Chapter 3

We ended up spending almost three hours on the ground instead of one.

When Brenda made her statement, Helen simply nodded, saying “Yes, he has. We, the Indigenous People of Australia, have already recognized that, as well as Her Majesty’s Government, in the personage of Her Representative.”

With Helen saying that, Walter took hold of the table and lowered himself to his knees. “As my wife has stated that you are our King, then I accept you as well, pledging our fealty to you. How may I be of service to Your Royal Majesty?”

Lieutenant Commander Wilson was looking around. “What the hell are you doing, Walter?”

I simply closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, quickly thinking, then opened them. “We accept your fealty and loyalty. Arise, and gather the people, that they may know us, and that we may know them. Also, know that we are certainly not that formal, except when officially recognized in our position.”

Walter grunted, using the table for help standing up. “I’ll get over to the village, get everyone over to the school. There should be enough room there for all of us, but it’ll take me at least half an hour.”

“While we ... and by that, I mean the entire group ... are on a trip to Japan and then to other places, you are my people and thus my family. Our trip can wait for family.”

Walter nodded, pulled a set of keys from his pocket and slipped on a coat, then ran out the back door. An engine quickly roared to life, then he threw the vehicle into gear and quickly sped off. Brenda got back up off the floor, her eyes full of wonder.

“I truly never thought I’d see this in my lifetime,” she said. “There are so few of us left, that remember.”

“Some of us, more than others, my sister,” Helen said.

“Okay, I repeat, what the hell is going on?” Wilson asked again.

Chuck turned to him. “It looks like we’re going to be your guests for a little bit longer. And we’ll need that bus to drive into the city, where ever it is that the school is, in a few minutes.”

“It’s just a larger hut, considering the weather we get here.” Wilson’s face frowned. “No one said anything to me about royalty visiting in the request or during our planning.”

Margie nodded. “Probably not. We try to keep things relatively low key if we can. But there are things we can’t anticipate. While we knew the Aleut People of the Bering Strait are related to the Indigenous People of Australia, I don’t think we knew that they remembered the ancient histories so well.”

Brenda sadly nodded. “Few of us do. Oh, everyone pays lip service, and I’ve spent many a long winter with my elders being taught the traditional ways, as well as trying to pass those down to my children. But it’s been so long...”

Helen took Brenda in her arms, giving her a hug. It was almost funny, considering their height difference. “I wish I didn’t know what you are talking about, my sister, but I do. And you didn’t even have the Sacred Souls here to give you strength, wisdom, and encouragement over the centuries.”

“Ah, my southern sister, maybe not what you consider, but ... come, let me show you, while my husband gathers the people.” She grabbed her coat. “Commander Wilson, we need your bus, to take everyone up to the mountain.”

He shrugged, then led us back out. He told the sailor behind the wheel to go where Brenda told him to drive, then took a seat. Brenda and Helen sat down together behind the driver, while the rest of us took other seats. The place she directed us to was only three miles away via the roads, considerably shorter if we’d been able to go in a straight line, and only took ten minutes to get there.

Brenda got out, helping Helen. I got out as well, but held the palm of one hand up, for everyone else to remain on the bus. It wasn’t like they couldn’t see us, since we were in a parking spot that it looked like was used by people who were climbing Mount Moffett. The minor detail that there were no buildings or trees or pretty much anything else other than a snow covered mountain made it pretty desolate.

It only took us five minutes of walking before Helen stopped. “I don’t think I can get any closer, it’s so strong,” she said.

I took hold of her arm. “I can feel them, but I can’t see them, not like you can. How is it that there are so many of them here?”

“Ask them,” Helen said. “You should be able to do that from here.”

Brenda and Helen watched as I crouched down, laying my hands flat on the volcanic soil. Once I’d done that, each of them put a bare hand on my shoulder. The breeze, which had been blowing steadily from the ocean, instantly stilled. The snow on the top of the mountain began to glow from within. After a few minutes, the glow faded away. The women took their hands from my shoulder.

“Wow,” I said, shaking my head and standing back up. “It feels like there’s two or three times the number of souls in there than are in Uluru.”

