Chapter 20

The middle of the afternoon is a quiet time in the living quarters of the President of the College. John, the President, was on his back, in the middle the living room. Little Beth, now four years old, was curled up inside one arm and little John, now three years old, was curled up inside the other. All three of them were asleep. Ling and Kelly stood at the door watching them. Ling whispered, “It’s hard to be a mother when the fathers spend all their time with the kids.”

Kelly giggled, “Yes, it is. Still, I can’t believe how much Ed and John enjoy them.”

“So how do we wake him without waking the kids?”

“We’ll take the kids to their room and put them to bed there.”

The two mothers went into the living room and picked up the children. Each child woke briefly when they were picked up, but fell back to sleep immediately. The mothers carried them to their bedroom. John jumped up looking around for the children. He relaxed when he saw the mothers walking away with them.

John looked at the clock and saw what time it was. He headed out to the administration building. He was supposed to go over the security records. They had detected several people moving around their property, but no one had been able to locate them. Ling returned from the bedroom. Kelly stayed to watch the kids. John and Ling went to the security center. There was no need for conversation; they were both familiar with the current situation. Ling was mentally returning to her role as security specialist.

They reached the security center. They entered in the midst of significant excitement. John walked over to the monitor and looked at the situation. There were two blips moving through the property. John looked over the detailed map of the property. He ran his finger over the course taken by the two blips. He ran his fingers further along and thought about the time it would take the blips to reach that point. He turned to Ling, “Stay here. I’m going to see who they are.”

John left the room and headed off into the forest. He moved quickly and quietly. He wanted to make sure that he reached a point well ahead of the intruders. The soft floor of the woods dampened his steps. He circled around so that his path wouldn’t be in their way. It took him ten minutes to reach the location that he had mapped out. He slipped down and wrapped the cloak around his body. He went motionless, waiting for the intruders.

It took five minutes for the wildlife to return and act normally. John sat still watching the birds move from limb to limb as they went about their business. He watched a squirrel move around on the ground. It felt good to be back in the midst of nature. After a few minutes, the squirrel started to act strange. He watched as it moved to a tree.

As the squirrel moved around the tree, John looked to the area from which the squirrel would be hidden. Two people were moving slowly through the woods. They were wearing dark green outfits with soft leather boots that laced up their legs. Moving silently, they were totally alert to their surroundings. John could see no weapons other than knives on their hips. They didn’t look like the average hikers. When they came closer, John could tell that it was a man and a woman.

The man stopped and knelt down pointing at something on the ground. The woman knelt beside him and looked. In a very quiet voice he asked, “What is it?”

Equally quiet, she replied, “Scat from a fox.”

“How old is it?”

“The scat has been here about half an hour.”

John listened impressed with the level of knowledge the two people had of the natural environment. Rather than announcing himself, he chose to wait and see what he could learn.

“What did it eat?”

The woman removed her knife from her belt. At a nod from the man, she used the knife to break apart the scat. She looked at it for a moment. She used the knife to point to parts of the scat as she answered, “It has eaten a grasshopper, a garter snake, and a baby mouse.”

The man nodded, “When the fox shits again, what will be in it?”

“The rest of the mouse.”

“Very good. What direction did it go?”

The woman looked around for a second. She used the knife to point in a direction away from John, “It went that way. It looks like it was startled by something.”

The man nodded again. He looked around the area taking in his surroundings. He could see nothing that would have caused the fox to flee, but he asked the woman anyway. “What startled it?”

John answered, “Probably me.”

The man and the woman jumped as though they had been shot. John stood and faced the pair. He asked, “Who are you?”

The man answered, “I’m Ranger Albert Mandel. This is my student, Cindy Carpenter. Who are you?”

“I’m the Grand Druid, John Carter.”

“You are good at stealth. I didn’t see or hear you.”

“You are good at stealth. My people looked for you three days ago and couldn’t find you.”

“Ah, the man with the bear. He was very good. It took all of our skill to avoid them and we were chased off the property.” Albert examined John carefully. He looked around, “It makes sense that Druid land would have a lot of animal and plant life on it. You even have several endangered species here.”

John smiled, “They are under our protection. That is why we made such an effort to find you.”

“That is our job, as well. We watch over the species here to make sure they are not threatened. We were worried when the construction started here.”

John nodded, “We were careful. We even transplanted several rare species of plants to our green house. They have been returned to the grounds around the school.”

“That is good.”

John shouted, “It’s alright Ling. You can come over here.”

Albert turned and looked down the path as Ling appeared behind them. He smiled, “I had just heard her. She is very good, too.”

Ling deftly reached out and took the knife out of the hand of Cindy as she walked past the woman. Cindy was shocked at the speed at which Ling’s hand had moved when it had taken the knife. She glared at the woman. John stated, “Ling give her back her knife.”

Ling shook her head and said, “She should have used it or put it away. She’s lucky I didn’t use it on her. If it had been pointed at you, I would have.”

John shook his head at the logic and said, “Give it back to her.”

Ling grudgingly handed the knife back in the proper fashion by holding the blade. She didn’t release it until the woman, in a strained voice, stated, “Thank you.”

