The Feminist Queendom Charlie’s War 79

© 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.
Charlotte Charlie and Chloe’s older daughter
Michael, Jessica & Lucy Charlie and Chloe’s younger triplets

Chapter 79

Nearly a year had passed since the warship had been sunk but Charlie had not heard or seen anything from the UQ. Despite the apparent inaction, he was still on his guard and his family were still deemed to be at risk. Their home in Western Australia was still run like a fortress with Australian police still posting a permanent guard.

Chloe and Charlie were enjoying a long relaxing weekend on the West Australian beach while watching their little family playing in the surf with Angie and Engie. Laura and Juliet were snorkelling around the small, peninsular-like rocky outcrop that protruded into the Indian Ocean and protected the beach from the large, long period, north-westerly oceanic swells that created the dangerous surf to the north of the rocks.

Chloe put down her novel and turned to study her companion.

“What ’choo doing darling?”

“Thinking,” Charlie murmured sleepily from under his shady, wide-brimmed hat.

Chloe supressed a smile. In most ‘husband-wife’ relationships, such an answer might have invited some ribald comment alluding to sloth or laziness; but that affectionate luxury was denied the wife of possibly one of the deepest thinkers in the world of physics. Instead she burrowed into the ‘ice-box’ and cracked a ‘tinny’ of cold, fruit juice.

“Here, you’ll need the brain sugar.”

She was forced to smile again when a hand reached out blindly from under the hat and wiggled expectant fingers. She pressed the can into Charlie’s hand then took one for herself.

As she was settling back into her beach chair she spotted a figure approaching whom she recognised as Margaret Thomas, the Police Inspector in charge of their household security.

“Hello Marge; didn’t expect you to come calling on a Saturday.”

“Hi Chloe, is his lordship awake?”

“Not really,” Charlie reluctantly replied from under his hat.

“Sorry to spoil your beauty sleep, message from the PM. Can you meet her in Canberra?”

Charlie sighed as he sat up.

“I suppose I’ll have to. Is it urgent?”

“It was just two words, code three.”

“Oh, I know what that means. Not urgent then, I can go tomorrow.”

“So that means you can stay for dinner.” Chloe offered the police inspector.

“Thanks Chloe. I’d better stay over tonight at the security suite and travel with you tomorrow Charlie.” He added.

With the arrangements quickly fixed, they resumed their idle Sunday afternoon at the beach until the evening became cool.

The next morning, Charlie and Engie went to Canberra while Juliet, Angie and Laura took the Dawn 3 and 4 to the Asteroid belt to load some newly found iron and copper ores. They were evaluating the viability of a regular ore trade to earth.

ooo000ooo

The Ozzy PM and Katie were waiting at the regular landing apron as Dawn 1 settled silently like a feather. The event had become so commonplace that the rhythm of the PM’s working day was hardly affected as they greeted each other and stepped into the Cabinet office.

“So what’s this about Ma-am?” Charlie asked the PM. “And why the secrecy.”

“I didn’t want to send any signal electronically Charlie; satellites have ears.”

“Isn’t that the truth!” Charlie concurred.

“Well that’s as maybe Charlie but the fact is I’ve had a private dead-tree- communication in our diplomatic bag from Ms Jane Anston, your previous employer in the UQ.”

Charlie’s eyebrows briefly arched inquisitively, then his brow furrowed.

“Do tell.”

“She passed Charlie the note.”

“I don’t owe her any obligations,” he declared after reading the note, “after dropping her patents to antigravity claim there’s nothing for us to discuss.”

“I know that Charlie, I’m not interested in your previous feud with Anston, what I am interested in is preventing an escalation of your personal battle with the UQ.”

“It hasn’t escalated. Nothing has happened since that destroyer was sunk, and as far as I know, nobody has died. That was nearly a year ago.”

“Well apparently, Jane Anston has fallen out with the new regime in the UQ. She wants to emigrate to Oz. She offers to bring money for investment and a considerable chunk of her operation, namely Anston Aerospace.”

“Well that’s between Oz and Anston. How does that involve me?”

“The UQ government are refusing her the right to emigrate. Her assets have been declared to be property of the state.”

“Her assets aren’t worth a wank!” Charlie scoffed. “They’re yesterday’s weapons fit only for yesterday’s war. That’s why the UQ, like China, have not retaliated for the damage they suffered;- they can’t; they daren’t!”

“She wants to apologise personally for the injustices you suffered at the Hands of Anston Aerospace. Is that not worth anything?”

“What! Apologise for stealing fifteen years of my life; the most valuable years. How can anybody apologise for that? How can anybody repay it?

Anyway, how do I know this isn’t some sort of trick, to lure me into a trap?”

“We don’t but I have a gut feeling about this. I think it might be the first flowering of a female reaction to the excesses of the new regime. Apparently, there’s been talk amongst the feminista that castration might become a form of control or punishment for some lesser crimes. Even motoring offences.

Males won’t be allowed to drive unless castrated. This is purported to anticipate testosterone driven road-rage. Any male involved in work that requires driving like delivery work or garbage collection will have to be castrated. Apparently, there was a serious accident somewhere in the UQ and a male driver was involved. He reportedly over-reacted violently to the situation and he was killed by a surfeit of taser strikes by police who deemed it a hover-rage incident on the spot.

Apparently there were some protests about the incident by concerned females who had learned that the male had not been violent. He was killed on the spot by the police because the woman was badly injured and she had two children in her car. But the CCTV cameras showed that the accident had definitely been caused by the woman.

