulders and spread her hands before offering her suggestion.

“Well she’s apparently working as a doctor but doubling up as a geneticist. I suggest we try and run checks on all hospital staff in hospitals that provide a genome / inherited disorders clinic. Australia has not been slow to pick up on the feminista conundrum vis-à-vis the dumbing down of males mistakes the feminists have made and the genetic consequences.”

“Well if they’ve acted as fast as we have in the UQ, they’ll have a clinic in every state.” Colonel Wilson offered.

“Or every large regional hospital,” Lady Jane finished.

“There can’t be that many then there’s only seven states in this country plus a few towns big enough to support specialist clinics.”

“So how do we research them without leaving footprints in the butter?”

“I suggest we disguise our searches by just generating some innocuous traffic between our UQ hospitals and theirs down here.” The colonel replied. “I’ve had plenty of experience in undercover searches and the best way is to hide in plain sight. You’d be surprised what turns up just sending a ‘round-robin missive requesting information about some common-or-garden genetic disorder. At least the medical professions are talking to each other.”

“Yeah,” Lady Jane nodded. “Our UQ national reputation gained quite a few kudos when the obscure statistical genetic flaws were exposed statistically by the very man we’re trying to find. How ironic is that?”

“I’m only concerned with catching him,” the colonel replied.

“Uuhm, recovering him, you mean. He was never a prisoner and we dare not forget that. You saw how their Defence Minister reacted to our views about him. We’re on thin ice here.”

As the pair dined in the parliamentary restaurant they discussed plans at length and then contacted their respective authorities back in the UQ.
Eventually, Lady Jane Anston was invited to meet the Australian Prime Minister and her two legal colleagues. They wasted no time getting down to the nitty gritty.

“The fact still remains Lady Anston, that Doctor Chloe Evans chose to emigrate to Australia entirely of her own volition. She has broken no laws in Australia. Her being married might be considered something of a conflict with UQ customs and practice but our legal advisors tell us that no actual laws were broken. The woman has won every right to live peacefully in our country and she’s also won the right to live harassment free.” The Prime Minister continued.

“Now, the matter concerning Charlie Sage is altogether more complex. By your own revelation, Charlie Sage was – and indeed still is married to Doctor Evans. That state goes a long way to legalising his status in this country, if indeed, he is actually in Australia. We, like you and several other feminist republics are unaware of his location.”

“But with all respects Prime Minister, if he is in Australia, he has not entered legally. He has not entered via any legal avenue through a border control point. Technically, he is surely an illegal alien.”

“His marriage to Doctor Chloe Evans somewhat mitigates that offence. His not registering with immigration only becomes a misdemeanour if he has a legal right to live with his Australian Wife. The highest penalty he faces tis a hefty fine or up to one year in prison. He cannot be deported because his wife has the human right to a proper family life under our human rights laws.”.

“And that includes his right to marry does it?” Ms Anston challenged.

“It doesn’t matter whether he’s got a right or not. If he had a female partner then that partner has the right. If the female deems that her right to a proper family life shall include a male partner then that’s her right. As I’ve said Ms Anston, our laws are somewhat more liberal than the UQ when it comes to individuals.”

“You’re lucky you’ve got the space in your outback to indulge those rights. The UQ doesn’t.”

“That’s Australia’s fortune or misfortune howsoever you view it. Now, all I am prepared to concede is that if or when we find this fugitive of yours, his case will be tested in our courts under our laws.”

Jane Anston tried one last tactic.

“Very well Prime Minister, will we be allowed to search for him under diplomatic immunity?”

“Provided you are accompanied by a federal police officer and you follow our laws. The Federal officer will be the only one to have power of arrest if you find him.”

Jane Anston wasn’t very pleased with the constraints but at least she was free to search and that was a major step. She left the Prime Minister’s office with that single crumb of comfort for Colonel Wilson.

ooo000ooo

“A federal escort! They obviously don’t trust us!”