“Ours is a hard life. When we came from the old world, there were hundreds of thousands of us. The climate changed, the land sank, so many things changed. When this was all above water,” Brenda said, motioning with her hands to encompass all of the Bering Strait, “this mountain was the first seen, sort of like the Statue of Liberty in New York. With our knowledge of souls, and the evil of the old one, it’s ... well, one of our sayings is that no matter where we die, our spirits always return here.”

Helen nodded in understanding. “There’s not just a light from within, but the strength and the power of the souls is more than in Uluru.”

“We’re a hardy people.”

“Just a second. I have an idea. Would the two of you stand on either side of me, so that those in the bus have a slightly more obscured view of me? Some of them know of me, some of them don’t, and some things...”

Brenda chuckled. “Some things are best left alone until needed. Of course.” She moved to one side, while Helen went to the other. The three of us turned so our backs were to the bus.

I used my mind to reach out and to ‘talk’ to the souls. I found more than enough that volunteered. Using my distance vision, since we were still three miles from the mountain itself, I picked out half a dozen appropriate sized rocks that were part of the mountain. Because they were part of the whole, the spirits moved into them, then I used quick, nearly invisible bursts of laser vision to cut the rocks from the mountain, and then used my mental powers to bring those rocks to me. Since they were all smaller than golf ball sized, it was easy to catch them, slipping them into my pockets

“Thanks. Let’s get back to the bus.”

The women nodded, Brenda’s eyes wide at what she’d just witnessed.

Once we were back on the bus, the driver asked, “Now where?”

Brenda was nodding her head when she said, “To the city school.”

We rode in silence to that building. There were several cars parked outside, with a few people still walking up from town. It wasn’t that big of a town, so it’s not like it’d take long. I sighed, knowing what I’d have to do.

“Chuck, seems like today is the day of revelations, since I had no idea about the Aleut people being related to the Indigenous Australians. So, no discussion about what you’re going to see or hear in here. Marshal Gage, nothing personal, but if you’d please wait out here with everyone else, as well as my Japanese friends, I’d appreciate it.”

He chuckled. “We left them in the terminal, sound asleep. I’d rather come inside, but I understand. I’ll keep the squids occupied.” At the look Commander Wilson gave him, Gage laughed. “Garryowen!”

Wilson shook his head. “Oh, God, one of them. Come on, I have some coffee we can drink while we’re waiting on them. You, too, Brendan,” including the driver in it.

The nine of us got off the bus and walked up to the school. Brenda saw my look. “It’s the school and our community building. The Adak Region School District. Not a lot of students here, and I’m not sure what we’ll end up doing if the base closes.”

We entered the blue roofed building. A woman inside asked, “Brenda, what’s got Walter so stirred up? He’s acting like a man with a mission.”

“Where is he?” The woman pointed down a hallway. “Jane, we’ll need to make sure that the only ones in the room are actual Islanders, so keep a room available for anyone else.”

“Okay...”

We followed Brenda. There were almost two hundred people in the gym. The bleachers along the side had been pulled out, with some sitting there. A lot of murmuring was going on, mostly people wondering what was going on. The town hadn’t seen this much activity since the war ended nearly forty years ago.

Brenda went up to the front, then made a sharp, whistling sound like Beth could. “Thank you! I apologize to anyone here who is not an Islander. If you’re not from here, we need you to go out to another room. I’m sorry, this is for Aleuts only.”

“Brenda, what’s going on?”

“I apologize for the disruption to your day, Sue. But this concerns us, Nikolski, and Atka. The native people. You can consider it a tribal thing if you want.”

“Well, it’s not like the school’s actually open for this semester yet, anyway.”

We waited about ten more minutes, for everyone to get here and have a seat, and for half a dozen people that had been in the room to leave. Chuck positioned Sharon at the door, to make sure there were no eavesdroppers, then nodded to me that we were secure.

Brenda saw that. “Hello, my brothers and sisters. I bring you news that affects us, our families in Nikolski and Atka. Most of us follow two religions. Christianity, of course, in all of its flavors, and we also follow and believe in the Old Ones. Some of you have the sight. We all know it. We keep it hidden, because our life here is hard enough, to guard the sacred trust that has been given to us.”