“That’s not my problem Prime Minister. I don’t live there. I invited enough danger to myself simply by emigrating. I could see this coming you know. I’m only surprised that the protests have not started earlier. As far as I’m concerned, the UQ can self-destruct from within. My only worry is how many innocent male lives will be destroyed in the bloodletting.”

“But you have the means to dissuade it.” The PM argued.

“What? With violence? Are you prepared to interfere in another country’s internal affairs.”

“You did with Singapore.”

“No, I helped a small country defend itself against a powerful external aggressor. That country, Singapore, is still there and functioning exactly as it did before. You’re suggesting I physically somehow interfere in the UQ’s internal affairs.”

“All we’re asking is that you somehow assist Jane Anston in escaping from the UQ. She has become something of a rallying point for the protests. The head of the movement you might say.”

“What’s that? Male lives matter!” Charlie suggested ironically.”

The Prime Minister almost smiled at his allusion to history but she persisted hopefully.

“I’m not just suggesting you help Jane Anston escape. There’s a large percentage of the staff at Anston Aerospace who want out of the violent mess. Many of them are your fellow workers in the Bristol workshops.”

Despite the Prime Minister’s beseechments, Charlie was still reluctant to get involved. He put off deciding until he’d spoken to his wife Chloe.

“I’ll have a think about this Prime Minister. I need to speak with my wife. This would be a dangerous enterprise and I’ve got responsibilities to my wife and young family.”

“Well, we’ve replied to Jane Anston and informed her secretly, that we’re prepared to offer her asylum if she can demonstrate some material advantage to Australia.”

“That’s your concern Ma-am; my concern is my family. Good day for now.”

ooo000ooo

As Charlie left, the PM turned to Katie, her tried and trusted friend.

“D’ you think he’ll help?”

“Yes, I think so. He’s always declared that he believes in equality and human rights. Look what he did for his friend Juliet, the space captain. I mean that took philanthropy to a new level. I think your suggestion that his old male friends from Anston Aerospace want to escape. Might tip the scales and bring him over.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

When Charlie returned to Hammersley, he found Chloe watching the news of the aftermath surrounding the protests in London.

“They used live ammunition Charlie!” She cried as she compared the news-reel pictures with the images one of her friends was sending her on her mobile. “Look at this! There’s dozens of bodies! The television report is only telling a fraction of the truth! Look they’re stacking the bodies up in Little Sanctuary behind the Supreme Court of all places. How obscenely ironic is that?”

Charlie studied Chloe’s tablet as she transferred the pictures from her phone. There was no doubt the television cameras were focussed on Parliament green and Parliament Square while black uniformed operatives were tossing the bodies into vans and dumping them in the gated, narrow street behind the Supreme Court.
Because of the high gates at each end of Little Sanctuary street, little of this was obvious to the public or the news camera’s except to Chloe’s friend, who had a grandstand view from the rear windows of her own office in the supreme court.

Charlie froze an image on the tablet then counted the bodies that had not yet been covered or bagged up. The murderous violence of the Feminista police had even caught the medical standby services by surprise and insufficient body bags were readily available. He counted over a hundred uncovered bodies and several body bags; -and the bodies were still arriving! There had been a massacre and Charlie was physically sickened.

“Is this last night, there’s ten hours difference.”

“Yes.” Chloe showed Charlie the accompanying text. “She held back until she had the full picture, nobody saw her high up in her own private office. She’s just posted them in the middle of the night so people wake up to see this on their phones. It’s terrible.”

As they spoke, another text beeped onto Chloe’s phone.

“There’s pandemonium. I’m in danger. Got to go!”

Within seconds, Charlie was on his mobile to the PM’s office.

“Never mind any coded bloody messages, just tell her ‘the answer is yes’!”

“Anything else sir?”

“No! That’s all! She’ll understand!” Charlie finished as he struggled to keep calm.”

Having done all he could on his mobile, Charlie went to prepare for a rapid dash to the UQ. Chloe caught up with him and asked if he wanted her to accompany him.

“No, stay here with Margaret and alert her if you get any messages from me. Who was that girl in the Supreme court building.”

“She was with me at Medical school. then she qualified as a paediatrician, then she returned to law school to study medical jurisprudence when I opted for surgery after genetics.”

“Can you trust her?”

“I don’t know. She must have some issues though, because she definitely must have known those pictures would cause ructions. The UQ government said only two people were killed in the crowd crush yesterday but her pictures of all those bodies laid out and uncovered exposed the lie. Here’s the most recent post and it says over a hundred killed. They’re still counting the injured because lots escaped from the ‘kettle’ and are laid up all over London.”

“Well the pictures have gone viral and it’s all over the internet.” Charlie observed. “This will put the final lie to the UQ being the land of hope and bloody glory.”

“If you are going to rescue anybody, shouldn’t you be taking Dawn 2?” Chloe asked concernedly.

“I don’t know what I’m getting myself into. It’s nightfall in the UQ soon so I’m hoping I can reach Jane Anston without revealing myself.” If the shooting starts, only Dawn 1 is built to take a bullet.”

“Before you go, let’s mutually encrypt our spare phones, the chips are in the safe.”

“Shit I forgot about that!” Charlie cursed as Chloe dashed into the house. She returned with the encrypted pair of phones and they checked them before Chloe gave her man a passionate and emotional hug,”

“Don’t put yourself in Danger, she’s not worth your life.”

“I’m just going to sound things out with her.”
“Make sure your spy camera is working and don’t go into anything blind.”

Finally there was one passionate kiss and Chloe stepped back as Dawn 1 whisked silently away.

ooo000ooo