Part Seven

Captain Spaulding turned out to be Dr. Marie Spaulding. She was careful to explain that T.O.W.E.R.'s field medical people were referred to as Corpsmen (even though T.O.W.E.R. was not a corps) and were very well trained in both normal medicine and the medical needs of supers.

"That's good news," said Vic, nodding. "What about their - not just the medical people but all the T.O.W.E.R. personnel - physical conditioning?"

"It is very good," said Dr. Spaulding, in an accent with Vic couldn't place but which she found very charming. "Not only do we have an intensive exercise program, but many of our people have hobbies which keep them physically active."

She gave the details of the official program, and examples of the hobbies. Vic was impressed.

"There's three reasons behind our fitness program, as is true of all military and paramilitary organizations," the doctor explained. "The primary one, of course, is to have our people ready to act in what is often a very physically demanding mission. The secondary one is to create a sense of community among the troops. The third is to keep them busy so they have less time to get into mischief."

All that was said with a straight face, but Vic thought she could detect a hint of amusement in the doctor's recitation of the third reason.

"I've heard that a bored soldier can be dangerous," said Vic, nodding. "They can hurt themselves or others, because if they aren't given something to do, they'll find something to do, and that may not be something they should be doing."

"It's hard, sometimes, to find the right balance," Dr. Spaulding admitted. "Too little planned activity can be bad for discipline, as too much can be."

"I'll cut out nearly all the calisthenics, then," Vic said. She looked through the list Spaulding had given her. "Wow. Your description of their training reminds me of a group in my home town which holds Evolution in Action Fun Runs. However, we'll still need to warm up so I'll have to include something besides the stretching. I'll also have to include all the stretching, of course. Otherwise, there's too much chance of pulling something."

The doctor nodded. Working with Vic, the pair quickly and efficiently planned out the times for the lessons Vic would give. As well as what the warmup exercises should be.

* * *

Vic had thought that with their sleep on the plane and being in an unfamiliar place she and Michelle might have trouble sleeping that first night. However, given their busy afternoon and the comfort of the bed neither had much trouble drifting off.

The next morning at breakfast, Michelle had more questions for Lieutenant Spivak.

"What happened to all the stuff the contractors left behind?" said Michelle. "I think it was you who also mentioned that some of the shops were open before the work was abandoned. What happened to all that stuff? Did the shop owners take it?"

"Most of it was just abandoned. We hire people to go through what was left here. Anything which appears valuable we try to track down the owner. If it seems valuable but we can't find an owner, it's put in the big storeroom at the hotel, behind the registration desk. Feel free to go through that and pick out what you want. Just don't be obviously greedy. Everything else is shipped to the mainland in bulk, for companies there to sort through.

"Oh, and any commercial product is fair game. You can raid vending machines and canned goods in the abandoned shops and kitchens all you want. Just be aware that a lot of that stuff has already gone bad, given time and weather."

"Couldn't you earn money by selling the things they left behind?" said Michelle.

"We get a small payment per tonne from the mainland companies who dispose of the bulk material. So, yeah, in a way we're already doing that."

Vic, who had experience with her wife's acquisitive nature, kept quiet.

* * *

The gym at the convention center devoted far more space to seating than to the central, focus area. Vic figured the structure had been built to host various major sporting events. It was currently set up as a basketball court.

The first class was always the hardest, Vic recalled Coach Trujillo saying. She was finding that true, as she nervously eyed the UN T.O.W.E.R. personnel waiting for her to begin. Most appeared eager, if obviously unsure what they were there for. Some were openly skeptical. A few were obviously hostile, having been ordered to take the course, which they thought the didn't need. Vic took a deep breath, and stepped out in front of the group.

"Good morning," said Vic. "Welcome to the first training session."

"Well, I'm still confused by what you're supposed to do here," said Captain Lawford, with a dismissive smirk. "We have both basic and advanced combat training, as well as weapons."

He intended to say more, but trailed off, looking puzzled, as Vic turned away from the assembled soldiers and walked calmly to the right basketball goal. She stopped, and turned to face them.

Abruptly, Vic jumped straight up. She delivered a from snap kick to the hoop as she rose past it, then hit it with a stomp at the top of her leap, then caught it with a hook kick on the way down. Each time rocking the goal and producing the sounds of a solid contact. Her bare feet touched silently back on the polished wooden floor.

"I'm going to teach you how to fight people who can do things like that."

Vic definitely had their attention. She walked back out in front of the group.

"Now, I can't turn you all into black belts in two weeks, but you have - as mentioned - already had basic and even some advanced unarmed combat training. You can consider this as an additional two-week clinic which will teach you the basic principals of what I have been taught in martial arts and what I have developed on my own in several years of fighting supers. You can then expand your skills from there as you see fit. So, with that out of the way, let's get started."

Vic gave them no more time to ask awkward questions. She gestured, and Michelle came out onto the court with her.

"Pick a partner. Just now, for simplicity's sake, you can pick someone you have worked with before. However, try to find someone your own size. Later on we'll mix things up, so you know how to defend against someone larger, smaller, faster, and so on.

"First, though, we're going to warm up. So, everyone onto the mats..."

After the meeting with the T.O.W.E.R. doctor, Vic had altered her teaching plans. She was now going emphasize stretching over calisthenics. Which still elicited a lot of groans from her students, as they clumsily made their way through the unfamiliar exercises. However, they all finished the warmup to her satisfaction. As the doctor has promised, they were all in good shape. Vic then led them through basic self-defense moves. This was more to judge their level of competence than to try and teach them anything useful in this first class.