The woman slid the knife into her sheath and then looked at Ling with a slight bit of anger. “Are you satisfied?”

Albert snapped, “CC, stop it. She was well within her rights.”

The woman immediately answered, “Yes, Sir.”

Ling moved beside John and looked at the pair. John broke the tension, “Would you like to come back with us to the school?”

The Ranger was about to decline, but he happened to look at Ling. Her look suggested that it would be best to accept. He slowly nodded and answered, “Yes. That would be nice.”

John headed toward the school followed by the Ranger and his student. Ling brought up the rear. As they walked, John stated, “You walk Indian style; on the balls of your feet with your toes pointed inwards.”

“You are extremely observant. It helps to walk quieter through the woods.”

John nodded. “I know. Robert White Feather told me the same thing.”

The rest of the walk was in silence. They approached the administration building. Albert stopped and pointed to a plant. He asked, “CC, what kind of plant is this?”

She answered, “I don’t know.”

He smiled, “Draw it and look it up, later.”

He stood and looked at John. “Sorry, I had to take the opportunity for her to see that plant. They’re very rare.”

John smiled and pointed to a small garden, “There’s about a thousand of them over there.”

Albert walked over to the patch that John had pointed out. A small brass plate gave the name of the plant. He stared at the garden open mouthed, “How? There are more here than I thought existed in the entire state.”

John smiled, “Our horticulturist is very talented. I shall arrange a tour of the gardens for you. I’m sure he will be more than happy to talk with someone that knows plants as well as you do.”

Ling watched over the woman as she drew the plant. She glanced at the drawing pad and noted that the woman was a good artist. It didn’t take her nearly as long to draw the plant as Ling predicted. As the woman stood up, Ling stated, “They are over there.”

The woman, followed by Ling, joined the two men at the garden. The woman stated, “Very impressive garden. A little too orderly for my taste, though.”

Albert laughed, “The order is to allow a very weak species freedom from competition.”

John led the group into his office in the administration building. Rather than sitting behind his desk, he sat at a table while inviting the others to join him. Ling stood to the side for a moment. She said, “I’ll go check on Little John.”

John smiled as he said, “Go ahead. I’ll be taking our guests to the first year dining room after we are done here.”

Ling nodded, “I’ll let the others know not to expect you. I will send Ed over, though.”

After Ling left the room, Cindy stated, “She’s rather protective of you.”

John laughed, “She’s one of the best security people in the country, and takes great pride in her abilities. She doesn’t want anything to happen to her husband.”

Albert carefully looked around the office taking in details. The furniture was made of wood. Every thing about the room spoke of permanence. He knew that if he were to walk in this room a hundred years from now, everything would still be there. Cindy sat at the table fidgeting, uneasy in the room. She was made even more nervous by the assessing stare that John gave her. John stated, “You need to learn to relax in unfamiliar surroundings.”

She replied, “I’m fine.”

John laughed, “Right. You haven’t even bothered to take in your surroundings as your instructor is doing. He’ll be able to come in here a year from now and notice if anything has changed.”

“John, you are extremely observant,” replied Albert. He turned to the woman. “CC, listen to him. Even in this setting, the skills that you use in the forest should remain with you. You should observe everything.”

Cindy answered, “Yes, sir.”

The men waited while Cindy looked around the room. When she returned her attention to John, he asked, “What did you notice?”

“There’s a lot of wood in this room.”

John smiled, “What do you think of that?”

“You killed a lot of trees to decorate this room,” she replied with a certain amount of venom in her voice.

Smiling, John turned to Albert. “Your comment?”

Albert stated, “Everything in this room will last two hundred years, possibly more, if it’s treated properly. The craftsmanship is the best that I’ve ever seen. If all furniture was made this well, the forests would be safe forever.”

“Huh?”

Albert answered, “This room is decorated in solid wood. It’s polished to an extremely good shine. The craftsman that made this furniture made it to last. No trees will be killed for generations to decorate this room. That is the way you should use natural resources. When you use them, you should use them so that they last for as long as possible.”

“Oh.”

“CC, you may not realize with whom you are talking. This is John Carter. He’s the inventor of the Fusion Battery and the Fusion Cell. They are the two most environmentally kind innovations in the history of man.”

Cindy’s eyes went wide as she looked at John. There was a short rap on the door and Ed entered the room. He sat down at the table facing the two visitors. He stated, “I’m Ed Biggers.”

John introduced the visitors, “Ed, this is Albert Mandel and Cindy Carpenter.”

Ed nodded. “Ling told me their names already. So, you are Rangers?”

Albert nodded, “I’m a Ranger. She is my student.”

John stated, “I’m not familiar with the Rangers. Can you tell me about them?”

Albert looked at Ed for a second. There was something about Ed that gave him the feeling that this was more than just a friendly conversation. He answered, “About twenty years ago, a number of us were worried about the environment. We felt that most environmental organizations had no clue as to how nature worked. They had this idealized Walt Disney view of nature with Thumper and Bambi talking and having afternoon tea.”