“Are you surprised Colonel. Let’s be honest, our list of so called offences was pretty fragile evidence. It fell at the first hurdle under their laws. Australia’s feminista laws are light years behind ours.”

‘Or is that light years ahead?’ Jane asked herself.

“All we can do is keep looking.” Colonel Wilson suggested. “I’ve managed to compile a list of all the general hospitals with genetics departments, but searching for individual names of staff members will require some circumspection.”

“Well, let’s begin then,” Jane sighed as she turned her lap-top on.

Colonel Wilson restrained her hand.

“Best let me do the searching Jane, mine’s a military computer and much more stealthy.”

Glad to be relieved of the wearisome duty, Jane sat back as Colonel Wilson set to.

“So what do I do? Sit here watching you?”

“Best you go to bed. If I find her, we’ll be travelling in the morning and you can do the driving while I sleep.”
“What!! All over Australia? She could be right across the continent in Darwin or Perth.”

Jane sighed and turned over to sleep while the Colonel trudged diligently through the records all night.

Sunrise found a frustrated colonel Wilson nursing a strong cup of coffee and a bad mood. After showering, Jane Anston stepped across the hotel corridor to knock on the colonel’s door.

“Any luck?”

“None at all. She’s not in any of the government state hospitals nor in any of the larger private hospitals. There’s only local doctor’s surgeries and the smaller private clinics left, - and there’s hundreds, if not thousands of those. It looks as though I’m stuck for the long haul.”

“Perhaps if your just typed in the name and did a sweep?”

“That would alert anybody keeping tabs, including our enemies. The name Jane Evans is all over the internet but if you typed in Charlie Sage, the search engines would go into melt-down. If you googled either name, you’d have half the Australian security forces smashing our door down in minutes.”

“So it’s just footwork, good old coppering drudge.”

“Seems so, and even that’s risky if I do it for too long.”

“Let’s go for breakfast, then I’ll continue the search while you get some sleep.”

“Suites me,” the colonel yawned.

They continued searching for two more days before Colonel Wilson finally hit pay-dirt. She burst into Jane Anston’s room almost shrieking with delight.

“I’ve got her I think!”

“Where?” Jane asked.

“Western Australia. One of the bigger Iron Ore mines has a small clinic attached to the work camp. She works as the casualty and general practice clinician amongst the men who mine the ore. No wonder we couldn’t find her. It’s simply a clinic, I only found it because there’s a lot of computer traffic between the clinic and the University of Melbourne. It’s medical stuff but the messages are encrypted for personal medical privacy reasons. I only twigged because the messages were being answered by the genetics department of Melbourne university hospital.

I decided to try other universities and bingo, similar traffic. It was all emanating from the mining village for the Western Mining group. It’s a new ore deposit a couple of hundred miles south of the Hammersley group of mines.

The little bitch is supplementing her clinicians salary with research work on the immigrant males who work on the mines.”

“Why would she do that?” Jane asked.

“I’ve no idea, I’m not a geneticist. It’s definitely her because there’s even some contact with her old hospital back in the UQ. She obviously spotted something in the work force but that’s not our concern. The main thing is she can lead us to her husband.”

Jane Anston gave a long sigh of relief.

“At long bloody last. Okay then, tomorrow morning we depart. I’ll inform the federal police.”

ooo000ooo
In the hotel foyer, the federal police inspector joined the pair and invited them to travel in her more sophisticated hover cruiser. It was faster, higher and had more endurance than a standard hover car.

“It has those new fangled batteries that those Brits invented in the UQ.” She explained. “Hours of endless fun.” She added for amusement.

“We know!” Jane Anston replied curtly. “It was Anston Aerospace that developed them. I’m lady Jane Anston.”

The inspector fell silent with surprise before apologising.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realise your were that lady. So what takes you to the wilds of the Hammersley ranges?”

“We’re looking for certain types of ore to develop better alloys for better anti-gravity engines,” Jane Anston lied.

“So you’re not searching for that Mad Professor.”

Colonel Wilson was about to have a rant but Jane just managed to restrain him.

