The Feminist Queendom Charlie’s War 56

© 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 spaceship.
Colonel Wilson Vindictive misanthropist doctor.
Margaret Thomas ‘Failed’ police security guard.
Sally. 1st Oz Special forces trooper
Jacky 2nd Oz Special forces trooper.
Juliet Charlie’s Mal engineering assistant.
Laura The second mate of the Second Dawn
Kate (Katherine Bergson) The Australian defence minister.
Lieutenant Engadine Asi Charlie’s second prisoner.

Chapter 56

Charlie and Lieutenant Asi talked at length until Chloe appeared in the doorway.

“Are you coming to bed or not?”

Charlie glanced at his watch and cursed softly.

“Damn! Is that the time?”

Chloe exchanged a glance with the young lieutenant then rolled her eyes and explained as Charlie made for the bedroom.

“He usually charges up his sleep batteries before returning to space.”

“Where does he go?”

“I don’t know. As far as I can discern he spends some of the time gathering the minerals he needs, then he builds the engines. God alone knows where he builds them but it’s impossible to follow him. How do you track a container sized object in the vastness of space.”

“So he must have some sort of workshop somewhere.”

“Obviously,” Chloe agreed, “but where.”

“Well he either builds them somewhere on earth, or he’s got an airtight factory where he can work without a space-suite.”

“He built the first, smaller ones in the cargo hold of the Dawn, but as for the bigger – second-generation engines, well, your guess is as good as mine. He could have some sort of small airtight blister on the far side of the moon.”

“Well wherever it is, it’s all supposition, I suppose he’ll reveal all when he’s good and ready.”

“If at all,” Chloe concluded. “Well, I’m ready to join him in our bed. I suggest you go to your bed as well.”

Lieutenant Asi agreed and retired to her bedroom. In the morning, she knew she would have to reveal all to Charlie about her organisation. Otherwise, her hopes of going into space were zero.
ooo000ooo

The next morning, as Charlie was standing over the stove preparing breakfast for all his family and guests, he spotted Lieutenant Engadine Asi busy on her phone while sitting on the garden seat under the shade of the fruit tree.

“I’ll bet she’s checking with her wing buddy.” He remarked.

“I’m surprised you allow her a phone; she’s supposed to be a prisoner isn’t she?” Chloe remarked.

“It’s okay, her phone is monitored, Inspector Margaret made sure of that.”

He continued cooking while Chloe and a couple of the guards attended to the four children. Soon the smell of bacon enticed Lieutenant Asi from the garden to the breakfast table.

“My wing buddy agrees. She’s going to tell your friend Katie and I’ll tell you about our organisation.”

“About time.” Charlie opined. “You’ve been here nearly a month. Let’s talk in the garden.”

“It’s not easy,” Engadine protested as they sat under the fruit tree, “they’re a pretty blood-thirsty lot in the organisation. Murder comes easily to them cos most of the members have suffered some sort of injury or loss at the hands of the feminista.”

“Have you?”

“My twin brother died in a labour camp.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know but his ashes were sent to my adoptive mother with a note saying he had died.”

“I thought you said you were a foundling!” Charlie accused her.

“I was. We both were. He and I were found together in the Engadine Valley in Switzerland. My stepmother adopted us both, but he eventually fell afoul of their shitty laws and he ended up in prison.

To protect myself as I grew up. I never admitted to having lost my brother to the feminista penal system because that would have always thrown a shadow of suspicion on me.

Throughout my whole adult life, I kept his existence a secret then, when I was at university, my stepmother received the letter and a cheap metal tin of ashes. He’d been killed trying to escape from the penal system.

That is why I joined the organisation.”

Charlie spotted the tiny glisten of a tear in Lieutenant Asi’s eye but he said nothing. As a hard-bitten cynic he well understood crocodile tears. Nevertheless, he adopted a sympathetic demeanour to hide his own thoughts. ‘She could after all, be telling the truth.’

“So tell me please how you came to join ‘The organisation’ as you put it and what is the organisation about?”

“As I told you before, it appears to be a very loose organisation at first, a few cells of maybe five or ten people. Often these tiny groups are friends who have grown up together and know of each other’s personal tragedies and losses. Their shared tragedies cement their loyalties.

Later, the more seriously wounded members are sussed out then invited to go a little further along the path. As they travel up the line, they become more determined to try and destroy the feminista dictatorships. Eventually, the hard-core resistance become real warriors, determined to destroy the feminista wherever and whenever we can.”

“From what you say, I’m deducing that you’re quite high in the pecking order then. A fighter pilot working for them, would be a real feather in the organisation’s cap.”

“We are, that is both me and Angee. The trouble is, the organisation knew nothing about you and your spaceship. Talk about a rude awakening.
Just imagine what we could do with a spaceship like Dawn.”

“I can imagine it only too well,” Charlie replied, “but I don’t hold with terrorism.”

“You say that” Lieutenant Asi observed, “but nothing ever progresses against dictatorships unless there is ‘back-up’ to encourage change. Our organisation uses the open threat of violence, but you also use the implied threat of Dawn’s benefits being traded to an enemy.”

“Yes, but I’m not trading in violence.” Charlie countered. “Look at what’s been achieved in Canberra. Simply by offering the technological benefits of space-travel, I’ve traded technology for peaceful political change. The feminista repeal bill was enabled by argument not bloodshed.”