From the bleachers, a woman said, “Then why do you have outsiders here with us, when you are talking about things that are for the hidden councils only?”

“There are no outsiders here. Helen?”

Helen stood up, taking her coat off, standing as the High Priestess with her beauty and strength radiating out, the paint of the seven triangles glowing on her face.

“I am Helen Awarai, also known as Helen Lewis. I am the spiritual leader of the First People, the Indigenous People of Australia, that guard the Home of the Sacred Souls. We are like you, but separated from you, by distance and time. Forever vigilant against the return of the Dark One, with our ways existing since the days of the Old Ones, continuing those ways now in the days of the Guardian!”

Helen walked along the gym floor, pointing at people. “You, you, and you. Please, join Cal and Brenda up front. You and you, too.” Near the back of the room, there was a young girl, about Holly’s age. “Definitely you, little one. You’re a lot like my sister.”

The six people she’d pointed out, all women and girls, came from the crowd. I heard murmuring from the crowd about who the southern witch had chosen. Apparently four of them were known to the village to have some powers, but not the fifth, nor the young girl.

Hannah pulled something out of her coat pocket, then handed it to me. “I carry some of those all the time now, in case we need one. This should be enough, by itself.”

I nodded, taking my coat and shirt off. The crowd murmured again when they saw the metal tag hanging from my neck, with the wooden cross near it. Either that, or they were shocked at just how ripped I was. From my coat pocket, I pulled out the six stones. I handed one to Brenda, then to each of the other five ladies. I looked inside all six of them as I did so. I then glanced at the young girl, who glared defiantly back at me. Then I looked into her, smiling at what I saw.

“Come here, please. I don’t bite. My name is Cal, California Lewis. What is your name, and who are your parents and siblings?”

“I’m Carrie Holsinger. Uncle Walter and Aunt Brenda are my family. My parents died in an accident eight years ago.”

“But they’re not close blood to you. No closer than anyone else here is. Cousins, certainly, but not closer than that.”

“You speak with assurance, Mister Lewis,” Carrie said. “Why are you here? Why have you caused Uncle Walter to call all of us together?”

I lit the flare that I held in my hand, holding it out from my body. Helen began a simple song, one that was quickly joined by the other six women. The stones that each of them held began to glow from within, as the souls inside were freed to be able to communicate. The women held their rocks up, so the glow coming from each of them was reflected upon the ceiling.

“Look at me, Carrie Holsinger. Look into me. You were chosen at birth to help, aid, and assist the planet against the evil one. The spirit that lives within you knows what I mean when I say that Vendamin in the Helian Province is at the foot of the Jerral Mountains. The only difference is that it was a lake, not a city, in my time. You are a Planetary Guardian, fated to fight and probably die while helping your sister Guardians defend the planet against the Evil One. Or you were. No longer.”

The rocks that the women held over their heads began to rise, above their hands, several feet into the air. They continued to sing their song, while Helen began speaking.

“People of Adak. Our People in Nikolski. Our People in Atka. Your singers know the song, even if they don’t remember much else of our past. We are your cousins, your brothers, your sisters, from when you first lived here, when the world was a garden. We are all the First Peoples of the World. Can you feel it, within you? Your spirits that live on in your mountain, our spirits that live on in Uluru, they are talking to you, talking to me, to all of us. Hear the voices as they join in the songs of our People!”

The rocks that were still floating in the air began vibrating fast enough that they were making sounds like singing.

“Carrie Holsinger! What do you see when you see inside me?”

Her defiance melted, and she fell to her knees. “I always thought the legends were just that, legends. You live, and are here with us. You are the Guardian! You are the true King of our Peoples!”

Walter joined her, getting to his knees as well. I brought my left hand, holding the flare in front of my chest, then brought my right hand in as well, the flame from the flare hitting my hand. I moved my fingers apart a little, so the flames could be seen shooting up between them.

“I am the Guardian of the People, I am the Guardian of this Planet. All who are present are my family; all will benefit from that. While the evil one will return, he will not be successful, and he will be vanquished. This I swear to you, though it may cost me my life,” I said.