“Mad Professor?” She frowned with amused puzzlement. “Certainly not. We’re involved in our searches to improve our Anti-gravity researches.”

When the cruiser reached the Hammersley ranges the police inspector pointed to the mining township.

“That’s the mining township. Whereabouts are we to put down?”

“Why the main mining offices please, or perhaps a hotel so that we can clean up first. Hell it’s dirty around here!”

“It’s an iron ore mine! What d’ you expect? That’s the hotel. It’s got the best air filtration system in the district and the best air conditioning.”

“We’ll stop there first then. It’s getting dark anyway and I need a bath. I think we’ll put off the office visit until tomorrow morning.”

After Landing, the police inspector made herself known to the local police while Jane Anston and Colonel Wilson booked into their hotel.
The moment they entered their shared two-bed hotel suite, the colonel grinned.

“I liked the way you worked your beautiful lie. Researching improvements to your antigravity engine and not looking for Charlie Sage.”

“I didn’t say we were not looking for Charlie Sage; I said we were not looking for ‘The Mad Professor’. Charlie is neither mad nor a professor.”

“Exactly, very disingenuous and of course perfectly true. Now, before the hire firm closes, I’ll collect the hover-cruiser we ordered. I intend to follow up a couple of leads while you’re getting cleaned up. Phone me if the Inspector comes snooping around.”

“Right. Now remember, our priority is locating Charlie's wife Chloe Evans or more correctly, Chloe Sage.”

“I’ll pay the mine clinic a call and then the township hospital if we don’t find her. I’ll see you back here about eightish for dinner.”

Having agreed a strategy, Colonel Wilson collected their transport while Jane showered. Then they stayed in close touch be phone until the three met up for dinner at eight. The colonel had taken a navy-shower and scrubbed up in minutes before dinner.

After eating Lady Jane and Colonel Wilson discussed what they’d discovered.

“I got the low-down on Doctor Chloe Evans.” Colonel Wilson gloated. “She doubles up as GP and casualty doctor at the mine clinic and she has a house along ‘Mineral Road’ on the way out of town. She’s got four children now, so she must be Australia’s favourite immigrant!”

As they were finishing their meal the federal Police inspector rang to arrange a rendezvous. They arranged for Jane Anston to meet her at the mining company offices where Lady Anston was to collect pre-arranged ore samples and run some chemical tests in the mine’s laboratory.

“And will Colonel Wilson be accompanying you?” The inspector asked.

“Later, when we go on the other field trips.”

“What d’ you need this particular field trip for if your just testing samples?”

Jane Anston was not the owner and manager of Anston Aerospace for nothing and she had her answer prepared.

“I need to look at the extraction and transport equations to help the mining company make economies. Colonel Wilson is going to look at the mine and bring back some figures while I talk chemistry with the mine. Then when we know what the extraction logistics entail, we can design a more efficient hover-truck to get the stuff up out of that huge bloody hole they are constantly expanding and deepening.”

“Oh. I’ll stay with the colonel then.”
"Fine by me," Jane agreed.

This was exactly what the pair had been plotting. They needed to separate and thus force the inspector to follow one while the other could mooch around unsupervised. As she put the phone down, she explained to the colonel.

“I need you to keep the inspector busy all morning. Now I know where Doctor Evans works, I can arrange a meeting and possibly negotiate with her.”

“It’s not her we need to meet, it’s Sage.”

“I know that perfectly well Colonel but can you find him? Or more importantly, reach him? So far, I have had no luck, nor have you. Whatever we do, it’s going to be ‘softly – softly.”

”So what are your arrangements for tomorrow?”

“I go to the mine’s offices tomorrow morning then I can mooch around the township later in the morning. We can meet up again at one for lunch. You just keep the inspector busy until one.”

“She’s bound to get suspicious.”

“Well that’s a given. You can bet your bottom dollar that she knows we’re looking for Charlie Sage. She’s just not told us yet. Now it’s bed for me. That journey took it out of me today.”

The colonel yawned agreement and they turned in, - separately.
ooo000ooo