The Feminist Queendom Charlie’s War 40 © 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.

Chapter 40

Margaret, the newly promoted police inspector in charge of Chloe and her children’s security, checked the redirected mail for any potential threats then delivered them unopened to Chloe’s house set back from the mineral road near Hammersley. Normally an ordinary officer delivered them, but Margaret had some other business to discuss, and she knew from previous visits that Charlie was often present during the earlier part of the month.

Charlie’s home visits were always unpredictable and never discussed with the authorities, but that was a deliberate arrangement necessitated by the constant threats that were coming from countries all over the planet.

When those countries that thought they had the monopoly on launching satellites, learned of Australia’s coupe they inevitably became suspicious. Firstly they wanted to find out how and where Australia was launching its rockets, but of course access to the old Woomera rocket range was now a tightly controlled privilege.

Woomera had quickly expanded into vast, experimental, manufacturing establishment.

That particular morning, Margaret cleared through the security cordon around Chloe’s house and on meeting Chloe she noticed Charlie’s spaceship Dawn in the garage set aside from the house.

“He’s here then?” Margaret confirmed.

“Yes, he’s entertaining Charlotte in the nursery.”

“Oh good. Here’s your mail, unopened but checked. The big package has been doubly checked but nothing suspicious. D’ you want me to open it?”

Before she had finished the question, Chloe had snipped off a corner as recommended then started scissoring cautiously through the side of the envelope. Margaret watched and grinned.

“Always cautious I see.”

“Yeah. It’s not just explosives, there’s the possibility of poisoning.”

“We check for that,” Margaret explained but Chloe shrugged.

“I know, but they’re always inventing new stuff; it’s a good job Charlie’s spaceship has every sort of eves-dropping kit imaginable.”

“Can I speak to Charlie?”

“When he’s finished playing with the children. We’ve only just finished breakfast, but you’re welcome to stay and have lunch.”

It had been several months since Margaret had met Charlie and not since the government had built the new spaceship at Woomera.

Using his old ship Dawn to collect and secure materials, Charlie had turned her into a mobile workshop where he made the new engines and then installed them in the new spaceship at the new factory built at the old Woomera rocket range.

The new engines were not much bigger than the Dawn’s but, like technology everywhere, Charlie had managed to make them more efficient and thus less bulky. He smiled inwardly as he recalled the old laws of computer chips where functionality increased logarithmically with time.

When he secretly tested his new engine in the engineering laboratory at Woomera he was immensely pleased to find that each engine could lift one hundred tons while being no more than half a metre in diameter. A vast improvement on Dawn’s six small engines which were each the size of a soccer ball and only lifted five tons apiece

‘Even that will improve when I find some higher-grade materials’. He reflected.

He temporarily named his second successful iteration ‘The Second Dawn’ and when he hovered it unexpectedly, out of the machine shop and landed it on the newly prepared outdoor testing station, the load meter revealed a dead lift exceeding five hundred tons for the new ship with six engines synchronised in harness.

At first, nobody realised that the ‘half-completed’ structure resting on the testing pad was the bare bones of their achievement but very quickly the word exploded through every office and lab.

Within minutes, there were huge cheers all around the building sheds as staff rushed out to watch the unpublicised test. The unfinished hull ascended silently to a satisfactory altitude, took several circuits of the range then returned to settle back on the launch pad.

For long moments, Charlie and his assistant, (a feminised mal,) were blinded by the photography and the pair were blinking when they repositioned 2nd Dawn back on the test pad.

“Are you taking her into space?” One of the senior military research officers asked as Charlie stepped out of the ship.

“Not yet. We have to test her for hull integrity, airtightness and various other proofing’s.”

“But it shouldn’t be long surely. I mean those sort of factors are just basic fabrication issues, it’s the engines that are the main issue and those seem to be proved.”

“Yes.” Charlie replied. “They work. Now I’m taking a well-earned rest. My assistant can supervise hull integrity tests and I’ll be back in a week. Meanwhile, I’ve secured the engines so they can’t be tampered with or operated until I get back. Make sure nobody but Juliet, my assistant, gets near the controls, or even into the cabin. She knows what tests are to be completed.”

The military officer was slightly taken aback that Charlie still had total control over access to the ship. Security clearances counted for little where antigravity engines were concerned. Charlie’s word was law and that had come down from the Prime Minister’s offices.

Later that evening Charlie and his original Dawn took off from the parking pad beside the building shed and arrived at his home just as Chloe was returning from collecting Charlotte from school. After the usual excited reaction from Charlotte, Charlie had a chance to talk to Chloe.

“Well; she works!”

“The new spaceship you mean?” Chloe confirmed.

“The very one. I’ve provisionally named her Dawn Two or the Second Dawn after we chatted about it last week. What do you think?”

“The Second Dawn, I think.” Chloe opined, “it conveys the history of development and all that.”

“What? And then the Third Dawn and so on?

“Oh no. I think after mark three, we should name the ships individually. I mean by then; you’ll be building a fleet of them, and each will have to have its own commander or captain.”