While I’d held the flare up, the people watching had all moved to the gym floor. When I finished my short speech, all but the oldest got down to their knees, bowing their heads. All of the elderly did at least bow their heads.

“I do not ask for you to swear fealty to me. I cannot do that. You are my family.”

Walter said, “No, but as I said earlier, we CAN swear our fealty to you, voluntarily, as our King. As our leader!”

A rousing cheer greeted his words. “People of the Aleut! My wife and I have accepted this man as our King, pledging our fealty to him! Do you do the same?”

In various words, I heard almost everyone inside the gym do just that. I noticed that one elderly couple, standing off to one side, did not do so. Walter did as well. He nodded. “Mister and Missus Katzenov, you are of the Aleut, but from our western family. I do not believe that our King would leave you and yours from our family, simply because they live in Nikolskoye.”

In Russian, I said, “Of course not. All of the Aleut, no matter where they are, are of my family. I just helped nearly three thousand of the Romany travel to safety from a threat. I can do that with your people if they wish. No one will ever mistreat a member of my family and survive.”

Mister Katzenov replied, “Tricks with fire are one thing. How can you promise this?”

I opened my arms again, then closed my eyes. It appeared to everyone outside that I was straining, concentrating. I heard the awe and murmurs when I raised myself six inches off the floor. “I am the Guardian. Carrie, what is the name of the ancient soul that lives within you?”

She was so flabbergasted by what she saw that she unwittingly said, “Madalait.” She looked shocked when she realized what she’d said.

“It is permissible for you to say her name; you were not raised in the culture. I will not, because I recognize the rite. I shall call her Madalain, just as I call her sister-in-law Lara. She knows the sites I mentioned, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, she does. I have seen inside you. You are the Guardian, and I pledge myself to follow your teaching.”

That was good enough for Missus Katzenov, who hit her husband in the back of the head. It would have been funny if it wasn’t such a serious and solemn occasion. I nodded, then said, “As I told Walter before ... we accept your fealty and your loyalty. We shall give ours in return to you, as our People. We are not nearly this formal except in situations such as this. Do not hesitate to ask us, or our Princesses or High Priestess, for anything. If it is within our power, we shall grant it. If it is not immediately within our power, we shall do what we can to make it happen. We have to leave, soon, but we will have representatives contact you, to get you free electricity.”

I paused for a second. “How many live here in the town?”

“A little over three hundred, Your Royal Majesty, in a hundred homes,” Walter said.

“Like I said, I’m not normally nearly this formal. Oh, sorry.” I lowered myself to the floor, allowing the six stones to lower into the women’s hands as well. “Didn’t think about that. That would mean probably, say, ten gallons per home is a little overkill, but the excess can be used for community projects. I’ll get a cargo plane headed this way probably ... when?”

“If I can contact Harry, we can divert some production and get it headed this way tomorrow. I’d say arrival here Friday morning,” Hannah said. “I’ll tell him fifteen hundred gallons. Even a thousand gallons would require either two trips with a Gulfstream, or a single trip with a Hercules. I’m not exactly sure how long the airfields are at Nikolski and Atka, but I’d bet a Hercules could land there.”

I nodded. “That makes perfect sense. He knows how I built the turbines. Have Allen hire a crew, if he hasn’t gotten one already, to start building some of the smaller ones, by hand. They can use the bus garage. While they’re building those, we can get cement and towers shipped up here by barge. We’ll figure out the crane situation, maybe rent a helicopter from the Navy if we have to. But that should take care of things here by the end of March.”

One of the other men said, “What are you taking care of?” He wasn’t the only one looking puzzled.

“Something my father invented to help the space program, called Ice-X. It won’t allow ice to build up on a surface, or even stick. So, you’re out fishing and the waves start coming over the bow, your ships won’t get coated with ice. You put it on like a paint, and a single coat of it acts like an insulator. At negative sixty outside, it’d be forty inside. At negative one hundred, it’d be twenty inside. That’s literally with it painted onto a piece of plastic or wood, with no other insulation, and presumes no heat inside. Of course, since I’m also going to send up three wind turbines, one for each town, and the cement and towers, that should give each town a couple of megawatts of free energy. As long as the wind blows, of course.”