Vic was a bit surprised at how quickly the time allocated passed. As the end of the two hours approached she lined them up and prepared to bow them off.

"One final bit of advice," said Vic, just before dismissing that first class. "Whether you come back tomorrow or not, stretch some. Or you'll be really sore the day after."

There was some fortunately good-natured grumbling at that. However, since the class had been roughly equally divided between teaching the attendees basic techniques and demonstrating things more advanced which Vic implied they would learn in later classes, she seemed to have won them over. Even the skeptics such as Captain Lawford.

"Whew," said Vic, to Michelle, after the last of the students exited. "I don't know about you but I'm going to go soak in our suite's jacuzzi for a while, then have a big lunch."

"That sounds like a very good plan," said Michelle, smiling.

* * *

The second class, held that afternoon, went much easier, and not only because Vic already had one under her (red and white) belt for practice. Both she and her second class had a much better idea of what to expect. There were a few repeat students from that morning, but most of the substantially larger second class were newcomers who had heard about the first class. Vic felt pleased that what those in her second class had heard had been favorable enough to increase the attendance. It didn't hurt that Lieutenant Spivak was in this class.

Vic basically taught the same things for this second class, but with more explanation of the basic techniques and fewer demonstrations of advanced material. This actually seemed to work well. By the time the class was bowed off Vic already had a good idea of what to teach the next morning. Well, after warm-up and review.

This set the pattern. Each class was as much a learning experience for Vic as it was for the T.O.W.E.R. personnel. She honed her methods, as she honed the skills of her students.

* * *

Vic had expected to be asked about super matters in general, and some supers in particular. She hadn't expected that most of the enquiries she was confronted with would be on the level of soap opera factoids.

One effect of the first day of her clinics was that both Michelle and Vic were treated with a lot more respect by those among the T.O.W.E.R. personnel who had previously tended to ignore them. They were also included more in group matters. This included being invited to sit at tables with the regular troops during meals. The change also meant they were asked a lot of questions. Not all of which were related to martial arts.

"Is it true that Hugh Manatee is the great-grandson of the Walrus?" one corporal eagerly asked, during breakfast the next day.

"Uh, no," said Vic, who had never met either super but had read and heard a great deal about them. Especially Hugh Manatee, with most of that information coming from Energia. "The Walrus is a supernatural, maybe a type of selkie. Hugh is a genetic super whose powers were triggered by his marine biologist and mad scientist grandfather experimenting on him."

"What's the difference?" said the man, obviously puzzled.

Both Vic and Michelle wound up explaining a surprising amount about basic super matters to people who were assigned the task of dealing with supers on behalf of the UN!

Between breakfast and lunch Lieutenant Spivak - who had been assigned as their liaison with T.O.W.E.R. - showed the pair more of the island and its personnel. This included the one approved beach. As well as some of the people using it. Most of them were non-T.O.W.E.R. UN staff. As Vic and Michelle already knew, the regular UN staff outnumbered the T.O.W.E.R. people by nearly three to one. Still, there were only a few hundred people on the island. Few enough that someone with a good memory could know nearly all of them. Lieutenant Spivak apparently had a good memory, and was able introduce Vic and Michelle to the people at the beach. Many of them by name and rank. Since nearly all were casually dressed, being able to provide the latter information was especially impressive.

One of the non-T.O.W.E.R. UN people was dressed as a stereotypical surfer dude, complete with board. Spivak seemed to want to avoid him, but the man insisted on coming over

"Word up, dude!"

"What?" said Vic, startled.

"This is Corporal Mikhail Mazurkiewicz," said Spivak, without enthusiasm. "He's our Chaos Muppet."

Spivak sounded mildly exasperated.

Vic couldn't help but grin as she spoke with the Corporal. His use of US slang was a deliberate mixing of East and West Coast. Mazurkiewicz ("Call me Mike!") not only had a sense of humor, but a knowing one.

After he went back to surfing Vic and Spivak continued down the beach. They soon came across a pair who were dressed differently from each other, were of two different skin tones and had different accents, yet seemed to be good friends.

"Strules and Husebo," said Spivak, with a sour expression. "Both privates. They're an odd couple. Strules is a slacker, always finding ways to avoid doing work. Meanwhile, Husebo is what you Yanks would call a go-getter. Yet the two of them hang around together and are often involved in the same off-duty activities."

Introductions were made. Strules was quite pleasant while Husebo was polite but cool.

"See what I mean?" said Spivak, as he and Vic proceeded along the beach. He pointed to a woman running along the beach, attired appropriately. "Oh, here comes Captain Spaulding. Good morning, Captain!"

"Hello," she panted, with a brief wave. She didn't stop.

"Well, I suppose that will have to do for today," said Spivak. "I need to get you back to your rooms so you can get ready for lunch."

Actually, it seemed a bit early for that, but Vic and Michelle had little choice but to follow the Lieutenant to their transportation.

"You've probably noticed already that we don't have much of a night life on the island," he said, as he drove them to the hotel. "There are occasional talent shows and nearly nightly volunteer concerts, plus we get satellite TV and Internet. That's about it."

"Actually, our lives have been very hectic lately," said Michelle. "We both welcome a chance to rest and relax."

"Got that right," muttered Vic, with feeling.