“Yeah. They received an offer they couldn’t refuse.” Engadine riposted. “The implied threat was there. If ever there was a ‘carrot-and-stick’ scenario, anti-gravity was it.”

“Their politicians had to be ready to accept the deal, the idea; anti-gravity for universal rights.” Charlie explained.

“Yeah,” Lieutenant Asi conceded, “you were clever the way you manipulated their minds.”

“I didn’t manipulate their minds,” Charlie protested, “their thoughts of universal rights were already growing; or more correctly, re-growing amongst them. I simply exploited the opportunity those ideas offered. Just remember this Lieutenant. No power on earth can resist an idea whose time has come.”

“Oh very clever, quoting Victor Hugo now are we?”

“Who’s Victor Hugo?” Charlie asked.

“He was a famous philosopher.”

“You’re forgetting something Lieutenant. I never went to high-school past thirteen and I’ve certainly never been to college! I’ve always had to think my own thoughts cos I never had legal access to books and other people’s ideas.”

“And that’s exactly the sort of thing our organisation is fighting to change.”

“Okay!” Charlie agreed. “But let’s do it without bloodshed.”

“I and Angee my wing-mate, would need to meet with our organisation leaders to accomplish that.” Lieutenant Asi explained.

“Before you go anywhere or meet anybody, I need to know who, where, what, why, when and how.

Engadine swallowed nervously and nodded.

“Can I speak to Angee and the two ministers, the PM and the defence minister while I reveal this? I want video proof to protect myself and Angee.”

“That can be easily arranged. We can call them from Dawn. I’ll fetch Chloe to be my witness.”

ooo000ooo

With the arrangements completed, Lieutenant Asi revealed her part of the story.

“I joined Algebra when I was in university studying maths.”

“Algebra?” Charlie asked.”

“Yeah, x and y,” Engadine explained, “the organisation’s very reason d’etre is because of the x and y chromosomes. Algebra is all about x and y so the organisation is known as Algebra.”

Charlie grinned as did Katie the defence minister who remarked.

“Very neat. Hiding in plain sight, especially if you were studying maths.”

“Needs must,” Engadine continued. “At uni, our tiny cell was mostly concerned with discovering potential new members then staying in touch after graduating. The network spread and as the more successful members got jobs abroad, thus Algebra grew.”

“So where did you end up?”

“Teaching maths in the air-force officer cadet college in Singapore. That’s where Angee and I met.”

“I taught physics,” Angela interjected.

“So that’s where you accessed the aircraft.” Charlie reasoned. “Did you steal them?”

“Not at all.” Engadine revealed. “We applied to join the flight training and we were very successful. The Singaporeans don’t have much in the way of human resources so it was useful to have lecturers who doubled up as flight crew. Angee and I flew many training missions as wing-buddies.”

“And bed buddies,” Charlie ventured.

“Yes. We’re partners but that’s neither a secret nor a crime.”

“Lucky old you,” Chloe remarked. “I had to fight tooth and nail to have and keep my husband.”

“Yes, well that’s changed, at least, here in Oz,” The Prime Minister interrupted, “now can you get back to Algebra.”

Lieutenant Asi continued.

“Through the Algebra network in Singapore, our agents learned that the Chinese were looking at ways to destabilise the feminista regime in Australia. They weren’t ‘pro men’ or anything, they were just looking at ways to expand their sphere of influence, extend their hegemony and then, in the longer term, occupy commercially or even attack militarily. Believe me prime minister, China is friend to no man, - or woman!”

“So how did you end up using their most advanced jets to intrude upon Australian airspace?” Charlie pressed.

“Algebra runs deep - and wide. We’ve got cells all over Asia, including China but Singapore is a multinational trading hub and we’ve got legitimate lines of trade extending all over the planet.”

“Tentacles,” Charlie offered.

“If you will,” Engadine conceded. “But those tentacles all centre upon Singapore which is a hive of intrigue and dealing. After a few favours and bribes, - big bribes; a secret deal was set up to sell Chinese fighters to a country that China was supposed to consider an enemy. Sex and corruption works just as effectively in China as any other land; Muslim, Hindu, or Christian, - or Jewish.

It was a Muslim country using a phoney end-user certificate; so when the Chinese government discovered they had been duped they were furious and immediately stopped the deal. Some jets, however, were already en-route and somehow, they went missing.

We in Algebra laid a false trail directly back to the corrupt Chinese
Officials and they were promptly hanged; mainly because the bigger fish were looking to protect their own arses higher up the chain.
The trouble is, those senior communist party politburo officials cannot destroy the evidence we hold, so we’ve got them by the short and curlies.”

Lieutenant Asi finished with a somewhat satisfied smirk but she hadn’t answered all Charlie’s questions. The PM and defence minister were satisfied but Charlie still had questions.

“So how many planes went missing?” He asked before adding, “I can find out.”

“Uuhm eight.” Engadine answered.

“Of which four were destroyed by us; so where are the remaining four?”

“Uuhm, I’d rather not say.”

“Which tells me they’re either in Singapore or Algebra has traded them on for some other benefits. So I’m not convinced you’re being entirely honest with us.”

“Algebra has always had to find its allies where it can.” Angela the second captive prisoner argued.

“I accept that,” Charlie conceded, so do you think you’ve found a useful ally in Oz?”

“Well, - yes.” She answered hesitantly.

“Good!” Charlie closed. “So tell us who’s got the other jets. Then tell us how we can contact your bosses in Singapore.”

ooo000ooo