That got a chuckle from everyone. “The wind is always restless here,” one of them said.

Another said, “I think it’s because the spirits are restless.”

Brenda laughed. “No. Come, touch the stones. You’ll see. We are blessed to have the Guardian who understands the souls.” She and the other women walked down to the floor, holding their hands out and letting others touch the stones. That caused an epiphany similar to the kind of reaction it had in Rome.

After twenty minutes of that, I said, “Brenda, Walter, we have to continue our journey. Carrie, are you ready to go see the rest of the world? And I mean that in a literal sense, because we’re going to Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and England, before we get to California.”

“You are our King; I will do as you command.”

“Spoken like a true woman of the People,” Helen said. “But seriously, Cal is giving you the choice. You can remain here, no questions asked.”

“Oh, there’d always be a question asked, even if it was one I asked myself. Did I do the right thing in not going?” She looked around the room. “This isn’t a forever goodbye, is it?”

Everyone could hear the quaver in her voice.

“Oh, no. It’s only 2,800 miles from San Francisco to here. That’s less than six hours in one of Cal’s Gulfstreams,” Margie said, reassuringly. “We have five of them now, plus another half dozen Lockheed JetStars.”

“Good grief! What are you, rich?” Carrie asked, her face confused now.

I simply nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. And that’s why we need to leave. I’ve a business deal to make in Japan, and a few other things.”

Brenda said, “Come on, then. Let’s get your things, then go see the man about how much it’s going to cost to release your passport. It sounds like you’re going to need it.”

I frowned. “Why would she have to see anyone about her passport? Doesn’t she have it, just like all of you do?”

That got a laugh from several people near me that heard my comment. “Sorry, my King. I’m not laughing at you, just at what you don’t know. The BIA man keeps all of our passports for us. That’s why we have such trouble visiting our cousins in Nikolskoye.”

“Let’s go see him first,” I said. “We’ll take Mister Gage with us. Where’s the Bureau of Indian Affairs man?”

Walter nodded his head. “His office is at the other end of this building.”

“Chuck? Run out to the bus and get Gage, please. Tell him it’s velvet gloves time.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” I gave him a sideways look. He winked back. “It’s all good, with all of us. We’ll explain, later.”

Walter and Brenda led us into the hallway. We stopped at the entrance to the building, while waiting. Chuck led both Gage and Commander Wilson in. “Impartial witness,” Chuck said.

We paraded down the hall, stopping at a door near the end. On the door, it read, ‘Bureau of Indian Affairs’, ‘Adak Field Office’, and ‘Thomas Pennington’. I reached down to open the door. It was locked.

“He’s supposed to be in there,” Walter said.

I looked through the door. Pennington was in. He was sitting at his desk, with a Hustler magazine open and masturbating. I smiled. I tried the door again, rattling the handle this time to see if he’d notice. He didn’t. I gave two sharp knocks on the door.

“Go away and come back later. I’m busy,” came from inside the room.

I smiled tersely. “Marshal Gage, forgive my language now.” With that, I hit the door again, hard, which rattled the entire frame as well. “Pennington, open this fucking door right now. US Marshal Service.”

“All right! Ten seconds!”

I watched him hurriedly tuck his wilting cock back into his pants and zip them up, catching his pubic hairs in his zipper. He stuck the magazine under his desk calendar, then hopped up. When he did so, he pulled hard on his pubic hair, then let out a little scream when it hurt so badly.

“I heard a scream from inside, didn’t you?”

Gage nodded, a grin on his face.

With that, I yelled out, “We’re coming in to help!” I brought my foot up and kicked hard on the door, just next to the knob. That caused the door itself to break and burst open. That gave everyone in the doorway a great view of Pennington with his pants unzipped, trying to get his pubes tucked back in.

“What’s the meaning of this?” he roared.

Jeremy pulled out his badge. “I’m Deputy US Marshal Gage. We heard a scream through the door, and feared you were in distress. Having probable cause, we opened the door.”