“I suppose you’re right. I’ve got a week off before they want me back, there’s talk of trouble from other countries that are looking to exploit Antigravity.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed that the security has been stepped up around here. More police and now some military anti-gravs. Is it the same at Woomera?”

“Security’s always been ridiculously tight at Woomera, I honestly wouldn’t notice if another fifty military ags, were to suddenly pop up.”

“Is that your latest shorthand for antigravity craft?”

Charlie smiled ruefully.

“Yeah. The Aussies are even worse than the Yanks for shortening words. The Anti-Gravs; meaning the surface skimmer craft, have been abbreviated to A.G., or ags. Makes sense I suppose. I can work with it, just like car became short for carriage.”

“Well Charlie Sage, just think, you’ve caused a new word to enter English.”

“Yeah; I’ve heard tell hundreds of new words are incorporated every year into the OED., so it’s no big deal.”

“Yeah; but ‘ag’ has a known root as an abbreviation for anti-gravity and you are directly responsible for that!”

“Yeah okay, but I want a break from all that. Let’s go to the beach.”

“Okay, now the sun has eased off I’ll alert the security.”

“Half an hour later, the Sage family and about a hundred security staff were visiting a remote beach in Western Australia.

ooo000ooo

As Charlie and Chloe sat on the beach about four soldiers and Margaret played with the children at the water’s edge until the sun finally went down. The evening chill alerted Chloe to the time and she suggested to Charlie that it was time to make steps for home.

“Oh not yet it isn’t,” Margaret declared as she approached the pair.

For a moment Charlie tensed as he sensed some sort of trap and he immediately stepped in front of Chloe.

“What’s going on?” He confronted Margaret.

Margaret immediately realised just how much ‘on edge’ Charlie was, and she quickly moved to calm things.

“Nothing’s up! Nothing’s going - - -on! As you put it.”

“She indicated with her thumb over her shoulder.

“The girls have just secretly organised a barbecue for you, look there by the only bloody tree for miles.”

Charlie let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped.

“Sorry Marge, I’m just wound up. Sorry!”

“Bloody hell; wound you say! And then some! Cool it big boy. Nobody’s going to get to you here. Come and look, in our security control ag.”

Charlie ambled self consciously behind Margaret while Chloe and the protection detail rounded up Charlotte and her three infant siblings. Inside Charlie was studying the screen and nodding somewhat guiltily.

“And that’s the West Oz lens?” He confirmed.

“Yes. Infra-red very high definition and we can see every life form for about five miles in every direction.”

“Jeeze! You have been busy little girls haven’t you.”

“They ground the telescope lenses locally in Sydney, to suite the need of the viewfinder and that means a wide arc of view around the target. Your family is the target, the field of view reflects the security perimeter. There are several other lenses to secure close in shots and other medium range views. It’s probably the best spy in the sky currently up there in space. And of course, thanks to your gravity science, the thing is relatively close without having to whizz round in an orbit.”

To emphasise her words, Margaret realigned the viewfinder to locate a nondescript tiny white blob about ten miles outside their five-mile perimeter ring. She then refocused the lens of the telescope to expose two wombats busy with reproduction. Charlie and Chloe started grinning.

“Give the poor buggers some privacy.” Chloe laughed then added. “I hope you don’t bloody focus that close on us two.”

“Only to confirm your identities then it’s just a matter of tracking for your own security. My bosses are paranoid after the last debacle.”

Chloe let out a loud guffaw as she thumped Charlie in the shoulder.

“No more ‘al fresco’ sex for you Charlie Boy.”

“Nor you, cheeky girl!” He riposted. “Though Charlotte’s going to think you’re a witch if you use this to spy on her if she’s bullying the babies.”

“She won’t be bullying her siblings.” Chloe objected but Charlie surmised.

“All big sisters bully their younger siblings, especially younger brothers. It’s an innate, tribal thing to do with natural mothering. Provided it’s motivated by caring, then everything balances out come maturity, but if it stems from jealousy’ that’s when it becomes a problem.”

Chloe stared at her husband with disbelief.

“That’s a very deep insight, oh husband of mine, explain further.” Chloe pressed in a slightly mocking tone.

“There’s not much to tell. If daughters are treated as equals and protected from physical violence from their brothers by their fathers, then the whole gender balance thing works out. Brothers grow up respecting their sisters because their fathers respect the daughters. Daughters then grow up respecting and caring for the family when they are mothers.

It all starts with the family and equality within."

"That's very insightful Charlie," Margaret observed as she sat beside them with her barbecue plate full.

“What’s that old saying?" Charlie added. "Educate a mother, you educate a family, - educate a family, you educate a clan; - educate a clan, - you educate a tribe:- and if you educate a tribe, you educate a nation!

Chloe stared at him gobsmacked.

“Where did you learn stuff like that?”

“From my mu-therrr”, Charlie retorted,” who else?”

Margaret had overheard the exchange and she stared thoughtfully at Chloe who returned the look.

“He’s not just a cold-blooded number cruncher is he?” Margaret remarked.

“Anything but,” Chloe agreed. "Every day it's something new."

"It's not new Petal," Charlie pointed out, "It's just re-learnt."

ooo000ooo