“Jesus! You didn’t open it, you destroyed it! Christ, it’ll take me a month to get another one up here,” Pennington complained. “I was sitting wrong, and things got misplaced a bit when I stood up, is all. Are you here with an arrest warrant or something? If so, go get whoever it is, and good riddance.”

“A rather laissez-faire attitude about the people you’re here to help,” he said.

“There’s good and bad. Good leaves me alone. Bad causes me problems.”

“You often sit in your office with your dick hanging out, such that your pubes get caught in your zipper?” Gage asked.

“This is my office, and I can do whatever the hell I want in it!”

“No, actually this is the government of the United States’ office, and you just happen to be the current representative who’s parking his butt here,” I said. I walked around his desk, moving his calendar so the Hustler magazine was displayed in full glory. “Rather graphic, of course, and of itself, not much of an issue, but certainly not appropriate reading material while on the job.”

“What do you want?” Pennington asked, now puzzled because of my apparently taking charge of things.

“Well, while there is a McDonald’s here, I really don’t want a Big Mac. What I do want to know is why the residents of this city don’t have their passports.”

“They don’t need them,” he said. “The only reason they’d need a passport is to travel outside of the United States, and none of them have permission to do so.”

I blinked. “Really? Under what legal authority?”

“None of your damned business. Now, get out of my office.”

Marshal Gage shook his head. “You’ll want to change your tone a little. Or I’ll have to make some phone calls. Now, answer the question.”

Pennington snorted. “Phone calls to who? I’m the BIA Field Officer for here. I’m not part of your chain of command, and if you’re not in pursuit of anyone, you don’t have any authority here.”

I stepped over to him, and quietly said, “He’ll be calling your next-of-kin, because you were fucking with the People. And that means your body was lost at sea in a tragic accident, since I don’t see any convenient pig farms or salt mine shafts. Probably used as bait for some crab pots. You see, Mister Pennington, Marshal Gage is here as my very own, White House authorized, get-out-of-jail free card. Direct from President Reagan, actually. I don’t have to make threats. I AM the threat. Do you understand why you’re going to change your tone of voice and answer all my questions?”

Pennington was looking around frantically. He saw Lieutenant Commander Wilson. “Wilson, are you going to just stand there?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Unless I have to get our 45 footer out, to go look for your body, which unfortunately we never found. Gage here spent some time filling me in. This is the man who solved the Kennedy assassination and the attempt on Reagan. Who do you think has more pull in DC right now? This is Alaska, after all.”

Pennington snorted. “Fine. It’s Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations.”

“That’s a rather broad defense, since Title 25 covers all Indians. Break things down for me, so I can understand,” I said.

“Fine. Title 25, Section 1, Subchapter J, Part 249. That’s my authority!”

I leaned back a little, resting my butt on the edge of his desk. “What the hell does off-reservation treaty fishing have to do with you confiscating their passports?”

He sputtered, then said, “Isn’t it obvious? Under the authority of the Secretary of the Interior, there are specified waters where the locals can fish as per treaty. If they go outside of those waters, then they’re crossing the international border with the Soviet Union, and even potentially trading with Soviet citizens illegally, which is covered under Title 19, Chapter 1, Part 141, entry of merchandise. No fishing, thus no passports, so no illegal trading!”

“Except for one minor detail. 249.7 sub-paragraph b. Nothing in Part 249 shall be deemed to deprive any Indian tribe, group, or band of any right which may be secured it by any treaty or other law of the United States. Your interpretation is an illegal violation of the United States Constitution. First, there’s Article IV, Section 2 – the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. That is followed by the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1 – No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the United States. Specifically Dunn v. Blumstein, US Supreme Court 330, from 1972. There is no compelling state interest here, and the Federal Government cannot violate the Constitution by restricting the rights of the citizens to travel.”

“But ... they’re Indians...”

I lowered my voice, and leaned forward. “They’re citizens of the United States, and are part of my Family.”

“Mister Lewis, I see he has a phone on his desk. Before you rip off his head and shit down his neck, allow me to make a simple phone call,” Gage said.